Tron: Legacy Quorra helmet build

Re: Tron: Legacy Quorra Helmet

You guys rock. Thanks for the comments. This has been a fun sculpt. Though sometimes it kicks my butt. I'm trying as best I can to remain patient and methodical, but it's hard not to rush when the end is in sight!

I started smoothing it out more (up to 1000 grit and even polish) and found a bunch of small spots/scratches that will need to be filled. Now I'm working on the details for the lighted areas. Probably should've done those first - again, this is where I tend to rush to the end before I'm really ready.

Gotta still do the rear, top and chin light sections.
 
Re: Tron: Legacy Quorra Helmet

How the hell did you make that with your hands?? completely awesome!! and your techniques of using cardboard and measurements to work out the symmetry, thanks... I'm stealing those for later on :lol
 
Re: Tron: Legacy Quorra Helmet

If you ever need a model for your Quorra helmet.... raises hands! ;) OMG! such good hard work! That looks amazing! I would love to try and achieve this one day! :D
 
Re: Tron: Legacy Quorra Helmet

Roblightyeah - hehe, feel free, man. That's why I'm putting all this up. I've learned some things here, so I'm just paying it forward with the little tips that I can offer up.

And Annise, that's high praise! pm me what you have in mind.

Again, thanks everyone. I hope to have another mini-update tonight.
 
Re: Tron: Legacy Quorra Helmet

Nick, thanks, and they aren't too difficult to do. Forgive me if I'm too wordy.
- Draw the line onto the sculpt in pencil (so that you can erase your mistakes)
- Trace over the line(s) you like with a sharpie.
- With an exacto knife, follow the right side of the sharpie line pulling the knife towards yourself, holding the knife at an angle, and only using the tip. Basically, you're cutting a V-groove.
- Flip the sculpt around and cut the other side of the line.
- First pass is a very shallow cut and nice and slow. Should only take 2-3 passes till the cuts meet each other at the V and the material just falls out.
- Sometimes I'll need to straighten out a wobbly cut - lay the full length of the knife edge flat into the groove and use it's straightness to help you make a straight cut.
- Fold 220 sandpaper in half and use the V of the paper to clean up the groove.
- Spraying it a few times with filler primer also helps knock the crispness of the knife cut down a little.

For the mini-update:
All of the light grooves are cut in except for the two small chin features. After these are in, I think it's just a matter of getting the sculpt glossy and ready for silicon! I feel like I'm forgetting something...
 

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Re: Tron: Legacy Quorra Helmet

All of the major sculpting is done, and I've been sanding sanding sanding up to 1500 grit, now I'm doing rubbing compound and then polish. So far, only the left side has a mirror finish.

I decided to switch gears on the lighting from an EL tape to EL wire. The curves were just too complex for the tape to bend. But I'm glad I'm using wire - I think it will go together much faster and cleaner than trying to use tape.

The picture below is just the wire sticking in the groove of the sculpt. I'm loving it, except it's looking a little bluish, and in real-life it's not as bright as the picture. I'm using Glowire's ultra-bright white wire on a 9v inverter. Does anyone know if I can find something brighter and whiter? I dunno, maybe it's ok.
 
Re: Tron: Legacy Quorra Helmet

Thanks guys!

I'm just about ready to pour silicon. I just have one question that I could really use feedback on from all you Tron enthusiasts:

Should I make sections of this helmet have a matte/flat finish?

-If you look at the concept art, almost the whole helmet is matte/rubbery except for the center which looks high-gloss.
-If you look at the one picture of the screen-used prop, it looks to me like the helmet is almost semi-gloss, with the center looking high-gloss. It also looks like maybe the side chin/bumps section has a satin or even flat finish (possibly the rear center section is the same?)
-And finally, if you dig up the actual movie footage, it looks to me like the whole helmet is high-gloss.

Part of me thinks it would look cool to have multiple textures in the mold, but another part of me thinks that I should just mold it all as high-gloss and make changes later in the castings if needed. :confused
 
Re: Tron: Legacy Quorra Helmet

The semi-gloss on the screen-used helmet looks really good, but I'm assuming that it also is a big challenge to create that exact look.
The lights and reflections in the movie can have a part in making the helmet look full glossy, so I do think that the photo is the actual helmet used in the movie - But since Rinzler and CLU helmets are both full glossy, going with full gloss would be the better option.
 
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Re: Tron: Legacy Quorra Helmet

Agreed.

I also think keeping it full gloss will help prevent you from seeing in through the tint. Like a two-way mirror, the reflections from the gloss will make it tough to see in, but the wearer will be able to see out. Full gloss will be better for optical clarity as well - shouldn't be hazy.

I'm just wondering if i should change up the texture on the chin patches, and/or the rear center patch.

Not sure if I said this earlier, but the plan is to cast this in a black dyed clear. The lighted sections will be cut out and I'll either lay the EL wire directly in the trenches, or cast clear pieces to fit in the existing trenches and use them as light diffusers.
 
Re: Tron: Legacy Quorra Helmet

Hi

That is one fine helmet sculpt, and some very helpfull techniques and tips you've shared, awesome work and thanks :thumbsup.


EL........* I've also found it's not as staight cut as just ordering white el. I have some tape that was classed as white, but looks a bit blue/green. One trick to whiten it up a bit is to use a higher rated inverter (say from 9v to 12v), it makes the wire/tape much brighter, but the el's overall life is reduced if using shorter lengths.

Have a look at CooLight Electroluminescent Wire or Cool Neon EL Wire Both are very good, have a large range of great stock, and will help in any way they can :thumbsup

If your shopping around, ask if they can take a "personal" pic for you of their products to get a better idea of its actual "on" colour. I know there are pictures on the web pages, but sometimes they can be from generic stock pics or doctored to look a bit better.

Here is a pic of my tape (roughly 3ft long) run with a 12v inverter
d95996f5.jpg


I look forward to seeing this finished, may your skills be ever fruitful :)
 
Re: Tron: Legacy Quorra Helmet

It will be easier to demould if it's gloss, but I'm pretty sure there are matt finishes on the screen used as well. A lot of the reflections and lighting would have been post production anyway wouldn't they?

For my $0.02 I'd leave the areas gloss that you will be looking out from, and use PlastiDip spray on the rest. I've noticed the spray gives a very close finish to the arena costumes and looks quite nice next to the gloss

(my crappy first attempt at a Tron style helmet as gloss/PDip referance :lol)

686d9578.jpg
 
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