Hi all,
First of all, I realize that this helmet/costume has been done many times before here over the years, so if it's inappropriate or repetitive please just let me know and I won't post anything more on this thread.
Picture of the helmet from the game:
Since I don't have a 3D printer I decided to do the pepakura and body filler method to create the big shapes of the helmet and use styrene sheet and other bits and bobs to build up the smaller details that are difficult to achieve with cardstock, such as the eye frames and circular mouth piece.
I started a few months ago, designing the model to make templates from. Now, I have no experience making 3D models so I used files made by Hugh from the 405th as a base (I found them to the most accurate the the in-game model compared to the other existing files). Then came many hours of clumsily modifying the model in Blender, printing off and building the pep model, going back into Blender to make changes and repeating the process until I was happy with it.
I have a big pile of card models of prototype pieces now!
The mask and neck piece are basically entirely different models to the originals now, save for a couple of shared faces. I simplified and cleaned up the side module from Hugh's one and the helmet part itself remains mostly unchanged.
I put together a mock-up using various test parts and taped on paper bits to visualize what the full helmet will look like:
Currently I have most of the final peps coated with epoxy resin and ready to have body filler applied. Once I've finished shaping/sanding I plan to make molds of the pieces and slush cast them in urethane resin for the final finished version. I haven't decided precisely what kind yet.
To solve a problem that's common in other NCR ranger helmets that I've seen of the helmet slipping around and down over the eyes I made the neck piece have "arms" that reach up to holes in the helmet part where rivets would be in the real one. The neck piece will then be attached to the helmet with machine screws of some kind. Not the most elegant solution but it works in the mock-up at least.
However, I need to know the wall thickness of the helmet when it's cast to be able to position the arms far enough away to meet up with the hole on the inside.
Does anyone know if there's a typical wall thickness to aim for with slush cast/rotocast helmets? I know It's not going to be super uniform due to the nature of it. I found people saying anything from 2-3mm all the up to 7-10mm, which seems extremely thick to me. Is 3-4mm about right? Sorry if it's an obvious question I don't have any experience with casting (or making props in general to be honest - this is my first one).
First of all, I realize that this helmet/costume has been done many times before here over the years, so if it's inappropriate or repetitive please just let me know and I won't post anything more on this thread.
Picture of the helmet from the game:
Since I don't have a 3D printer I decided to do the pepakura and body filler method to create the big shapes of the helmet and use styrene sheet and other bits and bobs to build up the smaller details that are difficult to achieve with cardstock, such as the eye frames and circular mouth piece.
I started a few months ago, designing the model to make templates from. Now, I have no experience making 3D models so I used files made by Hugh from the 405th as a base (I found them to the most accurate the the in-game model compared to the other existing files). Then came many hours of clumsily modifying the model in Blender, printing off and building the pep model, going back into Blender to make changes and repeating the process until I was happy with it.
I have a big pile of card models of prototype pieces now!
The mask and neck piece are basically entirely different models to the originals now, save for a couple of shared faces. I simplified and cleaned up the side module from Hugh's one and the helmet part itself remains mostly unchanged.
I put together a mock-up using various test parts and taped on paper bits to visualize what the full helmet will look like:
Currently I have most of the final peps coated with epoxy resin and ready to have body filler applied. Once I've finished shaping/sanding I plan to make molds of the pieces and slush cast them in urethane resin for the final finished version. I haven't decided precisely what kind yet.
To solve a problem that's common in other NCR ranger helmets that I've seen of the helmet slipping around and down over the eyes I made the neck piece have "arms" that reach up to holes in the helmet part where rivets would be in the real one. The neck piece will then be attached to the helmet with machine screws of some kind. Not the most elegant solution but it works in the mock-up at least.
However, I need to know the wall thickness of the helmet when it's cast to be able to position the arms far enough away to meet up with the hole on the inside.
Does anyone know if there's a typical wall thickness to aim for with slush cast/rotocast helmets? I know It's not going to be super uniform due to the nature of it. I found people saying anything from 2-3mm all the up to 7-10mm, which seems extremely thick to me. Is 3-4mm about right? Sorry if it's an obvious question I don't have any experience with casting (or making props in general to be honest - this is my first one).
