Halo Helmet Display Stands - Child's Play Charity - 2011

Sean Bradley

Hey y'all. It's been ages. You look good! You lost weight. Is that a new haircut? How's life been treating ya? How's the family? Good! ;D I haven't shared any of my work here for ages but thought you guys might enjoy seeing this.

This is something I've been working on since late summer. I've been wanting to make some display stands for my own helmets and was approached by Laird MacLean, a fundraiser for Child's Play Charity to produce a pair of custom stands for their 2011 auction. I already had a good idea of what I wanted from a display stand, and was inspired by the little stands that come with the McFarlane Halo helmets. Of course there's a good deal of re-designing needed to take something like that and turn it into a life-size, practical, economical product. The proportions have to change, compromises of aesthetics and construction have to be made.. and what material to use? So it doesn't look terribly much like its inspiration, but I feel its more functional this way. In the end I made mistakes, made a couple good choices, and eventually came up with some stands that I think are distinct in design and function. I stenciled and hand painted the logos on the stands, no decals were used. The finish I used is a Krylon paint called 'oil rubbed bronze', it's a dark walnut metallic color.. the photos don't really capture the metallic tone. It's nice and subtle, won't overpower the helmets paint schemes. I'd like to do more variations of finish in time. I think they would look cool in Camo green with light deco damage.













You can see the full gallery of the finished stands here: Helmet Display Stands pictures by ScaryMonkey75 - Photobucket

The process to create the stands was an amalgam of vacuum forming, urethane casting, and woodworking. At one point the vac formed shells were sealed and roto filled with urethane resin for strength. In the end I think I will probably make silicone molds for reproduction rather than vac forming copies. Casting will be far less laborious to duplicate each stand. I'll work on the molding and production of them over the winter and may offer them for sale through my website in the spring. You can see the process pics here: Stands Preview pictures by ScaryMonkey75 - Photobucket

The completed helmet display stands are designed be desktop or wall mounted, and to break down into smaller parts for easy handling. The first two prototypes were commissioned by Laird MacLean to be signed [by Bungie Studios and 343 Industries, Steve Downes (Master Chief), Jen Taylor (Cortana), Tim Dabado (Guilty Spark), Marty O'Donnell (Composer) and others] and are now being auctioned with corresponding helmets from the Halo fan community for the 2011 Child's Play Charity fundraiser. The John S-117 stand was paired with the 405th unity helmet made by Jacob Betts, Deanna Yates, and Johnathan Purpera. The Carter A-259 helmet was made by Antonio Pagan. The auctions are up now, and 100% of the proceeds benefit the Child's Play Charity, to improve the lives of children in hospitals around the world. Link to auctions: visitor123 | eBay









Well, that's all for now. Hope you liked this glimpse at my recent project. Happy Holidays!

EAGON

sweet thats really cool!