Lower-cost movie-sized helmet kit

Yeah, I make helmets, I was just wondering, a friend of mine wanted one and needs it by next week, I wont have mine vacuformed by then, so was gonna send him your email if there still selling by fri.
 
Has anyone put one of these together yet? I still can't for the life of me figure out how the dome is supposed to be installed.

Can anyone help?
 
Anyone?

I have everthing cut out, bondo'd, sanded, resin peices painted, just wanting on an explanation of how to cut the top rim so the dome will fit.
 
I am expecting mine any day, and I have been planning how to put it together. I would bet shimming the front and back together from the inside is a good way to start and make sure the top hole is flush, or aligned very strait.

As for the dome, if I were a betting man, I would say to make a 1/2" inch strip of styrene and glue this inside the crown of the lower part of the helmet. So it peaks out 1/4" an inch upward from the crown. Then make sure your dome trim is very, very flat. To test your cut, try to set the dome on a table, make sure there are minimal wavy lines or gaps.

Test fit the dome onto the inner crown 1/4" shim. If it fits well, glue in place, then bondo the seam with no-mix glaze - the red stuff in a smaller tube.

I will take pics of my process once I get mine... ahem, hopefully today? Right?

Thanks BF!

John
 
i tried contacting mark three or four times in regards to a refund and sending his stuff back...nothing...I decided to go with a BKBT helmet and cruzer gauntlets so i didnt need the stuff...he hasnt return any of my pms...MIA
 
I've been tryng to contact him as well to get a shipping price, and he hasn't called me back. It's been a while since we talked.
 
ITG.. Have you tried contacting Mark? I'm sure since this is his creation that he would have your answer? (y)
I sent him a PM the day I got it and that was sometime early last week.

He replied by saying something like "Gary, your helmet is on the way..." :lol: I think he got my PM mixed up with someone else's. I replied, saying he made a mistake, no reply yet... No biggie - life gets in the way - which is understandable.
 
Based on one of the pictures in the photo album Bradleyfett linked, I centered the dome over the visor, set the rim of the dome on the indentation of the visor (on the inside), then taped it. Then I put the top edge of the front part of the helmet in line with the line running around the dome on both sides, and taped those spots. I then glued the front to the dome, removed the tape, and glued those sections. Then I glued a piece of styrene on the inside ear parts of the back part of the helmet, lined up the top of the back of the helmet with the same line running around the dome, and glued the back to the dome and the extra styrene piece to the ear parts on the front of the helmet. Bondo'ed furiously. I posted an album of progress pix in the dented variants section (because my paint scheme will be custom) but haven't received any responses yet.

Here 'tis, if pictures help my poor explanation (they're part of a much bigger album):

DSCF4233.jpg
 
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Thanks! That helps a lot!

I notice you noted some imperfections in your pull, mine had all of the same ones. I thought it wasn’t a clean pull. I’m not concerned about it, afterall it was a mould for fiberglass helmets before it was made into a vacu-form buck.
 
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Heya Guys,

Not to detract from the topic again ... this is just informational, no response is needed. But to confirm what has been said in regard to the Jango vs. Boba helmets ...

I am the owner of the ILM screen casting, and molds. The ILM source I dealt with in obtaining these future artifacts, is that the Jango Helmet was indeed a digi scan of some sort of archived Boba helmet. There is no certaintly as to which which was used however. The scan was cleaned up, and reduced in size, output on a rapid prototyping machine and a mold was made. Very similar to what was done for the Episode III Vader helmet as seen in the "Making of Darth Vader" featurette. It was a little more complex than that, as it was output in pieces due to the limits of the output cutter at the time, and then assembled, and then a mold was made. There is absolutely no relation to the Mystery helmet genre. And it is CONSIDERABLY smaller than the real Boba Helmet. I actually planned on posting comparisons that ppl have been wanting to see for sometime. (In another thread of course) ;)

FP
 
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Yeah, the imperfections didn't bother me, either. I actually like the one on the right front "cheek"--a little built-in battle damage. Took me a second to figure out the little depressions between the two sections of cheeks, though. I have the glazing putty, now I just need a free second to fill them and sand. And the ones on the sides will go under the ears, so no problem there. Please post pix when you get yours together. I'd like to see how these turn out.
 
Well, I bondo'd the heck out of the dome, and need to sand it tonight. I bondo'd and sanded the face plate.

The keyslots I plan to replace with a resin cast of some.

I should be finished with it by mid next week.

EDIT: Just saw FP's post, Thanks for that info!
 
ooh, look at me chiming in late on off topic junk! i rule!

anyway... re: the cod. not all boba cods have dents. the mom suit, for example, doesn't. which annoys me, since my costume is based on mom, but my codpiece has a dent, and i'm not really looking to bondo it in. so i have an aosw cod.

and re the mystery vs. jango... i thought the mystery helmets pre-dated episode 2? that would be proof positive that the mystery isn't a leaked jango.
 
I've been thinking about getting one of these kits. Based on some of the responses, should I even bother? My funds are somewhat limited and I'm trying to be patient with the WOF templates. I thought this kit would be a good idea.

Am I wrong?
 
Hope I didn't give the impression I don't like the kit. There are several differences between this and any other cast bucket, obviously. But I'm really happy with it. I have two Fang buckets that I haven't worked on yet, and both of them have a certain amount of twist to the face--I'm happy with them, too, obviously. This kit is much more symmetrical, however. The edges are a good bit softer than on Fang's (I don't own any of the other makers' buckets). I haven't yet done a size comparison with the others, but the most obvious difference is how amazingly light the vac-formed kit is. I have little to compare it to, but aside from assembling the pieces, I don't see how this would conceivably be more work than a resin or fiberglass bucket. Bradleyfett was easy to work with, and I received my kits (I bought two) in half the time of anything else I've purchased from a fan seller on these forums. One of the comments made when these were first being designed was that they'd make great painting practice pieces, if nothing else. I guess we won't know how a painted version stacks up against other models until some of the artists on here show us what it can look like, but I'm very happy so far. If for no other reason than that, for a first-time painter, I feel a lot less intimidated to work on this one than others.
 
If for no other reason than that, for a first-time painter, I feel a lot less intimidated to work on this one than others.
Yup! Me too! I've bondo'd this, sanded it, reformed...This was the first time I've worked with bondo (and I am hooked!).

I've been working on this thing hard core for the past few days - I consider it practice for my Jango (FP CC) that is coming soon!

I really enjoy working on this.
 
I finally decided to cut the top ring around the helmet, and once I place the dome in, I realized I needed about 1/8" of that ring for the dome to fit properly. Now I need to put some spacers in and bondo it together. No big deal - would have been easier just to trim all but 1/8". :lol:
 
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