Cast Aluminum Mandalorian helmet!

[Kandosii]

Hey folks!
Some of you may have seen the FB post I made of this project, but I want to post here as well because it’s sort of a better way to keep updates together!

So about a year ago I decided I wanted to try and make some metal Mandalorian armor. Bought a printer and started play around with it.

Looking around I wasn’t able to find anyone else that had casted Mandalorian armor and didn’t have anything to go off. But after a year of failures, fires, and other calamities, I was finally able to make it happen.

So here it is. Solid cast aluminum Mandalorian Helmets.

The cast came out well, and now I’m going to play around with finishing it. I’ve got a little bit of porosity on this one, but I’m going to try and fill it, and prime it, then blend it into the polished metal by using Duralumin over it.

Stay tuned for more!

 

[Pedro]

Well damn that looks badass! Casting such a large piece, that must have been interesting. Fill us in, and keep working on it!

 

[Halliwax]

Wixked

Love to know more on the whole casting procedure

 

[Kandosii]

Well damn that looks badass! Casting such a large piece, that must have been interesting. Fill us in, and keep working on it!

Thanks! Will do! Tonight I’ll be sanding… and sanding… and sanding.
I used a self etching primer, then sandable filler for some of the porosity I had. I had initially planned on painting the whole thing not din colors, but changed my mind. Unfortunately I changed it AFTER I sanded off the mohawk details lol, so now I need to add them back in, which is a puzzle I’ve thought about, but haven’t solved.

But tonight I’ll sand down and check the fillings, maybe bondo a spot or two that’s being difficult, and filler it back up!

nice thing now though, is I can use power tools!

Love to know more on the whole casting procedure

I use the Lost PLA investment casting technique. Basically I print the item, this one was printed for me by Cyberfoxarmory, as I’ve been having nothing but troubles with my personal printer.
Then I finish and smooth that print up and coat it in a thick ceramic shell.
Burn the print out of the shell and pour the metal in!

 

[Halliwax]

Incredible… silicone mold? Or plaster?

 

[Malibu139]

This is the best metal Din helmet I have seen. don't paint it. polish and weather it and its perfect!

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

Incredible… silicone mold? Or plaster?

Silicone only works with low-temp melting metals (like pewter). Plaster has too much water and would explode with something as hot as molten aluminium poured into it. I presume his ceramic shell was the mold, am I correct Kandosii ?

I too would be interested in knowing how you went about this. Especially how you vented your mold, and your degassing methods.

 

[Halliwax]

I’ve seen a lot of people use plaster for casting aluminum, I know you’ve told me that before. But I’ve seen a bunch of guys online doing it that way, nope doesn’t last long but they still pull it off

 

[thd9791]

This is very, very cool. Almost in-universe with what you'd expect the helmet and armor to feel like!

 

[Halliwax]

I definitely want one if a run goes through

 

[Kandosii]

Incredible… silicone mold? Or plaster?

It’s “ceramic shell” basically consists of using a slurry and silica sand combination to make layers of a shell thick enough to withstand burnout pressures.

This is the best metal Din helmet I have seen. don't paint it. polish and weather it and its perfect!

That is mostly the plan! There’s a few spots, mainly the very top along the spine and a small section in the back have some pocks and a section there was some debris that prevented the aluminum filling in completely. Not a hole, but sort of a dent.
So I bondo’ed and then filler primed those areas ((this is where in the project I’m at now)) and I’m not sanding those sections down to fill the holes. Then I’ll polish it up and darken the spots in and use the duralumin to blend in the filled spots. I won’t be painting the whole helmet that way, just the spots to blend them in.

Silicone only works with low-temp melting metals (like pewter). Plaster has too much water and would explode with something as hot as molten aluminium poured into it. I presume his ceramic shell was the mold, am I correct Kandosii ?

I too would be interested in knowing how you went about this. Especially how you vented your mold, and your degassing methods.

That’s correct. The shell becomes the mold once the print is burned out. Plaster CAN work, technically, but you don’t get the same surface finish, and any moisture can create catastrophic failure. I poured it inside the helmet and vented at any high points back into the main sprue.
When I test Boba, I’ll do it the opposite way probably top down it has been VERY difficult to remove the sprue from the inside lol

I’ve seen a lot of people use plaster for casting aluminum, I know you’ve told me that before. But I’ve seen a bunch of guys online doing it that way, nope doesn’t last long but they still pull it off

This is very, very cool. Almost in-universe with what you'd expect the helmet and armor to feel like!

Thank you! That’s the goal! They used a sort of casting/press/forging system it seems, but this is probably as close as we’re gonna get lol.

unless I get enough funding to REALLY push the dreams I’ve been cooking up in my head lol

I definitely want one if a run goes through

I’ve got some more testing to do before I get to that point, but I’m considering it for down the road.

 

[woodywaverider]

This is awesome, kudos for casting such a large piece. Looks stunning already can’t wait to see it finished.

I have an idea of how you can fill your pin holes. How about mixing up some of the aluminium powder that is used for cold casting with a little resin and using as a filler like bondo. If you go heavy on the powder it should polish up the same as the surrounding metal

 

[Kandosii]

This is a great idea to test.
What kind of aluminum powder? Where can you get it?

 

[woodywaverider]

This is a great idea to test.
What kind of aluminum powder? Where can you get it?

search for 325 mesh aluminium powder, you will find it easily on eBay or locally. 100g will be about £6. Normally used it 1:1 ratio with resin for casting, but as you are using it as a filler and not for casting I would try 2:1 or just as much as you can get in before it looks too dry.

 

[ZeroSum]

How much does that helmet weigh?

For filling the holes, would some sort of aluminium brazing rod work as filler?

 

[Halliwax]

How much does that helmet weigh?

For filling the holes, would some sort of aluminium brazing rod work as filler?

I imagine alumi-loy rods would work

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

I’ve seen a lot of people use plaster for casting aluminum, I know you’ve told me that before. But I’ve seen a bunch of guys online doing it that way, nope doesn’t last long but they still pull it off

Like kandosii said, it could technically work but alone and off the shelf wouldn't be a good idea. Most lost-investment casting videos you'll see online it's a plaster mixed some silica and some other agents to help hold it together under the heat, very similar used here with this helmet project. I've seen some completely withstand the heat but completely dissolve underwater for smaller jewelry pieces. It's a very neat process but, as the name suggests, a lost investment.

...For filling the holes, would some sort of aluminium brazing rod work as filler?

I imagine alumi-loy rods would work

It does...sort of. It depends on how thick the cast piece is, otherwise too thin and the cast metal will just melt before the blazing rod does. If you don't mind finish quality, alu brazing would fill the spots a lot better than the suggested cold cast method. The problem is the finish color of the blazing is slightly bluer and shines differently than the rest of the cast metal, whereas polished cast aluminium is a bit duller in comparison. Small spots won't be noticeable but larger areas will definitely be, especially as the metal patinas over time.

As for the cold-cast method, like any resin casting, you want a beauty/gel coat of the powder laid first, as it's going to be the surface that can be polished. It's back filled with resin and powder mix to fill any voids inbetween the powder and to help the surface polish better. I don't know how you'd do that using it essentially as a slurry to patch pockmarks. I've tried similar things with CA glue and metal powder as a slip to fill pockmarks but it's always the finish that I have issues with.

 

[SithLordBritt]

Hey folks!
Some of you may have seen the FB post I made of this project, but I want to post here as well because it’s sort of a better way to keep updates together!

So about a year ago I decided I wanted to try and make some metal Mandalorian armor. Bought a printer and started play around with it.

Looking around I wasn’t able to find anyone else that had casted Mandalorian armor and didn’t have anything to go off. But after a year of failures, fires, and other calamities, I was finally able to make it happen.

So here it is. Solid cast aluminum Mandalorian Helmets.

The cast came out well, and now I’m going to play around with finishing it. I’ve got a little bit of porosity on this one, but I’m going to try and fill it, and prime it, then blend it into the polished metal by using Duralumin over it.

Stay tuned for more!

Wow! This looks so cool! Fascinated by aluminum casting and can't wait to see the final product, great job!

 

[alienbuilder]

Very nice! There once was a member here, called "Handschaub" who made a series of aluminum cast Jango Fett buckets.
I had also the chance to made some aluminum cast clone trooper helmets. Polished the Commander Gree partial. Aluminum is not so well to grind, but polishing is pretty good.

 

[METATRON]

Wow! Well done!