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

Wilkommen, Chris!
Nice work on your helmet. I love seeing the scratchbuilt stuff, it's amazing!

Und ja, Wir sind Alles sehr veruckt hier! (I hope that's right! I haven't practiced my German in a long while. )

Thank you superjedi ! Its so nice from you to welcome me in my home language ! Your German is great !

Incredible! Best of luck in the road to finishing it!

i put my first one together that way then realised that at the back behind the ear peices Fett helmet has a little raise to it so if u put the inside peices in then cut the line out there is still a solid area with a bump just before the ears.
That sounded really confusing ill try to find a picture for ya
Actually if you look at sd68s' pictures he has a great one of the back of the helmet that you can see the area i', refering to

Originally Posted by cleavis

i put my first one together that way then realised that at the back behind the ear peices Fett helmet has a little raise to it so if u put the inside peices in then cut the line out there is still a solid area with a bump just before the ears.
That sounded really confusing ill try to find a picture for ya
Actually if you look at sd68s' pictures he has a great one of the back of the helmet that you can see the area i', refering to

I am sorry cleavis I don't understand what you would like to say to me, maybe its my bad english
A picture would be great !

Chris

ya i didnt explain it well i'm lloking for a pic to describe it better

Originally Posted by cleavis

ya i didnt explain it well i'm lloking for a pic to describe it better

What picture do you need ? I have almost everything here
Does my helmet has somehow a difference in the mentioned area?

WOW! Beautiful job. Keep it coming!

Alan

WOW! Beautiful job. Keep it coming!

Good to here from you again Alan, father of so many scratch built helmets !!!
Soon I will come to the next part...

thanks i have a question about how much is a sheet of polyiester and where could i get it?


ps check ur pms

-brett toomey

Empfang, Digifett! Die Arbeit, die Sie Aussehen gemacht haben, groß!

(I used an internet translator to sound more important)

Brett, I've seen polistyrene (PVC) sheets at Home Depot and Lowes. Also, check the phone book under "plastics - dealers." That's how I found a supplier in my area.

Good luck!

I added these parts here to strengthen the main body ring.



All inner parts I built from strong cardboard. They are not glued, I just put them in place. The special glass fiber adhesive tape is keeping all together and is heat resistant.




Hence I used cardboard for the inner parts I could not use hot water to cook the helmet in its shape, so I had to use the oven. At 100°C (212°F) I "baked" the "Boba barrel" for only 3 min.



What I got right after heating it up was almost perfect in shape.


Building the cheeks will come up very soon !

Lookin' nice, digi!
Rob

This is amazing...

I just want to make sure that I said a very big THANK YOU!!! for putting the helmet build in a tutorial. This will be a great help to those wishing to make there own and for those that are completely fed-up & ticked-off with me for not having done one.

:thumbup:thumbup:thumbup

Alan

P.S. it is looking great it is going together just the way I had envisioned it would!!

Originally Posted by digifett

Sorry Jaiden, PVC is Polyvinyl chloride not Polystyrol or Polystyrene (EPS, XPS, PS-E)
See more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polystyrene

Okay, you got me...major blond moment.

The PVC sheets at my local store are the same ones used for vacuum forming armor parts. That's why I thought they were comparable.

Originally Posted by digifett

This really sounds very important, thank you! You did sound like Yoda

Just doing my part to entertain the masses!

i was thinking about making this helmet into a mold and then vacuforming it do you think it would work well

wow, great job.. nice to see the step by step.. I haven't been brave enough to try my hand at this as yet.

Helmet is looking great

i was thinking about making this helmet into a mold and then vacuforming it do you think it would work well

IMO, a vacuformed helmet is never sharp edged as a molded helmet would be. Boba Fett bucket has a lot very sharp edges. When you like a lot details you won't get them as much defined. But honestly I never did vacuform anything so maybe I am wrong and you will find a good way to make lots of details. Did you see this thread here? http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f23/anyone-ever-done-vac-formed-helmet-20678/
compare the edge detail, but the results are very nice though !! #

----------------

Thank you guys for all your nice words ! And you are very welcome Alan, I will try my best to use your templates as good as I can. Its really a pleasure and an honor, because I never had that fun to scratchbuild a model before...
You found very nice words Alan, I hope I found them too with my limited english word pool.

Strengthen the main body ring:

To keep the main body ring in its shape when glueing in the cheeks, I built an inner ring using some polystyrol left overs. For that I used the dome base temp and the main body temp again. See here:

I thought I was seeing things when the words on the helmet were in German, but then I noticed you were from Germany.

Wanderbar! Alles sieht sehr fantastich aus!

Attaching the dome

Attaching the dome was very simple. Because the dome should be a little smaller than the helmet main body ring, I wrapped 1mm extra layers of tape around the dome. I did overlaping the tape over the dome's rim so I could insert the dome a little to the body. Then I fixed the dome outside with a lot tape to the body.
With glass mats and resin I glued the dome to the body permanently.
After hardening I could remove the tape layers very easily...
This picture I took right after attaching the dome:



The visor is just drawn with a permanent marker. The cheeks here are sanded already a little:



The visor I cut out partial. To strengthen and to round off the contruction I glued a piece of WOF "Helmet Base" as bridge temporarily in.

Ihr Helm schaut sehr gut. Sie haben die Oberkiefer genau richtig gemacht

I don't think my german is that good

Wanderbar! Alles sieht sehr fantastich aus!

Ihr Helm schaut sehr gut. Sie haben die Oberkiefer genau richtig gemacht

Your German is so nice !! How you all know it so well? :thumbup
Thank you very much

Excellent job!!! This is look better with every post. Thank you very much to taking on this task. It is such a big load off my back I can't even describe.

When it is complete maybe we could work together to create a PDF downloadable version to include with the helmet templates. Let me know what you think of the idea?

Keep up the great work.

Alan

When it is complete maybe we could work together to create a PDF downloadable version to include with the helmet templates. Let me know what you think of the idea?

Absolutely a great idea Alan !! I would like to that with you !
But sometimes I may not have taken photos of every single step which might be necessary. I worked and worked and worked and later I thought, oh no I forgot to take photos in between...
Also my way to build the helmet might be a little unusual sometimes comparing to yours ??

Anyway, the helmet is almost done, I think it has a little similarity to the Boba bucket

I'm sure someone else here is going to attempt the WOF templates. Digifett, let us know what steps you did take pictures of. Whatever you didn't photograph, someone else can. That way, Alan can have a full set of pictures of all the steps.

David.

Wow... very nice tutorial! Well done! And the Helmet looks great.
I'm going to build my own Mando-helmet, and this thread was and will be a great help! I'm from Germany, too, and because of my bad English-skills I've problems to understand some thing written in this Forum, but this tutorial is realy great and even I'm able to understand it (and i hope you English-speaking guys are able to understand me)
I'm actually looking for all the materials i will need and I'm going to start working on my helmet next weekend (if I find time to do this).
@digifett: So if you need some aditional photos, let me know!

Großartiges Tutorial. Vielen Dank auch für die vielen Bilder. Hoffe ja das ich auch irgendwann mal an meinem Versuch weiterbastele und der dann genauso gut aussieht, dir auf jeden Fall noch viel Erfolg und viel Spaß (hast ja hoffentlich heute genug Zeit ;-)) und weiter fleißig Bilder posten. Liebe Grüße. Und nicht wundern warum mein Deutsch so gut ist, liegt daran das ich auch aus Deutschland komme. Grüße aus Dresden.

Ok for the members who didn´t understand the first part, i will translate the main part:

Great tutorial, thank you verry much for the pictures, i hope that when i start reworking at my first attempt, it will look as great as your does. wish you all the best with working on your helmet and keep up posting pictures. greetz. and do not wonder why my german is so good and my english so bad, thats why i came from germany too. ;-)

Thank you so much for all the nice complements, ideas and the German greetings !! Today I found the time to make another chapter:

Applying the mask:

The helmet has some elevated parts, thats what I will call "The Mask"
It also includes the head band and the sideburns.

To spare some styrene material and to simplify the gluing of those big parts, I cut the mask in many simple parts. Here you can see my way I cut the WOF temps. Each blue color shading represents a single new part:





Starting with the right mask part -the biggest part- I began at the exact middle of the eye area using first super glue for about 1cm, before be very sure the mask is perfectly aligned !! The rest of the mask I glued with the polystyrene cement, being patient and glued and pressed each cm one by one... Be sure you use a lot of the polystyrene cement, when it comes out a little on each sides, then it is perfect. Keep the cement becoming hard and later on cut it off with the scalpel.



With all other mask parts use the same applying method.

See here, with the mask applied the Boba bucket slowly wins its characteristic charm ! The visors rim is now twice as thick.

Man this is looking great!! I love the pics of the new dome layout in the first post! This is a first rate tutorial, so far have seen nothing "Unusual" everything is just how I envisioned it would be.

Alan

Originally Posted by digifett

Absolutely a great idea Alan !! I would like to that with you !
But sometimes I may not have taken photos of every single step which might be necessary. I worked and worked and worked and later I thought, oh no I forgot to take photos in between...
Also my way to build the helmet might be a little unusual sometimes comparing to yours ??

Anyway, the helmet is almost done, I think it has a little similarity to the Boba bucket

I've been lurking these forums for the past month and a half to 2 months and I read this thread every day for inspiration. Your helmet is amazing. Hopefully I'll have mine starting to shape very soon. Thanks for helping me achieve one of my dreams in having my own armor and helmet.

man thats a great job and awesome step by step

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.



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.



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

Very nice!

David.

**Bump** for progress.

Anything yet?

David.

Haha! Very cool! This helmet is turning out fantastic!

Great work! I wish I'd thought of it

David.

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)



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 :o

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! 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.

Take your time and have fun!

David.

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! 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.

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

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.

Originally Posted by coffeehedake

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.

Originally Posted by digifett

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.

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

I used a Home Depot bucket to make the mask/ mandibles and back. I then attatched it with epoxy to a hardhat I modifid for the dome. I still have the basic helmet shape but I abandoned it because I accidentally made the mask/ mandible part too short so my helmet is a little small around my face. It will be good enough eventually for my kids helmet!Anyway...


The bucket is fairly flexible to work with but rigid enough to make a sturdy helmet.

Wow coffe that's quiet a list you bought there! Now you can build your own Mandalorian army!

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.

It's perfect when you have a RC shop around, there also you will get the glassfiber tape. It's a lot used to stiffen up small airplanes.

Do you use anything in particular to keep the pieces in place instantly (other than clamps) such as super-glue or hot glue?

Yes I do use super glue to keep parts in place. See post 37 "Applying the mask"

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.

When this building thread is final we also have planned a PDF version - with Alans help.

Originally Posted by digifett

When this building thread is final we also have planned a PDF version - with Alans help.

I'd be glad to help with that too!



Originally, I was going to model the helmet in 3D Studio MAX and use a stereolithography machine to make a master bucket to be molded. Unfortunately, it turned out the process was too expensive unless I really wanted to get serious about selling buckets, which I am not.

I actually did model the helmet:



It didn't come out too bad, but I suppose it will never leave its digital format and become tangible. That's okay.

Originally Posted by clonecollector

I used a Home Depot bucket to make the mask/ mandibles and back. I then attatched it with epoxy to a hardhat I modifid for the dome. I still have the basic helmet shape but I abandoned it because I accidentally made the mask/ mandible part too short so my helmet is a little small around my face.

I actually considered doing that as well, but after seeing how well a few of these have come out, I decided to stick as close to the guides as I could.

I'm heading out now to check the RC shop.

TTYL Guys, and thanks again!

Dang... the RC shop went out of business a few months ago! No luck on the Styrene at Home Depot, they had Clear Polycarbonate Plexiglass, glass, and so forth, PVC piping, and For Sale signs (smaller than the ones at Wal-Mart which I have butchered) but no ABS sheets or the like. I stopped at an art store, and AC Moore (arts and crafts) but they also had nothing, just posterboard and foamboard.

I did however, pick this up at Home Depot:


It specifically says it is for PVC and ABS plastics. I suppose it is really meant to bond PVC piping joints, but do you think it might be what I'm looking for?

I'll guess I'll have to wait for my 48"x96" sheet of Styrene and my Reference Photo discs to come in the mail before I continue work on the project.

- Coffee

Stopped by FastSigns today, and they sold me the ONLY sheet of PolyStyrene they had, which happened to be 48"x96" in White. It was a lot more than the Black sheet I ordered ($65.00!!!) but I didn't care, because I want to get started on this now.



Had a nice chat with the folks that work there.

Before I found FastSigns, right down the street was a smaller sign shop called SignSource, which is privately owned. I had a long chat with the manager, Mark Williams, who was very knowledable about the material, even though he didn't stock it regularly.

He explained that Styrene is typically used for cheap throw-away signs for promotions, when a quick and dirty solution is necessary. He says it has a short shelf life, and brittles horribly due to temperature and light exposure (even indoor lighting). It has a tendency to yellow, as well, and he asked me a few questions about why I needed the material. I explained the basics, and he recommended I look into an industrial plastics supplier by the name of Industrial Safety Supply, who may have sheets of ABS plastic that would be suitable for things like American Football/Baseball helmets, as it is a lot more robust, but is much more expensive.

For now, I think I will stick to the plan, and use the Polystyrene, since the helmet will be painted, reinforced, and glued. Mark wasn't sure about the malleability of the thicker ABS under heat, but thought it would probably be about the same, but recommended I talk to ISS, since they deal with the materials constantly.

I'll speak with the folks at ISS later, but for now, I have more than enough Polystyrene to make a bucket, and probably the rest of the plastic parts of my armor. Not to mention, I still have another 48"x96" sheet on its way here, in fact at the moment it's in Ohio.

You like it huge coffe aren't you? Can't wait to see your Mendalorian Empire!
How thick is the material? I use 1mm material only, I have many other material thicknesses available, but I like the 1mm most.

See here I bend the 1mm (0.04") material "cold" at 20 °C (68°F)



I could bend it even more it would not break very easy.

Compared to the 2mm material, about at the same tension force.

I am not exactly sure what the thickness of the material is, suffice to say, it is probably 3 or 4 times THICKER than the garage sale signs, and MUCH more flexible, actually it seems to do exactly what you are showing, except that the piece I am playing with is substantially larger (and more difficult to manipulate).

I believe it is probably 1mm material, however, I didn't check that when I bought it, and I don't have the material in front of me at the moment. (At work). I will be sure to measure it when I get home.

At the very least, I can say that the Polypropylene that I have now is much easier to work with than the for sale signs. Not sure why... but it seems less likely to snap.

Is that Cement I posted ealier going to work with this stuf, u think Digi?

Is that Cement I posted ealier going to work with this stuf, u think Digi?

I guess so, yes. But I would try the behavior first on a small piece. See how the material reacts. Does it melt or not, usually it's welds together by a chemical reaction. That's also the reason why a cement is often called "welder".

Sounds like a plan, thanks Digifett.

I came home to get a drill for some work I am doing at my job, and found, to my surprise, that the 2nd roll of Polystyrene had arrived from US Plastics!

It's about the same thickness as what i bought from FastSigns, but textured on one side, and black. I'm guessing then that the white sheet I bought from FastSigns is in fact 1mm thickness.

The sheet from US Plastics seems tougher, but I'll have to play with it when I get home from work later. Thanks for responding again Digi!

What do u think of my old Max render of the bucket? I probably still have the MAX file here somewhere...


Hmm... looking at my order, the black sheet is actually 1/16th of an inch in thickness... which is a little thicker than a millimeter... ouch. Well, worst case scenario, I have a lot of material to use for the armor pieces.

I have been told that on the back of the helmet in the verticle section they used a casio calculator circuit board is this ture?

Wow, that cement worked really well on my test squares. It DOES weld the two pieces, I noticed around the edges that I could see the plastic had bonded together. PERFECT! It sets in around a minute, and permanently bonds in under an hour.

Should I be using the pipe primer that is typically used on PVC, or is that unnecessary? I didn't try it for the test, and the two pieces are bonded together well enough so that no matter how hard I pull, I cannot pull the pieces apart under my own strength.

I have been told that on the back of the helmet in the verticle section they used a casio calculator circuit board is this ture?

Zeljin, yep, as far as I know, but check BobaMaker's site, he actually sells a molded version of the circuit board used.

http://bobamaker.co.uk/MQ-1.html

Ok, there's one area of WoF's template I'm a little confused about:



Is the area highlighted in red meant to be removed? Is it meant to over lap there? Or is it just part of the design?

I'm trying to figure out where the seam is supposed to be, and I wasn't sure if that thin strip is meant to be cut off, or left alone.

Suggestions?

That is extra material, if you use the internial frame method. When the material is rapped around the frame it is not always a prefect fit so I added a little extra material that could be trimmed as needed. digifett's method doesn't use the interal frame so it can be removed.

Alan

Thanks again Alan!

Appreciate your time, and might I say, that was a really quick response!

- Coffee

I have been told that on the back of the helmet in the verticle section they used a casio calculator circuit board is this ture?

Yes you are right, you can see it behind the keyslots shown in Post #52.
I baught it also from babamaker, also you find the in US ebay a lot.

Is the area highlighted in red meant to be removed? Is it meant to over lap there? Or is it just part of the design?

See Post #51 there you will find more informations.
I would suggest you read everything very carefully, if you find things their not mentioned there please let me know, I always try to help then.
I am happy you found your right material now

That is extra material, if you use the internial frame method.

I think I like your method next time when I would build another one

What do u think of my old Max render of the bucket? I probably still have the MAX file here somewhere..

Well, you actually hit my nerv there, when you carefully read my bio you will know why. You should visit my website also...

See Post #51 there you will find more informations.
I would suggest you read everything very carefully, if you find things their not mentioned there please let me know, I always try to help then.

Sorry, yeah I couldn't tell from the picture if that small piece was what you had overlapped... That's why I asked, you know the old saying... measure twice, cut once...

Well, you actually hit my nerv there, when you carefully read my bio you will know why. You should visit my website also...

Hehe, yeah I took a look at your website (although I'm definitely not fluent in German) and your profile. I was a little confused at first though, when you said "you hit my nerve there" I thought you were mad for some reason...

Glad to see a fellow Modeler/Animator out there... Though I don't do it professionally, not since college. I do still have the Max files here someplace, if you'd like to have a look, I'd be happy to give them to you. I'm sure you could probably model out a better one easily, especially since the model is well over 4 years old!

Thanks again Digi, and WizardofFlight!

- Coffee

Hehe, yeah I took a look at your website (although I'm definitely not fluent in German)

Yes, I am sorry my fault, but the english version is currently "out of date" and temporarily I took it out . If you saw the demoreel you saw the newest projects.
Of course you can not make me mad with a 3D object You will need much much much more to make me mad. You 3D helmet is quite accurate, only the color confused me a little

Thanks Digi. I kinda thought that as I posted it, since it is quite red. I had 2 other versions that I do not have the renders from anymore, one was an unweathered ESB Boba, and an unweathered Jango as well.

hello i am new here and i had some questions about your awesome helmet did you use the inner surfase template at all in your build or just the mask ones twice? and if you used the same template twice how did you bind the top of the helmet to the body part? does it just fit inside? or on top? thanks and awesome helmet!

never mind i figured out answers to both questions

Sorry, I am sooo late, I was so busy so I didn't visit TDH for so long.

did you use the inner surface template

All temp parts I used is are shown as little graphics, the inner surface I didn't use.

Did it make a nasty smoke in your oven?

At 100 deg celsius (212 deg F) its just a little comfortable warm for the plastic , no burning will happen here, so there will be no smoke or smell at all.

Wow, Chris....your skill is amazing!
Keep up the good work...
Rob

Very true, indeed. You make the Scratch-Builders proud.

David.

Sweet tutorial. Keep it up! (At least now I have a clue what to do. Haha)
I've been following the instructions for the dome, but using different materials.

Can't wait for the next part.

~Zemmy

Very clever solution! Can't wait to see that L/H ear...

Very true, indeed. You make the Scratch-Builders proud.

You are so nice, thank you Jaiden! How far are you with your lid?

Sweet tutorial. Keep it up! (At least now I have a clue what to do. Haha)
I've been following the instructions for the dome, but using different materials.

Can't wait for the next part.

~Zemmy

Thank you a lot for your encouragement. Be careful making the dome from paper, what material are you taking?

Very clever solution! Can't wait to see that L/H ear...

Nice to see you here TF! Your work is absolutely fantastic!

---

Sorry when I am so slow with my work. But man, I like to spend one's time in TDH so much!

Hi, I'm new here and what you have done here is just amazing. I've been looking at doing something similar to this and I've been reading through this and maybe I missed something, but how does the bottom of the helmet hold it's shape once you've cut out the cheekbones and visor slots? or is that the point, it won't actually hold it's shape until you put the cheekbones and visor in?

Originally Posted by jsbelanger

Hi, I'm new here and what you have done here is just amazing. I've been looking at doing something similar to this and I've been reading through this and maybe I missed something, but how does the bottom of the helmet hold it's shape once you've cut out the cheekbones and visor slots? or is that the point, it won't actually hold it's shape until you put the cheekbones and visor in?

In my case, the helmet "held" it's shape pretty close, due to the fact of the dome being attached at the top, and the helmet "barrel" being connected together at the rear....however, the addition of the mandibles/cheeks will definately solidify the construction.
Rob

Originally Posted by Ghostsoldier

In my case, the helmet "held" it's shape pretty close, due to the fact of the dome being attached at the top, and the helmet "barrel" being connected together at the rear....however, the addition of the mandibles/cheeks will definately solidify the construction.
Rob

thanks for the feedback. This has been my biggest question mark as to why it doesn't just "open up" .

Did you cut out the cheekbones and visor before or after assembling the barrel? and from your comments, i'm guessing you started with the dome.

Great job with the lifted ear

this thing its nuts! great work!

Originally Posted by digifett

Thank you a lot for your encouragement. Be careful making the dome from paper, what material are you taking?

...Cardboard!! Lots of it.

The first try was a major disaster (especially the dome). I forgot about the fact that I'm building a Jango helemet. DX
Also, I skipped Step 1. It was too big. (Even for Dad, lol)

Originally Posted by jsbelanger

thanks for the feedback. This has been my biggest question mark as to why it doesn't just "open up" .

Did you cut out the cheekbones and visor before or after assembling the barrel? and from your comments, i'm guessing you started with the dome.

Yes...I started with the dome first on my project, but I used a bike helmet as a base...I cut the cheek sections out of the "outer" pattern piece first, then attached both the "inner" and "outer" pattern pieces to my dome...I used the cut edge of the cheek hole of the "outer" as a guide to cut out the "inner" cheek holes, when it was time to glue the mandible's in....
Rob

but how does the bottom of the helmet hold it's shape once you've cut out the cheekbones and visor slots? or is that the point, it won't actually hold it's shape until you put the cheekbones and visor in?

See post #17, the most important step is the "baking" in the oven. There the plastic is memorized in its position. Additionally I reinforced the rim and the visor, seen in Post #26 Strengthen the main body ring: and #29 in last picture.

Hi digifett,
Just wanted to say thanks for posting this tutorial. I have absolutely no experience in this kind of thing but between WOF’s great templates and your brilliant tutorial I feel I can now make a helmet of a standard I’ll be happy with.
I’ve already nearly finished my cardboard mock up.

The talent and helpfulness of the people on this forum will never cease to amaze me.

Hi digifett,
Just wanted to say thanks for posting this tutorial. I have absolutely no experience in this kind of thing but between WOF’s great templates and your brilliant tutorial I feel I can now make a helmet of a standard I’ll be happy with.
I’ve already nearly finished my cardboard mock up.

That is so nice what you are saying here. Thank you so much.

The talent and helpfulness of the people on this forum will never cease to amaze me.

What you are writing here is exactly the reason why I like to be around here. The first time as I saw all the different tutorials I was absolutely amazed, there are some which are so detailed, but still I had some questions left. So I built my own bucket and try to deliver every important information which might be interesting to you readers.

Again I have to say, I am sorry because I am too slow and as I write this I get a guilty conscience. I will try hard to make the next step this upcoming weekend! I am too busy right now and was all the last time, thank you for your sympathy readers! :o

Chris

I'm so grateful for your awesome tutorial! It's spurred me on that making a good custom bucket might not be such a far off dream

Danke schön, Chris! Today is the first time I've seen your tutorial, and between yours and AntMan's thread, I've picked up some great tips. I'm sure the helmet I'm working on is going to come out very, very well. Maybe not as good as yours, but I'll try!

This thread is Awesome Great Work!!!