Attempted BF bucket using WOF plans

I stumbled across this forum last weekend somehow while browsing the http://www.instructables.com website. I've been reading thread after thread, looking at all these amazing helmets, and I really wanted to try one of my own. I downloaded the WOF templates, went to the local hardware store, and picked up some supplies.
This morning, I cut out all the WOF templates, but I realized that in the course of reading all the threads, I never actually found specific directions on how to assemble the actual bucket. Taking a chance, I just glued the paper templates to the 18"x24" "For Sale" signs that I bought at the hardware store, and cut them all out carefully with scissors. I realized way too late - actually, when I was looking at all the individual pieces that I'd spent 2 hours cutting out, that I should have laid all the bucket templates in a row on one solid piece of plastic, rather than trying to glue them all together.
Also, using "Amazing Goop" as an adhesive to glue the templates to the plastic was a bad idea. When I heated it up in the oven, the paper wrinkled awfully, and the goop went runny.
Here are some pictures of the whole mess.

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/703/bucket2yj2.jpg
http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/5243/bucket1li5.jpg
http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/6357/bucket5bb6.jpg

Do you guys have some tips on this part? Also, I haven't been able to find the WOF template for the dome. Anyone have that? Help is appreciated!
Once I've got it all put together, I've got bondo and sandpaper for the smoothing process.

Some quick background on me:
I'm 28, and I'm a US Marine stationed in 29 Palms, Ca. I'm married, no kids. Home is in Albany, NY, where I'll be returning to go to school for Radiologic Technology when my enlistment contract is over next summer.

Thanks!

~Sam

Looks like a good start, but it looks like you might have a problem with the seam above the cheekbone... maybe, too early to tell for sure. Do you have clamps? They will go a long way toward helping you keep things togther and pressing lamination into place.

For plastic, try using cyanoacrylate (super glue).

Welcome to the boards!

The dome templates should be in the same thread where you got the others.

My best advice is to take your time. Don't get to ahead of yourself and it will all work out fine in the end. There are a lot of great SB bucket threads, each with their own tips and tricks.

Good luck!

David.

Man, I am having the hardest time trying to get the cheekbone pieces to fit right. I understand that there's going to be some messing with it, but I'm just not seeing how they're supposed to be adhered to the helmet. Some kind of bracing from behind? I tried making some tabs of the same material, with a small measure of success, but I'm just not satisfied with the result. Too many gaps between the curves.
Tomorrow I'm going to find a longer piece of material, print some more templates, and cut the whole thing out of one piece. I've no doubt that will be much easier to work with. Perhaps find an easier way to get the template off the plastic once I'm done with it too, that was a nasty mess. :-P

IMHO, Digifett has one of the best detailed builds lately. Check out his thread for some very useful tips. I did, and here's my result.

In Digifett's thread, check out Post #27 specifically for the cheek build.

David.

You've got a decent start there, and it looks workable still, so don't fret too much. :)

For working the cheeks, here's the method that I used in my builds...

1. Attach the curved piece of the cheekbone to the edge closest to the ear first, and line up the assembled flat portion of the cheekbone and glue it along the bottom edge only. Then slowly work the upper cheek into place as you move your way towards the front edge of the mandibles. I found that hot glue works best for attaching the cheeks. ;)

2. Once you've got the curved parts of the cheeks installed, now carefully glue the flat portion of the cheekbone to the curved portion.

It takes a bit of fiddling during this entire process, so take your time and ensure that you're relaxed and calm as can be. :thumbsup

Jango72s helmet builds.

Man, that's exactly the kind of direction I needed. Hot glue, huh? I'll try that. After work today I'll pick up some more material and a hot glue gun and give it a shot. If that doesn't work as well as I'd like, I'll try the option of separating the curved cheekbone into a few pieces. And gluestick! That's perfect! I should be able to just peel the paper straight off the plastic after I cut it out. That was my biggest problem on the last one... the paper wouldn't come off. I've also got to stop by Home Depot, or maybe the local hardware store, and pick up some of those clamps. Those things would definitely be handy right now!

Oh, also, another question. The templates labeled "Inner Surface". How exactly do those fit into the picture? When I cut them out on this one, I just noticed that they fit on the inside of the main templates, leaving just a little room around the top, bottom, and edges. I haven't seen any instructions mentioning these, but I'm assuming this is to leave a lip around the inside, similar to the cheekbone, to make it easier to adhere the main body form, or a forming ring around the top and bottom. The problem that I ran into with this, in "installing" the inner surface pieces before the "cooking" step, was that when it was bent into its shape after I let the adhesive cure for a bit, when I managed to peel some of the paper off after I cooked it, the whole outer surface had a dimpled, rippled effect (visible on the paper surounding the bucket) due to what I'm assuming was a slight shrinking of the plastic in the heat. Would it be better to form the inner and outer surfaces first, then fit the one inside the other?

I'm excited about building this helmet. :-P I've got a buddy back home in New York that's an even bigger Star Wars fan than me, he'll blow a fuse when I show it to him.

I'll take more pictures this afternoon of what progress I've made.

Thanks guys,
~Sam

In regards to the inner surface question, there are a few of us that simply didn't use the inner surface templates. Instead, we used two of the outer surface templates ( the one used for the inner with the seam in the front, and the one for the outer with the seam in the back ) to create the main shell.</p>

I myself didn't actually cook my helmet either. I kept it clamped until the glue dried and it held its shape. ( that's for the plastic one I made as cooking isn't needed for the cardboard versions. )

That's a really good idea. I'll definitely do that tomorrow when I attempt the bucket again. In the meantime, I got the dome assembled today. Turned out pretty good, altho not exactly as I thought it would. I tried to wrap the dome templates around the cardboard dome I made from those templates, but the dome shell pieces came almost 2 full inches short of reaching around. I had to assemble them off the shaping template, which actually still turned out really well. Here's some pictures I took during the process.


http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/9529/dsc02161nw6.jpg

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/546/dsc02159hk5.jpg

http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/7303/dsc02158xq1.jpg

http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/7376/dsc02157ex0.jpg

http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/2871/dsc02163rq1.jpg

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/1285/dsc02162mg1.jpg


After assembling everything with tape on the outside, superglueing some tabs to hold the edges together on the inside, I ran a bead of latex goop down all the seams. I did the front left half after I got home from work, and I finished gooping it before my wife and I went out to the base theater to watch Good Luck Chuck - hilarious movie, by the way - and did the rest of it when I got home. It will cure completely by tomorrow morning.
My wife's going to pick up a hot glue gun and some glue sticks tomorrow while I'm at work, so I can start work on the bucket afterwards. I'll keep your ideas in mind! I'm sure this one will turn out much better.

Great work on the dome! :thumbsup I wish I'd have thought of the latex goop step.

David.

I did the same thing with cutting all the parts our, the first time. I used it as a pratice piece, then I made a one piece like you mentioned much easier to work with, also Little clamps make much easier. Good luck..

:fettesb

Well, I didn't get started on the bucket yet, but I did continue my work on the dome by applying the first of at least five layers of vinyl spackling. Great stuff, vinyl spackling. Doesn't flake, crack, or peel, and it's completely sandable, and extremely durable. Takes a few hours to set, at least 5 if you want to sand it. I'm going to let it set over night. The edges can be trimmed off with a knife, as there will be some settling of the vinyl to the bottom overnight.

http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/4553/dsc02184wp4.jpg

http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/6800/dsc02185nq8.jpg


I'll probably sand it and add another coat when I get home from work tomorrow, and while that's curing, I hope to start on the bucket. Depends on how clingy my wife is feeling. :-P

If you guys have any tips to add, please send any and all, as this is my first project from scratch that I've ever attempted.

"Vinyl spackling"? I didn't know they sold such a thing. I will have to look for the stuff. Is it comparable in price to the regular type of spackling?

The pint I bought cost $2.29 at the hardware store down the street.

Ok, so the spackling isn't turning out to be as durable as I would have hoped in this application. The dome itself is certainly more rigid, but the spackling keeps cracking off the bottom edge when I try to sand there. Does Bondo do the same thing, or is there a trick to stiffening up the bottom edge to keep it from flexing?

I covered my bucket with a layer of fiberglass first. This gave me the rigidity I needed to get good results from the bondo. The only place I'm having a problem with is on the back right below the keyhole section, but this is only because I didn't make sure the fiberglass was secure to the plastic before leaving it to dry. It didn't hold properly, chipped of, and now the Bondo doesn't like to stay stuck to the plastic.

I'd say try the fiberglass mat or cloth and see how it works out for you.

David.

I've never worked with fiberglass before, but I've seen it used to make custom formed speaker enclosures on TV. I'll give it a shot.
I just ruined my second attempt on the bucket. God hates me. I didn't glue the paper to the plastic this time, and I sealed the seams together with a sandwich of two strips of plastic and super glue, which turned out awesome. I decided to heat this single-layer bucket for a minute or two in the oven on 200 so it would hold its form nicely, and when I pulled it out, the entire top edge - including the half-circle right ear - was curling over like a dead leaf. Fortunately, I still have a few hours left to the evening, and enough plastic to make another attempt. Onward!

Ok. After several hours, most of it spent monkeying around with the right cheekbone - my God, how do you guys do it - I'm satisfied with my progress. A non-melted bucket, one cheekbone installed. The hot-glue was a challenge... was almost too hot, the plastic was getting real soft. I can cover those areas later tho. Thanks for the ideas, guys.

http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/3907/dsc02186wp6.jpg

Looking much better :)

Agreed. Much nicer now.:thumbsup

Steady as she goes, soldier.:lol

David.

Made alot of progress tonight. Chipped all the latex plaster off the dome, completed the cheeks, made new inner bracing rings from the templates, and put in a temporary visor made from an old welding helmet from work. There's some smoothing up to do, but I'm bringing the helmet to work tomorrow. I've got a buddy there that's got experience with fiberglass and bondo. Hopefully, some magic will happen.

http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/3210/dsc02187li4.jpg

Im not sure, but it looks like you may have left the extra border on the dome pieces (the base) it looks on teh templates like it stays attached, when in fact it needs to be cut off. Its like a half an inch worth of material. Otherwise, your cheeks look excelent.

I found that you'll need to remove 1.5cm of material from the bottom edge of the dome, when making it at 100%.

Oh man... I wish I'd known that before I took my helmet to work today and fiberglassed the hell out of it. I spent about seven hours glassing, sanding, glassing, sanding, glassing, sanding... all the power sanders were locked up too, so I did it all by hand. Here's pictures.

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/3892/dsc02189kw8.jpg

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/331/dsc02188rd7.jpg

http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/5534/dsc02190vh8.jpg


Even with the mistake with the dome template, I think it turned out really well. I thought that extra strip on the bottom was supposed to make it easier to wrap around the template. Blast. :-P
I was going to glass the whole thing, but after just starting with the dome, the glass is so difficult to work with, that I decided that I'll use bondo on the face. The fiberglass is so solid that I may reinforce the mandibles from the inside using fiberglass around the cheekbones.

Ok. So I spent the evening doing ALOT of sanding. I've done as much as I can with the fiberglass, so I put a coat of sandable primer on. Tomorrow my wife is taking me out for my birthday, so on Sunday I hope to finish the sanding, and put on the outer plastic piece that wraps around the visor, and has the template for the ear pieces, wrapping around the back. I'll probably use bondo to finish the cheeks and cheekbones once that's in place. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about the vent slots in the back yet. The fiberglass layer back there is pretty thin, so I don't think I should have a problem cutting through it, probably have to use a saw.
I still don't know what I'm going to use for the RF stalk, tho... tossing around ideas of balsa wood, but that's too flexible. Plastic might be more sturdy, but I also still have plenty of fiberglass, too.... maybe make a mold with plastic, and cast it in glass.
Ideas, ideas. It's hard to sleep at night with all the ideas and plans and possibilities running through my head.

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/729/dsc02193ji3.jpg

Looking good :D

You're getting a really nice surface on that. I know what you mean about ideas running through your head. I have a gazillion projects on the go, and each one of them has possibilities for which way I could go with it. I lay in bed at night with thoughts about construction methods and materials running through my head. I really like using balsa wood, but only for constructions I plan to make a mold from. Same with stuff like spackling and drywall mud... great for building up a surface, but no durability. Since I make molds of most of my constructions anyway it hardly matters.

I recommend using f'glass to built up your rangefinder earpieces. If you want it functional then you will want it durable. A glued-together construction won't hold up.

flippin sweet. that dome looks fantastic

Did some work on the RF tonight. I wasn't sure how I was going to do the display screen, but I decided against trying to put an LED in the display screen. I used two blue LED's that I bought at Target, they're spare christmas tree lights, rated at 3.5 - 5v. I used the same plastic to make the RF that I used on the rest of the helmet. The wires are going to be run down the RF stalk.

http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/6572/dsc02210rg9.jpg
http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/1308/dsc02208hx9.jpg
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/2078/dsc02207bu2.jpg

The idea is to wire the LED's so that they'll power on when the RF stalk is in the down position. I'm planning on making a contact point on the front of the shaft, and on top of the stop on the ear piece, so they make contact when it's down. At least that's the plan. We'll see how that actually turns out.

Got alot of sanding done. The whole thing feels like glass now, I can't wait to paint it. I got the RF stalk built and primed, and then found out that the LED's in the RF didn't work... in the process of trying to pull them out, tore up the RF. Not a huge deal, I just built another one. Got the earpiece built, so that's a start...
I'm getting there. Alot of work left to do.

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/4711/dsc02215pk9.jpg

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/1241/dsc02214hw9.jpg

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/8315/dsc02213wk1.jpg

http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/5971/dsc02216py5.jpg

very nice!! I wish I had the time to scratch build a bucket. great job buddy.

Looking better every day, my friend!

David.

That's coming along very nicely.......Nice job!
Funny, that's exactly what my kitchen table looks like!

Josh

I love to look a what people do with papercraft. I would be absolutely no good at it, but you have done an excellent job. I can't wait to see what you come up with in the end.

-Matt

Just finished building the right ears, mocked them up to the helmet for fit. You can also see the curve of the right cheek that needs to be fixed.

http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/1479/dsc02219id5.jpg
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/5035/dsc02220av3.jpg

Looks grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat. :)

Started painting the ear pieces, as well as starting to layer primer on the helmet.

http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/7540/dsc02228ho9.jpg

K bud, Looks excellent!........but, er.......do you sleep?:lol

Josh

Great progress Samlynn... the lids looking good.
As Kripps said... my table looks exactly the same too.... *Till the wife steps in and makes me clear up* :lol
So have you decided what colour scheme your going for?

That's looking great!

Well, original color plan was to make the helmet look like Boba Fett's would have when it was brand new. Then the dome ended up being slightly taller to to a misinterpretation of the templates, and the cheeks are slightly more flared, so I decided I would just do my own Mando variant. I've chosen arctic white, metallic silver, and gloss black. The dome will be gloss black, mandibles and face arctic white, with black/silver cheeks. The ear pieces and RF are painted in all three colors.

And no, I don't sleep. Sleep is a crutch. Marines don't sleep as a rule. :-P

Here's the helmet as of right now. Three coats of primer, ready to sand down and bondo some details (right cheek vertical line needs to be straightened up, fill the seams in the front brow, and behind both ears)

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/7417/dsc02233vc9.jpg

Here's some of the detail work I put into the ear pieces.

http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/3953/dsc02232wr3.jpg
http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/9927/dsc02231uo5.jpg
http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/8529/dsc02230st7.jpg
http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/8195/dsc02234zp3.jpg

Man, that makes me sick! >:

I WISH my scratch built helmet had turned out anywhere CLOSE to that. I just tore the dome off of mine and had to trash the whole bottom half of the helmet because it's the wrong size for my noggin. :lol I'm on either the third or fourth attempt at a bucket, now. I think it's best not to keep track, it will only frustrate me. :D

Seriously, keep up the good work! :cheers

I debated about making mine a custom mando or a post-Sarlaac pit helmet. I'm leaving the helmet alone for now and am moving to the jet pack. BTW, the armor is WAY easier to cut out and shape than the helmet, IMHO.

:fettpre

If you paint as well as you build, this is going to be one awesome helmet! :thumbsup
Keep us posted.

Yeah, I saw your build thread, Southern, I can sympathize. I managed to get the dome on the first attempt, but the bucket was my third. This being my first attempt at building anything period, I'm astonished it's gone the way it has. Thanks for all your comments and guidances, guys! I've been so focused on this build, that I really haven't done much else. I work on it every day after work until I hit the sack, and all weekend long. I'm hoping to have the helmet done by the holidays, so I can get to work on the armor. I can't wait to get that started! I've got a ton of ideas. I have the WOF templates for everything, but I've got ideas to craft a few extra pieces as well - bicep, thigh, and shin armor.
I've got a couple desert flight suits that I brought back from Iraq, as well as Nomex flight gloves, and an extra pair of Marine Corps issue boots that should all do nicely for part of my suit. I still have to come up with some kind of vest to attach the chest armor to.
I hope the final bondo/sand/prime/paint goes as well as the rest has so far.

On the bright side, the armor goes WAY faster than the helmet. :lol As far as custom goes, there are several great ones out there. One guy had a chainmail type neckseal. It worked with his look.

This is another cool one:

http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f34/my-new-style-mando-armour-17412/
Keep up the good work.

Semper Fi! :cheers

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Southern hunter

On the bright side, the armor goes WAY faster than the helmet. :lol As far as custom goes, there are several great ones out there. One guy had a chainmail type neckseal. It worked with his look.

---

I couldn't agree more about the armor. I got all mine cut out in less than a few hours.

The chainmail armor maker you are referring to is DarianOrdo from the Mercs website.

David.

I'm going to try to Sterilite trashcan method for getting the base armor form. It will also be a bit thicker than the sign plastic I've been using for the helmet. I'm probably going to use the sign plastic for the gauntlets, and then bondo or fiberglass them for strength.

I also just ordered a visor from http://www.t-visor.com, should be here right in time for bondo/paint to be done.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by samlynn79

I also just ordered a visor from http://www.t-visor.com, should be here right in time for bondo/paint to be done.

---

Thanks for the info! I'm going to have to get mine from there. They've got great prices and I honestly don't think I could do it any cheaper.

David.

Got some bondo work done today on my lunch hour. Trying to straighten up that right cheek line so it doesn't curve toward the ear pieces quite so much. I'll probably finish sanding and put one more layer on. The left cheek is very roughly sanded, I'm hoping to finish that one tonight.

http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/4623/dsc02236su3.jpg

http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/5623/dsc02237bd5.jpg

I'm still going to put a light coat of bondo on the entire surface, just to fill in the little flat spots and pits where there were air pockets in the fiberglass. Probably end up doing that tomorrow on lunch... it's too cold outside to do it when I get home from work, and I don't want to stink up the house and **** off my wife. :-P
I still have to build up that curved flat spot where the RF earpiece mounts to. I'm experimenting with a way to do that, probably going to build a form made of the same plastic (similar to building a wooden form and filling it with concrete) and fill it with bondo, then sand it smooth and level. I might do the same thing on the left for the long ear piece, just not so pronounced. I'd like the entire brow line to be thicker than the 1mm plastic, so I might try something similar for that... or I might end up just laying down a layer of bondo, and dremeling it.
Do you guys have any ideas on how to thicken the brow line? I'm sure some of you have experience with this part.
Thanks for your help.

My wife's cat is sleeping behind me in the chair while I posted pictures of the bondo work today. :-P

http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/797/kittyzc1.jpg

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by samlynn79

I'd like the entire brow line to be thicker than the 1mm plastic, so I might try something similar for that... or I might end up just laying down a layer of bondo, and dremeling it.
Do you guys have any ideas on how to thicken the brow line? I'm sure some of you have experience with this part.
Thanks for your help.

---

Here's what I did in my thread. Specifically posts 34, 49, 51, 52, and 59.

I started with one extra layer of material, then a layer of glass, followed by a build up of three layers of Bondo (sanding in between and using a Dremel in the end to make sharper lines). After all that, I ended up with about 1/4 inch (about 5mm) of material on top of the plastic. For me, this was the easiest. Others may have different ideas. Look at all of them and pick one you are comfortable with.

Keep it up. You're doing great so far!
:cheers

David.

Looking nice. To thicken the brow line you might want to just glue another thin layer of plastic over top of what you have. For fine surface refining I recommend using glazing and spot putty rather than the auto body filler. It's not quite as noxious (although it's still recommended to use outdoors or in good ventillation) and you can more easily sand it into a nice smooth surface. If you're plastic has been sanded it will have texture for the putty to grab onto and hold in place.

Here's a trick I use with small pieces when I want to putty them indoors. I keep a metal cookie can handy and do small areas quickly. Then I just pop the thing into the cookie can and leave it for the day. I can take it outside long enough to air out the stink left in the box, but then the thing is relatively stink-free enough to bring back indoors. I then stand over a basin with water and wetsand into it. No stink, no dust, easy clean up.

GB

That's a great idea, GB... I'll have to try that. All my primers are wet-sandable too, so that should work nicely. I hate all the dust that comes from sanding bondo and primer. :-P

Got my T-visor in today, hoping to get the bondo/sanding and priming done this weekend so I can install it.

http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/8427/dsc02244at4.jpg
http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/4617/dsc02245cz1.jpg

If you have any trouble with the T-visor, you can always buy a Shade 5 Dark Green (for ESB) fett or Smoke Grey (for ROTJ) face shield from a welding supply store. Mine was about $10.

Your helmet is looking great by the way. :cheers

I don't forsee any problems with the visor... I slid it up inside the helmet, and it's a perfect fit from the top edge to the bottom edge, with plenty of room on either side of the cheeks to mount it in at least six places, which should definitely take alot of flex out of the face. I'm going to try mounting it with small screws to kind of bracket the visor. I might try the upside down screws mounted to the helmet with jbweld, and then small wingnuts or locknuts. I'll mess with it when I get to that step. In the meantime, I've still got more bondo/sanding to do.

Got the rest of the bondo/sanding done, washed it all off, wetsanded it, and applied three coats of paint to the dome and back. I used Rustoleum's Appliance Expoxy for a good hard shell that will resist cracking, flaking, and scratching.

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/4093/dsc02247mp5.jpghttp://img257.imageshack.us/img257/1237/dsc02246kc4.jpg
http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/43/dsc02248fy6.jpghttp://img339.imageshack.us/img339/6528/dsc02249kv2.jpg

Shiny!

I love your progress on the helmet. It does however suck that your dome is too high, but amazing work so far.

I honestly don't mind the dome being too high. I have a big head, so it works out. Lets me put a little padding at the top, too.

http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/5279/dsc02251ni3.jpghttp://img177.imageshack.us/img177/4750/dsc02254fz4.jpg
http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/9665/dsc02252fr7.jpg

The cheeks are going to be silver, the same silver that I used on the ear pieces.

I just realized I haven't posted any pictures of me, the guy behind the helmet. This is my wife Ailene and I.

http://img47.imageshack.us/img47/8659/vegas1nt3.jpg

Couple more updates for today. While the paint on the cheeks dries, I installed all the ear pieces and rangefinder. Once I get the center cheeks painted silver, I'm going to coat the whole thing in clearcoat.

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/5095/dsc02259ki1.jpghttp://img101.imageshack.us/img101/5804/dsc02258pr2.jpghttp://img178.imageshack.us/img178/2476/dsc02257cz4.jpg

Ok... last post for today, I promise. :-P I painted the right cheek in silver. Tomorrow I'll do the left one, and add a few details to the face and dome. I still have to do the vents in the back, too... haven't even touched that part yet. After that's done, I'll cover the whole thing in a few coats of clear, and the helmet will be finished.

http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/1904/dsc02260qr6.jpg

:drool

I hate you. I really do.


;):lol:cheers



Oooo. Also:

Glad to see you joint the varients. Nice work man. Love it.


:albino

Quote:

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Originally Posted by biohazard388

:drool

I hate you. I really do.


;):lol:cheers



Oooo. Also:

Glad to see you joint the varients. Nice work man. Love it.


:albino

---

There's plenty of Boba's and Jango's running around, huh. :-P I left the face white so if I decide on a color, I can just go with it. In the meantime, I'm totally digging the monochrome. I can't wait to get started on the armor. I'm gonna have to start a whole new thread on that one as this is definitely not a Boba build now. Took me just over two weeks to build this helmet from scratch.

Some people got it, some don't. It took me over a month to get to where I'm at and I'm still not done.

You've shown that a good custom can be done quickly, as far as the bucket goes. If the armor is anything like this, you'll have a Merc Mando set in no time.

Great job!:cheering

David.

Here's the final picture of the helmet. Well, maybe not final, as I still have to put on the clearcoat today. :-P
Thank you all for your thoughts, kind words, guidance, ideas, and methods. Couldn't have done it without you.

http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/1904/dsc02260qr6.jpg

really nice job on the helmet man. I really really love it.

I like it a lot, You did an awesome job, especially in such a short time. For clarification though, what was wrong with the vinyl spackling you tried on the dome? It worked except for at the base?

No, it didn't work at all. I let it cure overnight, and it shrank a good deal, leaving large cracks all over. I had to chip all of it, which was (thankfully) pretty easy. Another reason not to use it, how easy it was to chip off. I opted instead to fiberglass the outside, and then used the vinyl spackling to smooth out the interior of the dome.

Great job! :thumbsup

The time has come to re-do the paint on my bucket to match the new desert-mando theme. Short of paint thinner, which I'm pretty sure would attack the plastic, how do you guys suggest I do that? I'm pretty sure it's not as easy as just sanding it down, 'cause the clear coat would gunk up the sandpaper pretty fast. I need to get the paint off, however, because there are some imperfections I want to fix on the back.

I've also thought about cutting off the dome, now that I have a dremel, and trimming down that extra material that I accidently left on. How I'm going to re-attach it to the bucket, I'm not sure of yet, but I can come up with something.

Ideas please?

~Sam

I think if you can pull it off (cutting and trimming the dome), you should definately mold it so your end product will be a one piece product. I can teach you to do fiberglass molds so you will have the mold forever.

Man, that would be awesome. What would the cost be on buying everything needed to make a mold? I'm kindof on a budget for this whole project.

Well with Silicon molding, all you need is just silicon. with silicon, every single detail will be taken, and you have to usually make a mold of your helmet, cast it, sand it smoother and add more details, and then get another silicon mold.

The cost of that would be around $200 +- $10

However fiberglass molding would cost you around $50. fiberglass mat would cost you around $15 at walmart, and a big can of bondo resin would cost you $30. You also need Carnauba wax which costs around $5 also at walmart.

Silicon molding is much easier because you just brush it on, but with fiberglass molding you need experience in fiberglass mat.

such a neat clean job ^_^ i like it