Steampunk Ironman Helmet WIP - 5/31 update

[Rysjin7717]

Hey Indie, I haven't kept up /w/ this thread in while, lovin' what you did /w/ th'lenses an th' Led's I just read 5pgs back. What are ya buildin' for ya kids brah???

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2

 

[indiefilmgeek]

Re: Steampunk Ironman Helmet WIP - Tubing Work

You really must share your secret to having any time at all. Lol. I have 4 kids myself, and none of them are in car seats. Yet I feel as if I have no time at all to do things, most of the time.

ummm... I don't sleep? That's what normally get's sacrificed at least! lol

What are ya buildin' for ya kids brah???

Well, this was SUPPOSED to be a year off for me. But, I just couldn't help but start modifying both the 4yr old's store-bought spidey suit and Mikey's store-bought Capt America costume.

Tia was going to get a Toothless (the dragon) costume, but I was running out of time so we switch her costume out to a quick 5-week-build of Predator.

I'm doing it all in EVA foam. Here's what the helmet looks like:

In addition to this work, a week ago my wife and I finalized our adoption of the 2yr old foster daughter we've had since Feb. That make us a family with FOUR kids (officially). :eek

Maya "Ray-Ray" Douglas (next in line to get some cool costumes for Halloween)!

 

[Rysjin7717]

That's a clean predator bio build an congrats on th' adoption as we'll brah keep up th' good work.

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2

 

[indiefilmgeek]

Re: Steampunk Ironman Helmet WIP - Tubing Work

....guess who dusted off the ole Steampunk Helmet tonight and did a little bit of sanding? that's right -- THIS guy! :thumbsup

Halloween was GREAT!

Tia (my 10yr old daughter) got to be The Predator. She got to go to her first comic book convention in costume -- which she loved! :cool

But now it's back to work on this project! :love

My goal is to do some basic stuff to prep the helmet for our annual family X-mas trip to FL. I normally get some excellent work time down in the Sunshine State, so I'm definitely looking forward to getting down there!

Stay tuned...

 

[Scandvoice]

Re: Steampunk Ironman Helmet WIP - Tubing Work

Welcome back!

 

[Scandvoice]

Re: Steampunk Ironman Helmet WIP - Tubing Work

Just to show you guys that I haven't been completely idle, here's what came out of the old trumpet valve idea.

 

[indiefilmgeek]

Re: Steampunk Ironman Helmet WIP - Tubing Work

Just to show you guys that I haven't been completely idle, here's what came out of the old trumpet valve idea.

Looking good! :thumbsup

 

[zodiac]

Re: Steampunk Ironman Helmet WIP - Tubing Work

Amazing, just wow.

 

[Sisqo]

Re: Steampunk Ironman Helmet WIP - Tubing Work

Great work man,keep on doin it u got skillz bro.

I salute u from Romania ))

 

[indiefilmgeek]

Re: Steampunk Ironman Helmet WIP - Tubing Work

Thanks, guys! :$

Honestly, I don't feel to brilliant these days... I've been spending most of my evenings just STARING at the helmet/faceplate trying to figure out how to get a working hinge system to work. :confused

I've mocked up several card stock and plastic pieces, but nothing is working. SO much of the helmet sides are curved (which makes any hinge-parts pass straight back into the wearer's head space). The fact that the faceplate is SO narrow and small (compared to standard IM helmets) also makes the process much harder.

Anyway, I don't mean to complain... It's just frustrating to stare at this thing night after night without hitting a 'Eureka' moment. :unsure

I'll try to post some pictures of what I'm looking at this evening so maybe you all can give me some advice.

 

[heiro5]

Re: Steampunk Ironman Helmet WIP - Tubing Work

I only just came across Johnnymuffintop's posting of the IM By Design pic a day or two ago (late to the game, only just found these fantastic forums), and also thought it was drop dead awesome...

So imagine my delight at seeing this staggering display of excellence. What a pleasure to get to look over your shoulder and see this unfold. My hat is off to you.

And don't fret, you may be banging your head against the issue at hand, but the solution will present itself to you. I'm sorry I have nothing but encouragement to offer.

 

[sq10e]

Re: Steampunk Ironman Helmet WIP - Tubing Work

View attachment 129480

You have been doing a fantastic job, and I would never claim to be better at this than you, this is just a simple idea that I had that might work and I was thinking of trying when I get around to building my own Iron Man helmet eventually.
For the motor I was thinking of cannibalizing a cheap RC car and hiding the control unit in the gauntlet, so that with a discrete push of the hidden button in the hand would send a signal and the helmet would open.
Anyway, I dont even know if it would work like my rough sketch, just an idea that I havn't even tried out yet...

 

[indiefilmgeek]

Re: Steampunk Ironman Helmet WIP - Tubing Work

Sq10e, you're closer than you might think to the working model Mockle designed. His thread on IM helmet hinges is seriously one of the treasures this forum has for builders like us.

I've got an update post (including video) coming from this evening's work showing a set of top hinges I have basically worked out... but it won't get posted until the morning as my Comcast cable is out right now.

Thanks for sharing, and I look forward to getting some feedback on my hinge solution when the update post goes through (I'm using my phone for this post).

Nite all!

 

[indiefilmgeek]

Re: Steampunk Ironman Helmet WIP - Tubing Work

I really appreciate all the encouragement and ideas! It's truly awesome to be involved in a creative community like this one! :$


As I mentioned, I've been racking my brain on faceplate hinge designs. I had initially thought about long sliding hinges (curved pieces with a slot running down the center that slid along binding posts to create the correct movement). Here's a picture of what that looked like:

This TOTALLY didn't work -- at least not in any configuration I could work out. :facepalm

So, I went back to Mockle's Hinge Work. Mockle's post is a great gift to our community and I happily credit his work for providing the basic mechanics behind my work last night.

I started with the top set of the four (eventual) hinges. These are the U-shaped hinges that provide the top edge of the faceplate to lift up and out above the lip of the helmet ridge. For my design, I had to make them MUCH more U-shaped to get them to clear the hemlet lip in a nice tight arc.

After fashioning these in paper, I used that template to fabricate two aluminum pieces.

You'll notice that I have a small brass angle-bracket on one end here. That, and the one on the other end are designed to keep the hinge straight and in-line between the two connection points. Also, the long end sticking off after the back hinge point is just in case THIS set of hinges ends up being the 'working hinge'. If that's the case, these levers will be used to pull the faceplate up.

Now, these are just temporary attachments and hardware, but here's a look at this very VERY early test.

As you can see above, there WILL be part of these hinges that will be seen. And while the modern Ironman helmets try to keep the mechanics hidden, I have always intended to have part of this hinge system exposed. To that end, these final pieces will be brass and probably decorated (maybe even etched?).

In this last picture you can REALLY see how out of alignment these two pieces are. As I mentioned, these are only temporary placements/attachments/hardware.

And finally, here is the Video of the hinges in action...



Thoughts and feedback welcome! :thumbsup

 

[rosskow]

Re: Steampunk Ironman Helmet WIP - 11/29 Hinge Test Video

Is it still as wearable? Or is there a possibility of having your eye poked out.
Nice mock up so far

 

[indiefilmgeek]

Re: Steampunk Ironman Helmet WIP - 11/29 Hinge Test Video

Is it still as wearable? Or is there a possibility of having your eye poked out.
Nice mock up so far

Well, at this very early stage, it may still be a bit pokey. But I haven't even filed down the edges at all. I should definitely be able to move these further to the outer sides. At that point, I should have enough room within the >1" padding area to hide these swinging hinges.

Remember the original helmet these were cast from was a Skateboard helmet with very thick foam padding... none of that is present now that we just have a resin copy. That gives us a lot more room to work in.


...that's the plan at least. :lol

 

[Mockle]

Re: Steampunk Ironman Helmet WIP - 11/29 Hinge Test Video

Thank you appreciate that :thumbsup

 

[indiefilmgeek]

Re: Steampunk Ironman Helmet WIP - 11/29 Hinge Test Video

Thank you appreciate that :thumbsup

You're very welcome, my friend! :thumbsup


Regarding the fit of the hinges....

I took a couple of pictures showing my (small head) inside the helmet with the faceplate up and down...

 

[godproject]

Re: Steampunk Ironman Helmet WIP - 11/29 Hinge Test Video

If you need any local help on this let me know. This just looks like absolute fun.

 

[Rodolfo]

Re: Steampunk Ironman Helmet WIP - 11/29 Hinge Test Video

That looks really cool!! Amazing work!! I´ve been seeing the rest of your work and you are very talented!! Thanks for sharing your projects!