Best way to connect hoses to TIE Fighter Helmet?

[ComposerRyan]

Hey guys, so I finally got my Don Post TIE Fighter helmet from ebay recently after a long search.

Now, I'm trying to connect the two black dishwasher hoses to the helmet's intakes. However, there are grills there and I do not want to cut through them.

Any better way to connect the hoses to the helmet without having to alter or cut the helmet itself?

I want it to look like this:

Thanks for your help and I'll be posting pics of it soon!

 

[niennumb1]

I was gonna say cutting the helmet to stick the tubes in and secure that from both sides, but boy that is hard not wanting to alter the helmet. Maybe rare earth magnets? I don't own one of these helmets so I don't know what I would do if I were to not alter it since it is a big stress point you're dealing with. I would cut into it with my dremel and round it out to fit the hoses snug through and then secure it.

 

[TazMan2000]

I agree with niennumb1. You're going to have a hard time getting something connected without some kind of modification of the helmet. However, if you're planning on just displaying the helmet you might be able to fashion some sort of armature out of coat hanger or something to get the tubes to stay in place. Maybe fiiling them afterwards with some expanding foam so they don't end up bouncing everywhere. But if you do this its not going to allow the helmet to be worn with the hoses unless you plan on remaining very still and only look in one direction. :lol

Keep in mind, that these helmets are never seen in the movie without the hoses, so you may want to reconsider and just modify your helmet by cutting into it, or....if you are really creative and brave, make some sort of a quick connect fitting so that you can plug and unplug the hoses at your convenience. (If it was true to life, this type of helmet would probably have that type of connection anyway)

TazMan2000

 

[ComposerRyan]

Thanks guys for the help!

So I am going to try the strong magnets first and see how it goes - just ordered some from Amazon.

If that doesn't work, I guess I will have to drill into the helmet which would really suck considering I payed a pretty penny for it.

Results coming soon....

 

[Mara Jade's Father]

Not sure if this would be something you might like or if you can get the correct size, but I used an adjustable rubber plug to attach my hose to the chest box of my X-Wing chest box.

The the plug goes into the hose and you twist it to expand to fit the hose. I removed the nut an inserted the screw end through a small hole I drilled then put the nut back on. This way I had one small hole instead of a large hole.

if the small hole bothers you, maybe you can make some sort of grill insert that you can snap in when the hoses are removed.

 

[anakin]

Great idea!

Not sure if this would be something you might like or if you can get the correct size, but I used an adjustable rubber plug to attach my hose to the chest box of my X-Wing chest box.

http://images.oreillyauto.com/parts/img/large/mtm/02600-007.jpg


The the plug goes into the hose and you twist it to expand to fit the hose. I removed the nut an inserted the screw end through a small hole I drilled then put the nut back on. This way I had one small hole instead of a large hole.

if the small hole bothers you, maybe you can make some sort of grill insert that you can snap in when the hoses are removed.

 

[ComposerRyan]

Not sure if this would be something you might like or if you can get the correct size, but I used an adjustable rubber plug to attach my hose to the chest box of my X-Wing chest box.

http://images.oreillyauto.com/parts/img/large/mtm/02600-007.jpg


The the plug goes into the hose and you twist it to expand to fit the hose. I removed the nut an inserted the screw end through a small hole I drilled then put the nut back on. This way I had one small hole instead of a large hole.

if the small hole bothers you, maybe you can make some sort of grill insert that you can snap in when the hoses are removed.

I think I will give this a try! Unfortunately, the magnets did not work which is a bummer.

By the way, does anyone have any recommendations on where to get the best hoses for the TIE helmet? I bought these washer drain hoses from Lowe's but they are too thick in diameter. Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks for your help again!

 

[animefan]

Hey guys, so I finally got my Don Post TIE Fighter helmet from ebay recently after a long search.

Now, I'm trying to connect the two black dishwasher hoses to the helmet's intakes. However, there are grills there and I do not want to cut through them.

Any better way to connect the hoses to the helmet without having to alter or cut the helmet itself?

I want it to look like this:


Thanks for your help and I'll be posting pics of it soon!

What is the diameter of those hoses?

 

[ComposerRyan]

What is the diameter of those hoses?

The grill is about 1" in diameter but the hoses I purchased are about 1 1/2" in diameter which is kind of a pain so any other suggestions on other hoses would be awesome.

 

[Nagedzi]

My garrison mate, One-5, 3D printed some custom hovi-mix mic tips for his TIE bucket. He ingeniously engineered them to attach to the hoses with magnets. If you're on the Jolly Roger forums, look up his build. It's pretty cool.

Edit, here it is:
http://www.jrs501st.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=9305