SR V3 Helmet Interiors for FP and other MR based helmets. Progress

Today I finished laying out, measuring and making a rough template of the inside of the FP, MR helmets.

If you dont have a FP helmet, I highly recommend them. His worksmanship with the fiberglass is second to none. You wont get a sturdier, lighter, or cleaner helmet anywhere for the price.

I will be using the premium kit. Though I feel the premium kit is overkill, because the budget kit is superb, either will work. If you want all those bling aluminum pieces, and the ability to paint it all seperate, then the premium kit is your huckleberry.

This kit will be a full intrior. It will consiste of 4-5 skins, with padding inlays. I will over the next month, be laying out the internals.

The sides and rear electronic prop pieces will be based on my V2 stormrider pieces. I will be re=-designing parts that I did not like on the first pass. Ill be adding a skin that goes under the pieces (The new version will have the old pieces attached so it will go in as one piece) that wraps from cheek to cheek. The cheek and mandible pieces will be covered, the forehead will have a wrap around, the T visor will have a gasket that goes all the way around it, and finally the dome will be made of pieces that fill most of the gaps.

In the next days or so, I will show how I create the inner templates, and the layout/layup of the rear electronics.

Thanks, really looking forward to doing this project. This will be my end all be all helmet for my white fett.

Glad to see this moving forward Mike. Really looking forward to it

And thanks for doing this

Chris

This should be good... pics pics pics..!!

Bring it ON!!! I love these! I need something like this for my Scout Trooper lid if you ever do "other" variants. Thanks for the work Mike!

I would do scout or stormtrooper versions if someone wants to loan me a scout helmet thats pretty common.

I realize im better at these than I am making armour etc. Ill post pics of my method of getting the inner dimensions tonight. And a first look at the design/layout of the rear landscape.

Once the interior is painted and in the helmet would it still wearable for trooping ?
I think this is a really cool idea to have an replicated interior rather than a blank interior for the helmet.

Yes, its soft foam/rubber like a nerf. There are other versions myself, and others have made. This particular version though, is going to fully engulf the inner of the helmet.

Im currently slowly making patterns so that I can determine the fit, and the number of pieces needed. Most of it is simple, but where the dome curves, there has to be pieces that once shaped to the dome, come back fairly close together.

I have what I think will be the rear electronics close. Im going to do some test fitting this week.

If you search for stormrider V2 interior youll find many, many threads

Thanks
m2

I think I have a couple of sets laying around. Brown with the black weathered with silver wear.

I had someone ask about a couple sets, but my mailbox was full and he never replied back.

The new ones will fully engulf the innerds. The new ones use the old parts, and have many new parts to them.

I should have some prelim pix as soon as my taxes are done

thanks for the reply, hope you get your taxes done.
If you could let me know whne you get a moment, how much they will be including shipping to the UK,
have great weekend

The old kits are 90 shipped to the uk, the new kits will be about double the amount of parts and will run under 150 shipped. I have to see how much tiem and rubber each takes first.

This project isnt stalled, ive just run into some real world issues, and ive had to re-tile my kitchen and put new floors in, in order to sell my house. I had hoped to avoid having to sell it, but thats now the current course. Im almost done with the kitchen, once its done, I will lay out all the internal parts, clean them up, glue them down, and take a pic to show. I may work on that tonight after cutting some more of the tricky pieces of tile

Im looking forward to it. On a side note, boomer sent me his biker scout helmet, and im also doing an interior for that. Should be really cool. Never worn one before, tried it on last night, and have all sorts of ideas!

Thanks
m2

Can't wait for the pics brother! We all know that life takes presidence over our hobie so just take care of business then let the cards fall where they may here man.

The center piece in this pic has been completed after the pic, built up, extended and detailed. The battery boxes are going to be optional, as some peoples nogins wont allow for those to be behind their head without making the helmet fit funny.

Wow Stormy, that seems to become an awesome addition to our FP Premium helmets ... I am very curious how this turns out! Keep us updated with pics bro.

have to keep some money back for those!

oh and almost forgot: **** good craftmanship bro!

Very nice!

super cool man love the little doodads and thingamajigs!

HOLY SCHNEIKYS!!!!

Awesomesauce; ever since I bought the mini Fett helmet that shows the inside detail I have wanted to for a bigger version helmet.

There will be movement tonight. Hope to finalize this piece, and paint it for molding. Ill pop a shot of how it will look before I drop it in silicone.

Ok, so the rear is laid out the way I want it, and its got a nice coat of primer, getting rady for rubber.

Ive had a few questiojns as to why I have changed some things.

The main questions are 'Why did you remove your rear piece. The quick answer is, it needed to be a lot flatter in order to not cause problems with people with bigger noggins. The second reason is I felt the over detail, was more episode 123 than 4 5 6. Anotherwords. Too techy. I have revamped the sides to have less detail, and tried to give the whole rear piece a nice feel, that should match the rest of the helmet.

The second question is, 'why arent there more pieces'. The simple answer is, you dont see it flat on, you see it from an angle, as noted in the pictures below. I wanted it to look techy, and full, but not overly so.

Ill need to light sand some of the flat pieces and then spray one more time, and then it goes in rubber, should be able to put a rubber pull, in the helmet this weeknd for photos.

Awesome! Count me in bro! I want one of those ...

Im thinking I want one but do I NEED one is the question...

[jedi mind trick on] you want to have it, you need it! [mind trick off]

Seriously bro, I have the old ones and the helmet fits like a glove! There´s no better way for helmet padding.

you know the big headed guys he referenced...Im one of them...well at least big nosed. That being said it may not work at all...But My FP might just be sitting since my MSH1 is probably larger. I havent even gotten to see my FP since its 1800 miles away at home maybe if the price is right Ill pick one of these up

The key on these, is im going to make a 'lock in system'. So parts could be removed. The key pressure points will be the FOREHEAD and the rear. The forehead will force it away. I could make a 'smaller cushion' system also. That allowed it to facilitate larger heads.

Im also going to make a rubberized gasket enclosure for under the helmet, around the neck so kids cant see whos in the helmet. If you think about it, kids are looking up at a sweating chin constantly.

The locking system will be mushroom plastic or hard rubber knobs that get glued in, and the liner will snap out. I know a lot of people like to have their helmet on display, and imagine peoples surprise when they look in it, and its fully functionalish.

fantastic work as usual, brother!

cant wait to see it all done

oh man, I just found this thread...too cool! My wife is going to kill me if I spend any more money on my Fett, but I really really want one. She'll get over it Can't wait for more on this. Keep up the awesome work!

I did a test pour with solid soft rubber today, so I can test fit it in the helmet. its decent. only problem is the thin spots in the center, are really thin. I need to come up with a spacing system for it.

Im going to let it fully cure, then mount it in a helmet today, so we can get a FIRST IMPRESSION of how its coming together, and then ill start making the visor and cheeks!!

Need to let the crubber cure quite a long time, due to the fact that it is so thin, it uses heat to cure. so ill bake it at 200, and then take it out, and fully cool it, then remove it from the mold. Then mount.

waiting patiently...dont think Ill be getting anything else for my fett for a while after my recent purchases though but who knows

Ok test fit the right side. Not glued down and the 'white rubber' was a failure, so im going back to black. the white dye makes the rubber too brittle and it tears easily. going to pour a black one now.

On test fit of the full rear. My black dye is no good, so there some discoloring, but its a good pull and it fits well, so now I can work on the cheeks and the front!

Input?

Man that was fast. I just saw the white one refreshed with the new post button and saw this one. Looks great. Do you think this will fit a FPH as well?

I think the FPH is a bit bigger.

The jist of it is, the parts will all fit, you may have to cut along the center rear piece, and the ear piece, and put it in as 3 pieces. Im purposely allowing for some spacing concerns, spots that can but cut out, or spread apart to accomodate as many helmets as possible, however the kit should fit the MR and thus the new FP helmet exactly. I laid it in my mr. It fit identically.

Im going tow ork on the cheeks this week, and the forehead. Once those are done, the roundd dome pieces will be the most difficult as they will have to be shaped and cut like papakura in order to 'fit' around th dome.

Ok, i worked out the inside mandibles.

I didnt document the first, so as I make the second to match, ill do a quick hitter tutorial on it. As this is one of the more difficult parts.

First I drape a hot piece of polystyrene over the inside cheek. It gives me a nice piece that will lay nicely inside the mandible. I use my belt sander to shape it. It looks like this marvelous piece of plastic when its done.


The plastic doesnt drape well, so I then place a piece of sintra cut to match the center flat spot. And glue it down. I did not cut out the detail parts first (I know you were wondering why) because it would be to brittle and it would not glue down and keep the shape perfect.


The third step is mans best friend, bondo, well maybe second best, behind duct tape. Ill bondo this once, sand then again, sand and it should be nice and smooth. Then I will drill the ends of the detail pieces, and use a sharp knife to connect the edges. I was careful NOT to glue it down, where I knew I would be taking out details. Just to make it easier on myself.


More later today!

Looking awesome. I really would love to throw this into my asok jango. Do you have any idea if that may be possibly; not sure if you have had any experience with his buckets.

WOW these are just great keep up the good work SR.

And in the helmet

most impressive...your doing another piece over the brow right?

Yes, a piece in the brow, a gasket to go all the way around the T visor, and a top dome piece.

Im about half done. This is an AMAZING amount of work. I underestimated it for sure

what kind of price point you looking at with this? Might be worth getting and having it displayed instead of the outside of the helmet its so detailed

This is looking amazing! Keep up the great work, I cannot wait till they are done!

The old helmet kits were 85 shipped. These are about triple the parts, but theres no way I would charge that much.

Im looking at 100-150 shipped, depending on how many people want them. If I can buy the materials in large quantities I can reduce the price significantly. But the materials go bad, especially foam. You have a month or two window tops once you open it, or it loses its supple textures.

Ill likely sell the kit to anyone that has my previous kit, at a discount also.

I personally think the price is a little high, however I can honestly say ive got 100 hours into it, ill have another 100 into it before im done, and I will probably have 1k in materials, by the time I make all the molds, the prototype plastic pieces I have had to pour, and grind up etc. So Ill likely not break even. But this is the most fun I have had doing a project yet. So its worth it.

I would easily pay $150 for a set like that. The amount of time and effort really shows, and I hope that others would agree that a higher price tag is worth it for such an outstanding investment

Originally Posted by Sachiel9

I would easily pay $150 for a set like that. The amount of time and effort really shows, and I hope that others would agree that a higher price tag is worth it for such an outstanding investment

Agreed, either of those amounts are no issue when compared to the amount of work. I'm very excited about this interior for my MR!

I have a pic of it laid in the MR. It fits perfectly, however, youll spend some time getting the foam liner out. it is a pain. But worth it. Im designing the parts with both helmets in mid at almost every step.

The helmets are virtually identical, the MR is just thicker. Chris (FP) is beter at fiberglass than anyone they could afford to hire

Im doing the dome tonight. Im very excited. Its coming along nicely. I had to crete a mold of the inside dome, then I made a faux dome out of expandable foam. Tonight ill work on laying out the components, and then im out of town for a few days. When I return, ill sculpt, bondo, etc the model, then cut it up to make a mold of it.

Pics soon

As a side note, im going to start an interest list. When the list hits 10-20 (wishfull thinking!) ill draw a name. That person gets to be my reviewer.

Said person needs to be able to:
Be un-biased
have a camera
have basic model skills
have good communication skills.

Ill send that person the first interior set for review. They can install it, and give a review of what they think of it, the difficulty installing etc.

The piece looks MUCH better in person than it does in pictures. And I like to get a second opinion before I start shipping them. So I can make any necessary changes up front

Thanks again for everyons patience and interest.

Originally Posted by Stormrider

As a side note, im going to start an interest list. When the list hits 10-20 (wishfull thinking!) ill draw a name. That person gets to be my reviewer.

Said person needs to be able to:
Be un-biased
have a camera
have basic model skills
have good communication skills.

Ill send that person the first interior set for review. They can install it, and give a review of what they think of it, the difficulty installing etc.

The piece looks MUCH better in person than it does in pictures. And I like to get a second opinion before I start shipping them. So I can make any necessary changes up front

Thanks again for everyons patience and interest.

Arrgh! You stole my idea!! I wanted to do the 'reviewer givaway'!!
Truth is, that's pretty smart. A good way to establish street cred.

Oh well I have a nikon d60...im unbiased I have some skillz with modeling and I can communicate well...lol Put me down please Sir

Mike! Like you need any street cred! LOL!!! Put me on the list as I am dying to get my hands on one anyways!

Definitely want on the list; plus my MR is stripped out and ready!

Looking great Mike !

I would be willing to review, please put me down on the wish list

Add my name to the list, I've got friends who do professional photography, and I'm about to start my FP Premium helmet build. I'd consider this a win-win. :-)

Just got back from a long hot volley ball tourney. my feet are cooked and someone with strep was kind enough to drink out of my water bottle between games, but im going to work on the dome today and tomorrow.

Thanks, chris, its pretty easy when the interiors of the helmet are as nice as the exteriors. This is a perfect example of why your fiberglass are so much nicer than anything rotocast.

Ill try to comprise a list asap. Thanks for the interest.

fantastic work bro, please put me on the list for one.

Any News on these are they in production, is there a wait list

Anxiousely awaiting one of these.....

Any word brother? Dying to see more pics!

The last piece is in the works, the forehad/dome. I need to get on it, but ive been busy. Ill try to sort it out in the next week or two.

really looking forward to putting this in my BM lid

Whats the latest on these brother? My helmet interior is bare...going with some regular foam for now I guess

how come i cant see the pics? i just see a little red x on a white square

Just wanted to bump this up. Hoping to buy a set to go with my incoming FP boba helmet for an ultimate build!

Put me on the list for a set if they are still available.

Wow, just seeing this thread for the first time. Most impressive!

yeh stormrider hasnt posted in a while though dont know where hes been

Hey storm,
How are these for us fatter headed blokes? I used one of your V1 models in my rattle canned "eBay Mystery lid" and now its a perminent display piece in my office because I will never get my fat mellon into that bucket again. It looks awesome as all get out but my chubby cranium prevents further usage.

I am here, been busy, but this week i finished the dome, finished the cheeks, and they are in silicone as I type this.

Im hoping in the next day or so to pull them out, and pull a couple of test pieces. I havent decided what I want to use on the dome yet.

These are going to be difficult pieces to pull off, because ill likely have to use two types of rubber, thin, soft rubber / foam on the padding pieces, harder, more durable on the thin coating pieces. Im not looking forward to it, but it should all work out in the end.

The dome I did in a new way. I used some of my smaller sculpt pieces, and ebb clay to make them look as if they were molded into the dome and not fastened on. The down side was I couldnt get it perfectly smooth, so it looks almost welded/embedded. I like the look, im hoping you all will too. Im hoping to be able to mount a set in the helmet.

As for larger melons. id have to know hwo big the helmet was you put it in.

The space this fills is virtually identical to the old version. That being said. what I would do is:

get thin aluminum sheets, and cut shaped molded strips. This will hold the interiors in the shape you want, (any pieces you need to pull out) and just slided them in for display.

Thats if it doesnt fit. I have a pretty standard size head. A little on the large size, as im 6 '3 but not gigantic.

The pressure points are forehead and rear left and right. Taking the front or rear out gives you another inch.

The rear piece to cover the mq is a lot thinner this go around. That is what stopped a few from being able to leave the padding in while worn.

m2

Cant wait to see it bud

Ok, first the pics which I consider good news, then the bad news
Pictured is a set of soft foam inserts, tack glued into a FP helmet, and lightly paitned with primer. Next to it in a few pictures is another, fresh out of the mold set of black Interior Kit pieces and another set of mandible inserts.

I created the first set of mandible inserts out of soft rubber. Too soft, the super glue i taked them in with sort of distorted it. The second set i made with hard (han in carbonite) rubber. It should work better. Ill be gluging in a full set in the the other helmet I have for testing.

The dome part I poured the first piece of today. Its curing. TOnight ill paint it, and tack it in, and you will finally get to see what the entire kit will look like together



The bad news, these kits take me longer to make than a FULL HIC. Theres about 10 steps that go into these. So unfortunately they wont be cheap.

For a full set were looking at 125 - 150 a set. I just cant do them any cheaper due to the amount of time these take. I may be able to lower the time considerably, but i would then raise the amount of silicone drastically, which doesnt help the price. ( I would have to build a second side to the molds, to make them squish molds or something).

That being said, id like to hear a sound of of whos interested if I guarantee the price <= 150 Shipped.

When you all see the final piece in here, and the set I paint, I think youll be able to appreciate it a little more.

Heres to hoping you like them!!!

These parts btw are CLEANER than my old parts. The pictures never do themjustice. Those of you that have the old parts, can appreciate that.

you know i am in, brother!

I think Id be interested as Im waiting on a FP helmet and I think it would fit in my MS3 as well...

Excellent work Stormrider, pure genius. Color me interested bro.

I'm still in, it looks fantastic!

Alright, the final dome pice is a go. Turned out prety well. The front piece in this pic is solid rubber. ot foam. Im going to tie that piece, into the front visor gasket. Once tahts done, its all over but the cryin.

So, chime in, what do you think. is it fettski?

Now that you have source material to look at, the foam rear pieces, are put in in such a way, that you could 'cut them out' and be able to add or remove them when you wanted to. So if you couldnt wear the helmet with them in, you could pull them out. The front, you glue atop the gasket, or cut away the gasket depending on how much room you need. The rest of the pieces are in places that dont really effect the size of the helmet. Therefore, if you take your time while mounting them, you should be able to make them easily removable/insertable, thus making it wearable for any head size.

I also put pre-set mounting holes in the rear piece. So you could mount rubber tabs in the helmet, and remove the WHOLE gasket by just poping it out. You would need to stick mount the edge of it, so it doesnt hump up, bit it should work nicely.

Questions comments and concerns beforeI move forward?

I had another idea today, to go along with all of you that have interior kits. I hope you like it when its finished

that is totally the Fett Business! well done brother...

looks pretty good brother...not sure if the forehead piece makes sense to me though as in it being narrow...maybe it should be wider? Looks incomplete to me, but overall it looks great

Yah have to read the text, thats not the real forehead, its a standin But if you make it too big, it wont fit the curvature, therefor I need to make a custom shaped piece for that part. not really lookin forward to that.

Ah so it is a standin for the piece that your making next

Yah the front piece will likely be a 7 or 8 wide, with a gasket to cover the lip of the visor. Then two gaskets to go along the edge of the visor. Then its about done.

Oh well that makes more sense....this is looking awesome...kinda wondering how to display the helmet to show the inside off as much as the outside...going very well bud. Any ETA for being completed?

Originally Posted by Fett 4 Real

Oh well that makes more sense....this is looking awesome...kinda wondering how to display the helmet to show the inside off as much as the outside...going very well bud. Any ETA for being completed?

Agreed, almost too pretty to wear. Almost!

Im thinking about making a helmet stand that either sets it at an angle where the visor points almost straight up, so you can see in, or at a 45, with a mirror under it. Im looking for mirrors now.

EDIT:

Ok, so what about a helmet stand that was say, a fett gauntlet and hand. Or maybe han in carbonite hand. If no, what about a helmet stand, that held the helmet up, and had a mirror placed at 45 degrees under it, to reflect the inside. Who would be interested in a custom helmet stand?

I think if I get an interest list I could have them ready to ship next week.

Should I start a new interest list?

Today im workign on the visor gasket and filler pieces for near the cheeks. And of course the full size front pad.

I think the mirror is a pretty decent Idea...I have a Helmet stand already though from my Clone helmet I use of my fett guess it would depend on what it looked like

Theya re soft rubber. They make an average head fit snug. However. Its possible to pu tthem in so you can remove them for wearing with rubber tabs. When I mount the set in my MR helmet, I will mount it with tabs, so that i can show how easily they can go in and out.

oooooooo, nice!! mesa want! LMK when available

I am definitely still interested in one of these!

Holy ****! Count me in! I'd pay $200 for this set. Great work, man. Oh and I got a $3000 Nikon setup, so for sure interested in reviewing this. I own a few helmets of various makers (M-DSB, SGTFang, scratchbuild, etc), but I would even be willing to buy a FP just to have this as a 1:1 display model.

^ ^ Gymbeau, Im glad people will pay 200! because then they will feel good about the Purchase at just under 150

Ill make you a deal gymbeau. Ill give you a 2 for one deal. Buy one set, Ill send you one for initial mockup, before production, to help me work out glitches, and one when they are complete and ready to roll.

I have a nice camera but no lighting system, so I cant get the interiors to show the detail.