PIC HEAVY!! - Daft Punk Helmet: Thomas Bangalter: V2

Hey all,

I know I have a thread in the Mando Variants forum, but really, this should be posted here. If you missed the first thread check it out:

Not so much a Fett helmet...

Well, I was never really happy with that, and as such scrapped it.

However, since then, Pepakura has really become a much more known artform. Mostly used for papercraft -- constructing statues of popular anime characters or objects -- it is now being utilized by members of the costuming community to easily make masks and helmets.

One of the most notable communities for this is The 405th Mjolnir, a Halo costuming group, which is where I found my files at:

http://405th.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=10121

Make sure to read the entire thread, as I'm not sure the most up-to-date Pepakura files are in the first post there.

So, anyway, I began to construct a new Thomas helmet using that method. Upon completing most of the helmet, I realized the default scaling options would make a helmet just way too small for my head. Pics included for comical effect. I apologize for teh scruffiness, too -- I haven't shaved in a while.






So I decided I would scale up the helmet, and then just make the visor and mouth portions (the Pepakura file is split into mouth, visor, head, and ears). Then I would attach these portions, the mouth and visor, to each other, and then to the batting helmet I had used in the previous go:











Well, as you can see here, things didn't go so hot with this attempt even, so it looks like I have to scale it up a bit more now. It just doesn't look "right" yet, even though it's "close", y'know?

Also, some of my gluing on this one wasn't as spectacular as it should have been. So that can be fixed up in the next go-round too.

Ideally, this is what I would like it to come out like, after resin, fiberglas, and bondo:


DAFT CASCO

Any comments, suggestions, advice? Please, I need some help with this.

... nobody? Dang.

I love Daft Punk. This is a great project! I'll be paying attention to it. and if it turns out good I may do one myself!

I'm a big Daft Punk fan as well. Great work so far! I tried putting together a Thomas helmet, but it came out a little too small. I got the three major pieces (dome, visor, mouth) done, but haven't put them together yet.

Also I'd like to make Guy Man's helmet as it's my favorite, and I don't think I've ever seen a fan made version that looked right. My plan is to build it up, then cut out the visor area, fill it in, and use it as a mold to vacform a smoked acrylic version.

MandoMan said:

Also I'd like to make Guy Man's helmet as it's my favorite, and I don't think I've ever seen a fan made version that looked right. My plan is to build it up, then cut out the visor area, fill it in, and use it as a mold to vacform a smoked acrylic version.

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Yeah...

I've been following many people's attempts. Needless to say, this guy is the closest I've seen to 100% accurate. I don't think I'll be able to pull off what he did. I'm trying to make both helmets, though, for me and my roomate, for halloween.

any progress?

Don't know how I missed your new thread, but I am watching this project closely...
Halloween isn't so far off!

Updates, updates, updates...

Well, baseball helmet is cut. I was able to find a mold seam line on the back of the helmet that ran perfectly straight back across. I put down two rows of tape, following that line, the first a row of 1 inch black electrical tape, and the second .5 inch black electrical tape. I then used this as a guide and cut along the bottom of the .5 inch tape; so instead of being all curvy and round, the bottom of the helmet is now flat, like Thomas Bangalter's.


^For Reference^

The visor and mouth have been remade... AGAIN... using thick corrugated cardboard, so it will hold up while I work on bondo and fiberglassing it. I used Luchofunk's PDF of parts, which is based off the Pepakura files I linked before. Luchofunk can be found on The Daft Club Forums, where they have a thread dedicated to helmet building.

Pics coming tomorrow, I promise you all. Thank you for the support, and sticking with me!

Can't wait to see some more pics!

Are you still planning on having the LED belt in the visor to scroll words?

Make a full red EL suit from the Grammy's performance with Kanye!
I like Daft Punk as well, and I hope you do a good job on this, I'm sure you will. Good luck!

The Clayster said:

Make a full red EL suit

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Haha, yeah! As awesome as that would be, I can't even imagine how hard it would be to do.

LostSonOfSparda said:

The Clayster said:

Make a full red EL suit from the Grammy's performance with Kanye!
I like Daft Punk as well, and I hope you do a good job on this, I'm sure you will. Good luck!

Click to expand...

Haha, yeah! As awesome as that would be, I can't even imagine how hard it would be to do.

Click to expand...

Nuclear Waste: Does a body good | Photo by daguru | Cosplay.com



That guy already did... and as I have said in my cellphone thread, I am a poor college kid... I am basically making this on as little of a budget as I can! Also, I do not have the body for that tight of a suit. Gonna probably kick it Discovery style and wear a dress suit with it.

Also, pics coming later today, when I have some time to snap em.

xero said:

http://www.cosplay.com/photo/1395879/

That guy already did... and as I have said in my cellphone thread, I am a poor college kid... I am basically making this on as little of a budget as I can! Also, I do not have the body for that tight of a suit. Gonna probably kick it Discovery style and wear a dress suit with it.

Also, pics coming later today, when I have some time to snap em.

Click to expand...

I was kidding dude..

And how accurate is that suit anyways? Anyone know? I do know I want a pair of light up glasses that Kanye had during the performance, freakin sweet.

LostSonOfSparda said:

Can't wait to see some more pics!

Are you still planning on having the LED belt in the visor to scroll words?

Click to expand...

Yup, and I intend to tear it apart, so that the electronics are able to be worked on... Such as, there is a button to switch what is displayed on the buckle, and if that button is in front of my eyes, I cannot switch messages while walking around. I'm thinking of rewiring it to a tactical switch (very small) and hiding the switch somewhere near the ear, or maybe running the wires down my shirt, and put it on my wrist with a strap or something.

The Clayster said:

I was kidding dude..

And how accurate is that suit anyways? Anyone know? I do know I want a pair of light up glasses that Kanye had during the performance, freakin sweet.

Click to expand...

Sorry, I have a hard time detecting sarcasm :facepalm But no, really, Daguru's suit is pretty darned accurate, for all the work he did on it. It doesn't have the Daft Punk logo on the back, and as far as I could tell, that was one of few differences. Though he's constantly working on it and upgrading it to be more accurate, from what I've read from him. Apparently, more than 160ft of EL wire is sewn onto it. x_X

But seriously -- how sweet is his suit!? Pretty cool.

Alright, update with pics this time:

I decided to use a thicker cardboard this time, and sturdy, so I butchered a US Priority Mail box -- you can get these large boxes for free at USPS locations.






Jaw / Mouth completed. Looking like Human After All / Electroma:



The visor section done up, but not completed:





Chilling on top of each other, not glued together yet:



The cut-up helmet:



And finally, held together only with friction and pressure, nothing permanent yet:






And a bonus shot of my work table:



For those of you looking for Luchofunk's PDF files, which is what I used for these latest pieces, they are here:

http://www.thedaftclub.com/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?26602.1440#post_77903

Enjoy, and please, advice is needed / welcome!

Also, please enjoy the views of my messy apartment in these photos >_>

It's getting there dude, looking good. You still going to meet your Oct. 31 deadline?
Also, you said you were making both helmets, the other for your roommate. Do you have pics of that one?

LostSonOfSparda said:

It's getting there dude, looking good. You still going to meet your Oct. 31 deadline?
Also, you said you were making both helmets, the other for your roommate. Do you have pics of that one?

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Pft... ZOMBIE THREAD!!! AAACK!!! Necroposting in your own thread = <3.

Well, I don't know if I am going to make the Oct 31 deadline now. I had planned on it, but my roomate decided in early September that he didn't want to do Daft Punk for Halloween anymore...

So that was a bit of a buzzkill and a motivation killer.

Also, the lack of advice from The Daft Club -- which is the Daft Punk fan forum -- hasn't been keeping me too enthralled with this project.

HOWEVER -- I have indeed restarted work on this project.

Since I last posted... I have...

* Trimmed up the helmet's backside, so it no longer curves around the head -- the backside is a straight line, just like Thomas Bangalter's. I accomplished this by using 1" and 0.5" electrical tape, and finding a seam line on the batting helmet left from when Rawlings Sportswear molded it. This gave me a straight line to mark up with the tape, and made sure my dremel would cut straight. Unfortunately, no pics of this cutting process, but I did have pics earlier in the thread showing the electrical tape on the helmet.

* Fixed the ears on the helmet... they snapped off, due to me cutting away a portion of the plastic that supported some of them. This was fixed with hot glue and cardstock "shims" between the broken pieces and the rest of the helmet. No pics of this, either; sorry.

* Got frustrated with my visor being floppy all the time, due to there being two pieces missing from the Luchofunk's PDF file -- the visor frame above and below where the lens sits. This was corrected with supports, which I made from chinese takeout chopsticks (!!!) as it was what I had available at the time. I made them 2.75" long, which seems to be just about the right height for Thomas' visor. No pictures of this process, either, but the supports are visible in the following pictures.

* Set the helmet on the table (as it could sit flat, due to cutting / trimming the back portion before) and gently scooched my visor up to the helmet, being careful to keep the visor level on the table as well. When I had it pressed against the brow of the batting helmet, I marked it off with sharpie, removed the visor, and have about a 1CM allowance, maybe less, from the new visor's brim. The line I marked 1CM in from the brim line would be my cut line. I cut along this line with the dremel, and trimmed up the front of the helmet. Bye-bye old visor. There was no need for it, and the extra plastic was getting in the way of a great fit for the new visor. Unfortunately, no pictures of this either.

* Glued the visor to the helmet, using cardstock shims, as I had done before with the ear pieces. One in the middle, on the outside and inside for stability, and then one shim on either side. The bottom of the visor was pulled down to meet the bottom of the batting helmet -- and the reattached ear pieces -- and tacked into place with glue.

* The jaw... the most difficult part so far of this work this morning. Glued one side -- right or left, cannot remember -- to the helmet, underneath the visor and tacking onto those earpieces I fixed again. Then I tacked on the opposing side. After that, I took a cardstock paper shim, and connected the "chin" and "mouth" to the bottom visor's "nose" area.


So, now, this is where I am at (pardon my messy college bedroom):







I am getting close!

The work that needs to be done now is as follows:

* Reinforce jaw-to-bottom-visor connection -- currently only attached at chin/mouth, and either side. I need to connect the entire jaw to the entire bottom visor.

* Construct ears. Not sure what I will do for this yet, so if anybody has any advice, please let me know. I am thinking perhaps PVC pipe, with sink drain covers on the end... I am planning on installing 80mm red-lit casefans in the ear sections in order to aid in cooling me down while wearing it.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7589540@N08/2287447353/in/set-72157603884775130/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7589540@N08/2317954876/in/set-72157603884775130/
^Someone else's Thomas helmet, where they used sink drains^

* Construct RGB-fading lights for the ears? So they can cycle through every color. I could just buy RGB-cycling LEDs off eBay, which would be the easiest thing to do. But if anyone can help me on this, I am not afraid of soldering and / or learning more about electronics than I already know. This, in the end, isn't a required step, but from seeing it on other Thomas helmets, it looks very nice.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7589540@N08/2287391741/in/set-72157603884775130/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7589540@N08/2317955382/in/set-72157603884775130/
^Same guy as sink drains... He had good ideas! Besides, the Discovery-era helmet does have RGB-cycling lights in the ears... so this is accurate.^

* Attach ears to batting helmet.

* Give the entire plastic helmet a rough sanding.

* Fiberglass the entire thing -- outside definitely, inside maybe. This is going to be tough as October is almost over and it is getting chilly outside.

* Sand the entire thing again.

* Bondo in details.

* Sand.

* Primer.

* Sand.

* Paint black.

* Sand.

* Paint Silver / chrome.

* Clear coat.

* Polish the paint somehow to make it really shiny. Wax perhaps?

* Install smoked visor / Electronics.

Awesome.
Looking forward to the rest.