Cptlaurion
New Hunter
Hey all!
I'd like to start off by saying that I'm in awe of the creativity and community here at TDH. Many of you have done some absolutely amazing work and I must say, it's extremely motivating. I look forward to sharing my project as I progress and can hopefully get some insight from the veteran builders out there. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to make something half as nice as those I've seen posted.
I'm attempting a project 32 years in the making! I've had my sights on a scratch build Boba Fett helmet and maybe an eventual full cosplay style setup. I'll be using 3mm EVA foam as my base looking to bondo and fiberglass it at the end for rigidity. Since we're at the beginning of the journey and this is the most realistic point to be unrealistic, I plan on working some basic controls into the helmet and eventual gauntlet to manage a servo-powered range finder, various LEDS on armor and helm, cooling fan in helmet, and voice modulator. But that's the dream, right? And with that said, here we go!
*Note: I'm aware there are many similar posts on TDH, but I'm going to approach this one as if it's the only one out there. Please call me out if I forget to give credit somewhere as I'm definitely standing on the shoulders of giants.
I'm using the Wizard of Flight pepakura templates (These are amazing. Big shout out here!) and tracing them onto the EVA before cutting them out. I'll be honest, this is my second attempt at a helm using these prints (the first go is visible in the top right corner). My first helm I made several mistakes and quickly decided to restart with my lessons learned. The most glaring was with the initial print. If you print an A4 design on US Letter, you're going to scale down (duh!). My son will be receiving this helm as I didn't quite think before I hit control-p. Another hiccup was confusion with the inside and outside portions of the faceplate and so I only used the outer piece. Further on in that build I realized that the internal plate was a great rest for the dome as well as added some rigidity and dimension for the band that goes the back of the helm. The other error I made was to cut out the visor portion of the mask WAAAY too early on. I think this is a critical step so I'm going to post it in bold again. Do not cut out the visor portion until the helmet is hardened! Doing so causes the helm to lose all proportion and shape, or at least makes it far more difficult to maintain.
As I said, I started by printing and tracing the WoF templates onto the EVA and cutting them out with an exacto knife. Using hot glue, I layered the front faceplate and larger front faceplate backing pieces on top of one another. This layering creates a little lip on the inside of the top where the dome will rest later (I assumed).
Once layered on top of each other, I connected the front and back with more hot glue to create the round of the helm's faceplate. It's not shown, but I used the little half inch alligator clips on the joints to help hold the shape while the glue set. This worked really well at making a clean, one time seal. This also prevents any unnecessary glue build up from splitting and resealing, as the EVA foam doesn't like to let the glue go once applied.
I guess that I could have cut out the cheek portions while the foam was flat, but I made due while it was upright. I haven't cut out the back portion yet to give dimension to that little band because I want to keep the rigidity for as long as possible.
I cut out the traced cheekbone portions and their backings, as well as the arched upper cheek piece. Be sure when you're gluing these that you don't accidentally create two of the same piece (done it) as they are directional. No need to cut out more than one tracing as they are mirror pieces. When you attach the cheek piece to its backing, it creates a nice little lip around the outside to seat the arched upper piece.
I would consider this the first "technical" part of the build as there is that magical angle in the upper cheek plate that I'm trying to achieve. To improve on the first attempt and to create a little cleaner seam, I did try to do a bevel on the outside edge of the upper cheek piece so it would slope in more flush. I think the easiest way ahead here is to attach the straight portion furthest to the rear of the helmet first, from base to top. Then, starting from the opposite end of the arch, glue incrementally up the cheek until you come together at the already glued angle. This gave me a bit of an angle, but they aren't quite as symmetrical as I would like and I need to compare this to an image from the film for accuracy. I'll have to do some massaging for sure.
The lower cheek portion fits nicely into the gap, and follows the same method as the upper arch. Connect the two bases and slowly work up towards the angle. This smaller cheek piece will also help build that bend (the pepakura template was really masterfully done to create these angles).
Now it's on to the dome. This takes by far the most time to complete (tracing and cutting) and I would suggest that you do your due diligence here. If traced well, the dome will come together like a charm. If I did anything right on the first helmet, it was the dome. It came out perfect. This attempt went awry somewhere. When I completed the round, the last seam was too high and there was a quarter sized gap in the middle. I had to go through with the exacto, cutting and massaging the old seams in order to get "closer" to where I need to be. It was getting late so I had to leave things for now. I'm not too worried with gaps for now as I imagine bondo and sanding will handle those. My bigger concern is overall shape. You can also see my little alligator clip buddies here. I unfortunately didn't take any pictures of the mistakes before I fixed them. I'll try to be better about posting the good and the bad for posterity.
As my last step for the night, I affixed the dome to the faceplate. That little lip comes in handy here for certain. It can be a bit tricky to get the two to marry up, but the easiest way is to affix the front lip, centered above the visor seam, pinch the back of the dome, and seat the rest an inch at a time until it's all tightly bound inside the faceplate. Some massaging and a couple quick applications of glue and we've got what appears to be the making of a Mandalorian Battle Helmet! The helmet still appears a bit "round" to me. I need to look at some scaling to see just how oval to make it, versus being so circular.
If you've read this far, thanks so much for your patronage! I hope you found this educational, and in the least, a little bit amusing! Sorry for the rotated pictures. Not quite sure why they show up one way on the desktop and then flip in here. I'm anxious for any feedback or commentary from the group and hope I can answer some questions! I will continue on with the project in the next couple days and will post as soon as I have updates. Until then...
I'd like to start off by saying that I'm in awe of the creativity and community here at TDH. Many of you have done some absolutely amazing work and I must say, it's extremely motivating. I look forward to sharing my project as I progress and can hopefully get some insight from the veteran builders out there. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to make something half as nice as those I've seen posted.
I'm attempting a project 32 years in the making! I've had my sights on a scratch build Boba Fett helmet and maybe an eventual full cosplay style setup. I'll be using 3mm EVA foam as my base looking to bondo and fiberglass it at the end for rigidity. Since we're at the beginning of the journey and this is the most realistic point to be unrealistic, I plan on working some basic controls into the helmet and eventual gauntlet to manage a servo-powered range finder, various LEDS on armor and helm, cooling fan in helmet, and voice modulator. But that's the dream, right? And with that said, here we go!
*Note: I'm aware there are many similar posts on TDH, but I'm going to approach this one as if it's the only one out there. Please call me out if I forget to give credit somewhere as I'm definitely standing on the shoulders of giants.
I'm using the Wizard of Flight pepakura templates (These are amazing. Big shout out here!) and tracing them onto the EVA before cutting them out. I'll be honest, this is my second attempt at a helm using these prints (the first go is visible in the top right corner). My first helm I made several mistakes and quickly decided to restart with my lessons learned. The most glaring was with the initial print. If you print an A4 design on US Letter, you're going to scale down (duh!). My son will be receiving this helm as I didn't quite think before I hit control-p. Another hiccup was confusion with the inside and outside portions of the faceplate and so I only used the outer piece. Further on in that build I realized that the internal plate was a great rest for the dome as well as added some rigidity and dimension for the band that goes the back of the helm. The other error I made was to cut out the visor portion of the mask WAAAY too early on. I think this is a critical step so I'm going to post it in bold again. Do not cut out the visor portion until the helmet is hardened! Doing so causes the helm to lose all proportion and shape, or at least makes it far more difficult to maintain.
As I said, I started by printing and tracing the WoF templates onto the EVA and cutting them out with an exacto knife. Using hot glue, I layered the front faceplate and larger front faceplate backing pieces on top of one another. This layering creates a little lip on the inside of the top where the dome will rest later (I assumed).
Once layered on top of each other, I connected the front and back with more hot glue to create the round of the helm's faceplate. It's not shown, but I used the little half inch alligator clips on the joints to help hold the shape while the glue set. This worked really well at making a clean, one time seal. This also prevents any unnecessary glue build up from splitting and resealing, as the EVA foam doesn't like to let the glue go once applied.
I guess that I could have cut out the cheek portions while the foam was flat, but I made due while it was upright. I haven't cut out the back portion yet to give dimension to that little band because I want to keep the rigidity for as long as possible.
I cut out the traced cheekbone portions and their backings, as well as the arched upper cheek piece. Be sure when you're gluing these that you don't accidentally create two of the same piece (done it) as they are directional. No need to cut out more than one tracing as they are mirror pieces. When you attach the cheek piece to its backing, it creates a nice little lip around the outside to seat the arched upper piece.
I would consider this the first "technical" part of the build as there is that magical angle in the upper cheek plate that I'm trying to achieve. To improve on the first attempt and to create a little cleaner seam, I did try to do a bevel on the outside edge of the upper cheek piece so it would slope in more flush. I think the easiest way ahead here is to attach the straight portion furthest to the rear of the helmet first, from base to top. Then, starting from the opposite end of the arch, glue incrementally up the cheek until you come together at the already glued angle. This gave me a bit of an angle, but they aren't quite as symmetrical as I would like and I need to compare this to an image from the film for accuracy. I'll have to do some massaging for sure.
The lower cheek portion fits nicely into the gap, and follows the same method as the upper arch. Connect the two bases and slowly work up towards the angle. This smaller cheek piece will also help build that bend (the pepakura template was really masterfully done to create these angles).
Now it's on to the dome. This takes by far the most time to complete (tracing and cutting) and I would suggest that you do your due diligence here. If traced well, the dome will come together like a charm. If I did anything right on the first helmet, it was the dome. It came out perfect. This attempt went awry somewhere. When I completed the round, the last seam was too high and there was a quarter sized gap in the middle. I had to go through with the exacto, cutting and massaging the old seams in order to get "closer" to where I need to be. It was getting late so I had to leave things for now. I'm not too worried with gaps for now as I imagine bondo and sanding will handle those. My bigger concern is overall shape. You can also see my little alligator clip buddies here. I unfortunately didn't take any pictures of the mistakes before I fixed them. I'll try to be better about posting the good and the bad for posterity.
As my last step for the night, I affixed the dome to the faceplate. That little lip comes in handy here for certain. It can be a bit tricky to get the two to marry up, but the easiest way is to affix the front lip, centered above the visor seam, pinch the back of the dome, and seat the rest an inch at a time until it's all tightly bound inside the faceplate. Some massaging and a couple quick applications of glue and we've got what appears to be the making of a Mandalorian Battle Helmet! The helmet still appears a bit "round" to me. I need to look at some scaling to see just how oval to make it, versus being so circular.
If you've read this far, thanks so much for your patronage! I hope you found this educational, and in the least, a little bit amusing! Sorry for the rotated pictures. Not quite sure why they show up one way on the desktop and then flip in here. I'm anxious for any feedback or commentary from the group and hope I can answer some questions! I will continue on with the project in the next couple days and will post as soon as I have updates. Until then...
Last edited by a moderator:
let me know. i do have a build thread that ive neglected as i am getting ready for Seattle Comicon.
