My Styrene Pepakura Ironman helmet

[rodimus184]

That's definitely the best looking Iron Man helmet I've seen on the RPF. Major props man, it came out looking sweet! Would love to see an entire suit built using this method.

 

[xevanx]

Wow, cleanest mold I've ever seen.

 

[ColKel]

Hi. My apologies for resurrecting this old thread but I have a couple of pics to share of my progress. I can't believe it's been more than a year ago that I started this thread. Due to work commitments I haven't had as much time this past year to spend on this as I would've liked and weekends just seemed too short to get anything worthwhile done.

After a lot of trial and error I finally got a casting that I'm happy with. I had a lot of trouble trying to slush cast the pieces and finally decided to try cavity molds instead. By using cavity molds I could have a nice smooth finish on the inside of the castings and I would be certain that every casting would be the same and also trimming the castings are a lot easier. The biggest problem I had with the cavity molds was trapped air. Unfortunately I don't have a vacuum degasser for the resin and some of the molds have to be tilted at exactly the right angle for trapped air to escape. A trick I learned that really helped a lot in getting rid of bubbles in the castings is to dust the inside of the molds with talc powder. It seems to stop tiny bubbles forming especially in corners and detail areas. The bubbles that still formed were tiny which were easily filled with modeling putty.

After trying different resins I finally settled on Smooth-Cast 305 from Smooth-on.

The first couple of pics are of the untrimmed parts directly out of the mold and still on the inner molds.

The next couple of pics are the trimmed pieces.

And the last pics are all the pieces assembled.

Thanks for looking and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Cheers.

 

[ColKel]

I can't seem to get my pics to show up as thumbnails in my post. Does anybody know what I'm doing wrong ?

Thanks.

 

[TryChick]

I'm having the same issue. Maybe something admin changed...annoying isn't it, not to be able to see thumbnails.

 

[syrush]

Not sure on the thumbnails but that helmet is a piece of art.

 

[clonesix]

That is a beautiful piece of work! Nice job on the build. WIll you attempt any of the armor pieces?

 

[ColKel]

Thanks for the replies. I'll try and re-upload the pics over the weekend. Maybe that'll make a difference.

That is a beautiful piece of work! Nice job on the build. WIll you attempt any of the armor pieces?

At the moment I think the helmet is probably the only thing my patience and sanity would allow. I still have a bunch of other stuff I would like to finish before I'd even start thinking of doing a whole suit.

Cheers.

 

[clonesix]

Thanks for the replies. I'll try and re-upload the pics over the weekend. Maybe that'll make a difference.



At the moment I think the helmet is probably the only thing my patience and sanity would allow. I still have a bunch of other stuff I would like to finish before I'd even start thinking of doing a whole suit.

Cheers.

Patience needs to be tested, and Sanity questioned. Good job on both.

BTW, I would love to see a video on your method posted to you tube.

 

[ColKel]

Trying the pics again. I'll break the pics up into 3 separate posts. Hope it works this time.

First pics are of the untrimmed castings directly out of the mold still on the inner core molds.



Edit : Sorry. Still no luck with the pics. Seems to be a general problem.

http://www.therpf.com/f16/help-i-can-no-longer-upload-photos-195932/

 

[ColKel]

Could anybody please offer any advice on painting Smooth-Cast 305 from Smooth-On ? I'm using Tamiya Grey Surface Primer but it seems it doesn't want to adhere to the urethane in some areas resulting in the primer "beading up". I cleaned the casting with dish washing liquid and wiped it with acetone to remove any oily residue but it still doesn't seem to solve the problem.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[ColKel]

Only a small update on my progress. All the helmet pieces finally primered with Tamiya Grey Surface Primer.

 

[ColKel]

I'm re-posting a previous post of mine after trying in vain to re-upload the pics that didn't show up as thumbnails in the existing post.

Here goes.

"After a lot of trial and error I finally got a casting that I'm happy with. I had a lot of trouble trying to slush cast the pieces and finally decided to try cavity molds instead. By using cavity molds I could have a nice smooth finish on the inside of the castings and I would be certain that every casting would be the same and also trimming the castings are a lot easier. The biggest problem I had with the cavity molds was trapped air. Unfortunately I don't have a vacuum degasser for the resin and some of the molds have to be tilted at exactly the right angle for trapped air to escape. A trick I learned that really helped a lot in getting rid of bubbles in the castings is to dust the inside of the molds with talc powder. It seems to stop tiny bubbles forming especially in corners and detail areas. The bubbles that still formed were tiny which were easily filled with modeling putty.

After trying different resins I finally settled on Smooth-Cast 305 from Smooth-on.

The first couple of pics are of the untrimmed parts directly out of the mold and still on the inner molds.

The next couple of pics are the trimmed pieces.

And the last pics are all the pieces assembled.

Thanks for looking and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Cheers. "

 

[Canobi]

I was just wondering the other day if pep would work with styrene, you sir have proved that it does without a shadow of a doubt. That is some formidable talent you have there, long may it be fruitfull :thumbsup

 

[ColKel]

I was just wondering the other day if pep would work with styrene, you sir have proved that it does without a shadow of a doubt. That is some formidable talent you have there, long may it be fruitfull :thumbsup

Thank you for the kind words.:$

I'm actually quite surprised that there aren't more people trying styrene to make their pepakura models. :confused I'm pretty curious to see how other people might do it.

This was my third helmet I made using styrene as modelling material. Earlier this year I started doing a biker scout helmet but kinda ran out of steam after the face plate. Hopefully I can pick it up in December when things quiet down a bit.

 

[Majed]

nice work but by any chance can you make a batman mask, also did you vacum for it?

 

[Madosheet]

Holy crapiddle! How have I only just seen this!
I'm not sure whether I admire your talent more or your patience! (it's both, really xD )

Great work! And that's some neat casting pieces!

 

[Pyrotechx]

Yup, this is a work of art. Yup, I am confused as to how you made it so perfect without heat. Yup, confused.

 

[Canobi]

Its not vacformed, it's a hybrid of pepakura using 0.5 guage styrene instead of card stock which is built up in layers and then sanded.

 

[Pyrotechx]

Its not vacformed, it's a hybrid of pepakura using 0.5 guage styrene instead of card stock which is built up in layers and then sanded.

Lies, it is made with sorcery.