Charlie's Bio Helmet

[charlie1]

Well, this is getting frustrating. I got a lovely KJP1 from Biohunter76. I prepped and prepared it for painting. Over the course of the last week, it's been a nightmare. I primed the helmet, and put on a coat of hammered metallic brown. I let it dry for 12 hours. When I went to pick it up, the painted peeled off. Literally. I thought it might be because of the temperature of the initial painting. I stripped the helmet down, reprimed, and repainted. I let it dry for 24 hours, and then began weathering. I spent 2 days off and on sponging and drybrushing on weathering; I thought it came out very well. I let it dry. The weathering was done with acrylics, so I was concerned should they get wet, the paint would come off. I went to clearcoat it. The clearcoat crinkled horribly, all over the helmet. I tried to sand down the clearcoat, then reweathered where I had to sand too much. I made sure the helmet was clean, no hand oils, etc. I reclearcoated. It crinkled worse, and the hammered paint started peeling again.

I've used the brands of paint before, and the clearcoat; I've had some problems before but not with this type of reaction. I think its the clearcoat reacting with the hammered paint (I haven't used that before). I've stripped the helmet again, resanded, reprimed, and this time I've put on a coat of a metallic paint I HAVE used before. I've lost the hammered metal effect, but I think it will work better.

Here's a picture of the the sanded, prepared helmet:

and here's the first paintup:

I didn't take any pictures of the crinkled clearcoat. Hopefully soon I'll have some pictures of a paintjob that actually stays.

Charlie

 

[Belfast Neil]

Loking good, shame you had so much bother, it's wild frustrating trying things for the first time and they bite you!

 

[charlie1]

Well, I put a clearcoat over the metallic. I've used this technique before during weathering of "metal" helmets. I've found it's a good idea to clearcoat if you think that you might have to any later sanding (using masking fluid to achieve a weathered look almost guarantees it), so I went ahead and did it now. First, I've confirmed the clearcoat does NOT react with this type of paint. And now, if it becomes necessary to do any light sanding after weathering, the base coat should be protected. Better pictures, since I was able to take them outside.

I'm going to give it able time to dry before I start the weathering, so that probably won't happen til tomorrow.

Charlie

 

[wolverinepred]

Well, I put a clearcoat over the metallic. I've used this technique before during weathering of "metal" helmets. I've found it's a good idea to clearcoat if you think that you might have to any later sanding (using masking fluid to achieve a weathered look almost guarantees it), so I went ahead and did it now. First, I've confirmed the clearcoat does NOT react with this type of paint. And now, if it becomes necessary to do any light sanding after weathering, the base coat should be protected. Better pictures, since I was able to take them outside.

I'm going to give it able time to dry before I start the weathering, so that probably won't happen til tomorrow.

Charlie

wow that is very shiny me like it! are you going to weather it now? i assume you are going to paint on this like it was an undercoat? let us see more pics when your done!

 

[Darian Ordo]

Looks good man. I am still trying to decide what to do for a Bio so no progress yet.

 

[charlie1]

Lol. I weathered it. Let it dry, clearcoated, took a good long look at it and decided I didn't like it. So.....total repaint again. My own fault this time though. In keeping with the character's design "idea" and the inspiration for my whole build (Big Mama from AVP: Deadliest of the Species) the helmet has been repainted into a very cool metallic black. I've installed the mesh, and I'm heating the lens now to form them into place. I should have some pics up later tonight.

Charlie

 

[Guan Thwei]

Hey Charlie,

I hate to sound like a geek gone stupid, but what is that symbol from?

 

[charlie1]

Hey Charlie,

I hate to sound like a geek gone stupid, but what is that symbol from?

No worries Guan. It's a custom symbol I use on a lot of my work. It's based (loosely) on Sith symbols (from Star Wars). Everyone seems to think it's the Mitsubishi symbol as well. So far as I know, it's not associated with anything in particular. I have it ion my custom Mandalorian's helmet, so I thought I would put it on the Predator bio as well.

Charlie

 

[charlie1]

Ok, well here is what version #2 looked like.

It was nice. But it just didn't....click. I don't know why, but sometimes I paint something and it's nice, but it just doesn't seem right. Same case here. So...back to the drawing board. As previously mentioned, I went back to the original inspiration and the character design ideas.

So, I've used a nice rusteloum paint called black night metallic. It's got silver sparkles in the black paint, a nice gloss finish. I like it. So, I painted the whole helmet like that.

It came out very well. Not nearly as dirty, much more clean, but I think it will look better with the overall design.

I made a rough paper template of the eyes, and then began fitting out the mesh in place. I used metal snips, and trimmed it, then made slant cuts to allow it to bend. I used the great old standby hot glue to hold it in place and make sure there were no sharp edges.

I ordered some acrylic plexiglass earlier. There is a cool company I order from online, many colours and thickness of transparent plastic. I used 1/16th thick red transparent plastic. I used the template I made, cut out eyes and put them in the oven. 275-300 for about 4 mins and the plastic was super flexible. Wearing work gloves (safety first) I put the plastic in place and conformed it the mesh screen. Took a bit of work (and the hot plastic did loosen the hot glue some, but not too bad). I did have to go back and dremel the edges of the plastic to conform; my template was slightly too large. A few more bits of hot glue, and the lens are quite secure.

Poor quality picture, but its inside. Tomorrow I should be able to get some decent outside pictures. Also, my magnets should be arriving, so I will begin the installation of the hoses. Hoses are semi-prepared right now, but once I get to work in earnest I'll explain more how I made them.

Charlie

 

[Uratz]

Seem like each pic gets better and better.

 

[oneuglymf]

Wonderful job. Looks fantastic!

 

[NorCal Predator]

I like the shiny look on the Bio.

Nice/GREAT job

 

[knuckledragger]

Like the color.... Screen on the eyeholes looks mean!

 

[Guan Thwei]

No worries Guan. It's a custom symbol I use on a lot of my work. It's based (loosely) on Sith symbols (from Star Wars). Everyone seems to think it's the Mitsubishi symbol as well. So far as I know, it's not associated with anything in particular. I have it ion my custom Mandalorian's helmet, so I thought I would put it on the Predator bio as well.

Charlie

Very nice man I kind of figured it was Star Wars, but it was unfamiliar to me thanks for the info.

 

[charlie1]

Well my magnets arrived and the helmet hoses are done! I can't post pics up right now, but I'll do that later today.

I used rare earth magnets and....RG-6 cable! For those of unfamiliar, RG-6 is that standard cable that is used in homes for cable TV. It got used mainly because I had some spare lying around, and figured I would try it and see. RG-6 is made of up of several layers: a dense plasic outer layer, a metal shielding layer, a foam core and finally a copper wire. To start, I cut the cable into managable sections (longest was around 2 ft). I then heated the cable in boiling water for a few minutes. This is necessary because the metal shielding is normally "imbedded" into the outer plastic layer. The heat allows the plastic to stretch out. Once it had been heated, I removed the metal shielding, foam core, and copper as one piece. This left me with a sturdy plastic hose, very flexible, approximately 1/4" in diameter. (Inner diameter was about 1/32 smaller, outer 1/32 larger, roughly). It's VERY important, if you want to duplicate this method, to make sure the metal shielding and wire is removed, otherwise you'll have a rough time continuing if there are any obstructions in the hose.

The problem with this is the plastic hose was TOO flexible and would crimp very easily. To solve this, I took the inner layers I had, removed the metal shielding. This left me with a foam core and a copper wire. Back into the boiling water, heated, and then using some pliers, I removed the copper wire. The black outer plastic sheathing was heated again, and then JUST the foam core reinserted. This left me with a black plastic hose that would flex and sway easily, but not crimp. To remove the markings printed on the cable, I used 400 grit sandpaper and wet sanded the whole hose. It removed the markings, and left the cable with a light gray tone. It also brought out some highlights of where the cable had been stretched during the heating, but the overall effect is rather good. They don't look damaged, but they definitely don't look like regular cables either.

Next I drilled 4 holes in the helmet using a 1/4" drill bit. Three on the left side "beetle" (not sure of the technical name) and one at the "gear" on the lower left. I did ok with the upper three and made the holes shallow but I was a bit over zealous with bottom hole and went right through the helmet. (Not to worry, I used a 1/4" dowel rod to block off the inner side). I used 1/4" diameter, 1/8" thick rare earth magnets and superglued them into the holes I made. This completed the mods to the actual helmet. Back to the hoses...

As a note, alignment of the magnets is VERY important. Sounds silly, but I've messed it up before. always make sure the polarity of the magnets is correct so they attract. Easy enough to do, just stick the magnets together. Initially I put one magnet in the end of the hose with a small bit of superglue. (Tight fit, but all the better for stability). However, in testing, I found out that while the two magnets would attract, they could easily be pulled about by the motion of the hose. They didn't seperate completely from one another (the hose remained attached at an edge and didn't fall off) but you could see the magnets. I need to make sure the magnets kept face to face contact. My solution? Add more magnets! Increases the strength of the magnetic fields. Obviously, I couldn't do this with the magnets in the helmet, but it was easily accomplished with the hoses. To test, I heated the end of a hose and slid 4 magnets in together (I didn't use superglue because I was worried the first or second magnet would adhere and not let me put any more in). I made sure to leave a slight overlap between the end of the hose and the last magnet. Then I put the magnet end of the hose in cold water to constrict the plastic back. There was a slight amount of shrinkage, but not so much as the uncover a magnet. I took a razor blade and trimmed the plastic sheathing flush with the magnet. I did my test again; the hose held up very well to the magnets on the helmet. It doesn't take much force to seperate them (especially if you pull to the side) but movement of the helmet isn't enough to cause them to seperate. Since I knew my method worked now, I went and completed the other three hoses. I don't think the magnets will be easily removed from the hoses, but just to make sure I'm going to get some constricting heat shrink and put that on the end of the tube covering the magnets. That should be enough to ensure the last magnet can't slide out.

Oh, and one small experiment I did: since I have red lens, I tested how they would look with red LEDs mounted inside the helmet to light the lens up. I tried a couple different mounting ways, but I couldn't get a really decent effect. I did find great ways to end up shining the LEDs in my own eyes. I think that if I had used a thicker lens material (say 1/8" instead of 1/16") I could have drilled some pilot holes in the top and "shined" the LED light throughout the lens, although I also think I would have to find some way to reflect the light back up through the lens. In the end, I decided to just keep it as is for now. I'll do some more testing with the LEDs and some spare lens I have, but I don't want to rip out the lens I have in place. If I can get it to work, it might be something to incorporate into a later bio.

Now I'm waiting on laser to arrived, and then I'll start work aligning them and adding the remote control circuits. I also have to install a metal bar inside the dome of the bio (so the magnets in the mask will have something to attract to) and add a very thin layer of felt/foam padding to make sure the mask is protected when the bio is worn. After that, the bio should be pretty much done! I'll make sure to get some hose pictures posted tomorrow.

Charlie

 

[charlie1]

Ok here are the pictures:

Helmet outside with decent lighting

Magnets in the process of being mounted:

Hoses mounted

and the magnets in the house

Charlie

 

[crawjaw]

Hard work and perseverence has paid off in spades. Great looking Bio.

 

[biohunter76]

You did a fantastic job on that bud. When I shipped it I sent you a PM about washing it with dish soap and warm water to remove any left over mold release. If you didn't do this step than that could be why the paint pealed. I'm glad you sorted it out though. Your Lasers are on the way.

 

[charlie1]

You did a fantastic job on that bud. When I shipped it I sent you a PM about washing it with dish soap and warm water to remove any left over mold release. If you didn't do this step than that could be why the paint pealed. I'm glad you sorted it out though. Your Lasers are on the way.

Yes, I cleaned it prior to the first prime coat. In retrospect, it had to be SOMETHING to do with the way the paint reacted with the primer. Temperature might have been a factor in it. All's well that ends well though; I like this new scheme and I think it looks very intimidating. Yay for the lasers! I look forward to installing them in and getting this bad boy done! Then it will be off to skins...

Charlie

 

[Akisha]

I really do like the darker scheme you have going for your bio, its a change around from the common silver color, I love it