Colonial Viper Pilot Helmet

[grimmindustries]

This is a commission I recently completed. It was 3D printed first then reinforced with fiberglass.
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[FlowerPower]

I would love to see the build process on this, as I've been thinking of doing one. Did you use one of the publicly available 3D models or do your own from scratch?

 

[grimmindustries]

I'll try to post some of the build photos. I used an existing model a friend of mine published on Thingiverse and I added details to the Eagle emblem which I published as a remix of his design.

 

[grimmindustries]

The first step was 3d printing the parts on an FDM printer and gluing them together the Eagle emblem was printed with an FDM printer for this photo and taped on but the final printed emblem was fabricated on my SLA printer. I had done some seam filling and coated the helmet with a two part epoxy.



Next I primed the helmet with an automotive spray primer and coated the interior with fiberglass.



After that I started sanding, a lot! I used a lower grit sandpaper, like 80, then did more bondo filling and sanding again, until I was using a 2500 grit sandpaper.



I painted all the pieces separately and then assembled them, added the electronics and padding.

 

[Funky]

What do you charge to do it again?

 

[Ozymandias]

looks like a great project well done

 

[FlowerPower]

Thanks for sharing the the details--and the improved eagle STL.

How did you approach the lighting? I used to thing the originals were those rope type lights you can get off the shelf, but looking more closely now, it looks like it was a transparent plastic strip with small lights in the helmet above and below illuminating it.

 

[grimmindustries]

If you send me a PM or email me at Ron@grimmindustries.net I'll give you a quote.

- - - Updated - - -

I used an off the shelf battery powered led kit. Three AA batteries run through 3/8 inch rubber tubing I bought at Home Depot.

 

[Apollo]

The originals were hotter than hell and the actors hated wearing them, Halogen bulbs were used iirc

How did you approach the lighting? I used to thing the originals were those rope type lights you can get off the shelf, but looking more closely now, it looks like it was a transparent plastic strip with small lights in the helmet above and below illuminating it.

 

[grimmindustries]

I can only imagine how uncomfortable they must have been. I do a lot of theatrical lighting design and it's amazing how LED fixtures have changed not only the effects we can do now but the cost savings on electricity and the heat reduction saves dramatically on A/C costs.