First post, first WOF bukcet build - cardboard!

AntMan

Jr Hunter
Hi!

My name's Peter and I'm living in Delft, which you may know is a city in The Netherlands/Holland.
I'm brand new to this forum and I love it! Although at first I had a hard time with all the acronyms :confused, I've been browsing and reading lots of threads from the Boba-Helmet forum and I am very, very impressed with the skills of many of you painting, weathering and scratch-building buckets. :eek:

Before I registered at TDH, I stumbled across an Instructable (http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-cardboard-costume-helmet/) for a cardboard Boba Fett helmet by this genius called Honus. He and Alan Sinlair gave me inspiration to start off and build a bucket myself. It is a low-cost and relatively easy method to build a helmet. Thanks guys, you are true pioneers to me! (y)

I must say I started about three weeks ago, so the pictures I will post here are from the past. This gives me some breathing room, as I can only work an hour or so per day to build my cardboard Boba bucket. While I'm posting this thread, I have reached the stage where I am working on the range finder, including LEDs. So far I've created the bucket, the ears and the range finder parts.

Now let's see what a Dutch dude can conjure up and have a look at my first progress, about three weeks back:

Here a pic of the base with the dome still to be glued on:
Boba-01.jpg


I used all the tips and tricks Honus listed, such as misting the cardboard to be able to bend it into shape. This works really well and prevents the cardboard from folding and cracking. For the dome, this is great since the rounder the shape is, the easier it will be to smoothen the dome surface.

Here are a few pics with the dome parts partially glued on (I used white glue, normally used to glue wooden parts together):
Boba-02.jpg


Boba-03.jpg



And this is a close-up of one of the cheek sections, bent into shape and glued into place:

Boba-04.jpg


This is the point where I glued on the second outer layer, giving the bucket more rigidness:

Boba-05.jpg


Boba-06.jpg


And to top off for today, these two pics are of the circuit board vent-grille. This was a very detailed operation in itself, since I needed to bend the grille after I cut out the holes. All parts where then glued into place and the result is quite nice.

Boba-07.jpg

Boba-08.jpg


I hope to post more of my progress-from-the-past pics later this week. This should be no problem since I am enjoying a couple of days of X-mas leave from work.(y)
Here in Delft it is past sleepy time I think I will hit the sack now. See you soon! 8)

Greetz,
Peter
 
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Great start, my friend! And welcome to TDH!

Feel free to ask around if you need help. There are plenty of us WOF veterans out there.

David.
 
Looking GREAT! (y)(y) Very nice! Keep us posted on your progress. I'll be watching this build closely.

Did you use 2 layers for the dome as well?

Alan
 
Wow. Great job. The whole thing looks great. I am especially impressed with the vent though. Looks awesome! And the dome is perfect. That's got to be the best wedge-construction dome I've seen yet. Can't wait to see more.
 
Hi,

I'm back again and read all your wonderful replies. Thanks guys for all the encouragements. It's at least half the fun knowing that your work is being appreciated.

WizardOfFlight/Alan: It means a lot that you think I'm doing well (at least so far ;))! Thanks! But I would not have been able to even start with this project if it weren't for those excellent templates you provided. I am in awe. I'm almost nervous knowing that you're watching my progess. But I will keep posting with great enthousiasm.
For the dome I used a single layer. However, I used the templates before you made the update on the dome templates, increasing them to 103%. I guess I will be able to account for the 3% by applying the spackling paste or polyfilla. The final helmet won't be an exact replica of the original, but at least I will not be mistaken for a Tusken Raider mask :lol:!

Jaiden/David: Thanks for the support! I will certainly have some questions in the near future.

GYPSYBOY + tk7602: Indeed I was impressed myself with the keyslot cut-out. I didn't expect it to be so clean-cut. I guess good quality (yet cheap!) cardboard and a razor sharp knife will do the trick. I wasn't too sure how the vent would turn out after I bent it, since it also involved misting/wetting the cardboard. Usually cardboard expands at the corners due to the applied misting but this time it work perfectly.

And all you other guys, thanks for your comments. Keep it coming!

Now let's continue with the pics! Here we go:

The first in line is one of the rear of the bucket, with the keyslot area cut out. Also, I cut out part of the visor. Not all of it, to keep structural integrity:

Boba-09.jpg


Boba-10.jpg


Boba-12.jpg


In these pics I glued in the keyslot and secured it for drying with some clothespins:

Boba-13.jpg


Boba-14.jpg


Lookin' mighty sharp!

Boba-15.jpg


While this was given the time to dry, I started working on the ears. I decided to go with the lamination technique, making the final pieces more solid as opposed to building them hollow. I first measured how thick every component needed to be and cut out enough pieces/layers to reach that thickness. The cardboard I used was about 2 millimeters thick so for the left ear I needed at least 6 pieces.

<Sorry for the lack of quality in the photo's, but I shot them with artificial lighting, as I do most of the building in the evening.>

Boba-16.jpg


After I glued several parts together, I started roughly shaping the left ear curve by cutting excess material with a hobby knife. At first it didn't look too charming, but keeping confidence helped me to persist.

Boba-18.jpg


Boba-19.jpg


Boba-21.jpg


For the right ear, which is a lot more complex I also cut out all the pieces I needed, using the W(y)F templates.

Boba-17.jpg


This particular part was the easiest:

Boba-20.jpg


The rest of the right ear parts were also laminated but took so much focus that I totally forgot to take photographs of all the intermediate steps :(. But the idea is basically the same; cutting to shape and then sanding it for eternity. Here are the results thus far:

Boba-22.jpg


The range finder stalk I also cut out of three layers of cardboard.

Boba-11.jpg


The center axis for turning the stalk up and down, I made from four circles of cardboard, glued on top of one another and centering it in the top part right ear piece.

Boba-23.jpg


Some more sanding and a lot of patience:

Boba-24.jpg


After reading more threads on the range finder I came across a few that incorporated blinking LEDs. I decided to go for that as well. Luckily I have a shop just around the corner which specialises in electronics (similar to Radio Shack). For about 4 EUROs I bought a mini-kit containing a small circuit board and two red coloured LEDs.
I realised that I needed to recreate the stalk in such a way that two wires (power supply) can run through it. The easiest was to cut a gutter in the center piece of the new stalk:

Boba-32.jpg


Cutting, folding and glueing the range finder to shape was not too difficult. My son holding the result:

Boba-25.jpg


Boba-26.jpg


The circuit board is small enough to fit into the range finder

Boba-27.jpg


To obtain the approximatly correct height for the LEDs to stick out, I mounted the LEDs on two layers of cardboard (three in total):

Boba-28.jpg


Sticking out just right:

Boba-29.jpg


Here's the lot:

Boba-31.jpg


These last few pics are of the bucket after the application of polypaste or spacklingfilla:

Boba-33.jpg


It will require a lot of elbow grease to get that surface as smooth as silk! A friend of mine made a smart-*** remark by saying that for the next few days I would be shining my helmet :lol: LOL!

Boba-34.jpg


Close-up of the left cheek, still to be sanded to shape:

Boba-35.jpg




That's it for now. Feel free to post some comments (both positive and critical are welcome) and tell me what you think. Just keep in mind that I'm a rookie and still have a lot to learn. Right now I guess it is time to do the dishes and clean up the laundry. Tomorrow we will be celebrating Christmas with family and friends at our place, so I guess no posting for me. Hope to be back with some progress pics pretty soon! :)

Take care and Merry Christmas,
Peter
 
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:eek::eek::eek:

(y)(y)(y)

You have far surpassed what I did. Way to go! I can't wait to see it finished.(y)

David.
 
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Thats some robust looking cardboard. Looks excelent.

Patience and elbow greece. What a combination.

Are you going to resin it and wear it or cast it?

A+ work.
 
Thats some robust looking cardboard. Looks excelent.

Patience and elbow greece. What a combination.

Are you going to resin it and wear it or cast it?

A+ work.

Thanks!

I don't plan to cast it. I will be happy if I get it finished and painted for display purposes.

Greetz,
Peter
 
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