(really low)budget green ranger build - now on dummy - final budget: 98.20 €

EyeofSauron

Master Member
well, now that im knee deep in my power ranger helmet build, i found something i have never done before, which is fitting in a visor

now,i just want to make sure i get this right. i have a small budget, and therefor need to be careful with this stuff :D

so, basicly my question is: can i just get any random visor from anywhere?
you all know the power ranger helmet stuff, buti attached a pic to see what i mean

now, this is a thight fit helmet, its not much bigger than my head. what im thinking is: the motor cycle visors are attached to the outside of a motorcycle helmet, and therefor wider

will it fit inside my helmet without a problem?

can u use a heatgun to get it into shape?

will it be long enough to cover the whole thing (i mean especially on the sides, because the opening is wider than your usual halo etc helmet)

so heres my helmet so far (colored in photoshop for better understanding) and also a comparison shot from a finished one for the side view to see how deep it is


/edit i changed the tread title, this will be my build thread for the costume, didnt see any purpose in opening a new one :)
 
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Re: fitting a visor?

Motorcycle visors are really sturdy. You are going to have a heck of a time cutting one to shape. I have never tried to heat shape one. I would try to find an old thrift shop one to experiment on if you go this route.

My suggestion is to get a secton of clear PET-G plastic, maybe 0.06 thick. This thickness would curve easily inside your helmet and would be easy to trim. It could be secured with glue or even duct tape.

For the color, you could tint the plastic with navy ( or whatever color) colored RIT dye. RIT dye is found in fabric stores.

Good luck.
 
Re: fitting a visor?

yeah i thought of another option that is cheaper and easier to do than a motorcycle visor (at least if i do more than one helmet)

gettting a 2 mm clear acrylic glass plate, that is big enough to get 7 visors out of it like 1000 mm x 500 mm is 25 bucks

getting 3 m of black tinted car window foil 15 bucks.

the acrylic can be formed with a heatgun, and will be way easier to fit, as its pretty much a custom visor
once i have it fitted, i will put on the tinted foil on the outside, and have a finished dark visor.

i was really suprised to find no tutorials or guides anywhere over the internet.
with so many prop helmets built, you wouldve thought that someone allready did a collection for this :D


and if all else fails, i will just drill holes in the visor as it is now (or rather, after sanding) and color it black, that way it will work just for carneval :D

im not even gonna use resin or bondo on this one, im gonna go with paper mache, paper mache pulp and joint filler :D
 
Re: fitting a visor?

im pretty sure the 405th ( halo costuming forum) has visor installation down to science with all those different halo buckets out there you could check them out. sorry though not much help
 
Re: (really low) budget green ranger build

so, i covered my helmet in paper mache, 4 layers of it. i first thought about adding a layer of pulp for better detail, but decided its really not neccessary because the pep file is very good

i then got some dry wall compound, and covered the helmet. this stuff is really easy to sand, but i will probably need to seal it once im finish
i think primer will seal it allright, we will see.

so far, this build has cost me 3 bucks
i also did some research for gloves and boots
found some white leather gloves in the hardware store that are 9 bucks. look perfect for this kind of costume. they also have rubber boots for 11 bucks, but these are black, so i will probably just spraypaint them white and then do the green parts. wont hold up forever, but it isnt supposed to anyway :D if anyone has any tips for cheap white boots, tell me :)
some pics:
 
Re: (really low) budget green ranger build

Great job so far. I am really thinking about trying to make my own helmet with the paper mache over a pepakura shape. I never thought about using the plaster filler.
I don't know if this will help you, but I tried anyway. So I looked online for white boots, and I found these : Men's White Boots - Adult Clone Trooper Boots
which are close to the Power Ranger type, (they would still need painted with the green detail) but they are not really cheap. So I would look in thrift stores near where you live, the more around the better chance you will find something cheap. If you don't find a knee high boot, then I would find a short boot, and then make a boot cover out of fabric to cover your boot and leg so it looks like the knee high boots that they wore.
And if you can't find a short white boot, you could always spray paint them white. Leather boots do take paint pretty well.
Well I hope I was some help. Good Luck!
I can't wait to see your helmet done. :)
 
Re: (really low) budget green ranger build

update time!

im happy to report that crywall compound is a sucess!
its really good to and, waterproof, and really hard. i cant dent it with my finger nails, once its completely dry. of course its no epoxy, but it cost like 1/10th of it. what i am gonna try out tomorrow, when im finished sanding, is spray it with thinned pva glue, so that the surface gets sealed, kinda like foam. it probably isnt neccessary, but who knows, it may make it even more awesome to work with (i.e. make it a little bit more elastic, because of the pva that is sucked into the pores)
i just put on the last layer of filler, (or so i think), and have all the details allready sanded out.
the finest sand i did today was 120 grit, i will go to 220 tomorrow, i hope

heres the result for now (its upside down as i put filler on the bottom)
 
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Re: (really low) budget green ranger build - helmet 75% / cost - 3 bucks

This is looking awesome! Congrats and finding cheap stuff, score! Will be watching this, since I want to make the green and yellow rangers eventually.
 
Re: (really low) budget green ranger build - helmet 75% / cost - 3 bucks

This is looking awesome! Congrats and finding cheap stuff, score! Will be watching this, since I want to make the green and yellow rangers eventually.
not so much finding, but trying out :D thats pretty much the cheapest stuff there is, and its close to perfect (short of bondo and stuff of course :D )
i am going to make a full set till halloween hopefully, or at least till next years carneval, so we can do the group thingy in the parade xD

this year its probably gonna be something trown together again :D last year we had pacman + ghosts, this years ideas are either space invaders or tetris :D
 
Re: (really low) budget green ranger build - helmet 75% / cost - 3 bucks

and here is the sanded, non primed finished thing for now :D
i tried the watered down pva glue on the back plate for sealing, and i have mixed feelings. one thing i noticed is that it needs to be really thin
i didnt realize that, and so it was to thick and peeled in some places where it didnt go in. but where it was soaked in, the surface is perfect. so im still gonna do that on the whole helmet before priming.
also, im not sure how, but when putting it together, in some places it doesnt line up. its minimal, but it annoys me
probably gonna fix that as soon as i have the joints to put it together (if the clamps dont fix it)
so, to do: Seal with watered down pva, join helmet and backplate, fix lineup issues, prime, paint. still undecided about the visor
 
Re: (really low) budget green ranger build - helmet 75% / cost - 3 bucks

so, i looked around some today after finishing sanding. i bought the clamps, and looked for tinted foil for the visor (if i decide to do one)

i also found a problem, which is: i dont know how to join the helmet at the top i cant use a joint because of the fin, that would scratch itself on the both sides. which is never good with a porous material. so i dont know what to do there. maybe velcro, but im not sure, and hope for input.

so the materials for the visor would be acrylic and tinted window foil. problem is, they only sell the window foil in sizes that are way beyond necessary for my build. the smallest i could find was 1m x 3m. maybe i will go to a car shop tomorrow and ask if they have small throw away pieces, as i only need a piece that is 10cm x 40cm

same thing with the acrylic, i couldnt find a piece smaller than 1mx0.5m

so, those big pieces are out of my budget, even tho these are not expensive, but i try to stay under 50 bucks on the helmet, and those two things alone would cost me 30 bucks

the joints cost 6.50 and i still need to find something for the top, so i have to calculate closely :D

so, my calculations so far:
filler+joints = 3 euro+6.50 euro
filling primer = 9 bucks (to get the sanding marks out, as you can never get the joint compount as smooth)
colors: green = 6 bucks
white = 6 bucks
grey = 6 bucks
black = 0 (i have 3 cans at home)
clear = 0 (same as black)
connection for the top ~ 5 bucks (guessing, because i dont know yet)
padding ~ 5 bucks (maybe free if i can get some foam leftovers from a friend)


thats 46.5 bucks, without visor. so unless i can find a cheap small piece of acrylic and window tint, im gonna go with the full version with holes.
i will go hit the flea market on saturday, maybe i can get some good deals on this stuff there
 
Re: (really low)budget green ranger build - helmet 85%/cost-9.50€ - help with joints

ok today i was shopping for the rest of the costume stuff, but as i realized time over time, i live in narnia and nothing is available.
trying to find a simple camping mat to make the shield, i was in every possible shop in my city, but nothing, only those new style yoga mats, that are reaaaaally soft and not suitable.
also, green fabric dye is nowhere to be found. i found blue, red, brown and black. but green obviously isnt needed EVER.

on a positive note, what i randomly found were white gloves, and those were pretty cheap. 1.50 for a pair of gloves. its the kind of gloves that are used for handling gold and silver and stuff, to not get fingerprints on them. they are a little seethrough, but it wont be noticeable unless you look really close.
but for 1.50, i dont mind anyway.also i found a shop that sells spraypaint a buck cheaper than in the shop next door.
i also found smaller sheets of acrylic, that only cost 3 bucks, they are 50x25 cm in size, which is perfect, and i could get 2 visors out of it. now i only need to find tinting foil in time, that is that size :D
and finally i bought 2 m of velcro, which will in come handy on this costume and future ones. it was 5 bucks, so thats ok too

i got a tip from a friend for a shop that might have green dye, and for a shop that might have those mats.
the mats really arent the hard part tho, because i can make the shield out of papermache if neccessary, but if i cant find the dye to make a suit, its no point :D
im kinda running out of time, as i only have tomorrow to saturday, and then again from saturday to tuesday with a week of skiing holiday in between :D
so, time is running out, and if i finish it will be minutes before the parade :D
no pics for now, i made a template for the shield, and got the gloves, but nothing noteworthy, except that im worn out of riding my bike in the snow for 5 hours today :D
 
Re: (really low)budget green ranger build - helmet 85%/cost-9.50€ - help with joints

ok, now im getting somewhere :)
i found green dye today. 4 bucks seemed fair
also found camping mats. but im not buying those for 14 bucks a piece, especially if i need 2

so i recycled that cardboard from my detolf, and build the whole thing roughly, thencovered with paper mache. 1 layer so far.3 more layers tomorrow, prime, paint. im not going all out on this, time is short, and it will only ever be used once, probably.

as this has basic shapes there arent a lot of imperfections in the paper mache, i will sand those out and then it should be smooth enough

so, added to the cost the last 2 days:
white gloves - 1.70
a hinge - 1,40
velcro - 5
flour for papermache- 50 cent

which adds to a total of 16.10 so far. still have the money items ahead of me tho, boots, shirt and pants, spraypaints, filler, and also a white belt

here are pics of todays work
 
Re: (really low)budget green ranger build - helmet 85% shield 50% /cost-16.10€

so, i finally got around buying shirts and pants.

sad news is i need to wear 2 pants and shirts over each other, to get a decent non seethrough color. but i allready had 1 white shirt of the same brand, so, two pants and 1 shirt were 15 bucks. i hope i get to color them soon. i also have a white tshirt that i can use for the diamonds, but maybe i will just buy fabric for that, as i really dont like to cut up a good quality shirt for this.
i also decided to do the forearm and upper arm bracers in cardboard, covered with papermache, as i dont have foam. they are the pieces that will wear down anyway, so no point in spending a lot of money on them.
so my work today: build the arm guards, cover them, get another cover for the chest shield, inside and outside.

had a lot of problems with the forearm thingies, as the cardboard wouldnt fold together as i wanted it. but in the end i was stronger than the paper :D
so heres some shots of me in my whities, and the arm thingies :D

tomorrow i will cover it with one more layer of paper mache in the morning, putting some glue in for better sealing.
then primer paint and gogo power rangers :D

still looking for belt and boots, worst case i will buy cheap work boots and spraypaint them white, same with the belt.
 
Re: (really low)budget green ranger build - helmet 85% shield 50% /cost-31.10€

short update. i gave everything its final papermache cover, cut open the back of the chest shield, made some joints so it was easier to open up, and did a little bit of work on the helmet, especially drilling the holes in the visor, as for now im not gonna get a acrylic visor because of time.
tomorrow i will go on skiing vacation till friday, and after that i only have 3 days left for primer and paint, dying the fabric, sewing on the diamonds and still finding boots and a belt, plus building an improvised morpher, as i couldnt find a cheap one. also i may need to build a gun holster too, if i find the time.

heres a pic of all the hard pieces together for now:

(bit shaky but nothing new anyway ;) )
 
Re: (really low)budget green ranger build - helmet 85% shield 50% /cost-31.10€

Great project, and the helmet came out very well! Now I know why you said your apartment was one dusty hell a few days ago! :lol

What type and brand of drywall compound did you use? The way you describe it it looks really like a less toxic alternative to bondo or car body filler.
 
Re: (really low)budget green ranger build - helmet 85% shield 50% /cost-31.10€

moltofill spachtelpulver innen

i dont know how it will hold up over time, but for now, im pretty darn happy with it. only problem is that it takes some time to dry, not like the regular filler things, so you cant just go fill, wait 10 minutes, sand :/
 
Re: (really low)budget green ranger build - helmet 85% shield 50% /cost-31.10€

Ah, I see. You may want to look into a generic gypsum, might be even cheaper. I am not sure if there are any additives in the Moltofill that help with flexibility, though.
 
Re: (really low)budget green ranger build - helmet 85% shield 50% /cost-31.10€

Yeah it isn't that flexible, but I can get in without cracking it so it will do for Tuesday and after that it will go to the shelf. Maybe if I ever get the opportunity, I will mold and cast it. This way I could also fit in a visor, but that's a different story
 
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