another tron helmet PICS OF FIRST PULL done

[waterwarrior]

ok so my plug is nearly complete and i want to start the molding process. i want to get some peoples advice as i have not yet seen any completed ones. nor have i seen the way anyone has gotten to the stage im about to be at.

heres my thought. i want to make the yellow section in fiber glass and the blue section in vacuum formed plexi. i plan on molding this in two halves separated at the center line. then cutting the FG where the blue and yellow line meet so that i have a mold in which to work off of. probably gonna have to make another mold of one of the pieces as cutting it will more then likely take away some detail. do any of you guys think i can make this out of one whole piece of plexi? and if so how would you do it??? make a mold of the part i have then vac form the negative?

 

[Finhead]

Re: another tron helemt. need mold tips!!

If your vac forming half or 3/4 of the helmet your buck needs to be smaller by the thickness of your plexi. If not your pieces will not line up once you mold for your fiberglass piece.

 

[waterwarrior]

Re: another tron helemt. need mold tips!!

hmm thats interesting. how thick should the plexi be?

 

[waterwarrior]

Re: another tron helemt. need mold tips!!

you know what. f()c& it. i think im gonna do all plexi in a negative mold. i think ill make two halves of this and hot glue the halves together so i can vac for it.

 

[waterwarrior]

Re: another tron helemt. need mold tips!!

anyone have any illustrations on vac forming a negative like i plan to?or any experience?

 

[waterwarrior]

Re: another tron helemt now in mold form!!

well like everything on this build so far. ive learned a bunch of ways not to do it the next time. but the bright side of things is that its coming out pretty good. im pretty pleased with this as its my first attempt at any of these processes. im a mechanic by trade so im a little familiar with the materials just never in this way.

well the mold came out well. it did however destroy my plug. oh well. and i have a lot of spot putty sticking to both molds. again oh well. just need to spend some time cleaning it up.

 

[waterwarrior]

Re: another tron helemt now in mold form!!

anyone have linkls or illustrations on how i would go about vacuum forming this mold since it is a negative. the online ones i usually see are for positives

 

[pandatrooper]

Re: another tron helemt now in mold form!!

anyone have linkls or illustrations on how i would go about vacuum forming this mold since it is a negative. the online ones i usually see are for positives

You can't vac form a negative mold. It needs to be a positive mold.

 

[Baron]

Re: another tron helemt now in mold form!!

Try making a plaster replica using your negative mold, then cutting the blue section out(as drawn in your original pic), and prep that to use as your positive mold for the vac-forming.

 

[waterwarrior]

Re: another tron helemt now in mold form!!

well im gonna do a half and half mold. gonna pull one side of the helmet tonight. its going to be the base of the helmet to the face shield. so that i can have an opening face shield and will give me more options as face as wiring it and such. i also got a resin tint so that the inside of the helmet will naturally be black as well.

WISH ME LUCK GUYS!!! this is my first time doing anything like this.

 

[waterwarrior]

Re: another tron helemt now in mold form!!

got my first lay down. epic-ness is unfolding before my eyes. hmm i see a bubble. me fix right now!!

 

[waterwarrior]

Re: another tron helmet PICS OF FIRST PULL IN PROGRESS.

OK. so we learned a few things from this.

1. tinted resin works too well( can't see bubbles) SAVE FOR FINAL coat.
2. make your mold super strong because you beat the crap out of it getting stuff out.
3. resin odor will **** off your dog.


all in all. i got a pretty usable pull out of the mold. ill need to fix some stuff but this part is gonna work out just fine i think.

anyone else got any comments. be gentle its my first time

 

[waterwarrior]

Re: another tron helmet PICS OF FIRST PULL IN PROGRESS.

man those pics make it look like complete a$$.. it looks way better in person. the camera is catching the light from all the little divots and making them flash like a light bulb.