First Time Build - Boba Fett Helmet - Cardboard - FINISHED

[Magnavis]

Turn signals are in! Basically ended up carving them out. Traced the shape, and then used a thin, pointed file and slowly scored around the shape and then took the middle out. I think they came out quite well, and are just about deep enough. Also didn't go through to the cardboard underneith, which is a bonus. It's quite smooth inside the shapes, but may be able to get them a little flatter. Will know more when I prime it today or tomorrow.

 

[Magnavis]

Almost there! Like for real! I'm genuinely quite happy with this. More sanding required, just to get rid of the scratches, as a few are still present, and a few minor pieces to fill (just some little chips). Then attach the coin slot and join them up, as well as the ear pieces. Left ear piece isn't too far away either. Lighting on image makes it look pretty good, but it does need more filling and sanding. Coin slot, it's not amazing. But It's at the back anyway Still need to do left ear piece, and also visor, which I guess now is as good as any a time to attempt that.

 

[Magnavis]

Last night I did notice a small-ish problem, but kinda a big one. Cheeks are the wrong shape! For some reason, I have failed to notice it, but they shouldn't point up the way they do. But instead, as you all know, be rounded. So I am going to fix that. Which is fine, assuming I can make the modification without too much of a problem. I already made the additional changes to the dome I wanted to make, so should go ahead and do these ones, just so I can paint it more accurately.

Old pic - Shows the actual shape


So yeah, I need to get that arch back.

EDIT: Shown change needed on my helmet.

 

[Magnavis]

Progress on reshaping the cheeks. Doing 1 at a time. It's getting there. Shape is more visible. But it's still not right. It's a pain really I didn't do something about it earlier on in the build.

Comparison of old vs new
I drew the shape with pencil to make it more apparent. Lighting, and color doesn't help. But you can see it overlapping on the right a little, and that should be flat.

 

[Magnavis]

Needs sanding, but got the required shape. Ended up having to cut away at it. Didn't take any pics, but took the right part of the cheek back down to it's cardboard, and then cut away at that a bit. Put some PVA over it to seal, followed by filler. Seems ok, but will know more once sanded. Pics aren't great. But get a new phone in a couple of days, so hopefuly the camera isn't a potato..

 

[MinuteFett]

Upgrading to the potato plus is a good choice! And btw the helmet is looking amazing!!! Glad to see you resolved that cheek issue.

 

[Magnavis]

Getting there. Little more filling/sanding to do, but cheek almost done. Then got to do it all over again fore the other cheek :/

 

[Magnavis]

If you wanted a rough idea of how I got the cheek to the way it is now, it did look something like this. This is the other one, just cut away at it really. Not a very fun process. But then coat exposed card with PVA, and then tomorrow I'll fill the bits I cut out,sand shape and blend it back in. Will probably take 3 sand/fill sessions to get it back to where it was
.

 

[Artakha]

Good work, keep up the good work man

 

[Magnavis]

Good work, keep up the good work man

I shall do my best!
Progress on that cheek. Not too far away now. This is it's 3rd filling session. Once dried it will be sanded. Shape is there now, just needs to be smoothed out. Done a little bit of filling on the other cheek too (no pic) Just a couple of little imperfections. Ear pieces are also all done. They are currently being filled...and sanded :/ (it's fun really..)

How do people get really sharp edges on thing? I notice on like my ear pieces and things, I'm having a hard time not having edges be rounded. Ive seen a lot of builds where they get incredibly clear cut details, even if their base card item wasn't the best.

 

[Artakha]

I gave up and had mine professionally 3D printed. Then again I'm selling copies of those parts so it's obviously more important. You can try using thin sheets of styrene to put over what you have but sanding it will typically make it lose its edge as well.

 

[Magnavis]

Ear pieces kinda a pain in the butt. Left ear piece is pretty much done, and right bottom isn't looking too bad. But the right upper I am struggling a little with, finding it hard to keep the sharp edges. All ear pieces will be permanently attached, as will range finder position (not built that yet). Display piece only, but I will allow the right upper cover piece to come off, just so that painting is easier. How do people normally make sure the two pieces match up in shape? The under piece will get some extra filling etc...when matched onto the helmet, so will get a better curve. I suppose it only has to roughly match up? Anyway, here are some pics. Gonna whack some primer on the ear pieces tomorrow so I can better see imperfections and shape. Cheeks almost done now too. Another sanding sessions and then another 1 or 2 spot fixes. Hoping to start painting the helmet next week if possible. But I won't rush.

 

[Magnavis]

I didn't get round to priming the ear pieces today, but I did do some more work on them, and I'm a lot happier with them. Will know more once I prime though. Also near enough got that other cheek done. Little bit more sanding to be done on it, as there is a little bit of a bump half way up the curve, but almost there. I attached the coin slot the other day too. It went a little bit lower than it's supposed to, but I'm not too bothered. Will just modify the paint around that area a little. Next I'll work on attaching the ear pieces. The range finder I can do right at the end. But I'm glad I took the time to fix the cheeks...also clean my desk haha!

 

[Magnavis]

Pleased with this coat of primer. Ran out just as I sprayed the last bit. But nothing major spotted that needs fixing. Just small things now, which is a relief! Looks like there is a bulge at top of coin slot, but it's just where there is no paint (i ran out).

Next stage is to clean up those little bits, and get the ear pieces attached. Will need to sand the helmet again though, especially cheeks where there are sand marks. Will try and smooth those out as best I can.

Will be good to do something other than filling and sanding though! Really looking forward to painting it

 

[Magnavis]

Made a slightly mad decision, but i'm glad I did it. The left ear piece was all stuck on, and I had done some filling and sanding (nothing fancy). But...it was too thick! Like 2mm too thick. And I thought, meh, it's 2mm. But the more I looked at it, the fatter and fatter it got, and then I grabbed my knife, and ripped it off (carefully...)

I took around 2mm off, and it's now back on. I'm glad I did it, as I really do notice the difference. Before and After on the right.

 

[Magnavis]

Was quite scary taking this off, especially when it started to flex a bit :/ But actually came off without too much trouble. Some clean up and filling to be done around the edges. And then apart from a little bit of sanding, I think I'm almost ready to start painting! Certainly I hope to have the base silver coat on the helmet by the weekend!

So couple of questions, do you recommend I spray the whole helmet with the silver spray? Or only do the parts I'm starting with (back panels I guess).

Also, the fibreglass on inside still smells pretty strong. (it's been like 4-6 months..) Would spraying the inside with primer 'seal' it and prevent that? I do have some tubes of acrylic paint, was thinking maybe I could mix some of that with some PVA and coat the inside with that? I was also considering doing what I did around the inside of the cheeks, but it takes 3-4 days to fully harden.

 

[Arcinsaw]

This build is amazing! I really appreciate how much detail you have put in your posts. I did a jedi temple guard mask a few years ago out of straight bondo and cardboard. Not having a fiberglass base resulted in it being very brittle and heavy.

Sent from Cell Block 1138

 

[Magnavis]

Guys, I done did it!!
Now bare in mind, the light from the camera does blow it out a little. Not trying to deceive haha. But it's quite dark even with the light on in the room. But I am mighty pleased with how this has come out! There are a couple of small issues to fix. I tried to seal any cardboard showing through with a little PVA glue. Looks as if I missed a bit on one of his ear pieces. So will fix that, probably with a little more PVA. But I won't be doing any more sanding or filling. I think it's about ready for its first real layer of paint! I think what I may do whilst the gloss coat is hardening tomorrow is fill the inside of the dome part with the filler PVA mix that I did around the cheeks. I don't need it anymore, it's starting to go hard inside the tub. Will also tidy up some jagged fibreglass.



PS do you love my crappy stand? Some wood and a lot of glue gun.

Will take some pics tomorrow in better light

 

[Arcinsaw]

Amazing! Impressive result of dedicated hard work!

Sent from Cell Block 1138

 

[Magnavis]

It has begun!

I'm going for maybe 70-80% accuracy? Build in general and paint job. Here is the first coat of paint on. Pealed some of the masking fluid off, but not all of it. Gonna let it dry some more.
Also, don't breath in paint fumes kids...