Re: Daft Punk Thomas Bangalter helmet build
Are you planning on molding the bucket with the "ears" removed?
Would that be the reason why you were cleaning up the ear cavities?
Right. The idea is that I'll mold different versions of the ears, as these are the element on Thomas that changes the most from era to era. If I want a "TRON" version, I just have to swap out the ear cups and illumination. The rest of the bucket remain largely unchanged.
the only thing is I have to say is I thought Thomas' chin was a little wider
I think part of that is the chrome highlighting in the "cheeks" making it look wider, but its hard to tell. Its unfortunate, but I think my helmet won't show its "true" shape until its under chrome as well. Thats going to be a while.
Everyone has a way to there result. What ever works fastest for you is what is right.
Amen! Some of this build is new to me, some of it is old hat, but I think I'm streamlining the process a lot since my last one. You're right that apoxie sculpt isn't cheap, but I never really use much of it. I'll get the shape close with bondo, then do the sharp edges and corners in sculpted apoxie.
Ok, lots of pictures time.
Got a coat of primer on the bucket despite the sub-freezing weather. Cold weather spraypainting sucks, but this is just a guide coat so I can see problem areas.
And, speaking of the cheap stuff... MORE BONDO!
Then the sanding. My wife says she likes the "Bondo Holstein" look. I'm pretty happy to see the MDF "spine" showing through the sanding in several areas. That means I'm staying true to my blueprints and the original dimensions of the piece.
Most of the annoying parts are edges like this. These corners on both sides are going to need to be shaped with a bit more material to get the sharp edge above the ear in-line with the upper visor line. That will be another pass.
The mouth of the helmet is going to be this styrene box. The
idea here is that if I make this piece deep enough, then when castings are pulled you
should only have to sand lightly from the back to open the mouth up. Time will tell.
The nose vents were blocked out mostly with masking tape and eyeballing the shape. There's not a lot of detail on these, and shots that do show them are usually heavily distorted due to the angle. I used a lino block carving tool to channel out these patterns. They will stay as indents to be cut and filed out of the castings.
End of last night, and my sanding arm is killing me. The mouth/nose vents look small here because they're filled in with pen. They'll be about 1/8" larger on all sides when cut out.
More to come!
