Jamestan
Active Member
These are the modifications I made to my Kylo Ren Black Series helmet, I was surprised how detailed and close it was in terms of proportions and details to the anovos. I originally just planned on modifying the wavy plastic visor into a mesh visor for better visibility, closing up and filling the seams, and fixing the cheek hole details (V1). After I finished V1 I couldn't help myself, so I kept going and matched the layered look of the front and jaw areas (v2).
Here's the seams closed up, then I sanded the whole helmet and painted it adding the weathering details after. (V1)
I lined the inside with foam and neoprene to make it more comfortable. This also removes the need for a head band type like in safety hats set up inside. The foam and lining makes its plenty comfy.
I re-sanded and repainted the whole helmet. I added some fine sand I ground from a fire brick since it was nice and soft and sprinkled it while the paint was still wet, brushed off the excess, paint, then repeat until the whole helmet was evenly textured. This was repeated about three to four times, then I sanded it back down to match the stony look and feel of the anovos without being too much like sand paper. I then painted it with a few more coats of matte black then a flat clear coat. Weathering was done after the paint had cured.
I embedded neodymium magnets in the front to make the top most front layer removable, just in case I decide to make the larger version of it. All the parts that I added to the helmet actually came from the helmet itself. I used the plastic parts that held the batteries and speakers that was inside the forehead part of the helmet. I cut and sculpted the pieces to fit the various parts they were supposed to go on so that as much of the helmet can still be taken apart for further repairs or modifications, they were then plastic welded in place.
I filled in the holes that the button parts left using the buttons themselves. I cut just the top most parts of the buttons on the band-saw and welded them in place, I then added material to the underside to reinforce it and sanded the outside flush. I didn't want to use bondo to fill the gaps as bondo tends to crack where it meets the abs since abs is inherently more flexible than bondo so I just welded abs using cut offs from the helmet itself to make sure that its the same type of plastic. The same was done to the top where the battery compartment was, weld the top seam, weld the underside, then fill and reinforce. I used the battery cover itself trimming off the underside to make it sit flush inside.
Here's a closer look at the mesh visor, the nose bridge part of the inner most chrome layer was built by welding a plastic piece to close the gap and then shaped using cotton to add volume and melted abs layered on top to reinforce it's shape this was done a few times to get to the right shape. I then sanded it down and shaped it some more. I then carefully coated it in aluminum tape to try and match the chromed plastic, and weathered. I might re-do this part again as the seams on the tape aren't as nice as I want them to be, but that's easy enough to do later on.
Here you can see the cheek holes, removing the little plugs from the cheek holes and correcting the shapes of some holes and adding holes that weren't there at all was done with a dremel. There were still visible holes where the chrome part and the nose part met so I also plastic welded small pieces on to cover the holes up. The rest were covered by either the foam lining or the black plastic under piece.
The texture and paint on the black lines on the forehead was also painted to match the anovos, with the speaker holes filled up with epoxy. I just mixed in the same fine brick dust I used for the rest of the helmet with the same matte black paint.
The upper jaw part with the four lines were made from parts from the helmet itself after the original piece was cut out. This piece actually extends a few inches further back towards the rear to match the way it looks on the anovos. Simply attaching it to the sides gave the wrong silhouette to the helmet so it attaches further up on the neck.
After cutting out the top most front layer layer barely any of the rectangular details were left so I had to weld plastic pieces to extend it further down and then the rectangular holes were shaped and sculpted with more abs and welding. Welding extra plastic to this layer made the bottom chin parts thicker and more rigid and gave enough room for me to embed magnets into the front.
Here's the layers from a top down perspective, and that's it.
Here's the seams closed up, then I sanded the whole helmet and painted it adding the weathering details after. (V1)
I lined the inside with foam and neoprene to make it more comfortable. This also removes the need for a head band type like in safety hats set up inside. The foam and lining makes its plenty comfy.
I re-sanded and repainted the whole helmet. I added some fine sand I ground from a fire brick since it was nice and soft and sprinkled it while the paint was still wet, brushed off the excess, paint, then repeat until the whole helmet was evenly textured. This was repeated about three to four times, then I sanded it back down to match the stony look and feel of the anovos without being too much like sand paper. I then painted it with a few more coats of matte black then a flat clear coat. Weathering was done after the paint had cured.
I embedded neodymium magnets in the front to make the top most front layer removable, just in case I decide to make the larger version of it. All the parts that I added to the helmet actually came from the helmet itself. I used the plastic parts that held the batteries and speakers that was inside the forehead part of the helmet. I cut and sculpted the pieces to fit the various parts they were supposed to go on so that as much of the helmet can still be taken apart for further repairs or modifications, they were then plastic welded in place.
I filled in the holes that the button parts left using the buttons themselves. I cut just the top most parts of the buttons on the band-saw and welded them in place, I then added material to the underside to reinforce it and sanded the outside flush. I didn't want to use bondo to fill the gaps as bondo tends to crack where it meets the abs since abs is inherently more flexible than bondo so I just welded abs using cut offs from the helmet itself to make sure that its the same type of plastic. The same was done to the top where the battery compartment was, weld the top seam, weld the underside, then fill and reinforce. I used the battery cover itself trimming off the underside to make it sit flush inside.
Here's a closer look at the mesh visor, the nose bridge part of the inner most chrome layer was built by welding a plastic piece to close the gap and then shaped using cotton to add volume and melted abs layered on top to reinforce it's shape this was done a few times to get to the right shape. I then sanded it down and shaped it some more. I then carefully coated it in aluminum tape to try and match the chromed plastic, and weathered. I might re-do this part again as the seams on the tape aren't as nice as I want them to be, but that's easy enough to do later on.
Here you can see the cheek holes, removing the little plugs from the cheek holes and correcting the shapes of some holes and adding holes that weren't there at all was done with a dremel. There were still visible holes where the chrome part and the nose part met so I also plastic welded small pieces on to cover the holes up. The rest were covered by either the foam lining or the black plastic under piece.
The texture and paint on the black lines on the forehead was also painted to match the anovos, with the speaker holes filled up with epoxy. I just mixed in the same fine brick dust I used for the rest of the helmet with the same matte black paint.
The upper jaw part with the four lines were made from parts from the helmet itself after the original piece was cut out. This piece actually extends a few inches further back towards the rear to match the way it looks on the anovos. Simply attaching it to the sides gave the wrong silhouette to the helmet so it attaches further up on the neck.
After cutting out the top most front layer layer barely any of the rectangular details were left so I had to weld plastic pieces to extend it further down and then the rectangular holes were shaped and sculpted with more abs and welding. Welding extra plastic to this layer made the bottom chin parts thicker and more rigid and gave enough room for me to embed magnets into the front.
Here's the layers from a top down perspective, and that's it.
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