Introductions are in order

Judge

New Hunter
Long time lurker here. Finally decided to register for an account, because I finally decided I am ready to try my hand at a custom bucket. I'm been watching a bunch of the threads here of folks using the WOF templates to make their own helmets. It promises to be a long winter here in Iowa, so a nice involved project might do me good. I still have lots of reading to do before I drop cash on materials.

Other than being a hopeful helmet-maker, I'm a custom saber builder and have been running it as a business for over 3 years. Things are slowing down with the tightening economy, so it's yet another reason for me to try my hand at a helmet.

See you in the trenches.

Jon
 
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All of these are sabers I have built over the past year or so. I'd be happy to answer any questions you have about them.
 
Nice to meet you Judge....err I mean, Nice to see ya around here buddy! You will find that the members here are all very nice, and helpful. See ya around!


Oh and be sure to post pics of your bucket build!
 
o.0 nice sabres mate!
u might even get a few bites for increasing sales on here....

do u happen to cannabilise MR sound chips for ur custom sabres?

I tried the WOF helmet just for fun too, its amazin wot u get in the end!

Nate
 
welcome to TDH, looking at what you' ve accomplished with your sabers, you' ll be fine trying out a Fett bucket... you' ve got some serious skills!!!
 
o.0 nice sabres mate!
u might even get a few bites for increasing sales on here....

do u happen to cannabilise MR sound chips for ur custom sabres?

I tried the WOF helmet just for fun too, its amazin wot u get in the end!

Nate

I use MR sound boards, Ultrasound boards from Ultrasabers and Crystal Focus Saber Core sound boards from Plecter Labs. It all depends on what I have on hand, what a customer wants, and what they can afford.

I'm still cruising threads on helmet builds, and I am trying to figure out whether to go with a card stock/card board for the build, or if I should go with a styrene. I'm on the hunt for a skateboard helmet right now to make the dome.
 
Hey welcome and trust me I will be in touch about your sabers. Amazing work really pieces of art. Well, welcome again to the Fett family!!
Cheers!
 
Thanks for the welcomes, everybody.

Since I'm restricted as a new member, I'm going to have to ask my questions here for the time being until I can become unrestricted and post my own build-log thread.

I've got my templates ready to be cut out, but I'm having a devil of a time deciding on material to make the helmet out of. I've seen fiberglassed paper, fiberglassed cardboard/cardstock, sintra, styrene. I'm leaning more towards using styrene for mine, since I am familiar with its properties and I have the adhesives to glue it up. Not to mention I'm hesitant to use paper and fiberglass over it because of the loss of crisp edges afterwards.

I've been browsing around for a cheap skatebaord helmet to use as my dome and base the helmet around, but so far, no luck. The helmet I create will most likely become a custom job with some custom touches, so no worries abot 100% accuracy.

Any suggestions from anybody here about methods and techniques?
 
think all are viable options mate

I started with simple cardboard, some paper mache just to feel a little more solid

planned for next bit
just the resin from a FG kit for yet more sturdiness
finish with bondo to get the smooth top surface

yeah I know abt the cheat-use-a-skate board-helmet idea - its good
I went with WOFs templates just wanting to try em out; was very pleasantly surprised tbh.

just cos I enjoyed process so much - I have started another scratch build with sintra.

when u say styrene - I presume u mean HIPS? thats a nice materail to use too. I am sure it will turn out very nice if u lightsabres are anything to go by

Nate
 
Yes, styrene = high impact polystyrene. I'm known for slang names for stuff I use frequently. I think it's a material that will be quite suitable for what I want to do, and if I use 2mm thick sheets, it ought to provide some good strength during construction and be very, very resilient after reinforcing.

Most likely, I will end up fiberglassing the inside of the helmet anyways, just to seal things up nicely and not worry about glue joints coming loose sometime down the road. Plus, with the plethora of styrene extrusion shapes out there, I can make the helmet look just about any way I want.

Because I mess around with electronics so much with my saber building, it seems only reasonable to somehow integrate some nice electronics in the helmet and armor somehow.
 
^^^ Are you making a custom, or Boba? Jango?

I'll make a custom helmet, but it won't stray too far from the accepted Boba or Jango. I'll keep the overall shapes and structures and probably just augment some things. The helmet is still going to be recognizable as part of the "lineage" of that particular style of Mandolorian helmet.
 
Wow...I haven't been on here for quite a while. Guess it's time to bump this.

I have most of the raw materials I need to get a start on the building of the helmet, aside from the dome. I've looked over a few threads where the builders used a skateboard/rollerbalde helmet to base the dome off of and that's the way I want to go for the build - but I can't figure out what size of helmet was used.

Can anyone shed some light as to what size of helmet was used for these builds? I CAN wedge a child's helmet on my noggin, and it seems pretty large overall, but I'd hate to buy something like that and come to find out it won't work later. Certainly the helmets can be sourced from eBay much cheaper, but again...what size of helmet is the right size for the WOF templates?

If my free time is what I think it will be, and I can get templates and patterns without too many problems, I may be able to put together a passable costume for Halloween 2009. Not going to try for membership in one of the big costuming groups since there's nobody around where I live, so as long as it's passable to the general eye, it'll be good enough for me.

I'd appreciate any insight, and even more from a member who's used a pre-existing helmet shape to base their build around.
 
When I did my first helmet, I thought about the batting helmet dome for a long time, but I ended up not going for it. I would just use the WOF templates and smooth the dome with bondo.

Also, where are located in Iowa? I'm from the Cedar Falls area, and there aren't too many Iowans here on TDH.

Regards,
Kody
 
I suppose I could always measure the length of the WOF template and then when out shopping, I could measure the circumference of different skate helmets I find until I find one that will work. It ain't perfect, but it might work. The idea of trying get the WOF dome templates together and then smoothed out sufficiently with bondo makes me a bit nervous.

KWally - I'm in Ames.
 
Ames, I was living there about 5 months ago when I was at ISU. Good to have a fellow Iowan here!

I would look for cheap batting helmets. They usually give a good result. Good luck!
 
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