New member's first Boba Fett helmet

[DavidF]

I've been lurking quietly here for a long time, but this year I finally bit the bullet and challenged myself to build and paint a Boba Fett helmet. Here is the final result:



I started back in January with a pile of cardboard and a set of Rafal Fett's plans. I built the cardboard helmet, and started applying resin (bought from Halfords). It stank to high heaven and the shed was freezing, so I paused until warmer weather.

By June I had sculpted a beautiful thick mess of cardboard, resin, fibreglass, filler, cross bracing, more filler, primer, more filler and more primer: with lots of sanding and yet more filler & primer. It was so thick and heavy that it was unwearable, not to mention having a chunk of metal inside it to keep it's shape: so I made a mould and cast a copy.



I then reinforced the cast copy with fibreglass and resin.

At about this time I noticed all the pictures of lineage helmet casts which had started appearing on this forum.

• High quality pictures.
• Showing EVERY detail of the raw cast.
• With no paint in the way.
• In neutral lighting.

... these were the best reference photos I had EVER seen of the actual helmet shape. So I had to stop and rework everything. That took a few months.

By September I was finally happy with the shape, so I started painting with a mixture of airbrushed and topical paint.


I make it sound so easy, don't I? It wasn't! I've never made anything this big or complex before. I've never moulded or cast something, or done a paint job this insane, or even picked up an airbrush. It took me ten months from start to finish and honestly, it's only NEARLY right. But it's all mine and damn, I am proud of this. Having it on the shelf as we watched the first episode of The Mandalorian was great.


Some thanks:

I bought a metal upper right ear and ear stalk from Dan Saunders (bucketheadprops on this forum), and rangefinder parts from Chris Stallard (CStallardDes). Thank you both: you helped speed my build along, and as you can see the parts look great.

I would never even have started this project without the guides, worked examples, hints and tips on this forum: and I could never have made it look as good as it does without all the reference photos and the wealth of information here on The Dented Helmet. Thank you all!


Finally:

Like I said, I know that it's only nearly right. I can imagine myself making another one (I've already been asked by a family member) and I'd like to improve my next attempt. I would therefore welcome feedback from the experts on this forum, but please be gentle if you must point out glaring errors.

Thanks once again!

-- David F.

 

[Frogfreak]

I've been lurking quietly here for a long time, but this year I finally bit the bullet and challenged myself to build and paint a Boba Fett helmet. Here is the final result:

View attachment 200773View attachment 200774View attachment 200775View attachment 200776

I started back in January with a pile of cardboard and a set of Rafal Fett's plans. I built the cardboard helmet, and started applying resin (bought from Halfords). It stank to high heaven and the shed was freezing, so I paused until warmer weather.
View attachment 200777
By June I had sculpted a beautiful thick mess of cardboard, resin, fibreglass, filler, cross bracing, more filler, primer, more filler and more primer: with lots of sanding and yet more filler & primer. It was so thick and heavy that it was unwearable, not to mention having a chunk of metal inside it to keep it's shape: so I made a mould and cast a copy.

View attachment 200778View attachment 200779View attachment 200780View attachment 200781View attachment 200782

I then reinforced the cast copy with fibreglass and resin.

At about this time I noticed all the pictures of lineage helmet casts which had started appearing on this forum.

• High quality pictures.
• Showing EVERY detail of the raw cast.
• With no paint in the way.
• In neutral lighting.

... these were the best reference photos I had EVER seen of the actual helmet shape. So I had to stop and rework everything. That took a few months.

By September I was finally happy with the shape, so I started painting with a mixture of airbrushed and topical paint.

View attachment 200783View attachment 200784View attachment 200785View attachment 200786View attachment 200787View attachment 200789View attachment 200790View attachment 200791View attachment 200792

I make it sound so easy, don't I? It wasn't! I've never made anything this big or complex before. I've never moulded or cast something, or done a paint job this insane, or even picked up an airbrush. It took me ten months from start to finish and honestly, it's only NEARLY right. But it's all mine and damn, I am proud of this. Having it on the shelf as we watched the first episode of The Mandalorian was great.


Some thanks:

I bought a metal upper right ear and ear stalk from Dan Saunders (bucketheadprops on this forum), and rangefinder parts from Chris Stallard (CStallardDes). Thank you both: you helped speed my build along, and as you can see the parts look great.

I would never even have started this project without the guides, worked examples, hints and tips on this forum: and I could never have made it look as good as it does without all the reference photos and the wealth of information here on The Dented Helmet. Thank you all!


Finally:

Like I said, I know that it's only nearly right. I can imagine myself making another one (I've already been asked by a family member) and I'd like to improve my next attempt. I would therefore welcome feedback from the experts on this forum, but please be gentle if you must point out glaring errors.

Thanks once again!

-- David F.

That's really impressive! Fantastic job!!!

 

[BudaFett]

Woah that's incredible!

 

[killerkeith]

I am always a little more impressed when a helmet is made from scratch like this! Great paint job, but just knowing this originally came form cardboard really floats my boat!

 

[spicy fett]

Looks absolutely amazing!! About to paint mine up here in the next few days!

 

[Skeksis]

could you give a link to the plans??

 

[RafalFett]

could you give a link to the plans??

Here ==> Rafal Works Helmet (RWH) v2 Helmet Templates and Build.

 

[RamSkirata]

DavidF
Wow. Your display of skill is amazing and so varied. Everything looks well done. As others have said before, knowing this started with a bunch of cardboard makes it even more impressive.

I am only adding the following comments because you asked. I would not have done so without that, as (and keep that in mind as you read forward) I could probably not have done a single of the steps necessary for you to build that helmet, let alone all of them.

What I saw and could be improved upon in a future rendition of your helmet production is:

• looking from the front, the right part of the horizontal T slit (non rangefinder side) seems to be swooping downwards in your helmet and the brow area seems to thicken. This could be remedied.
• When looking at the pictures of the sides, the overall shape seems to be somewhat off. My idea would be to get measurements off of the Hero helmtes floating around and compare them to get a better picture. If I remember correctly, the Elstree Hero Metal Ears thread started by boba87fett , although unrelated, contains some of the measurements. He is also an extremely nice guy, so he will likely help you with additional measurements if you ask him politely

 

[boba87fett]

Beautiful work

 

[DavidF]

Hello everyone. Thank you for the nice comments.

Thank you especially RamSkirata for taking the time to comment and give constructive criticism. I really do value the experience of members here in helping me refine my sculpt.

Which part of the side view seemed off to you? I am aware that my helmet has a distinct "overbite", where the bottom edge sticks out 5mm or so. It happened during or just after the moulding - the original master is fine. It's something I need to be wary of next time!

 

[RamSkirata]

DavidF
Hard to describe, but I will try.

• Generally, the circular red band around the helmet seems off and a little on the wide side
• Your helmet's downward portion of the red area surrounding the T visor (so the bits next to the vertical part of the T) seem to be extending towards the front a little too much .. in other words, with the helmet circular band being level, they are angled backwards too much, where it should be almost a "straight down". Possibly you meant that by "overbite", but im not sure.

In case I wasnt able to formulate well enough: Take a look at these pictures:

Boba Fett Helmet Lineage Casting - RS Propmasters

Boba Fett Empire Strikes Back lineage replica helmt casting.

www.rspropmasters.com

 

[DavidF]

Hi RamSkirata , that's perfect: and yes, that's what I meant by "overbite" ! Thank you once again for taking the time to comment.

 

[Skeksis]

Here ==> Rafal Works Helmet (RWH) v2 Helmet Templates and Build.

thanks

 

[Skeksis]

What kind of glue do you use

 

[DavidF]

I used hot glue from a glue gun to join together the pieces of cardboard.

 

[Skeksis]

I used hot glue from a glue gun to join together the pieces of cardboard.

thanks! the bucket (which along with lid i guess means helmet??) looks great