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Making Helmets

 
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luke



Joined: 04 Oct 2005
Posts: 3
Location: central coast, ca

PostPosted: Wed Oct 05, 2005 10:34 am    Post subject: Making Helmets Reply with quote

I've been following tk560's incredible work, and am learning alot.

Has anyone on this board used a vac-form setup to create a full-face helmet? ie: stormtrooper, vader, boba...

Basically I have to come up with as many potential projects as possible to get my wife on board with the idea of building a unit in my garage.

If you have made a helmet, could you post pics so that everyone else can see your work too?

Thanks
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jegner
Site Admin


Joined: 30 May 2003
Posts: 2144
Location: Texas, USA

PostPosted: Wed Oct 05, 2005 7:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the positive feedback!

There are 2 schools of thought on helmets. One is to make a 'positive' mold, like that of the trooper armor, and you pull the part over the mold. This works great if the part has no undercuts.

The other school of thought is to make a clay master. Then make a rigid fiberglass 'negative' mold of that. Then vac-form 'into' the negative mold. This puts all the detail on the outside of the vac form and allows for more undercuts.

Currently, I have a Halo MC helmet I'm building from an old batting helmet, a Boba Fett helmet made from scratch, from a batting helmet, 2 viper pilot helmets [TOS style] that will become the basis for a negative mold. When I get some more work on them done, I'll post some pics.

Jim
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luke



Joined: 04 Oct 2005
Posts: 3
Location: central coast, ca

PostPosted: Wed Oct 05, 2005 10:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Jim,

That makes sense. I'd love to see more about your fett helmet - especially since your making it from scratch.

In your video clip where you make a pull on your trooper armor, it sounds like a compressor is running, am I missing something? What are you using the compressor for?

Also, how much would you estimate that you put into a trooper armor suit - that is, how many sheets of hips stock did you average per suit?

Thanks
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Stomper
Master


Joined: 01 Oct 2005
Posts: 473
Location: Woodburn, Oregon USA

PostPosted: Wed Oct 05, 2005 10:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Luke,

I believe that is Jim's generator (the Jenny) he uses to power the oven elements, as well as the shop-vac he uses for suction to pull the molds.

TK4063
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jegner
Site Admin


Joined: 30 May 2003
Posts: 2144
Location: Texas, USA

PostPosted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 6:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes, the sound you hear is the generator. My tool shed is not wired for electricty, so I have to power it with a generator. LOL.

My Fett project is a long range one, I've been tinkering around with it for years. As soon as I have some decent progress, I'll post some pics. The discussion forum, "The Dented Helmet" has some great scratch build fett helmets and gear shown, and this was the source of my inspiration.

As for a complete set of trooper armor, assuming NO errors in ANY of the pulls it can be done with about 16 24x24 squares cut from 4x8 foot sheets of HIPS. I have about a 15-25% waste, so the best I've ever done is 19 sheets. When I order plastic, this translates into $25 a sheet plus $12 to ship. [for .080] Thats over $100 for the bare minimum of plastic. I like to have an extra sheet or two on hand for boo-boos, so really you are looking at $150-$200 worth of plastic. With petroleum prices on the rise, this cost per sheet has gone up drastically in the past few months.

You can save a few bucks by ordering a sheet of [.060] and use it to pull the smaller more shallow parts. That adds another $20 tot he total cost.

Jim

EDIT: Here it the THD thread:

http://thedentedhelmet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6527&highlight=batting+helmet

And some pics of the Rawlings batting helmet Fett conversion [not mine]:



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