1st Helmet Build (Cardboard Fett)

Hey everyone, my name is Trevor and I'm up here in Minnesnowta making a Boba Fett helmet. I have been using these forums and several member's threads as a guide, and figured I would finally join the group and stop just creeping around lol.

I also decided to start a thread to post my progress and will put some pictures and more details about what I have got done so far very soon. I hope that's fine!

Will update as soon as I have some time. Hopefully today, thanks!

Welcome to the community, congrats on post #1. You've taken your first step into a larger world.

Always great to see a new Fett in the works! Welcome aboard!

Update!! Alright so I actually started making this helmet a few years ago, and only ever got the basic thing put together and smoothed, but never did the ears, rangefinder, keyhole, dent, etc. Just recently my girlfriend decided to help me start the project back up after the helmet had been sitting on the shelf for a LONG time. We got the ears, rangefinder, keyhole (my failed attempt at one at least) very roughly put together and had started to sand and smooth out all the parts using the templates i printed out years ago and still had... That's when a "OH CRAP" moment happened, just yesterday...

First off, here are some pictures of the parts.


Now as you can tell, the keyhole I made was cut out very roughly. I actually had decided to try and fiberglass it and sand it back down and was going to dremel the slots to smooth perfection.. obviously I gave up and threw it away and am going to start that one over again! The rangefinder, I have no idea why I am using the quickweld to reinforce it, but I am liking the strength it has and just need to sand it down now.. The other parts are going well, and I am pretty proud of those actually.. But the "OH CRAP" moment was when I started to measure things and realized everything was way too big, literally up to 10mm too big in certain areas. SO I printed out some new templates, and realized that back in the day when I printed my templates out I let the printer software stretch them all out to fit the paper..

Therefore everything we have done, including the helmet itself is way too big and I have to pretty much start over. Although it isn't such a bummer because my girlfriend actually wants to make a helmet also, so this time we are both going to make them at the same time. Starting today!

I will post more pictures as we go, including the helmet that I HAD done, and update on the progress.

Bebommib said:

Although it isn't such a bummer because my girlfriend actually wants to make a helmet also, so this time we are both going to make them at the same time. Starting today!

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Hold on to that one as long as you can!

hamsandwich72 said:

Hold on to that one as long as you can!

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LOL trust me, I know!

All we got done today is the supports for the base, using Rafalfett's templates. Took longer than we thought because the only 2mm thick cardboard we found is super heavy duty stuff. Not easy to cut at all. (The one on the right is mine, while the one on the left is Sara's) As of right now they look the same obviously but I feel like it's going to turn into a slight competition =p

Looking good so far though I think!


..Oh yeah, and I get a celebratory beer, so I'm happy

Today, we worked on the helmet for about 5 hours, but we must be slow or something because we only got a couple things done lol.

This is what they look like now


We got all the inner layers cut out as you can see behind the helmets, and got them curved but are going to wait until tomorrow to actually attach them and continue because it got a little late.



Also we got the little strips around the top back attached, and beveled nice and flush with the rest of the dome base.

I work the next three days, so might not be able to update as often on here, but will be taking pictures of progress when we get time to work on the helmets.
Will update as soon as I can!!

Great build so far! If you need any assistance with the build, just let me know and I'll help you gladly.

Thank you so much! And will do!

Bebommib said:

Today, we worked on the helmet for about 5 hours, but we must be slow or something because we only got a couple things done lol.

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Ha! I've been working on my helmet for almost two years now. Slow and steady, brother...

Hey everyone! Just a little update on progress:
We got the inner layer and the outer layer onto the helmet, and the little strip on the back inside of the dome base. Also we took out all the inner supports! So right now we are working on getting the cheeks in, then the keyhole. Starting to realize that getting the cheeks in, and cutting the little slots on the keyhole smoothly is WAY easier said than done.
I have been at work the past few days so I haven't had time to take many pictures, but I'll try to get some posted later!

Today we managed to each get one side of the cheeks in. Not perfect, but only a couple mm off almost anywhere. Nothing a little putty or sanding can't fix!


And Sara being impatient to wear her helmet ! Lol

Looking good! Keep us posted with your updates!

RafalFett said:

Looking good! Keep us posted with your updates!

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Thanks!!

Alright so just a quick update on the progress we have made:

We both got our other cheeks put in, it took a lot of careful fighting with the cardboard to get them to fit in right and with the correct curves, etc but we pulled it off after many hours lol one of Sara's cheeks is a few mm low on a side though so we may have to melt the hot glue and pull it up further. When I post the pictures I am hoping I can have some opinions on if that's necessary or not.

We also got our keyholes made and are in the process of reinforcing them on the back side a a tiny bit of wood glue at a time, as that seems like it will be difficult after they are actually in the helmet. Sara's keyhole looks flawless, where as mine is a little bit.. Not as flawless . Again hoping for opinions when I put the pictures up.

We both have also reinforced the edges of the dome base from the inside just to make sure the outside rim will be sturdy for building the dome on top of.

Other than that, its been a lot of little touchups and applying wood glue to strengthen things from the inside mainly since we have been working a ton lately. After tomorrow I have a 5 day weekend so will definitely be putting pictures up and hoping to finish everything up! (At least the cardboard part of it )

Thanks !

I finally have some free time to get pictures up. These are taken with a phone though so sorry about the quality =(

These first pictures are of my helmet after I got the second cheek in. We are trying our best but I know they are not perfect after looking at other's threads. I do reference the measurements that rafalfett posted on his thread though and nothing is more then 2-3mm off at any point, and most of it is exact.


I'm hoping that I can get some feedback on anything that may look like it needs to be redone though, anything that you guys think sanding/putty and bondo won't fix.

This is Sara's helmet after she got her second cheek in also.


As you can see her left cheek is a bit low, but when I measured the visor from the top corner to the bottom of the helmet it seems that it was actually the visor area that was 2mm too short, and the cheek that is low was actually at the correct distance from the top. This is a big one that I'm hoping for some feedback on.

My keyhole:


Sara's keyhole:


Our keyholes took us a lot of time because the slots kept ending up rough and the layers would peel away when the board was curved. We ended up taking our 2mm board and pretty much slicing it in half by peeling layers off until it was 1mm. That made the cutting way easier and also the board didn't peel away or get rough when curved. I realize the slots are still a little rough but we wanted to just get them put in for now, and later we are going to smooth them out more.

We then cut out the dome base and left a 15mm area for the supports


It was tricky trying to get the supports nice and flush/straight and exactly centered on the front/back and left/right lines but we got a couple of them on perfectly and this is where we are at now.


The way that we put the strips on was using wood glue underneath them, and when they were in place using hot glue almost as a clamp to hold them in place.
I know we could have just used hot glue, but better safe than sorry.
We are planning on putting in all of optional supports also to give us a little more precision when we get to laying down the dome strips.


Feedback is greatly appreciated!! I don't mind some constructive criticism, I know we could probably use some lol
..off to try and get the rest of those supports in! Thanks all!

I can say that both of you are doing a great job following my step-by-step guide, so there's nothing to comment so far. Keep up the awesome work!

We worked on our helmets all day yesterday, and again all day today. Probably put a little over 10 hours of actual work-time into the dome. I can see now why I can't find any threads with people putting in all 12 support beams, it was intricate, frustrating, and time consuming. But it paid off big time, I could probably stand on top of my helmet it is so strong now, not that I would ever think of attempting such a feat =p

This is what they looked like with the supports put in:



Progress..




..and here are some pictures from tonight!!

Sara's Helmet -


My helmet -


Side by sides -


I'll keep updating when we start to get the ears/rangefinder going, but again I work the next few days so it may not be until the weekend. We are both getting really excited though!

Oh my... Both helmets looks more than great! May I suggest to use a thinner cardboard for the dent, as this is a small part and once glued in place, it will be a sturdy part of the helmet. Also you can level the dome back strip and the rear keyhole lower part (only the pieces that sticks out on your build):

RafalFett said:

Oh my... Both helmets looks more than great! May I suggest to use a thinner cardboard for the dent, as this is a small part and once glued in place, it will be a sturdy part of the helmet. Also you can level the dome back strip and the rear keyhole lower part (only the pieces that sticks out on your build):

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Thank you!! I'll level those out as soon as I get a chance =) Also, for the dent are you talking about the slices that are put into the hole? I could peel the cardboard in half to make it close to 1mm, do you think that would work better?