Nice start!
My Early Disasters pt 2 - A Biker Scout Helmet - How hard can it be?
- Thread starter Dtrasler
- Start date
Dtrasler
Sr Member
The problem with this build right now is not that it's going wrong - it's going really well, for once - but that I'm finding it impossible to do anything else. I have today and tomorrow clear of my day job, but that means I SHOULD be spending some time doing the writing work I get paid for (which has a deadline too) and also there's domestic stuff that needs attention (another birthday this weekend). But I'm SO CLOSE to finishing this helmet. Well, not really. But maybe if I just put one more piece on...
Roughneckone
Sr Member
Hey,
Looking good for just that extra scrap of paper Damien,
!
Roughneckone:cool
Looking good for just that extra scrap of paper Damien,
!Roughneckone:cool
Dtrasler
Sr Member
Got the second cheek piece put in, but today is all about birthday prep from now on. The actual party is tomorrow, but there'll be some moments here and there next week, so I'm expecting to finish the pep model by next weekend. It may be worth asking to do another Star Wars Day exhibit in the library (The DeathTrooper helmet will NOT be going on display!), although I won't have a complete build of this helmet to include. Reading back through this thread, I was amazed to see that I've only built the two helmets (Handles and Deathtrooper) since the FO Stormie that I was rushing to complete before last year's display. For the time they take, you'd think these things would be more impressive, wouldn't you?
Dtrasler
Sr Member
Astoundingly, although I am unable to multi-task in any effective way in my regular life, give me a pep project and I can achieve a lot of building while simultaneously doing all the domestic tasks that would cause trouble if left undone.
So now I have the basic base unit for a Republic Commando Helmet, and only have the exciting greeblies to put together. And no, I haven't been able to avoid putting it on. Yes, there are photos of that. No, I'm not posting them.
So now I have the basic base unit for a Republic Commando Helmet, and only have the exciting greeblies to put together. And no, I haven't been able to avoid putting it on. Yes, there are photos of that. No, I'm not posting them.
Dtrasler
Sr Member
OK. There may NEVER be enough time to make the final greeblies for this helmet. They're horrifically time-consuming just to cut out, never mind gluing them together. So I moved on to the next stage, measuring round the base of the helmet dome. Then I checked the circumference of the base of the Death Trooper dome. Why?
Well, I'm hoping to make the new helmet at least partially out of foam, and I have a pattern for the helmet dome which I used for the Death Trooper. It turned out too small to actually wear, whereas I can fit the pep RC model on my noggin nicely.
According to my measurements, they're practically the same. Of course, the foam is thicker than the cardstock, so to allow for thickness, I took the foam patterns into work with me and photocopied them 5% bigger.
It's the long weekend next, and though I do have a morning shift to contend with on Saturday, I might get time enough to cut out the pattern and maybe even the foam shapes. Then I'll wait for a useful free morning to shape and glue the foam parts into a new dome and see how that fits.
Well, I'm hoping to make the new helmet at least partially out of foam, and I have a pattern for the helmet dome which I used for the Death Trooper. It turned out too small to actually wear, whereas I can fit the pep RC model on my noggin nicely.
According to my measurements, they're practically the same. Of course, the foam is thicker than the cardstock, so to allow for thickness, I took the foam patterns into work with me and photocopied them 5% bigger.
It's the long weekend next, and though I do have a morning shift to contend with on Saturday, I might get time enough to cut out the pattern and maybe even the foam shapes. Then I'll wait for a useful free morning to shape and glue the foam parts into a new dome and see how that fits.
Dtrasler
Sr Member
My wife said she was going out this evening, so I took the opportunity to grab the 105% plans, my scalpel and the cheap foam sleeping mat I bought from the dollar store.
But, it turns out the stuff is so thin that I didn't need a scalpel to cut it - just a sharp pair of scissors. I didn't even need the heat gun, like I did for the Death Trooper dome. I took my time with the gluing, but even so it ended up ugly.
The thin material also means that it doesn't hold the shape very well, and I don't think the heat gun would make a difference. Funny thing is, thanks to the size increase, this fits neatly over the top of the Death Trooper helmet, so I've left it there for now. Hopefully it'll take the shape while I plan the next stage. Or think up the next stage.
But, it turns out the stuff is so thin that I didn't need a scalpel to cut it - just a sharp pair of scissors. I didn't even need the heat gun, like I did for the Death Trooper dome. I took my time with the gluing, but even so it ended up ugly.
The thin material also means that it doesn't hold the shape very well, and I don't think the heat gun would make a difference. Funny thing is, thanks to the size increase, this fits neatly over the top of the Death Trooper helmet, so I've left it there for now. Hopefully it'll take the shape while I plan the next stage. Or think up the next stage.
Dtrasler
Sr Member
Since I was busy today working my shift in the library and then painting the bookcases, I naturally took ten minutes to cover the foam dome in glue. Maybe it'll help stiffen it, maybe it'll seal the surface a little. More likely it'll leave ugly lumpy streaks all over the damn thing that'll be hell to smooth out. Next step, more measuring and foam.
Dtrasler
Sr Member
Life is good when there's free time! I moved things on just a little faster than is wise.
I placed the foam cap on the paper model and noticed it's not the same size.
So I added a tailpiece to bring the rear of the foam cap down to the line of the paper model. However, I didn't manage to recreate the SHAPE of the paper model, which has a distinct vertical drop at the rear. In fact, the foam cap does the opposite....
...and that red foam piece is measured precisely to match the amount of material to reach from one "ear" to the other. Except I made the curve a bit too tight, leaving the piece short on both sides. So when I made the first ear..
... I had to add some fill-in foam so everything lines up. When I get some time tomorrow, I'll get the other ear in place and then start thinking about the front.
I understand that the argument could be made that this build is already going as awry as the Death Trooper, but I would say that's not so. In this case I have a fairly good 3d model to compare and measure from, so my mistakes are only minor deviations. There's always a lot of corrections in the later stages, and I'm still confident that I'll have fewer errors or less serious ones to correct with this build. But I'm perfectly willing to admit it looks totally half-assed.
I placed the foam cap on the paper model and noticed it's not the same size.
So I added a tailpiece to bring the rear of the foam cap down to the line of the paper model. However, I didn't manage to recreate the SHAPE of the paper model, which has a distinct vertical drop at the rear. In fact, the foam cap does the opposite....
...and that red foam piece is measured precisely to match the amount of material to reach from one "ear" to the other. Except I made the curve a bit too tight, leaving the piece short on both sides. So when I made the first ear..
... I had to add some fill-in foam so everything lines up. When I get some time tomorrow, I'll get the other ear in place and then start thinking about the front.
I understand that the argument could be made that this build is already going as awry as the Death Trooper, but I would say that's not so. In this case I have a fairly good 3d model to compare and measure from, so my mistakes are only minor deviations. There's always a lot of corrections in the later stages, and I'm still confident that I'll have fewer errors or less serious ones to correct with this build. But I'm perfectly willing to admit it looks totally half-assed.
Sorry to hear about your woes, I feel for you. But also glad that I'm not the only one who makes a flub of stuff
Your continuing attempts when things fail inspires me to re-visit some of my failures.
Lisaisanut
New Member
God, damn, I've been so busy I've missed so much. The Republic Commando helmet is looking absolutely awesome! Have you got any idea how you're going to paint it up? My personal favourite would probably be Fixer from Delta Squad. Just such a great, simple paint job (and also green). Great work, man! Keep at it.
Dtrasler
Sr Member
Thanks and welcome, Xolin! And welcome back Lisaisanut! I'm not going to commit to a paint job at this point - it's going to be whatever will cover the worst of the mistakes! Fixer's not a bad choice, but he never got much of a look-in with me when I played the game... Slice the door? No way, forward Scorch, and blow the damn thing away!
Anyway, today's mistakes:
Having got the two ears on (though they don't line up anyway you measure them...) I cut out the first part of the faceplate and left it in these rings overnight to get a curve. I stayed away from the heat gun, since bad bending caused the problems with the back end of the helmet already.
If there is one lesson I SHOULD have learned by now, it's patience. Gluing a curved piece of foam onto another curved piece of foam is hard. I should have started with one dob of glue in the centre to make sure things lined up. Then I should have carefully worked my way out, gluing one spot at a time and moving on. I should NOT have spread glue the entire length of the faceplate and attempted to fit the whole thing in at once. I ended up letting the endpieces spring out while I frantically wrenched duct tape off the roll to hold them in place. Then I had to cut extra foam to fill in the inexplicable five-centimetre gap on the right side of the helmet between the new faceplate and the "ear".
I measured, I swear I bloody measured it! Left side, spot on - the faceplate glues directly to the ear, as it should. The middle spot lines up. But the right hand side came up short.
Even weirder, this foam helmet, built slightly larger than the paper model, is tighter on my head. And looks very, very silly right now.
Anyway, today's mistakes:
Having got the two ears on (though they don't line up anyway you measure them...) I cut out the first part of the faceplate and left it in these rings overnight to get a curve. I stayed away from the heat gun, since bad bending caused the problems with the back end of the helmet already.
If there is one lesson I SHOULD have learned by now, it's patience. Gluing a curved piece of foam onto another curved piece of foam is hard. I should have started with one dob of glue in the centre to make sure things lined up. Then I should have carefully worked my way out, gluing one spot at a time and moving on. I should NOT have spread glue the entire length of the faceplate and attempted to fit the whole thing in at once. I ended up letting the endpieces spring out while I frantically wrenched duct tape off the roll to hold them in place. Then I had to cut extra foam to fill in the inexplicable five-centimetre gap on the right side of the helmet between the new faceplate and the "ear".
I measured, I swear I bloody measured it! Left side, spot on - the faceplate glues directly to the ear, as it should. The middle spot lines up. But the right hand side came up short.
Even weirder, this foam helmet, built slightly larger than the paper model, is tighter on my head. And looks very, very silly right now.
Dtrasler
Sr Member
Today's "to-do" list included the notation "Helmet beard" because today was the day I was actually going to cut and fit the lower part of the helmet faceplate - the "beard" section. I did a lot of measuring from the original model, and then a little on the spot alteration when that all went sideways, as usual.
Under the tape holding the pieces together is a little gap. It's currently too small, but will be adjusted on some mythical day when lots of other things are in place. That day will involve precise cutting, regluing, and all the swearwords I know, plus some I make up for the occasion.
This is the side view (well, DUH!). Even with the 3d model sat right beside me, I get a little confused about which bits go where. Next I cut out a trapezoid shap going from the space in the centre of the beard, up to where the two halves of the faceplate meet. Then I put in a layer of thin foam behind the gaps in the cheeks. There's going to be some more thin foam going from the edges of the beard pieces up to the cheeks next. I think. We'll see what happens when I take off the tape, actually. It may be the next step is picking all the pieces that have fallen off...
Under the tape holding the pieces together is a little gap. It's currently too small, but will be adjusted on some mythical day when lots of other things are in place. That day will involve precise cutting, regluing, and all the swearwords I know, plus some I make up for the occasion.
This is the side view (well, DUH!). Even with the 3d model sat right beside me, I get a little confused about which bits go where. Next I cut out a trapezoid shap going from the space in the centre of the beard, up to where the two halves of the faceplate meet. Then I put in a layer of thin foam behind the gaps in the cheeks. There's going to be some more thin foam going from the edges of the beard pieces up to the cheeks next. I think. We'll see what happens when I take off the tape, actually. It may be the next step is picking all the pieces that have fallen off...
Dtrasler
Sr Member
Had a brilliantly lazy day, but got some time to try a couple of things.
I thought I might have enough time to see if the method I was planning for the cheek transitions would work. (By "cheek transitions", I mean the angle between the beard part and the cheek...Which doesn't seem to make things clearer.) Anyway, I drew the area of the cheek section that would remain flat. Then I marked off two centimetre sections on the beard edge, and measured across from each point to the cheek. Then I transferred those measurements to a spare piece of foam.
Fitting the piece was tricky and it didn't end up pretty.
Not pretty, but not bad. Won't take much to clean it up. Meanwhile, I tried out that visor I bought a couple of Halloweens ago. It's going to have to be cut down a bit, but should look good.
I thought I might have enough time to see if the method I was planning for the cheek transitions would work. (By "cheek transitions", I mean the angle between the beard part and the cheek...Which doesn't seem to make things clearer.) Anyway, I drew the area of the cheek section that would remain flat. Then I marked off two centimetre sections on the beard edge, and measured across from each point to the cheek. Then I transferred those measurements to a spare piece of foam.
Fitting the piece was tricky and it didn't end up pretty.
Not pretty, but not bad. Won't take much to clean it up. Meanwhile, I tried out that visor I bought a couple of Halloweens ago. It's going to have to be cut down a bit, but should look good.
Dtrasler
Sr Member
Put up a bird feeder and repaired the tree house this morning, so all I had time for before work was to make some minor adjustments. This is, in itself, pretty major - I'm actually taking time to get the little things right WHEN I SHOULD DO THEM, not just thinking "I'll fix that in Post..."
In this case, the details were cutting the notch in the centre of the chin to the right width, then placing a piece of cardstock at the back of the notch to make a sooth surface. I've also trimmed that triangle to make it lean back at the right angle. PROFESSIONALISM! It's a bit late in the day to start caring, but I'm giving it a shot...
In this case, the details were cutting the notch in the centre of the chin to the right width, then placing a piece of cardstock at the back of the notch to make a sooth surface. I've also trimmed that triangle to make it lean back at the right angle. PROFESSIONALISM! It's a bit late in the day to start caring, but I'm giving it a shot...
Stop with the measuring and professionalism. You're confusing me.
Dtrasler
Sr Member
Sorry Snowbuilder! Things got back on track this evening, thanks to an extra beer alongside the work.
I wanted to complete the chin piece, but my measurements for this triangle went badly astray. I ended up fitting the piece and then trying to cut it down to size in situ. With the glue not quite set. And a blunt scalpel blade. While a LITTLE tipsy.
I've done better work, is what I'm saying.
Here's the same segment on the pep model:
I'm aware there's a couple of planes I'm losing by doing it this way, but I couldn't figure out a way to cut the foam... At least, not in the time available.
Before the dinner gong sounded, I had both chin triangles in place, albeit a little wonkey, and the worst of the gaps/overbites were covered with filler. Rather than use foam offcuts to try and do the transition on the top part of the cheek, I used filler there. A lot quicker, and didn't involve any measuring. Then I took a side-by-side to judge what I'm missing:
There are two screamingly obvious things - the first is that the foam build looks a little surprised - the brow rises too much, missing that intimidating squint from the T-slit. The second is that extra bar on the front of the brow. More measuring to come, I guess. Then it's the greeblies on the ears and the usual heartache about surfacing. Any hints? Should I go for the Bondo again? Some of these areas will be real pigs to sand nicely...
I wanted to complete the chin piece, but my measurements for this triangle went badly astray. I ended up fitting the piece and then trying to cut it down to size in situ. With the glue not quite set. And a blunt scalpel blade. While a LITTLE tipsy.
I've done better work, is what I'm saying.
Here's the same segment on the pep model:
I'm aware there's a couple of planes I'm losing by doing it this way, but I couldn't figure out a way to cut the foam... At least, not in the time available.
Before the dinner gong sounded, I had both chin triangles in place, albeit a little wonkey, and the worst of the gaps/overbites were covered with filler. Rather than use foam offcuts to try and do the transition on the top part of the cheek, I used filler there. A lot quicker, and didn't involve any measuring. Then I took a side-by-side to judge what I'm missing:
There are two screamingly obvious things - the first is that the foam build looks a little surprised - the brow rises too much, missing that intimidating squint from the T-slit. The second is that extra bar on the front of the brow. More measuring to come, I guess. Then it's the greeblies on the ears and the usual heartache about surfacing. Any hints? Should I go for the Bondo again? Some of these areas will be real pigs to sand nicely...
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