Building a Boba Bucket - A detailed scratch build tutorial using WOF templates

Smoothing out the cheeks:

Hence of the polystyrene 1mm material is pretty stiff, the corners of the cheeks compared to the original helmet are very very sharp. To smooth out the corners I used a special shaped scraper, car body fine polyester filler and sandpaper grain 300.

IMG_7245.jpg

The special shaped scraper I built from a left over of polystyrene. As guide for the scrapers curve I just used a bottom of a small can, marked it with a permanent marker and cut out the shape.

After mixing the filler you have only 2 min to get the correct shape. So before I practiced the movement of my hand a couple of times. The trick is to flatten the scrapers angle during the filling process, that varies the curvature to the outside and makes it a little wider. For me it looked like the original has that.

So after mixing the putty it is important that you fill the corner in one move, you start at the inner side and move pretty straight outwards. If the shape is not what you expected do the same movement again form the beginning to the end. When you stop in the middle of the filling process you will get waves or bumps, later on its much harder to sand them away.

This photo I took right after the filling procedure.

IMG_7241.jpg

This was after sanding a little bit, it looks pretty close to the original, what do you think? (Unfortunately not the dome...I know:facepalm)

CompareCheeks.jpg
 
I am sorry it took so long but I am way too busy right now. Please forgive me.
But today I will start with my favorite part on this helmet:

The adventure of building the perfect key slots!

Needed WOF templates:

Key_Templates.jpg

After reading SD68 did his way building them, I thought there must be an easier way! Why I should bend the material in a complicated way, when I just can buy a perfectly bended material?? As I went to a building center, I found these nice sink pipes in the perfect size. Unfortunately their are made of Polypropylene. Its a very strong and extremely ductile material. In the beginning I thought it doesn't matter, but it did. This material is terrible!! It's almost impossible to cut, you will never get sharp edges, so please forget this idea(n)

tube1.jpg

I never found any other cheap and perfect sized pipe material, so I must say:

SD68 way is the best way!!(y)

This is his idea:

Cut out the styrene using Alan's wonderful flat keyslot template.


Use the scalpel and your scissors for the outside shape. The keyslots are being cut out by the scalpel only.

2ndTrySlots1.jpg

Then push it a around a hard and heat resistant tube. Here I used a slim bottle.

2ndTrySlots2.jpg

But again here I did a small mistake. I cooked the material for about 10min. That was way too long!! The whole thing shrank and became way to small, also all the thin parts became wavy. All the work for nothing... again!:facepalm

As I think the material was too thin for all the heat, I decided a saver way. Again I cut out the same shape like before using Alans keyslot temp. But this time I did not cut out the entire keyslots. Instead, I just cut 2/3 way through.

3rdTrySlots1.jpg
3rdTrySlots2.jpg
I bought a metal tube with 42mm diameter. Using the same fiberglass tape I fixed the keyslot on the tube. Over the keyslot part I put some styrene left over to have a consistent pressure. I wrapped the fiberglass tape around it to have even more consistent pressure.
3rdTrySlots3.jpg

The I cooked it for only 2 minutes !!!

3rdTrySlots4.jpg

See here the fixing tape.

The advantage is, you get a stronger and more heat resistant part. After when it's bend, you don't have to push or cut a lot on this very filigree part and may risk a crack or a deformation. With little pressure and a tiny cut from the other side I could push out slot after slot.

3rdTrySlots5.jpg

3rdTrySlots6.jpg

The result was perfect for me. Finally!! ;)
 
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Hey digifett. I did something similar for my vent. I didn't cut the slots in the pipe though. All I did was cut the keyhole part out of card stock and glued it on the surface of the pipe. This meant there were no holes in my sculpture. The shape of the keyholes on the surface of the plastic pipe section was enough to use as a guide for cutting after casting.

But it just occured to me that I don't think you intend to cast your helmet... so maybe my method isn't very useful to you anyway. Besides, what you did worked great. So I'll just shaddap now.
 
so maybe my method isn't very useful to you anyway. Besides, what you did worked great. So I'll just shaddap now.
No, that is a absolutely great idea! It's really a smart way to build a mold master.
I needed open keyholes because I want to put a MQ-1 circuit board behind it. I am note sure now, maybe later I will take a cast of my helmet to build a Jango version... Thank you a lot for your nice tip!
 
Nice work!

This is my first time modeling something at this size. So please forgive my questions.
Today I was working on a cardboard mocking up (before I start the polystyrene version).

Now I have some questions.
1. How wide did you make the dome base (after you removed the center material?

2. How did you fuse the helmet's back seam together? I noticed in a few of your photos you had some holes in the back. With my mock up the seam keeps splitting apart and the helmet has lost it's shape.

Keep up the awesome work.
 
The WOF blueprints have a pattern for the dome base. What I did was print the pattern, put it together, then cut it out of one piece of foam-core board.

Also, you can glue a wide piece of extra plastic sheeting in the back to fuse it together. The cardboard is very unforgiving when it comes to seems on a curve. Plastic holds together pretty well with tape.

Hey, Digifett, any new pics yet?

David.
 
Nice work!

This is my first time modeling something at this size. So please forgive my questions.
Today I was working on a cardboard mocking up (before I start the polystyrene version).

Now I have some questions.
1. How wide did you make the dome base (after you removed the center material?
The dome base's width was given by the size of the WOF templates. See STEP 1: Pre-assembling the helmet and checking size for more details. I hope I could answer your question here...

2. How did you fuse the helmet's back seam together? I noticed in a few of your photos you had some holes in the back. With my mock up the seam keeps splitting apart and the helmet has lost it's shape.
In the beginning temporary I used screws to hold the helmet seam together so there was an overlap of the material first.(This step wasn't really important and necessary)

IMG_6864.jpg

Later I cut off the overlapping material and glued the seam directly together by using a stripe of styrene material behind the seam. (See STEP 2: Building the main body picture 2.

Keep up the awesome work.
Thank you very much!

Hey, Digifett, any new pics yet?

More will come this weekend - I guess, I am pretty busy right now, sorry you all have to wait so long. I will try to improve myself :eek:
 
More will come this weekend - I guess, I am pretty busy right now, sorry you all have to wait so long. I will try to improve myself :eek:
Ouch, that was a little underestimated! Sorry again!! But I have really good reasons for my loooong Pause. I got a little Baby Fett again! Liam David, I am so proud, he is fantastic!!!!! My 3rd child, we are all so happy! I spent a lot of time with my family and a little in my company that was so good form me. So was it a good alibi?;) Hope you forgive me :facepalm

Keyslot Frame

Not really a big deal to build the frame, just a little tricky because I missed the two side parts for the frame in the WOF templates. As I got my "The dented helmet" ref CDs I saw the real shape of that missing part. Alan did you originally meant this part here?

Key_Templates2.jpg

The wonderful photographs of the ref cd showed me more a shape like this:

KeySlotSide.jpg

So I cut out a pair something like this:

IMG_7281.jpg

First I glued all parts together with the polystyrene glue, the keyslots I glued in the frame not "ont top" of the frame. On the backside I stabilized the whole construction so it will holds together much stronger:

IMG_7277.jpg
IMG_7280.jpg

Then I carefully found out where is the exact middle of the helmets back. I drew a line with a pencil right there. My helmet wasn't glued together exactly in the middle, that the reason why I checked it again.
I printed out the "Rear Keyhole Frame" again from the WOF temps and with glue stick I put it in the exact middle position on the helmet and right underneath the brow band.
With my "Dremel" (Rotary Tool) I cut out the hole for the frame I just built before.
Together with the two new side parts and a gentle crack made with the scalpel in the "Rear Keyhole Frame" (See Picture A) I glued the whole thing into the helmet.

IMG_7286.jpg

Picture A: Make a gentle crack right here and bend the frame a little:

IMG_6856.jpg

Top and bottom of the frame I filled out with "leftover" styrene.

IMG_8631.jpg
IMG_7298.jpg

Hopefully tomorrow I have the time to write more. But I swear I will be faster than the last time !!
Thank you for your patience!!!
 
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That is looking really great!

As for the Keyslot recess I missed that on the templates but it has been on the todo list for some time. You've done a bang up job, so that it will make easy to follow what needs to be fixed.

Alan
 
Mein Gott, Digifett! :eek: You are really going for a screen-accurate bucket here, aren't you?

You are doing a great job - truly a testament to Alan's patterns. Kids are a blessing and can be very demanding on time. But that's the beauty of it. Baby Fetts just mean more stuff to make for them.:lol:

Take your time and have fun!:cheers

David.
 
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Hi Christof!

Benutzt Du eine Lupe? Unglaublich, was man findet, wenn man ganz genau hinschaut ;-)
Grüße an Deine Familie,

Thomas

And in englisch ;-) :

Do you use a magnifying glass? Incredible what you find if you only look sharp at it ;-)
Greetings to your family,

Thomas
 
Mein Gott, Digifett! :eek: You are really going for a screen-accurate bucket here, aren't you?
:) I try...

You are doing a great job - truly a testament to Alan's patterns. Kids are a blessing and can be very demanding on time. But that's the beauty of it. Baby Fetts just mean more stuff to make for them.:lol:
Thank you a lot! And you are right, making new kids does also keep the kid in you!
Interesting website you have...

Do you use a magnifying glass? Incredible what you find if you only look sharp at it ;-)
Greetings to your family,
No, a microscope! Thanks mate, I still owe you something
 
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I buy my polystyrol in a special model shop close to a college for architect students. 1m x 0.5m is about 6$.

Is it really important that it is Polystyrene, and not PVC? (Aka Sintra?) I can't even find the stuff on Google, let alone in a store in the U.S. PVC Sheets are pretty easy to find, but they're waaaaaay more expensive. (48x96" sheet was US$125.00 on one of the sites I looked at). Heck, if it's $6 for a big sheet, I'd almost offer to PayPal you US$50.00 to ship me a few sheets.

I actually tried For Sale signs like Jaiden did on his WoF build, but unfortunately, they are pretty rigid, and actually snapped in half when I bent the form of the helmet around to make it tubular. (Which REALLY, REALLY, ruined my night), plus I couldn't find signs nearly big enough to make the whole 'Mask' of the Bucket, or the base that is directly beneath it, so I had to cut them in sections, and reinforce them... which needless to say... didn't work.

This will be the 2nd bucket (well 3rd attempt, now that this one just collapsed) using WoF's templates, and this time, I'd really like to do it right. I've heard of others using Sintra, but I can't seem to find any local shops selling it, and ordering sheets for $125.00 each is a little outrageous for the 'budget fett' that this is meant to be.

Any suggestions folks?


(edit)

I did a little more searching around and found this:
USPlastic.com

I was thinking of this one in particular. Much better price. I don't have much background knowledge on Plastics, anyone know if this would be suitable for bucket construction?

Also Digifett, what kind of glue might I be looking for, to keep this project together? I see you are using a product I don't recognize from the states, but perhaps we have something similar/comparable that I can pick up. Any ideas?
 
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Hi coffeehedake, see here more informations about "Styrene" also known as ABS at Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styrene. Usually you will find this stuff everywhere. At Home Depot also as transparent sheets, so as signs. The glue that I prefer is just ordinary ABS glue. This stuff is a lot used when you build those "plastic models" from Revell or Airfix etc. I use the "Revell" ABS a lot. Revell is a german brand and as I know also pretty common in USA.
Brands like Testors or Tenax have also plastic cement or welder glue for ABS material.
For sure you will get ABS plastic sheets in special model shops and it should be very inexpensive. Modelshops for RC models usually have this stuff, too. Check your yellow pages to find one in your area.

When you bend the material be sure the material is not too cold. You may warm it up a bit by using a hair dryer or put it in the oven for some seconds.
 
I actually tried For Sale signs like Jaiden did on his WoF build, but unfortunately, they are pretty rigid, and actually snapped in half when I bent the form of the helmet around to make it tubular. (Which REALLY, REALLY, ruined my night), plus I couldn't find signs nearly big enough to make the whole 'Mask' of the Bucket, or the base that is directly beneath it, so I had to cut them in sections, and reinforce them... which needless to say... didn't work.

When you bend the material be sure the material is not too cold.

Absolutely. I live in Florida where it's rarely too cold to work with plastic. You really can't work with plastic once it gets (and stays) below around 50*F.

As a temporary bond, I used masking tape for the joints and Gorilla Glue for the masks. The signs I used were big enough to make half of the helmet at a time. I joined the two right sides and two left sides together as one large piece and cut it out that way.

One thing I would have done differently (now that I have a Dremel) would be to glue a piece in the back and front to hold the joints together better.

Also, for my helmet base and top, and for the dome base, I used foam core board (Dollar Tree is the best value, but also Wal-Mart and Target near the posterboards). This way, you have a thick form to work with all the way through the process.

Sorry, Digifett. I didn't mean to hyjack the thread.:lol:

David.
 
Absolutely. I live in Florida where it's rarely too cold to work with plastic. You really can't work with plastic once it gets (and stays) below around 50*F.

Yeah, I'm sure that has a lot to do with it, actually. I live in Connecticut, and its pretty cold here at the moment.

I ended up ordering that 48"x96" of Black ABS Sheeting, $28 isn't too bad, but I'm going to take a look at Home Depot up the street later today.

I actually bought all of the large "Garage Sale" signs Wal-Mart had and used them for the bucket that broke in half, we'll see how the ABS does instead.

At Home Depot also as transparent sheets, so as signs. The glue that I prefer is just ordinary ABS glue. This stuff is a lot used when you build those "plastic models" from Revell or Airfix etc. I use the "Revell" ABS a lot. Revell is a german brand and as I know also pretty common in USA.

Digi, thanks for the suggestion on the glue. There's an RC shop right up the street from both the Home Depot and Wal-Mart right near my house, and they will probably have the ABS Glue. (They sell Revell paint and model products, I am sure) Do you use anything in particular to keep the pieces in place instantly (other than clamps) such as super-glue or hot glue?

I ended up picking up 2 rolls of 3M Flue Tape for the baking part, it's not as sticky as I would've hoped, but I couldn't find any of the FiberGlass High Temp Tape you used. The Flue Tape is made for very high temperatures, and I suppose it will do the job.

So far I have purchased 2 3" C clamps, 1 small spring loaded clamp, a medium container of Bondo, I've burned through 4 1/2 bottles of super-glue, I bought 1 bottle of Elmer's Miracle Glue (forget what the real name is, it's not the white stuff, but takes too long to set; 2-4 hours), 1 Spray can of Krylon Premium Primer, 3 different grade sanding sponges, 1 Package of Medium Grade Sand paper, 4 Large Garage Sale Signs (only have 1 left now), 1 Foam Board ala Jaiden's guide, and 50 pages of Wizard of Flight's Templates...

LOL

My hands are totally covered with superglue at the moment, even though I'm at work typing this, going to have to sand the stuff off. ;)

I've been taking pictures of everything I do, and all of the materials I use along the way. My aim is to put all of this into a PDF, which is a little easier to archive than the forum posts.

Hopefully when all this is said and done I have at least one decent bucket to use for Halloween next year. Finishing this project is actually on my "must do before I die" list, along with skydiving, and a few unmentionable items... ;)

Thanks for all the help guys/gals.

- Coffee
 
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