First ESB Scratch Build - Based on Rafal Fett's Templates

[LanceM71]

Been lurking for a while and decided to take the plunge and start building an ESB helmet based on Rafal Fett's templates. I had almost all of the raw materials from previous art projects and surfboard builds/repairs, so it was pretty easy to get started. I first printed the templates at the suggested "fit to page" size, but it was a little small. I ended up setting the size at 96%, which is around 103.5% of the "fit to page" size, and it seemed about right for me. I'm 6'1" and around 220 lbs, so I wanted the proportions to be correct. The dome and right ear piece were definitely the most challenging part of the build. The dome because it's just hard to work with all those floppy wedges, and the ear piece because it's difficult to figure out the engineering of it. I took my time with the ear piece and looked at lots of photos for reference, and it came together nicely. I fiberglassed the inside, so it's pretty sturdy. It's still a work in progress, but I'll let the photos tell the rest of the story so far. Hopefully the images upload properly.

 

[LanceM71]

I'm also thinking of making a mold and casting a few extras. Is there a cheaper solution than Rebound 25 silicone? I've seen that some people use 100% silicone caulk and mix some glycerine with it, but I'm not sure if it would work as well as Rebound 25. I'm totally new to casting, but am pretty experienced with fiberglass – any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Grimstuff]

Looks like it's comin along, you're in the phase now where you can pretty much spend an endless amount of time refining with continual layers and resanding. One specific thing that it looks like you're wrappin up on though that may be a little wrong is that the dent looks a little too big and deep, it's actually a bit more shallow than you'd intuitively think.

Also as for casting, if you're just gonna do a single or handful of casts, you definitely don't need the platinum cure rebound. The cheaper tin-cure Mold Max Stroke will work just fine. Also you won't need to go particularly thick with it, as long as it doesn't cave in while inside the mothermold. Very thick molds are good to avoid warping as the silicone gets older, but that doesn't start to occur until at least a few dozen pulls. 3 of the trial sized containers should do, 2 if you wanna be really economical. And yeah, caulk can work too, but I haven't personally tried it.

Also I'll hawk off my own build thread if you want some molding tips, I wrote a pretty length full-walkthrough in it on page 2, with an update on page 4 where I switched to single-piece glove mold. Grimstuff's Scratch Build Journal (building, casting, painting)

 

[LanceM71]

Thanks for all the info Grimstuff. Yeah, the dent was a little big, so I filled it in a bit and reshaped it. I noticed the arrows were also a little on the large side, so I re-did those as well. I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, as the seemingly endless sanding and filling stage is drawing to a close. Will post more pics when I get the chance.