Converting a 95 Don Post to Fiberglass?

OK, I have a 95 Don Post Helmet that I want to use as a mold to create a Fiberglass helmet. I can't afford to buy one right now and have thought about giving in a shot myself. In fact, I would like to make 2 copies, one for Boba Fett and the other for Jango (of course, slightly modified). Could those of you who have taken a mold of you helmets please give me some tips on how you did it? I would like to know what you used to make the mold and how did you divide the mold around the helmet. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

I did a budget fibreglass pull of a '96 DP using hydrocal plaster. It was a three part mould with two part lines around the rangefinder ear piece (so that this would pull straight off as one piece) and the other part line down the middle of the other ear piece. Since hydrocal is an extremely hard plaster, I thought a 3 piece mould would be best to try and minimize any undercuts. The process is simple. Secure the helmet by building a clay foundation and build up a retaining wall at your first part line with clay and fill up any holes too. Grease up the master with vaseline, mix up the plaster and when it starts to thicken slightly, paint it on with a brush. Build up additional layers until it is at least an inch thick. Remove the clay and build your second retaining wall. Make sure your first part line is well greased. Lay up your plaster & repeat everything for the last section. You should now have a 3 part mould and your helmet should pull free with a bit of teasing. I used 1/4" chopped fibre strand and unwaxed resin to lay up the 'glass. Unfortunately I had to destroy my mould when I removed my helmet. I tried a fibreglass release agent in the mould that I think just soaked into the hydrocal. I should have either painted the mould to seal it first, or used vaseline again as a release agent. I did manage to salvage the 'glass helm. I post some pics as soon as I get to work on it again. Total cost of the materials (10 lbs clay, 50 lb bag of hydrocal, chopped fibre, resin & catalyst)was around 50 bucks and I still have material left over. PM me if you need clarification on anything or more info.

Glad you asked that question spidey. I was wondering the same thing. I've got some 97 DP's and was wanting to to do a build up on one of them to make the size more accurate and lessen some of the warps.

I've never messed around with making any molds and the only fiberglass exp I have is with repairing RV bodies (long story). I imagine using clay or maybe sculpty would be best for the buildup part? Any help here anyone...suggestions.

Matt

Het Matt, if you don't mind it being permanent, why don't you use good ol' Bondo for the buildup & for filling any small holes/imperfections. I just used clay to fill the holes because I wanted my master to remain original & intact. The only thing is water based clay tends to dry out fast and flake off so you have to be organized & work quickly in the above tutorial.

Okay folks,

Here is the answer, and I don't know what anyone hasn't posted it yet. RTV, RTV and More RTV. RTV is 'Room Temperature Vulcanizing' rubber. It is, however, expensive, at about $110 per 10 lbs kit, but it works great. I myself, as well as a few friends (that's you mike) have used this and it's great. Build it up around your helmet to a thickness that you're confident won't rip, and then build a two part plaster mother mold around that for support. Once you've done this, remove the plaster mother mold, and peel off the RTV ( it should come off the helmet like a latex mask coming off your head). The return the RTV Mold to the inside of your mother mold and you're ready to start casting.

Good luck. Email me if you have any more questions: jcavileer@adelphia.net

I agree RTV is the only way. Either rtv or plaster is going to be ALOT of messy work. I'd just as soon go with a glass kit offered on the board, honestly it will be cheaper for you.
I have a couple glass dp95 castings I can offer (shell only) for $140.00 (wouldn't include any other parts since you can use those from the helmet you already have)
Contact me.

Impervium@aol.com

For the RTV process, do you use a brush on type of RTV and do tons of coats on the helmet??

Just curious for possible future projects.

Thanks,

Chris

I think Darth Jared said it best, RTV is expensive. The whole point I was trying to make was that you can do a fibreglass casting on a budget. If you were going to do a lot of casting then yes, I agree that you should use RTV and make a proper mold. But if you are only going to do one or two pulls for yourself, why not try the cheap method?

Here are the progress pics on my FG helm (penny pincher method).

The original still intact.


The glass pull (notice the ****** seam line).


Lastly, the primered copy almost ready for paint. The photoshop lost the left side pic so you get the rangefinder side instead.


Just wanted to show that you don't need to spend big bucks if you want to do a recast yourself. Cost of materials to do this was about 50 bucks.

What was the method u used. That looks great.

Looks like it came out nice.


Matt

Jedi-Bob, my tutorial is the second posting on this thread. Email me if you want any more info.

That is a nice pull. I want to do the same thing with mine so I can have a Jango helmet to sit beside my new Boba.

I see your total cost was around 50 bucks, is that canadian dollars? I'm in NB so if that's canadian I think I'll give it a shot.
I'm not clear on the 3 piece master though. Did you have one piece for just the range finder and two other piece's for each half? Do you have a pic of the master?

I don't have a pic of the master & I unfortunately suffered mold lock & had to DESTROY the mold to release the helmet. The 3 pieces I am referring to are: 1)front of the helmet from range finder to the middle of the earpiece on the left, 2) back of the helmet from the middle of the left ear piece to the rangefinder, 3) the rangefinder earpiece by itself (minus the cap -to be casted seperately).

The $50 cost was in USD if I remeber. I think the cost breakdown in Canuck bucks was like this: $20 for fiberglass, resin, stir sticks, etc., $30 for the hydrostone to make the mold, $20 for the clay, plus some tax. Still VERY economical for a fiberglass helmet. I paid $70 USD fot the vinyl helmet that I recast.

I understand now. I think I'll have to give that a whirl. I needs a Jango.
Thanks again for the tips on it.

No Problem.

bigkid, were you able to make multiple recasts or just one cast?

Just the one cast. *Note* Paint the inside of the mold to seal it before you use a release agent. The stuff I used is water soluble & just soaked in, thereby NOT doing it's job!

OK. Thought I would add to this thread & show off the helmet with paint. I still need to install the aluminum rangefinder post & resin pieces, visor, fan, mouth box & inside padding. It is getting there, SLOWLY.

That looks great. I can't wait to see the final product. I still haven't tackled casting mine yet. Maybe in the next week or two. I am having a hard time thinking about potentially screwing up my original Post helmet.

C'mon, take the plunge!

Here is a link for building a mold out of fiberglass. The example uses and airplane prop but you should be able to easily adapt it to what ever you want.

http://www.cstsales.com/fiberg0.htm

And this shows how to cast your new mold.

http://www.cstsales.com/part1.htm

I'm not sure how much this will cost you but judging from bigkidbiggertoys post this might be cheaper than the hydrostone method or not much more. Just remember to put several coats of mold release the original piece then on the finished mold so you won't get mold lock.


Here is the main link to their tutorials, they also sell the stuff

http://www.cstsales.com/articles_for_model_builders.htm

Hope this helps

There are some great idea here, thanks!

Have any of you tried to fiberglass in an RTV mold? I would think that the RTV would be more forgiving to the original plug. It has been suggested to me to put a thin layer of RTV over the plug and then create a 2 part plaster mold for support. This sounds like a great idea and was wanting to find out if anyone has ever made a mold with this method.

I did the plaster method(still in the works actually) it is going well but I am worried about release part of the job.
I am doing it again this summer by using RTV as a thin layer(it'll grab the details better) then using the plaster mother mold over that to hold the shape. That sounds like what you were saying so I hope it helps a little. The rubber mold will be MUCH easier to get off the helmet with the undercuts.