Salem Ao2 Airsoft Mask

[baxter]

Here's what I am currently working on for now.

Beginning pep assembly:

I don't have any pictures of the fiberglassing process so I'll jump straight to the bondo stage

Unfortunately, it took me till after the bondoing to learn my sander was broken, so just picture that, only a lot smoother.

And since it's purpose is for airsoft, it must be able to withstand fast moving plastic pellets traveling very fast. the result:

Those marks were made with .20 gram bb's shot out of a 400FPS gun, so unless someone comes up to me and shoots several hundred bb's at me point blank, I think I'll be ok.


So I'm kind of proud of myself for not screwing up this far, but the inside of the mask concerns me, it's extremely rough and a little uncomfortable to wear(due to fiberglass), I plan on going out and buying some cushions, but is there any way to mask the fiberglass smell? its been hardened for about 2 days but you can still smell the fiberglass very strong. Which concerns my paranoid side.

Any insight on this is appreciated.

 

[Sumofl]

Where'd you get the file for it and how do you plan on painting it?

 

[baxter]

I found the file here: http://www.cardella.tk/2008/12/elliot-salem-mask.html

As for paint scheme, I'm not entirely sure, I was thinking either a Punisher skull designs(because I'm going to carve 3 slits in the mouth are for breathing/detail) or something to help me blend in to brush and vegetation while airsofting, considering a lot of our games involve woods at night, so camo helps.

 

[MikyVengeance]

to get rid of the fiberglass smell, I just let it vent outside for a day or two. Or cover it with a little baby powder
Did you fiberglass the outside? I was wondering how strong that would need to be to withstand BB's.
For foam, I used foamies I got from an art store. They come in 8x11 sheets, really thin. Different colours and really really cheap. Just hotglue it in. btw, mask looks amazing!

 

[baxter]

No, I didn't fiberglass the outside, mostly because I've read a ton of things about making Halo armor and the one thing that keeps popping up is "Don't resin the outside", so I didn't, I did test the integrity of the mask before I applied the bondo however, and from a distance it was extremely effective, but at point plank testing I apparently aimed at a weak point in the fiberglass and it broke through. Nothing too major though.

And I just looked up Foamies on amazon and apparently you can get a 9x12 sheet for $1, looks like I know what kind of padding I'm gonna be getting for my projects.

 

[MikyVengeance]

awesome!
did the Bondo hold up well? Did it crack or anything? I have a future idea

 

[baxter]

Surprisingly no, it didn't crack. Despite it being thrown at, and not limited to: A wall, several large trees, another wall, cement, and a shed. the bondo is much more durable than I thought, I figured with any flexibility it would crack in an instant, but mine still has a small amount of flexibility(that I wanted) around the cheek area, and the bondo around there is as strong as ever.

 

[Sumofl]

You gonna do the 20 gauge mesh around the eyes like that one helmet I've seen?

 

[baxter]

That mask is the whole reason I started this project(and the $90 price tag)

But I probably won't, because on the page it says for full protection wear goggles underneath, so I'm probably gonna mount some high impact lenses in the eye sockets, or just wear some goggles under it. But if this build goes well I'm going to be producing these masks for my entire team so if they prefer the mesh, they'll get the mesh.

and since we're on the topic Evike's AoT masks, the paint scheme I want for this build closely resembles one of their masks. - http://www.airsoftpost.com/product_info.php?cPath=30_154&products_id=32404

I really need to buy a new sander so I can complete this

 

[Sumofl]

Wow. That one's gonna be a pain to reproduce. You gonna try to convert this into Rio's mask or leave in the Salem style and just convert the paint job?

 

[baxter]

I'm simply gonna convert the paintjob, but entire teams players aren't that many in number, and I'm only making them for the side of the team that I'm on, so I'll only have to make about 6.

Since it will probably be a while till I get a functional sander, i figured I'd go ahead and start the rest of the Salem outfit(this one is for me, if the team wants it reproduced, they better pay up).

It's mostly just a base for the detail I'll add to it later, but either way it's gonna be huge, considering I measured it at 13 inches high and let it rework the other measurements based on that.

 

[wowhaza]

If you could pull of that paint job, it would be totally bada$$. So with that last picture, do you plan on making a full airsoft armor suit? Looks like you've got the shoulders in progress already. Keeping an eye on this one!

 

[baxter]

At first I was gonna make the mask alone, because I desperately needed a mask on account I almost lost one of my eyes in 2 different games(my stupidity). But now I figured I would make the entire thing, The bracers will probably come next since those look fairly simple to make.

 

[baxter]

Beginning pep file for upper leg:

 

[Sumofl]

Awesome man! Seeing you do the mask has given me the idea to make a Army of two costume for a con later in the year. Could you release the files when you're done with them?

 

[baxter]

I'd be glad to, though I'll need to take some precautions so noone re uploads my work as their own. And there have been many a time where I see people make awesome pepakura stuff but never upload the files. I'll make sure not to make this project one of those.

 

[baxter]

Lower right leg pep phase(left leg is different)

 

[Sumofl]

Looks a little, uhh... tight don't you think?

 

[baxter]

it's gonna be pretty large so it should be ok, if not I can just modify the file to be bigger

 

[baxter]

Lower right arm pep phase

this is also where I learned it was difficult to measure with only one arm