Artakha's (formerly Le1120) Second Cardboard Helmet Scratch Build -- WIP

Artakha · Aug 22, 2016

And with some more brown primer on. Close, but still many small things to take care of.

toofastrobot · Aug 22, 2016

Loooookin' gooooooooood

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Have you posted this on the rpf yet?

Artakha · Aug 22, 2016

Raizo said:
Loooookin' gooooooooood

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Have you posted this on the rpf yet?

Thanks man. I haven't yet, though maybe now's the time. Could probably get some pointers with the molding and casting stuff if not the helmet itself.

Artakha · Aug 22, 2016

And done! Its a summarized version over there on the RPF, but here's the link if anyone's curious: Le1120's Second Boba Fett Helmet Scratch Build -- WIP (molding and casting soon!)

Artakha · Sep 1, 2016

Progress.

Artakha · Sep 4, 2016

Finally found similar enough shots of an actual helmet and mine to make a decent comparison. PP3, then mine. Its getting so close...I completely blame the similarity of my helmet to the actual thing on RafalFett's great templates and measurements, which my helmet is completely based on. Many thanks Raf!

toofastrobot · Sep 4, 2016

Pretty dang close!

mainst69 · Sep 7, 2016

That's so cool. My goal is to do a scratch helmet build after my deadline on the costume is done. I'm looking forward to it and being able to take my time and enjoy that learning process.
I'm proud for you the way yours has turned out!

Artakha · Sep 8, 2016

So the parts from Shapeways arrived! Many thanks to RafalFett for the amazing files and help with fixing some of them for printing purposes! The dental expander pieces are for my gauntlet project, but the others will be molded and casted for the helmet (but probably not the rangefinder). Expecting a couple other parts to show up sometime later.

Artakha · Sep 24, 2016

Finally got my rangefinder from Shapeways. The gray colored parts being the upper left ear and the cap are done by my printer, temporary until I can get the Shapeways ones sorted out and done.

Anyways, here it is with everything slapped on!

Counterweight · Sep 24, 2016

Looks amazing

jr1203 · Sep 30, 2016

Read and re-read the entire thread. Amazing build le1120! That thing is smooooooooooth :love

mainst69 · Oct 2, 2016

Man that thing just looks sick! I'm hoping to embark on the scratch build helmet project after Halloween. Just seeing your updates gets me fired up to start. The end result is looking great!

Artakha · Oct 10, 2016

Counterweight said:
Looks amazing

jr1203 said:
Read and re-read the entire thread. Amazing build le1120! That thing is smooooooooooth :love

mainst69 said:
Man that thing just looks sick! I'm hoping to embark on the scratch build helmet project after Halloween. Just seeing your updates gets me fired up to start. The end result is looking great!

Thanks guys. It means a lot.

I finally did some mold making for the detail pieces and got some fine pulls so this is progressing.

(the green one is the bad one so don't look at it too hard

)

Fetterling · Oct 15, 2016

THAT is truly beyond impressive! Thanks for sharing all the photos and play by play. Trying to make my own girth belt doesn't seem so daunting now! Lol

ryan101011 · Oct 15, 2016

yup, adding to the list of compliments! props! well done.

Artakha · Oct 26, 2016

Fetterling said:
THAT is truly beyond impressive! Thanks for sharing all the photos and play by play. Trying to make my own girth belt doesn't seem so daunting now! Lol

ryan101011 said:
yup, adding to the list of compliments! props! well done.

Thanks guys. Means a lot.

HEY BUT MOLDING HAS BEGUN!!

Okay so here I have my rebound 25 silicone...(part B)

Already had the helmet sealed up...(its not all gray because I did some last minute changes and the sealant is clear)
(also hating that the photos refuse to orient correctly)

Then the first coat...

Okay, so far so good.

Second coat the next day, thickened with Thi-Vex.

Well, so this coat never properly cured. I later found out that I shouldn't have compensated for the Thi-Vex, thus making for an imbalanced mix of A + B. Simple mistake I guess.

I decided to put on a third coat over this and see what happened.

Well, it fully cured in some areas, but was still tacky in much of the place. (I put the keys for the mother-mold on funny for the purposes of amusement, Darth Fett-Maul)

I figured a fourth layer would fix the rest, and I didn't add any Thi-Vex to this one. I can safely report that it is not tacky in the least. We shall see how the mold performs, but seems good so far.

Somehow I will never get over thinking of these molds as 'mummies made of orange sorbet'. Seems about accurate too.

Next, I shall make the mother-mold. Hoping to have a casting by tomorrow night!

Artakha · Oct 31, 2016

So! The mother-mold got made. I used Smooth-on's Freeform Air, which i didn't layer on thickly enough, as I found out later. Nonetheless it worked great!

Once fully cured (24 hours later) I opened it up and got my master back. (inverted mold in comparison to master)

I promptly got ready to cast, and got my first helmet!!

That one I decided to have some fun with for Halloween purposes, since I didn't have time to do a proper paint up of any sort. (I left the ear pieces off on purpose)

Initial:

Next to master and another casting:

A friend got a photo of me at a party, with the additions I added later on:

I also developed a ESB version of my helmet, (not done with it yet) that has some of the warped features, especially the flair (ESB on the left, compared to the usual on the right):

Any thoughts?