Salvage or scrap this helmet?

Southern hunter

Active Hunter
Hi everyone,
I havent' posted anything on this board for what seems like a really long time. Let's just say my daughter's Kid Captain Rex costume took way more time than I anticipated, and she outgrew it. :cry Oh well, that's what kids do. They grow. :)

Back to my reason for posting.
I think this helmet may be a Don Post. (See the copyright stamp). I had NO IDEA it would warp so easily. :eek: It was in our bonus room during the hot South Carolina summer and the rest is history. :( Here's a link the pix. The crack was there before it was warped from the heat.

Picasa Web Albums - 10830662633437104... - Boba Fett Helmet#

My questions are basically: is this thing salvageable? If so, how would I do it? How much time, effort and money etc. would be involved? As some of you know, I have some basic scratch-building skills, but nothing advanced like any vacuum-forming or sculpting skills.

As always input is appreciated.

BTW, I've thought about just making it a "Post-Sarlaac Pit" helmet. :lol:
 
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I would think you can salvage it with a little work. Get out your heat gun and a bucket of cool water and go to reshaping. I would certainly give it a go. The worst that could happen is, it would still be ruined.

If you decide to scrap it let me know and you can send it to me for disposal, I won't even charge you.
 
Defintentl easily fixed , get a craft ring cut it to fit and glue it on the inside one half around the equatorial line around the back the other half just abouve the base the can look ok if done right you should easly fix the war, i would nt use a heat gun but instead use a hair dryer for the lower half and for the top put some hot water in it sit it upsidedown like a bowl ad fill to the brow line only not to hot but hot enough to soften it upthis should make the plastic go back to its original shapethis will only work on the dome and once you get it back to the right shape place it in cold water to this will help retain the shape you achivedremmber to keep it up side down . Good luck and keep us posted on the progress
 
Defintentl easily fixed , get a craft ring cut it to fit and glue it on the inside one half around the equatorial line around the back the other half just abouve the base the can look ok if done right you should easly fix the war, i would nt use a heat gun but instead use a hair dryer for the lower half and for the top put some hot water in it sit it upsidedown like a bowl ad fill to the brow line only not to hot but hot enough to soften it upthis should make the plastic go back to its original shapethis will only work on the dome and once you get it back to the right shape place it in cold water to this will help retain the shape you achivedremmber to keep it up side down . Good luck and keep us posted on the progress

OK, so it's worth a shot. A few questions though. What's a craft ring? When you say the "equatorial line" do you mean the red line that goes around the helmet and separates the dome from the bottom half of the helmet? How would I keep the mandibles from flaring out? Would I need to glue a ring around the bottom of the helmet (the opening)? Lots of questions, I know, but I don't want to mess it up further.

Thanks.
 
Epoxy putty will work for the crack. Sticks to vinyl fine, and is as hard as a rock. You'll need a 9" craft ring, if it wasn't mentioned before. The craft ring goes on the bottom rear of the helmet. The visor should hold the mandible in place, so I'd do that part last.
 
If you get a green /no5 welding shield and trim it to size there very sturdy and will hold the vizor in place there are a few vendors on the bay that do good t visors you would want a sterdy one not one thats flimsy like acotate / and yes equatorial line is the red line id sugest one there and one on the base to keep the shape
 
i've only ever worked with one helmet like that one, and i just used high temp hot glue to hold the ring in place. and that's a don post 96.
 
OK, so let's make sure I've got this down. Reshape the dome using hot water. Cut a 9" craft ring in half. Hot glue one half into the back of the helmet along the red brow line at the back. Hot glue the other half to the back of the helmet further down, near the bottom of the helmet. Hot glue the T visor in place to hold the mandibles in place. Finally lay some fiberglass resin inside the helmet to seat the two rings and fix the crack at the back?
Did I miss anything? Would super glue work instead of hot glue?
 
i wouldn't recommend using superglue to hold the visor in place, but for the craft rings i don't see why that should be a problem. you could probably fill the crack with superglue as well.
 
Also coz the its made from vinyl alot of products will react badly to the substraight so before you use them test a littel dab first (GLUE AND FIBRGLASS) also sand the interior with180 grit paper to ruff it up so the products have somthing to adhear to ,coz its smooth n glossy in there it al will just not hold so scratching it up all over the interior will do the trik
and after you under coat it fill the lisenceing press on the back also use acrlic laquer paints espesialy the under coatcoz enamel will never cuer on the surfaceit will keep reacting making a taky paint finish whicvh will egg shell(THIS IS WERE THE PAINT WILL CRACK UP LIKE BROKEN EGG SHELLS YOUL NO IT IF IT HAPPENS) after each difrent colour
 
The cheapest of the 90's Don Post helmets is what Rubies is selling now. I spent all last summer fixing up one of those helmets in my garage, also in the South Carolina heat. Every time I went out to work on it, it was a different shape. Also, the 4 hour drive to DragonCon was followed by an hour with a hairdryer in the hotel to reshape again. I'm seriously considering upgrading to a fiberglass helmet soon... built my whole Fett for around $400 and now I'm slowly swapping out pieces to make it more accurate.

I'd love to see pictures of your work as you fix it up. The folks on this forum talk about those helmets as though it's a cardinal sin to wear them, but out in the real world, most people can't tell the difference if you paint it up right and can keep it from warping. At a Halloween party where no one was expecting screen accuracy, my costume got the most attention because of the helmet and my scratch made wizard of flight gauntlets.
 
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