Ironman helmet question

I have a question. If I made my ironman helmet out of foam is there any way to get it hard, like if I were doing it the paper/resin way?

 

im no expert, but i don't think so.. if your making it hard why not just go the pepakura/resin route?

 

Because it takes forever lol

 

But it also lasts for virtually forever and you're guaranteed to make everything symmetrical.

 

How hard do you need it? I have made three from foam and they turn out very sturdy.

 

Just sturdy enough for someone to touch it and think its a "real" helmet and not say "oh it's made of foam"

 

I just have trouble with the thin cutouts that give the pepakura the depth. They always rip on me and I am using 110lb card stock. Appreciate the help guys... Thank you

 

I made an Ironman suit out of foam and I was told it looked right out of the movies, I had to explain what it was made out of and no one believed me. You know they have the foamies sheet at Michael's and hobby lobby that are sticky back, I wonder if you could print out the pep files of heavy paper and stick it to the foamies and cut it out and fold it so the papers on the inside, i bet that would make it pretty rigid.

 

technically you should be able to resin the outside of your foam to make it hard..
just do a testrun with your resin on your foam (some resins can eat up some foames)
then the helmet would be as hard on the outside as a pepped resinned one.

 

Just use the dilated pva glue methode, it worked well on mine

 

Thanks so much guys!!!! I'm going to try the foam then! Would you happen to know the brand name of the Pvc glue?

 

Hmm I know what you mean and I am building mine from cardstock with the resin approach. I know it will be heavier and will be longer, but I want something that is pretty durable and of course, shiny! And yes, I know I said it takes longer, and it does, but I mean it takes LONGER. lol! I am also building a Trooper suit from ToR and the helmet alone has taken me a week to build from cardstock, and the level of detail on it, I am thinking of skipping the filler part to maintain the detail of the gear, or at least the helmet and just do a resin coat on the outside.

 

in my opinion I like the foam how it is because its comfortable and soft. I'm not sure how to harden it though

 

Great vid on the method in trying now
XRobots - How To plastic coat foam & expanded polystyrene prop and costume pieces - YouTube

 

I'm going down the Card/Resin way. It is taking a while but once its done it'll look great.
Just like Duke said, xrobots is a great place for advice on foam builds

 

You could fiberglass your foam helmet