Help with Sintra

I'm trying to make a non-Fett helmet and costume for Halloween but am having two main problems:

1. How to shape the dome? I'm not sure the best way to go about this - do I need to make a template somehow? The helmet will actually be considerably larger than my head, about 15-16" diameter (50" circumference).

2. The body portion of the costume is basically one large cylinder shape, 25" diameter (78-80" circumference). Since this won't fit in my oven, how do I heat it up for molding? Do I need to cut it into smaller pieces and then re-assemble?

Any assistance for my first DIY costume w/ sintra would be much appreciated!

To answer your first question about a template. I would first try making your helmet out of posterboard, cereal boxes, thin stuff like that. NOT corrugated cardboard. Making your first one will let you know what works, what doesn't and what changes to make and you won't waste any sintra.

Second, if heating sintra inside the oven is not feasible, try a heat gun on low setting. I've used a $12 heatgun from Harbor Freight to shape my armor. Works fine. One thing to consider also is that if you are using 3mm sintra (thick stuff) it will take longer to heat and bend. Do not increase the heat, increase the length of time. I switched over to using For Sale signs from Home Depot or Lowe's for most of my helmet and I'm using the thick 3mm stuff on the inside to reinforce stress points.

Check out Honus' cardboard bucket thread here, as well as SD68's batting helmet. Ion Cannon Gunner has a sweet helmet made from chipboard. Jango72, and Digifett have quality helmets made from thin material, similar to For Sale signs. There are many other excellent scratchbuilds out there, these are the ones that just came to mind first.

I hope that helps, and please remember to post some pix. :cheers

I used sintra to make my armor. I cut the piece into the appropriate shapes using a scroll saw, sanded, and used a dremel tool for fine details. Once the pieces were the correct shape, I put them in the oven until they became soft and then molded the correct shape. Once I had the correct shape I immediately put the piece under cold water to hold the shape. I attached a pic so you can see the end result.



Hope this helps,

Kata

And Kata, you look awesome!

But all dressed up and nowhere to go....