Daft Punk Guy-Manuel Helmet Build

[Thermistor]

Thanks!
To those who were inquiring as to the status of this project, it is still moving. I was in preproduction for a film I directed, which I shot last weekend. Now I have some time, and can't wait to finish!
-N

 

[Thermistor]

Greetings!
My film for my MFA is in editing, so back to focusing on the helmet. It doesn't look like much progress but the whole shape has been further refined. Also, there is a reason why you didn't see the back until now. All that's left is to fill a few holes, to make the cones for the ear piece, and final assembly. Very close to molding now, it'll probably be ready by Labor Day. Can't wait to mold it, I've had all this rebound and been dying to use it.

 

[GoldCylon1]

Will you be offering these later on.

 

[Thermistor]

Will you be offering these later on.

Affirmative, assuming casting is successful.

 

[Thermistor]

More progress last night, but I didn't have time to take photos. Just picture what the last photo looked like, but a little better.


The hardest part has been getting the edges of those grooves right. They keep chipping, so I've switched from patching them with bondo to patching them with apoxy, which is stronger.

I'm filling in holes and hopefully still on schedule to cast some time this weekend. Of course, I still need to make the cones for the ear piece but I'm hoping that won't take long. Looks like my Halloween timeline is on track.

 

[Thermistor]

So close...
More detail work is done. All that remains:
- attach D-shaped ear pieces (and fill a cavity there where I thought I would use a different process to attach them)
- finish detail work
- make cone-shaped parts for ears

Also, it's gray now.

 

[rosskow]

very accurate and clean cut work

 

[Thermistor]

Doesn't look like anything's changed, but this represents a week's worth of work re-contouring the sides so they will accept the ear pieces. Putting a flat piece on a curve is really challenging.

So all that remains is to make the ear cones and to do some clean up. So close I can taste it. Also, I tested the silicone which I've had for months, and it looks like it still works just fine.

 

[Thermistor]

So I made an amazing discovery this week that I wanted to share. This is a painting by Syd Mead of Blade Runner and Tron fame, and I'm trying to confirm the date but one source said it was painted in 1969.

Recognize this gent?

 

[rosskow]

After buying an acre of PETG for the dome today, I started building up the fencing to apply the bondo:

I also spent some time on Sketchup and am going to prototype this through a connection at a Hackerspace I joined:

i could guess at what/how you did this but just wondering if you could give me a quick explanation as it looks to have worked really well and was hoping to use the method myself. and pointers would be very well appreciated, thank you in advance.

 

[FIREWIRE]

looking awesome...

first in line as i recall? lol

 

[Thermistor]

You exist outside the line, really...

looking awesome...

first in line as i recall? lol

 

[Thermistor]

i could guess at what/how you did this but just wondering if you could give me a quick explanation as it looks to have worked really well and was hoping to use the method myself. and pointers would be very well appreciated, thank you in advance.

I'm guessing you mean this particular step, correct?
This one was tricky to work out, but I found a process that I'd probably use again. The most important discovery I made is that apoxie doesn't really stick to PETG, so if you want to use it as a guide you can just peel it off later.

So first, I got some thin PETG sheets (thinner than the PETG for the dome) and cut them to the contours of the helmet. The PETG traced the edges, basically. Using a contour gauge was very helpful in this step, but it also took some trial and error.

Next, I adheared the "fencing" using apoxie, making sure that it was actually higher than the end result would be.

Once the apoxie cured (24 hours), I removed the plastic fencing. I then filled the middle in with bondo.

After that, it was a matter of sanding everything down with the oscillating sander.

Questions? Post or DM me and I'll be happy to help.

 

[semajarab]

Questions? Post or DM me and I'll be happy to help.

Question here... Now that you have built up the area around the main front lense, how do you plan on casting the front shield , or will you remove it after doing the main cast and do a mold of just the visor?

If you are selling them when you are done btw, count me in! :thumbsup

 

[Thermistor]

I thought about this a lot, actually, and decided to make the model of the whole helmet first. Then, I'll make a buck from the mold and use it to vacuform the dome.

The other option was to make a casting of the dome only before I built up the areas around it and defined it. From that casting I'd have an "inside" buck. Instead I decided that I could easily 1) trim the visor precisely to fit around the rails, or 2) sand the buck down prior to vacuforming, removing the raised rails.

It really came down to whether I wanted to form the visor smaller than the helmet and mount it from the inside, or make it 1/16th" larger than the helmet and mount it on the outside. I chose the latter because it would be only one casting, saving me a week's work.

Make sense? That may have been hard to follow.

Question here... Now that you have built up the area around the main front lense, how do you plan on casting the front shield , or will you remove it after doing the main cast and do a mold of just the visor?

If you are selling them when you are done btw, count me in! :thumbsup

 

[semajarab]

I thought about this a lot, actually, and decided to make the model of the whole helmet first. Then, I'll make a buck from the mold and use it to vacuform the dome.

The other option was to make a casting of the dome only before I built up the areas around it and defined it. From that casting I'd have an "inside" buck. Instead I decided that I could easily 1) trim the visor precisely to fit around the rails, or 2) sand the buck down prior to vacuforming, removing the raised rails.

It really came down to whether I wanted to form the visor smaller than the helmet and mount it from the inside, or make it 1/16th" larger than the helmet and mount it on the outside. I chose the latter because it would be only one casting, saving me a week's work.

Make sense? That may have been hard to follow.

Yep! Thanks!

Also, are you planning on selling them once completed? I love it!

 

[Thermistor]

Quite nearly ready to cast, with one obvious thing left to do. Please pardon the white balance issues, I need to do better photos in the daylight.

I just started on the ear cones when I ran out of primer...

 

[rosskow]

eagerly awaiting the mold/casting process so i can pick up some tips. have you molded/casted before or learning as you go along?

 

[Werstrooper]

So I made an amazing discovery this week that I wanted to share. This is a painting by Syd Mead of Blade Runner and Tron fame, and I'm trying to confirm the date but one source said it was painted in 1969.

Recognize this gent?

now that is an interesting find

 

[Dei]

Would this particular helmet be able to fit Tekparasite's LED setup? Was wondering how much space there would be left inside the helmet once the electronics have been installed.