Scratch EVA Boba Fett Helmet Build

[Cptlaurion]

Loyal listeners,

We've hit paydirt! At least I think so. I dove back into the dome this morning and my assertion from last night was correct. Cutting down almost exactly to the base of the joints of each finger made everything line up to the center point of the dome support.


Here is the pic from last night where the point was overshooting by half an inch or so. The second is after my corrections. Much better.


Slowly but surely they all came together. I had to do more "custom trimming" than I expected. Using AntMan's method of aligning the dome fingers with the supports rather than laying them on top of them, this created some packing that needed to be compensated for. Once I came to terms with modifying the fingers to fit, I became more confident with it and was able to finish it up rather quickly.


Here it is, my finished bucket. Kind of looks like a Fett, am I right? Pretty happy with where this one is at.


Here is my evolution of builds. The first was my heat treated (failed) EVA helm that used an A4 template on letter paper and ended up way too small. The dome came together perfectly, however, due to the heat shrinking on the band, it wouldn't actually fit inside the helm. The second is my EVA build reboot that started this thread. Comparing side by side with the matboard, I'm actually not too upset about it. The cheeks could sink in a bit more, but it's not damning. The other issue was the dome. I didn't cut off the band at the bottom. Easy fix again. I'll still continue on with fiberglassing both of them. I'm extremely happy with the matboard finish though.

Now I'm off to buy some fiberglassing supplies. I don't think I'll get any further on the helm today, but hopefully can knock out a coat of resin tomorrow. Maybe I'll cut out some of the ancillary pieces for the ear caps and keyholes. Any suggestions for when to do this? How about cutting the "possession arrows" and the dent?

Glad to see some of you are getting something from this.

 

[Cptlaurion]

Is anyone else having issues with the images? I can't control which way they rotate, and every post since the first has required me to edit and reenter the images as they just show up as broken hyperlinks.

 

[Drax]

I'm able to see them fine. They are rotated though which I still don't know how to fix myself.

 

[Magnavis]

I found that I had to resave some of my images and compress them slightly for them to appear on site.

Progress looks really good. Nice and clean! Will make filling easier.

 

[Grimstuff]

Yeah it's a little annoying sometimes. It's due to the images getting automatically deleted from the database if they exist for too long without getting posted, which being in-editing doesn't count as posted. Gotta add them right before you hit submit, or just speed post em then edit the post properly after. Also, too large of images can cause problems too asMagnavis said.http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/member.php?u=28713

The rotate thing I still don't completely understand, at first I thought it was an issue with improper jpg rotation data (rotating them in windows isn't a 'true' rotate, it just adds a tag in the image that tells programs to rotate it when displayed, which some sites ignore), but sometimes if you actually properly rotate them in photoshop it'll still display the unrotated one if you posted it already (despite deleting it), seems more a database issue. Maybe it's both.

 

[boopyou]

Thanks for your help and what is matboard lol is it like a frame or something like that I went to hobby lobby website and couldn't find any matboard

Sent from my SM-G930V

 

[Cptlaurion]

Hey boopyou,

I tried to find the exact item on the hobby lobby website and couldn't find it. If you head back to the framing department, it's usually stored along a wall in a matrix of tall, thin cubbies. It's stored in the same area that they have the different matting for picture frames. You know the colored, beveled paper that goes inside the frame. These usually are a bit more spendy, but the plain white one I got was on sale for $7.99, and I think you can use the 40% off coupon too. It came in a sheet about 4'x5'.I hope this helps.

 

[boopyou]

Thanks so much one last question how do I know what to cut and what to score on the paper

Sent from my SM-G930V

 

[Cptlaurion]

BY, it can be a bit daunting at first. Look at AntMan's build. It's the best explanation I've seen so far. As far as cutting vs. scoring, the only part you "score" is an extremely superficial score on the cheek indent. Everything else is a cut. Does that help?

 

[boopyou]

Yes thanks

Sent from my SM-G930V

 

[Cptlaurion]

Hey everyone,

Still chugging away here on the bucket. Been spending my time working on the ears. Slow going as I'm really trying to make sure I nail this on the first go. Going with the "build your own" from the matboard.

It has been extremely slow going here. Posted are a couple pics. All Boba Fett approved.



I'm premature posting because I have several questions as I go on a shopping run tomorrow. Now that the bulk of the bucket is done, sans ear pieces and keyhole slots, dents, and forehead arrows, when and what do I resin? Do I resin even? Inside and out? Is resin below the bondo and then fiberglass over the top of the entire thing? Do you fiberglass ear pieces individually and then attach them? Lots of curiosity and division on this topic, would like to hear some success stories (and failures for that matter). This will be a worn bucket too, FYI.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Magnavis]

Hey, looking really good! Nice and clean. In regards to fibreglass, I'm no expert on building, but I only coated the inside of the helmet with fibreglass. The outside I coated with just the fibreglass resin to seal it, and then used filler over the top. Ear pieces I sealed with PVA glue. Can seal with resin though if you have enough. I just didn't have mine built at the time.

 

[Grimstuff]

I tried to zoom in and steal your sticky note secrets, but the messy cursive kept them safe

Anywho, as for resin and all that. The outer coat is pretty much just to petrify the paper and give the bondo a good hard base material to be layed onto. It's most commonly done for paper-thin pepakura builds though, and you've got a pretty solid base, so you could probably skip it if you want. The main advantage would just be to petrify the paper and make it have similar sanding properties to the bondo in case you sand back into it some (hard resin instead of paper fibers). If you sand back too far you hit the paper fibers anyway though, so it's not too tremendous of an advantage. Just don't use any matting on the outside, as it'll create a lumpy shell that's difficult and dangerous as hell to sand.

As for the inside, anything you do here is just gonna be for structural reasons, so this is where you'll want to pull out the fiberglass matting if you want your helm to not flex. Also since it's a wear bucket you'll want the inside to be coated anyway so the paper doesn't get wet from sweat or w/e. If you do resin in there though, I'd recommend giving the whole inside a coat of paint after it's all said and done just to seal it; the actual health risk is arguable, but I'm just not a fan of having one's head in a small enclosed space coated in home-mixed polyester resin. It can take months for that stuff to fully cure and quit releasing gases.

As for all the little accessories and do-dats, Give em a liberal resining. You'll essentially be turning their outsides into hard resin which will make them sand nice and smooth, they'll be like plastic pieces.

EDIT: If you'd like, I actually remembered I have an imgur build log of a Stormtropper helm I've had on backburner for a while now. It's a paper pep build and gives a pretty good walkthrough of how I resin and bondo things at least.

 

[Cptlaurion]

Went on a quick shopping run today. I think I picked up everything I'll need to get this project to painting.


-Bondo body filler
-Bondo glass filler
-Sandpaper 120/180/220
-Bondo fiberglass kit
-DAP Drydex filler
-Polycrilic matte clear finish

Did I miss anything obvious?

 

[Cptlaurion]

Grim,

That stormtrooper helmet is amazing. I'm so impressed. Do you suggest doing the resin? Or just use this polycrylic sealer? I'm assuming the bondo will stick to it fine? I plan on doing a test piece first and sanding it for science.

 

[Grimstuff]

Thanks! I really need to get around to getting it molded and casted someday.

I've never used polycrylic before, seems like it's just an alternative to polyurethene wood finish though, so should work just as well as anything else that dries hard. It might even be a little better than the resin since floor finishers are usually quite thin, could penetrate deeper into the cardboard, make more of it solid. Def test it out and see how well it sticks and sands and all that though.

Also as for your shopping, do you already have chip brushes, gloves, and a vapor respirator? They'll all be really important. Also might wanna get some 80 grit too and a rasp if you don't have em, having good rapid removal tools will make the initial roughing phase of the bondoing a lot easier..

 

[Cptlaurion]

Definitely should get it cast. That would be awesome if this bucket turns out alright, I may try to cast it just for the practice.

I'll do a post on my trials today with the polycrylic. I think other folks have used it too so I'm hoping that means good things. Time will tell.

Check, check, and check on the shopping list. I'm actually going to head to harbor freight today for some rasps. I like what you did there. I'm still very confused on the "rondo" application for your trooper. It looked like it added a lot of stability to the helm, especially for when I cut out the visor so I can poly coat the edge, bondo, and sand.

I spent probably for hours last night just sanding and chipping at my ear pieces. If they turn out well, I may see about getting them vacuum formed. More to follow tonight.

Thanks Grim!

 

[Cptlaurion]

Hey everyone!

Been several weeks here, I'm due for an update!

I was stressing out over the fiberglass resin portion of the bucket, but turns out that it really isn't that bad! Cleanup turns out to be the worst part of the entire process. Before I put the resin on, I wanted to do something about all the cracks in the dome. I used the DAP drydex filler in all of the cracks and sanded them down. It actually came out pretty well once it was all sanded. Once it was sanded, I was ready to apply resin.


I applied the first coat of resin to the dome and quickly realized I was going to need more resin! It came out super smooth. Very happy. The end of the second coat was almost perfect except for a few gummy drops from using the same mixing tray twice. Luckily, the bulk of it is in the T-visor area. I'm assuming from the heat or chemical of the resin, I did see some flex in my hot glue seals on the dome. Luckily, there wasn't too much flex or damage, but I did notice it.


I then decided to fiberglass the inside of the dome with fiberglass. I felt with the outside layer of resin, the dome would hold if I cut out the dome supports on the inside. This process went well, but the shock of clipping away the supports cracked the outer dome. My overconfidence with the resin didn't prepare me for stringy, fibery fiberglass cloth problems. I attempted to do the entire thing in one go, which became a major issue. Strings started sticking to my hands and the brush. The fiberglass went down more or less well, however, I was unable to get all the fiberglass in place before I started having gummy, hardening issues. The first pic is the 1st layer. For the second layer, I filled a quadruple batch of resin and dumped it all into the dome and gave her the ol' roll around and cover the entire dome. This I am extremely happy with. The dome now feels bulletproof.


While all of this has been drying, I've been going back and redoing my earpieces. I thought my finished parts looked too thin. According to AntMan's notes, he used 2mm board. Mine is closer to 1.5mm. To compensate, I went back and redid my math to get things back where they need to be. Here's a sideways shot of the helm now. My next post should be able the ear pieces and the keyhole vent. More to follow!

 

[Cptlaurion]

Question for you amazing fans out there. Can I get a link to some high res ESB helmet images? Front, sides, back? I need better details as I'm going for as accurate a build as I can. Thanks!