ESB Boba Fett Helmet - Scratch Build - Pic Heavy!

[Tom Walker]

Hello everyone!

I've been lurking on these forums for a while now and thought it best to join properly.

Not so long ago someone approached me about building an ESB Boba Fett helmet (and being a big star wars fan I jumped at the request!).
I decided to go down the scratch building method, as I like a challenge. Only after I started and spent some time on here, I realised how many little details and features make the relativity simple looking helmet what it is.

I started off working to these dimensions:

http://www.tk409.com/images/fett/helmet/measurements.gif

With a mix of these:

Rafal Works Helmet (RWH) v2 Helmet Templates and Build

UPDATE 24-06-2013 ------------------------- Nine months have past since I started this thread, so I can call this helmet my BABY! Thanks for all the help and support in that period... You know who you are! Introduction ========= I want to present you my new and improved helmet templates. The...

www.thedentedhelmet.com

And then made tweaks to suit the ESB reference imagery I found here:

Boba Fett The Empire Strikes Back

Boba Fett as seen in promotional material and the film; The Empire Strikes Back.

www.thedentedhelmet.com

Here is my progress so far:

Initial cardboard model to get a rough size and shape.

A coat of resin, a few scrapes of body filler and a standard "look what I'm making" photo.

Refining a few details with some 1mm foamex.

Using Fusion 360 I drew up the ear details and 3D printed them.

A few coats of primer and I started on the dent. I cut the dent shape out with a drill and dremel, then build it back in with slices of 1mm foamex. The forehead arrows were engraved in with a dremel.

The rangefinder top was drawn up and 3D printed like the ears. The stalk was cut on a CNC router at my work. The top of the RF is in 3 parts to allow me to cast the 'perspex block' in clear resin.

Though not installed yet, I turned the borden connector on a lathe ready for moulding and casting

This is the helmet as it stands at the moment (sorry for low res phone pics). I still need to add the little cheek rectangle and sharpen up a few parts, but thought it would be good to get some constructive criticism before going any further.

Please be gentle!

 

[BudaFett]

That's sure looking pretty!

 

[Misfit2]

Looking great!

 

[boba87fett]

wow! great job man...

 

[robotzo]

Looking good!

 

[Tom Walker]

Thanks for the positive feedback!

I've finally got round to posting an update...

I decided that I want to make a few more helmets in the future so decided to make molds of everything for easy reproduction.

I've made some silicone molds for all the small parts.

Original 3D prints on the left and polyurethane resin casts on the right. I think they came out pretty well!

Next step was the main bucket...

This was done by building up layers of silicone and then encapsulating with a 2 part fiberglass jacket.

Now I have 2!

Cast on the left original on the right.

For the cast helmet, I laid a gel coat with two layers of fiberglass into the mold.

Here I used a Dremel to trim off the excess fiberglass and to cut out the visor. I drilled some holes in the ear panels so I could attach the ears with screws.

It's a little hard to see in the picture but I used fiberglass paste to bond in some M4 bolts to attach the visor and the head harness to...

...Like so.

For the visor I used a shade 5 welding visor i found on ebay.

For the right ear I used some small magnets, which when used in conjunction with the alignment studs, made a really nice way of connecting the two parts together. It gives a firm hold, yet is still removable for accessing the rangefinder stalk.

And here is a quick test assembly before painting. I'm excited to start painting and to see how it turns out!

 

[Grimstuff]

Looks great. Interesting approach to the upper RF ear.

Rebound 25 might be a bit soft for the block molds, why i'm a big fan of using legos for the mold walls as you can rebuild em for mold supports after. But with block molds that thick it shouldn't be too big an issue though.

Also dayum those registration keys are thicc.

 

[BudaFett]

That's a sharp looking helmet! Great job with the build.

 

[Tom Walker]

Thanks Guys!

Rebound 25 might be a bit soft for the block molds

This isn't actually Rebound 25, it's a cheaper silicone I added a red pigment to. It's also only a 20 shore hardness so slightly softer than Rebound 25... But quite right, like you said, I would probably have been better off with a harder shore, but due to the hefty wall thickness it still does the job.

Also dayum those registration keys are thicc.

Haha! I wanted to do a greater amount of smaller ones, but I had an ice cube tray that looked like it would do the job...

 

[Tom Walker]

This is by far the most complex paint job I have ever done!

I have never used masking fluid before... But I will definitely be using it again. It makes masking complex shapes effortless!

For my paint job I used Montana Black spray cans as they are cheap as chips and come in pretty much every colour under the sun! (If any one is interested I can post the paint colour names/codes that I used?)

So to start with I gave everything a base coat of silver.

Mmm shiny... I can see a Jango Fett variant happening in the near future...

I decided to split the helmet up into three sections for painting, so that it wasn't too overwhelming. (Front, back and dome).

Once masked up, I spayed on the next colour and repeated the process. I think I used 12 different paint colours in total.

Once all the layers were done it was time for the part I was both excited and nervous about... Peeling off the masking fluid.

As soon as i started peeling away I was amazed how well it looked. The thickness of the layers of paint really makes it look like real damage...

And here are the finished pics!

Once I unmasked all the layers of paint, I went back and hand painted some of the finer damage and the little symbols on the ears.

I'm really happy with how this turned out... It's also probably the most accurate build I have ever done!

Let me know what you guys think!

 

[boba87fett]

Bro you killed it

 

[wyawya]

looks incredible!

 

[BudaFett]

You should be incredibly proud! Awesome!

 

[Mythos Fenn]

Woah!!! Now that is one impressive scratch build for sure. Well done

 

[clumsyfett]

damn that was amazing...soaked it all up

 

[dal torio]

What order did you do the paint layers and what colors/brands did you use?

 

[Fett74]

I am fascinated by this project.. Looks amazing vode!

 

[victorvulpine]

Your build is awesome! Great job!

 

[HawkFett]

WOW. This is truly awesome you were able to do this starting with cardboard. I am seriously blown away. Looks fantastic