My fiberglass helmet project (Progress pics!!!)

This is my first ever Boba related project and my first time using/casting with fiberglass.
It started out as a plaster casting of a 95 DP helmet, but I resculpted the dent and the whole back keyhole section (The plaster casting for the keyhole section was ruined by air-bubbles on the mold >: )
With JD's help via phone and e-mails (Thanks again Loren!), I was able to make a 3-part mold and casted 2 helmets, the first one was too thin and because of being impatient I broke it when I pulled it from the mold. The one here is the second helmet next to the DP after some more sanding and bondo work.
I still have more work on it, but here it is so far with taped on resin ear-pieces:
http://image1ex.villagephotos.com/1414135.jpg

That's a sweet lookin' bucket man. Amazing for your 1000th try, let alone your first.

I tip my bucket to you sir!

Lookin' good man!! :thumbsup

Looks great man!

Thanks guys! Couldn't have done it without TDH and its great members. I'm going to be putting RA's awesome aluminum rangefinder and earcap on this after I finish painting it, then I can start on my spidey blaster and the rest of my costume.
The rest of the pics are here:

http://www.villagephotos.com/pubbrow...elected=143044

Fantasmagorical, man! Wow, maybe I can talk you into making a Boba-shaped camper shell for my pick-up. :) ...Nice work area too, btw. It's even number coded. Now THAT'S organization!

Very nice helmet, congrats.

ditto that, looks like an awesome helmet, especially from your first try or two. Very well done!

Update when you're painting,
Phil

Very nice! :cheers

Awesome work dude! :cheers

Thanks again everyone:o
It took a lot of work (sanding/bondo) already to get to this primered stage, but I'm pretty happy with the results. It's not a perfect casting and I still have to cut a little more on the left side to make it even with the right, and more sanding to do but I'm really eager to start painting.

Question though for those who have fiberglass helmets: How do I get my visor to be flush to my helmet? The vertical lines is fine but I can't get my dremil to sand the inside of the curved eye section evenly?
Do I get the curve of the visor as close as possible and then fill in the gaps from the outside with bondo or something?

Very nice work there. :)

Keep it going.

Nathan :)

Don't feel too bad about the first one, Vash, that happens sometimes. What you undertook, was a very challenging task. For someone just starting out in fiberglass, You've handled building a dissasembling mold beatifully, without the benefit of an actual demonstration. That alone, is something you can be proud of. WELL DONE!

Thanks JD, I couldn't have done it without a good teacher;)
I think I can salvage the first one, with a lot of bondo work, the parts that broke/chipped were the mandibles and the back and I can probably add another layer of fiberglass to reinforce it. I'll show pics if and when I decide to do this.
What brand of silver or chrome should I put on this?

It's probably easier to run a new one, than to repair the damage.

w:suprisew good job man :cheers

Thanks.
Here is how it looks today. It's not movie accurate, but hopefully when I finish and do some touch-up it will look close. I still have loads of work still left to do:wacko
http://image1ex.villagephotos.com/1453928.jpg

Here's another progress pic as of today.
I'm not through weathering and I think the mandibles is a little too red, (although not as bad as in the picture)
Any suggestions/comments would be appreciated.
http://image1ex.villagephotos.com/1462020.jpg
The visor is made from an acrylic sheet that I tinted with limo tint. It is thin enough to be cut with scissors.

WOW!!!:suprise That is so COOL! :thumbsup Faaaaaaaantastic work! :jango

Looking great. I also think the mandibles might be a little bright. Maybe rub some charcoal in to darken them or just use some sort of misting or acrylic wash. You might also want to throw in some other greys/chromes for the damage to make it more multi-layered and realistic. I know you said you're not done with it, so you might be doing that anyway :)

Looking like a great first time,

Phil

I agree with JMP its way better than my first try.

Thanks JMP for the advice and TK for the compliment.
All this has been done with spray paints and liquid latex masking, hopefully I can airbrush and hand paint the details soon.
Tried this on melast night with some padding on the inside and it's huge!!!
Will post more pics when I get them.

can you explain a little about the liquid latex masking?...im curious...:?

You can buy liquid latex at a hobby or craft store and comes in a plastic bottle (also called liquid masking or latex masking). It is the consistency of paste, but you can use a small brush etc. to apply it and dries quickly (it just stinks because of the ammonia).
What I did was to brush on some latex in the same shape as the damage in the reference pics for each color I was doing (it dries in a few min. if thin and longer if thickly applied) then painted it.
After the paint dried, I refered back to those pics and scratched/pulled the latex in those areas and quickly rubbed it with a paper towel to get what I missed.
Be careful not to drag the paper towel or peel the latex in one particular direction, I did this and it rolled off some of the paint and gave me weathering that I didn't want :cry.
Hope that gave you some idea of what this stuff can do.