Max Replica
Well-Known Member
I decided to make a replica of the helmet Bruce Spence wore as the pilot Jedediah in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.
View attachment 44855View attachment 44856View attachment 44857View attachment 44858
Based on screenshots from the beginning of the movie, it looks like Jedediah is wearing a Wolesley style pith helmet, with a longer back.
I found a vintage pith helmet that was pretty close, but it just had the hat band as one strip of cloth around the edge (correct for Jedediah Jr., but not for Jedediah) so I cannibalized another pith helmet for a more accurate "pleated" style hat band (not sure of the proper terms).
I also added a couple of grommet vents on each side similar to the movie.
The key feature of Jedediah's helmet is the solar fan. I don't know if the production had found a helmet that included this already or if they added it, but I would have to add mine (you can buy some pith helmets with solar fans, but I didn't find any even close to what I wanted).
Luckily, my friend found this for me:
View attachment 44863
It's an old solar baseball hat with fan that he found at a garage sale. And it still worked great.
Cutting a hole in the hat brim that would fit the fan was a little tricky as the pith material inside is hard to cut evenly. I eventually took some linen cloth and glued it down (with Barge brand special cement) around the edges. It looks a bit homemade but that works with the wasteland style as far as I'm concerned.
View attachment 44859
I ran the wires inside the hat to the solar panel screwed onto the top.
View attachment 44860View attachment 44865
I also had some nice soft leather stitched inside the hat (the original had a vinyl lining).
This helmet is not 100% screen accurate, but I don't think anyone has done one before, so for my money, it's the best one out there!
The inaccuracies are that the fan is not exactly the same as the one in the movie, and the solar panel is off to the back a little bit instead of directly on top (I did this part on purpose though because I wanted to keep the little vent on top of the helmet and not cover/remove it because of the solar panel.)
The fan works great and turns on as soon as the panel is in direct sunlight. But I noticed that the fan in the movie never actually turns. My guess is that they disconnected it because of the whirring noise it makes - or they just were lazy.
Here's a couple of pictures of the helmet as modeled by my friend Peter at Wasteland Weekend 2010.
View attachment 44861View attachment 44862
Incidentally, this helmet is now for sale in the rpf junkyard.
View attachment 44855View attachment 44856View attachment 44857View attachment 44858
Based on screenshots from the beginning of the movie, it looks like Jedediah is wearing a Wolesley style pith helmet, with a longer back.
I found a vintage pith helmet that was pretty close, but it just had the hat band as one strip of cloth around the edge (correct for Jedediah Jr., but not for Jedediah) so I cannibalized another pith helmet for a more accurate "pleated" style hat band (not sure of the proper terms).
I also added a couple of grommet vents on each side similar to the movie.
The key feature of Jedediah's helmet is the solar fan. I don't know if the production had found a helmet that included this already or if they added it, but I would have to add mine (you can buy some pith helmets with solar fans, but I didn't find any even close to what I wanted).
Luckily, my friend found this for me:
View attachment 44863
It's an old solar baseball hat with fan that he found at a garage sale. And it still worked great.
Cutting a hole in the hat brim that would fit the fan was a little tricky as the pith material inside is hard to cut evenly. I eventually took some linen cloth and glued it down (with Barge brand special cement) around the edges. It looks a bit homemade but that works with the wasteland style as far as I'm concerned.
View attachment 44859
I ran the wires inside the hat to the solar panel screwed onto the top.
View attachment 44860View attachment 44865
I also had some nice soft leather stitched inside the hat (the original had a vinyl lining).
This helmet is not 100% screen accurate, but I don't think anyone has done one before, so for my money, it's the best one out there!
The inaccuracies are that the fan is not exactly the same as the one in the movie, and the solar panel is off to the back a little bit instead of directly on top (I did this part on purpose though because I wanted to keep the little vent on top of the helmet and not cover/remove it because of the solar panel.)
The fan works great and turns on as soon as the panel is in direct sunlight. But I noticed that the fan in the movie never actually turns. My guess is that they disconnected it because of the whirring noise it makes - or they just were lazy.
Here's a couple of pictures of the helmet as modeled by my friend Peter at Wasteland Weekend 2010.
View attachment 44861View attachment 44862
Incidentally, this helmet is now for sale in the rpf junkyard.
