Should I build a helmut or not???

[Bighouse]

Hello everyone! I'm new to Halo, Reach has been my first experience with it. I'm enjoying the game tremendously. I have no plans on ever attending an even where I might want to wear Halo armor, but the old Tamiya modeler in me wants to make a helmut. In my younger days (I'm ancient compared to all of you!) I used to love building tanks and aircraft from kits and also dabbled in diaramas...I loved the craft and the detailing and the subtle nuances that made things more tangible and realistic. IF I make a helmut I'll be disappointed if I left out meaningful detail (like decals, rubber-looking visor seals, scratches, roadwear, etc.) but I wonder if I'm jumping into something that's not right for me- I mean, what am I going to do with a finished helmet- wear it while playing Reach?!? I'm 52 years old! I'm also a woodworker by avocation, have welded, dabbled in lots of arts and and have always enjoyed video games though I've not played them in years, having just purchased an Xbox at the end of last year.

So, I'm thinking I might try it. I purchased the cardstock today. I've got a glue gun around here and have the pepakura designer installed (for anyone counting, I'm also conversant in AutoCAD, Revit and play with 3DStudio Max). A Helmut seems like a lot of work for a starting piece, but if I lose interest in it I don't want to end up with just a shin guard. I'd much rather have a real "trophy" standalone piece and it seems to me a helmut would be more of that. I realize it's probably best to start with easier pieces, but I think I'm pretty adept at making models already anyway.

So, is it wrong for a 52 year old with a touch of arthritis in his back, too mcuh gut and out of shape to want to make a Spartan helmut????

 

[cujo3131]

So, is it wrong for a 52 year old with a touch of arthritis in his back, too mcuh gut and out of shape to want to make a Spartan helmut????

Ummmm..... HELL NO!

Welcome to the 405th and get pepping! Do what you feel and enjoy... let us know if we can help!

Cujo3131

 

[Santicity]

I think you should go for it

 

[mitch35542]

Go for it if you want. Heck, make twenty helmets!

 

[Bighouse]

Yeah, I'm thinking I'll do it. Right now I'm trying to figure out how much scaling I should use on the helmut to get my melon inside it. I want to build the Reach Mark V (B?) helmut. And in Pepakura it says the helmut is 300mm tall. That's like 11.8 inches tall...and it SEEMS to me like that would be about the right size, but I'm not sure where the chin of my head should fit into the helmut. It looks like there's a much lower jaw partion of the helmut that extends over the chin and it seems to ride pretty high above the shoulders on the back of the neck. I guess I should SnagIt a screen cap of the helmut profile and try to get one of my own noggin and superimpose the two in Photoshop with some transparency to see how it will fit. That's what I'll do first. I really don't want to build a fully pepped helmut only to discover it doesn't fit my noggin.

Can anyone tell me how thick the Rondo/Foam shell layers typically are inside the helmut??? I'm guessing two layers of Rondo can't be more than 1/4"...and expanding foam maybe 1/2"??? Anyone?

 

[chitwood1775]

Well I personally am working on my first project. It's full armor so I can't really tell you how much room there is in the helmet.
As for your worry of making a fully peped helmet, start by using a low definition helmet also called a pioneer piece to make sure you get the scaling right.

 

[Bighouse]

Well, the Pepakura tells me the helmut is 11.8" tall. I shot a profile of my 9.5" tall head with my iPhone and brought both images into Photoshop. I scaled both images up so they were the correct height and used a bit of transparency on my face to see how it fits. Here's what I'm getting- see attached image...those of you experts out there, does this seem like a good "fit"? Should I increase the helmut size by a certain percentage maybe? (DOH! I see I can't do actual attachments here but only links...hmmm...is there a gallery where we can upload our pictures to or do we only have link ability to images uploaded to other sites?)

Update:

Well, is my head too big?

 

[Ral Partha]

If the pic above is the helmet that you're going to build, here's my suggestion: measure the width of your head at the ears in mm and then add 20-30 mm to it. Then multiply your result by 1.38. The resulting value is going to be the assembled height of the helmet in mm.

 

[SPRTNBD50]

53? Dude.....I'll probably do this till I die!! ITS JUST HOW ME ROLLZ!!!!!

 

[Bighouse]

If the pic above is the helmet that you're going to build, here's my suggestion: measure the width of your head at the ears in mm and then add 20-30 mm to it. Then multiply your result by 1.38. The resulting value is going to be the assembled height of the helmet in mm.

So, you're saying don't go by the side profile of the helmut and the relationship of my profile to it, but instead go by the left to right width of the helmut? If I understand your suggestion here's what you're saying to do.
1. Measure the width of my head from left to right, outermost ear to outermost ear...7.5"=190.5mm (0.5mm really? Let's just call it 190)
2. Add 30mm to that width...220mm
3. Multiply that by 1.38 = 304mm

So, the helmut is, according to Pepakura, 300mm in height...that's close, but if I wanted it exact according to your suggestions, I'd scale it up to 304...that's not much...just 1.333% larger...from a statistical perspective it's almost insignficant...which makes me wonder...is your suggestion for real, or are you pulling my leg? Seems that's such a small percentage different I can't help but wonder if you're being sarcastic and just having fun with me?!?

 

[BLACKULA727]

So, you're saying don't go by the side profile of the helmut and the relationship of my profile to it, but instead go by the left to right width of the helmut? If I understand your suggestion here's what you're saying to do.
1. Measure the width of my head from left to right, outermost ear to outermost ear...7.5"=190.5mm (0.5mm really? Let's just call it 190)
2. Add 30mm to that width...220mm
3. Multiply that by 1.38 = 304mm

So, the helmut is, according to Pepakura, 300mm in height...that's close, but if I wanted it exact according to your suggestions, I'd scale it up to 304...that's not much...just 1.333% larger...from a statistical perspective it's almost insignficant...which makes me wonder...is your suggestion for real, or are you pulling my leg? Seems that's such a small percentage different I can't help but wonder if you're being sarcastic and just having fun with me?!?

I'm pretty sure Ral Partha was suggesting a way for you to check if your height was correct. Or, at least that’s how I took it. So since you ran the numbers using his suggestion and it is saying the height should be approximately 304mm & you say your model is 300mm, then I would say his check figure has worked and you should keep the model at 300mm. Good luck on your build.

 

[Bighouse]

I'm pretty sure Ral Partha was suggesting a way for you to check if your height was correct. Or, at least that’s how I took it. So since you ran the numbers using his suggestion and it is saying the height should be approximately 304mm & you say your model is 300mm, then I would say his check figure has worked and you should keep the model at 300mm. Good luck on your build.

Well, I'll trust him- he seems like a really decent human being based on his signature. So, I'll bump it up that 1.33%..hmmm...maybe 2% just to play it safe so I have a bit more room for padding should I need it. (I hope I didn't show any disrespect to him- that was not my intention at all!) The reason I asked was that so often when I try on hats my head is usually bigger than most peoples'...so I just wanted to play it safe.

 

[Rick]

I don’t think he’s pulling your leg. These guys have been doing this for awhile. I’m working on a couple of helmets myself, along with some armor and weapons builds. You would be surprised on how much that 1.333% makes. Are you planning on wearing the helmet? If so, you should take into account padding, etc. If your just going to use it for display, then I say your photo scale is good.

Good to see another old timer here.

 

[chitwood1775]

If an infantryman give you sn equastion that exact, you can be pretty sure it's for real.

 

[weeds]

Go for it my friend. We have to start an over 50 division!
I'm working on a full suit, I plan to wear it (no one will know if the guy under it is 22 or 52) for Halo-ween and any other time I can think of.
I must drop a few lbs. too. An over weight MC would just be bad.

 

[CoolC]

Wow. A fellow "Tamiya" modeler. I love Tamiya models. They are some of the most detail and accurate models. However, I haven't modeled Tamiya for years since the jump in Japanese Yen. They had become so expensive that I dropped the hobby.

Just a word of caution - if you start making helment using pepakura or any other methods you find in 405th you will lose your interest in making scale models. Now you can wear what you make instead of displaying your work. Very satisfying.

Here is a tip when you start building your helmet. Don't fold every lines. Open the helmet in pepakura designer/viewer. Note the pieces that should be round (for example: back of the helmet). Don't fold these lines. When you glue them together they will appear smoother and rounder. This will help you in the later stage when you need to apply bondo. See my newest thread for some examples.

 

[sasimiv11]

I think your helmet scali should be around 295 - 300 mm for someone with big head anything bigger than this will be too big. I made a mc helmet with scale of 320 mm to fit over motorcycle helmet and it look about the same side as full face motorcycle helmet.

 

[Bighouse]

Based on Ral Partha's formula, I'm going to enlarge the helmut height from 300 to 305mm...that's not much, but hopefully it'll be enough! I'll be printing my pep files tonight or tomorrow and will start the glueing process this weekend. Wish me luck!

 

[Bighouse]

Ok, all my cardstock has been printed. Olfa knife is sitting atop my green cutting mat...have to find that hot glue gun...I heard something about "low temp" glue in a video somewhere...guess I should go by Michael's today and see what they have.

Is there a particular type of hot glue stick everyone prefers to use? (Seems like a low temp/slower setting glue would be best to allow for positioning...)

 

[Dragon Sunkiller]

Honestly, both low temp and hot temp glues set at about the same speed. The low temp suggestion is more of a safety precaution than anything, because no matter how safe you are, you WILL burn yourself on that gun. Good luck with your helmet Bighouse! I'm just starting my first build, but instead of using the pep to build the armor, I'm using it as templates on foam. Keep us posted with your progress!