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Don Post95 Mandolorian Helmet Re-work... (photo intensive)

 
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Stomper
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Location: Woodburn, Oregon USA

PostPosted: Sun Mar 22, 2009 3:20 pm    Post subject: Don Post95 Mandolorian Helmet Re-work... (photo intensive) Reply with quote

Here's a DP95 Boba Fett helmet I have been reworking into a "generic" Mando helmet since LAST AUGUST. I cut the helmet in two (from left to right) and lengthened about 3/4"-1" so an adult can actually wear it without their nose being squished against the t-visor. There is still a LOT more work to do on this, but it has come a LONG WAY from where I started... it had a crack in it and a THICK layer of silver paint on it that had to be stripped off before I could do anything meaningful with it.

I use "Plastic Fusion" (available at Home Depot) as the filler/bonder in case anyone is interested...

]


OK... photos of the DP95 helmet:









More to follow... Wink
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Tony Krewson
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 22, 2009 3:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I had this thing all primered and was keen to get the mold made back in LAST OCTOBER, but after it was painted I could see wavy/flat spots in the dome. Sanding the rotocast vinyl material is a pain because it doesn't take much to heat it up... then it just gives way under the sander and makes it worse.

What I did was use some stuff called "Burnham's Rock Hard Water Putty", on the dome and slowly worked the sander over it.... over and over, and over, and over.... wudda pain!!

Here's the thing fresh from the workshop sanding station...












And here's the photos showing it to be a DP95 to quell any possible recasting issues/complaints once I get this into production. The original embossed lettering won't show up after its primered:





Oh yeah... more to follow!! Laughing
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Tony Krewson
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 22, 2009 3:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here is the helmet after many coats of primer and wet sanding in between coats, overall I was pretty satisfied with the results, a day before last Veteran's day. I'll be shooting a black semi-gloss enamel over it... most likely a few coats with wet sanding in between. My goal is to produce helemts that are as smooth as silk right from the mold that will require next to no prep work other than cutting out the rear key-holes if the end user so desires... Then I have to work out how I'm going to produce the RF stalk in aluminum (any advice is welcome!!)








Then I noticed how the lower parts of the mandibles flaired out at the bottom... uuuugh!! So I cut them out, rebuilt it with Plastic Fusion (mentioned in the forst thread), filed, sanded, filled, filed, sanded again....
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Tony Krewson
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 22, 2009 3:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have so much flippin' time cutting this thing up, re-sizing it, then painting it 4 different times, only to cut out and reconstruct the lower part of the mandibles as they started to bow outwards making the bottom of the T-visor flair wider... then painting, wet sanding, then painting, then wet sanding, then painting, then wet sanding, then FINALLY.... FINALLY got close enough to the glass-smooth finish I was striving for from day one!! (I SERIOUSLY hate this *&%#$ helmet.... LOL)


Anyhow... here it is in all it's glory. It's dry, but I'll give it a few more days to off-gas, then it gets wrapped in plastic wrap, and covered in 1/2" slabs of clay so I can lay up a fiberglass shell for the jacket-mold support. I think I have it planned out well enough so I can just make a single piece jacket-mold without ANY seams, and have a two-piece "clamshell" fiberglass shell that bolts together, because there are no serious undercuts with this bucket which I believe will make this possible... I'll post pics in the tutorial forums of the whole mold-making phase when I get to that point.








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Tony Krewson
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 22, 2009 6:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

WOW that's REALLY nice, Tony!! Shocked

That is an EXCELLENT rework! Shocked
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jegner
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 6:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Man! Tony, thats looking great! WOW! is all I can say.

I've got a vacuum form Fet helmet I need to finish work on, and a copy of the Altman's that, is not real accurate, but is a good basis for a start. I don't know if I would have the patience to do what you have done to your DP95!

Well done!

Jim
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CJanssen
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 24, 2009 10:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

NICE work ! Shocked

I have a DP95 that needs to be re-sized as well.....I think I screwed up already though by cutting out the visor area so I could replace it...oops. hmmm, maybe we could just trade buckets Laughing

CJ
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 7:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey Guys,

Sorry for the late reply, I've been off-line for several days as I opened a HUGE can of worms when I tore my computer down to component parts for maintenance/repair last weekend. I decided to just go ahead and upgrade the motherboard, video card, memory, hard drives, etc.... I now have a SMOKIN' hot-fast dual-core processor rig... again! With SEVERAL TERABYTES worth of SATA-II hard drives and a couple SATA-II DVD burners... Shocked I just have to get all the DVD movie files, documents and archives all transferred over to the new larger SATA hard drives... Laughing

Anywho... thanks for the compliments! I am planning on making a mold of this thing and casting copies in fiberglass-resin... that's whay I struggled so badly to get a nearly flawless finish on it so it wouldn't translate into the mold and subsequent copies I produce. This thing isn't even wearable as the bottom opening is blocked off by a plate cut to form the bottom profile so the helmet will keep it's shape... these roto-casted helmets are the WORST!! I'll take progress photos of my mold making process... I'm planing on using a few of the techniques that Clone-6 shared in his tutorial thread with a few twists of my own... I'll make a new thread for that process. Wink


BTW- I'm STILL hangin' out for that Del-Ton M4 upper to get sent out!! Confused
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jegner
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PostPosted: Thu May 28, 2009 8:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Any updates on the helmet rebuild?

I got a Fett helmet and an X-wing Pilot helmet from Mark Bradley. Simple and effective vac formed models, and I may end up using these for scale guides on my own sculpts, but for now, I have way too many projects in the works to even consider getting them underway.
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