ESB Fett Helmet - Budget Build from Skateboard Helmet - WIP pics

indiefilmgeek

Sr Member
This started as a fun little X-mas holiday build... I was hunting for something to do while on holiday and as I was scrolling through lots of prop pics, my 8yr old son saw the ESB Fett helmet and asked if I could build it. Well, I needed no further encouragement to take this! :)

I will admit that I'm was (and still am) very self-conscious about this build. Artists from here and the Dented Helmet that I deeply admire have spent YEARS perfecting hand-made versions of this piece, and I know darn well that my modest build will be a very pale imitation of their incredible work (most of which I'm using for reference material).

So, to begin, I started by working out the scale of the helmet by building a pepakura model.... and that means lots of cutting and gluing!
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Luckily, I got the scale right on the first try! Hurrah!
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I wanted to make this quickly and on a budget, so I grabbed the dome off of the top of the pep and went shopping for a used helmet that matched (closely enough) the scale and size of the Fett dome. I found a Bell skate board helmet that was very close (and cheap).
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After pulling out all the padding, I need to fill in the air vent holes. I did this by duct-taping cardstock paper over the outside (smooth) surface of the holes, then pouring fiberglass resin into them from the inside of the bucket.
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With a little bit of sanding (and still lots of bondo to go), it looks like this:
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I then went back to the pep and attached the lower part of the helmet to the modified skateboard helmet.
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I then glassed the paper section (always make sure to use respirators, gloves and a well-ventilated space when using fiberglass/bondo).
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After some quick clean-up...
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...and after some bondo...
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To complete the shape, I bought craft wood of the right size and we let it soak in hot water for about 24hrs. At that point, we were able to bend it around the rim of the helmet and epoxy it in place (using tie-down straps to hold the wood in place while the epoxy dried).
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Here's what it looked like after it dried and finished setting...
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And from the back:
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After cleaning it up, more bondo work etc, here is the result prior to it's first coat of primer:
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It still needs a lot of work, but I really wanted to see how it looked in primer, so I painted it up with some filler primer. Here's what it looks like as I finished the primer coat...
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I'll try to post more details on the craft wood ear pieces and range-finder work I did in a bit!
 

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Re: Fett Bucket - Budget Build from Skate Helmet - WIP

First off, I mentioned the Dented Helmet. Seriously folks, this site is filled with an AMAZING amount of detailed plans and info on all things Fett. I HUGE thanks to all the artists and craftsmen (and women) on that site for all the help they provided!

As an example, here is just one of the reference materials I used for the range-finder pieces...
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OK, so detail pieces for the ear pieces and range-finder... I started with the blue-prints shown above and using some craft wood I had on-hand, I marked out and cut these pieces - starting with the easier side (the non-range-finder site). :D
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Then I took on the harder (more detailed side). I started with pieces from 1/8" bass wood.
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I then glued the pieces together...
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I used a bit of wood putty to smooth out the rough spots. Then hit it with primer - then more sanding...
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At the same time, I used the plans to cut out the range-finder arm.
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I wanted to make this hinged (and also light up), so (with detailed plan from Dented Helmet), I built a hinge into the ear-piece that holds the range-finder.
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..and added rare-earth magnets in order to hold it in the up-right position.
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I also used the plans to fabricate the tiny view screen from some plastic sheets I had.
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I then hit everything in primer!
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Next up... Electronics! :cool
 
Re: ESB Fett Bucket - Budget Build from Skate Helmet - WIP

Thanks, Captain Pugwash! :)

Here's the low-down on the electronics for the range-finder. Again, I kept this VERY budget. I had an extra set of battery-powered LED X-mas lights on-hand that I wanted to have light up when the range-finder was down. But in order to do that, I had to get power from inside the helmet all the way up the swing-arm to the range-finder. So, I took some wire I had on-hand, cut a groove into the swing-arm and glued the wire into the groove.
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You can see from the above photo that I've left a curved hole for the power wire so it doesn't bind as the swing-arm moves up and down. The other wires you see are coming from a tiny micro-switch I tore out of an old disposable camera (those things have all sorts of cool parts btw). The point of this switch is to turn on the lights automatically when the arm is down.

Here's what it looks like with the swing-arm up (held by rare-earth magnets):
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...and here's what it looks like with the swing arm down (circuit closed).
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Here is what it looks like with the faceplate on the ear-piece.
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...and from another angle:
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After this I painted the range-finder silver, used a blocking agent on certain areas and then gave it a coat of black paint. When the areas with the blocking agent were removed, you get this very nice 'chipped' look. Adding a few 'scratches' with rub-n-buff helps too.
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Then I had to make the lens for the range-finder (cheaply). So, I just took some plexi-glass and cut a series of pieces that I sandwiched together to make the lens.
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After a lot of belt sanding, it finally fit into place. Not screen-accurate by any means, but for a project costing less than $50 (total), I'm happy with it!
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For a complete break-down of the parts/electronics/wiring, here's a short video walk-through I did:
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TP9gk4KelE

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Re: ESB Fett Bucket - Budget Build from Skate Helmet - WIP

Looks really good so far. I can't wait to see how it turns out.
 
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