Samus helmet and gun build

Hey everybody, I'm new here. I've been a lurker for a long time, but figured I'd step out of the shadows for this build, mostly cause the more seasoned costuming veterans will probably have some helpful crits for me.
So I started working on this Samus helmet for my girlfriend a few weeks ago in my spare time (obviously inspired by Talaaya), and so far I think it's turning out ok.
My digital sculpt was done in 3ds max 2015 and Zbrush 4r7. Please excuse the othographic screencap.



This is my version of the helm from Metroid Prime 3. I initially went with a pepakura foam build because of the hefty cost of a 3d print. The results were...underwhelming.



Ok so the results were hilariously bad. Obviously I had to change tactics. I've been casting things in silicone and fiberglass for a while, so I picked up some casteline and discovered I didn't care for traditional sculpting. I attempted to go through Shapeways to print pieces of the helm, but it was way over the top expensive. I decided that instead of spending around $1000 on a single print, I'd rather spend $1800 on a personal 3d printer that could get my props at least 70% there. I'm a professional game artist, and sculpting things out in 3d is a relatively trivial exercise for me, so this method really played to my strengths. After getting the hang of printing I started to print the Samus helmet.



Obviously if you've ever 3d printed something you'll know that there are a couple major hurdles for creating high quality props: the print lines, and the bed size. To address the bed size issue, I ended up splitting the helm into 5 sections and printing them all separately. Then I used JB Weld 6 minute epoxy to glue them all together.



The other problem is the print lines. I spent about a month messing with my print settings to find ways to reduce this effect as much as possible. Then I had problems with the print warping because it wouldn't stick to the bed. Printing on bare glass and using aqua net hairspray was the eventual solution to that (thanks internet). Sadly I was still experiencing these problems when I printed the helm and several of the pieces ended up fairly warped. I ended up sanding the unholy poop out of them and using bondo to smooth out the warping, print lines and seams. Hitting it with a coat of primer was super useful to see what areas still needed attention.

This is where I'm at now. I'm probably going to be using Duplicolor barcelona red paint for it, since I think that's what Talaaya used, and her red looks spot on.



And I started printing the gun as well:



Still unsure about how to paint the gun, or how to tint acrylic green for the visor. Does anybody have any suggestions?

Living the dream right here. I consider it a life goal to learn how to 3d model one day and make my own samus.

For the tint on the visor, there are several ways to do it, I did the old cheap way, and just cut a green 2 litter bottle up and used that to color the clear face shield.

(This was made from a Papercraft model and bondo

Other options that I have seen used, are the same that people use when making Halo helmets, use motor cycle face shields, you can find them in all colors and get them pretty cheap from Ebay. I may go back and replace the face plate on my wife's Samus suit with one from a motorcycle helmet, but I have a short deadline and under funds at the moment .

zorprime said:

For the tint on the visor, there are several ways to do it, I did the old cheap way, and just cut a green 2 litter bottle up and used that to color the clear face shield.
View attachment 625746View attachment 625747
(This was made from a Papercraft model and bondo

Other options that I have seen used, are the same that people use when making Halo helmets, use motor cycle face shields, you can find them in all colors and get them pretty cheap from Ebay. I may go back and replace the face plate on my wife's Samus suit with one from a motorcycle helmet, but I have a short deadline and under funds at the moment .

Click to expand...

Thanks guys! I'll definitely experiment around with bottles and motor cycle face shields, those are great suggestions, thanks!

It means so much to me that I was able to inspire you! Making my suit was awesome and all, but there's nothing like seeing people want to build their own version.

Your helmet and gun look fantastic! It's weird seeing another one as accurate as mine. It's like I'm looking at my own work! So cool that you're in the game industry too. Yay! \o/

You may not have noticed but my helmet has holes in the mouth grill. I'm not sure how much air flow it allows (I haven't worn it enough) but it's a potential fan intake spot. It gets pretty stuffy and foggy in my helmet, though I haven't installed my fans yet so who knows. Anyway I thought that might be useful to know.

As for the visor, I can't recall if I explained in my own thread how I did it, but if not: I used fluorescent green acrylic. To shape it I 3d printed a negative of the visor hole which I used as a mold to press the acrylic into after I heated it up in the oven. It was really hard to get it to stay uniform and really get pressed into the mold with just my hands. Next time I think I would create another print to press it into the mold evenly. To create the mirrored effect I got some 2 way mirror window film which is normally applied to house windows. As long as it's darker in the helmet than it is outside of the helmet I can see perfectly well and no one can see in no matter what. The caveat with using this stuff, however, is that your surface has to be perfectly even on two axes; the film does not work on compound curves. I tried to keep it bent on only the one axis but like I mentioned before, it was hard to press it into the mold evenly. There's a small spot near the bottom of my visor which sometimes gets an air bubble but luckily you don't really notice.

If you don't want to go this route there are other methods I've seen where people actually do a light coat of paint on the inside of the visor. Halo visors are the most common example, but MWiggs wonderfully explained the technique in his Terran Marine thread.

Yeah game artist buddies!
Our versions have a few differences that I've noticed. For instance, the panels on the back of the gun next to the elbow. On the in-game model I've got, those panels are disconnected at the top, so that's the way I modeled them. On your version there's no gap there, and it made me wonder if I was preserving a mistake from the source art, or whether they were supposed to be that way. The circular vents on the front imply that it should be connected like yours is.


I didn't notice that your helmet has holes in the mouth grill, that's a fantastic idea. How did you finish the inside of it? I've been toying with the idea of taking slabs of foam and sewing together 2" thick strips of them and attaching them all together on the inside of the helm for comfort. Maybe I could build a circlet somewhere in the middle to fit on top of the wearer's head to keep the helm from spinning as the head turns. Maybe a hard hat construction like my stormtrooper helmet.
Fantastic link, thank you! Totally gonna try that and your negative shape idea, cause her visor's got a really particular peak in the middle of it. I also saw this handy post about coloring acrylic:

Jimbo890 said:

I did a test of this for some Rebel Fleet Trooper visors in a smoke gray, and did some test with x-wing visors in a yellow-amber. The process is simple. Use PETG or Lexan [acrylic] in clear, and vac form the part. Then on the stove, heat a pot of water to scalding but not boiling. Maybe 125 degrees. Mix the RIT dye in. I used black for the Fleet Trooper visors, and a custom blend of yellow and orange for the amber. [two different projects at different times] just drop the part in the warm water and leave it for a while. Come back and check on it in 5 minutes. Dry it off. Your part will have changed color. If you want it darker, leave it in the warm bath longer. Like others have said, don't get the water too hot or it WILL distort your plastic. Think bath water hot. And no more.

Click to expand...

I have the feeling that might come in handy for something later.
MWiggs mentions Alclad as well, which is something I was looking into for painting the gun. Did you use an automotive paint for yours?

Painted the Samus helm red, and spent some time painting some black into the grooves to really make everything pop. Still have a lot of work to do. It may look shiny now, but this is without any kind of coating. I'm going to wax this thing to a mirror shine. I also have to paint the tubing and mouthpiece grey, make a headpiece and padding for the inside, and do electronics. I also got the acrylic for the visor, so I'll have to mold that stuff. Getting there!



I also printed the rest of the gun. It's not epoxied together or anything yet, but here it is

ZombieGraves said:

Our versions have a few differences that I've noticed. For instance, the panels on the back of the gun next to the elbow. On the in-game model I've got, those panels are disconnected at the top, so that's the way I modeled them. On your version there's no gap there, and it made me wonder if I was preserving a mistake from the source art, or whether they were supposed to be that way. The circular vents on the front imply that it should be connected like yours is.

Click to expand...

Yeah the original is actually disconnected right there. I can't remember if mine was a conscious choice or not. If it was, it was probably to make it easier to sand later. I also didn't add the grooves to the interior of the barrel like you have. I was printing with that powder printer which makes bumpy prints and it would have been too hard to sand it smooth inside. FDM lines would have been acceptable. I figured I'd find something ridged later and line the inside of the barrel with it. I haven't done it so far but I hope to eventually.

ZombieGraves said:

I didn't notice that your helmet has holes in the mouth grill, that's a fantastic idea. How did you finish the inside of it?

Click to expand...

I simply painted it black and added 4 strips of upholstery foam which are attached with velcro. I plan on covering them with some black cloth soon to make it look nicer inside. It's actually very stable on my head. The helmet hugs my chin so that helps a little too.

ZombieGraves said:

MWiggs mentions Alclad as well, which is something I was looking into for painting the gun. Did you use an automotive paint for yours?

Click to expand...

My gun paint job ended up pretty sloppy due to time constraints. I did use automotive paint for it as well. I used DupliColor Cayman Green Metallic and then sloppily sprayed some DupliColor Storm Gray Metallic onto areas where it was grayish on the original model, particularly the bottom area with all the details. At some point I'd like to repaint it with proper masking and detail paint. Storm Gray Metallic is also what I used to paint the helmet tubes.


Those update pictures look awesome! Are you planning on cutting out the holes for the lights in the gun or are you not doing lights?

Talaaya said:

Yeah the original is actually disconnected right there. I can't remember if mine was a conscious choice or not. If it was, it was probably to make it easier to sand later. I also didn't add the grooves to the interior of the barrel like you have. I was printing with that powder printer which makes bumpy prints and it would have been too hard to sand it smooth inside. FDM lines would have been acceptable. I figured I'd find something ridged later and line the inside of the barrel with it. I haven't done it so far but I hope to eventually.

Click to expand...

Maybe cutting strips of some ribbed tubing, epoxying them together and then mounting them in the gun? The trick is really getting your hands in there. The barrel is under 3" wide, maybe you could employ a child with tiny hands to reach in there and glue it in.

Talaaya said:

I simply painted it black and added 4 strips of upholstery foam which are attached with velcro. I plan on covering them with some black cloth soon to make it look nicer inside. It's actually very stable on my head. The helmet hugs my chin so that helps a little too.

Click to expand...

I think I over sized mine a little. In the art it looks like she's got like at least 1" of padding between her head and the helmet at all points, so that's what I was trying to emulate. It'll still work. I saw some hard hats at a thrift store a while back, I'll pick one of those up and rip out the suspension rig.

Talaaya said:

My gun paint job ended up pretty sloppy due to time constraints. I did use automotive paint for it as well. I used DupliColor Cayman Green Metallic and then sloppily sprayed some DupliColor Storm Gray Metallic onto areas where it was grayish on the original model, particularly the bottom area with all the details. At some point I'd like to repaint it with proper masking and detail paint. Storm Gray Metallic is also what I used to paint the helmet tubes.


Those update pictures look awesome! Are you planning on cutting out the holes for the lights in the gun or are you not doing lights?

Click to expand...

I'll definitely look into that paint, thanks! Not sure if I'm going to do lights yet, I'm really on the fence about it. I have to decide absolutely before I epoxy the gun pieces together, cause drilling the holes would be impossible once it's assembled. Doing a raspberry pi/arduino set up would allow me to do sound and flashing lights, but would require me to route out more space in the gun, and find a place for a trigger and a speaker, which is tough since the gun's already printed. I could just do static on/off lights and call it good, that would be simple enough.

Quick update! Got my grey paint in the mail and finished the paint job on the helm. Taping and spraying behind those tubes wasn't easy.


After that I got busy wet sanding, waxing and buffing. At this point I'd say the base paint job is sealed and finished. And shiny! Weathering pass is next, followed by molding the visor.

Awww yiss! Looking great! And I can definitely empathize about masking and painting the tubes. Gah.

Thanks for the idea about the barrel!

I love a great Samus build, can't wait to see where you go next with it! When I have access to the machine shop again after summer, I'm now very tempted to have a go myself

Still working on this, amidst being sick and working a bunch. I did a subtle weathering pass on the helm and did the interior. It's now fully padded inside and super comfortable.


To get the pattern I grabbed a plastic grocery bag, stuck it inside the helmet and traced out strips, then traced those strips onto the foam. The folds in the bag made it difficult, but I managed to get a decent result. This padding is just a double layer of eva foam. I grabbed some soft fabric from the store and sewed little pouches for the inserts, just to class it up a little and make it more comfortable to wear. I attached it all using velcro in the helmet so I could easily remove it later if I needed to.



Now that the inserts are in, the helmet doesn't slide around at all when I move my head. The foam makes it sit properly on my head and hugs my chin perfectly. I guess I didn't oversize it after all! I could wear this thing all day. I still might make one more little pad and attach it near the base of the skull in the back so that it doesn't slide around when I look down.

This is beautiful so far! Really clean paint job.