My Zer0 (Borderlands 2 Build)

[Krim]

Hi, as this is my first thread I would like to start off saying that this is also my first project. Thankfully though I have had significant amounts of help from Darkmantis (whom I am personal friends with.)


I first started with a pepakura ... if you can call it a decent looking one. Looking back I really did a bad job on lining it up.


Borderlands Zero Helmet 001 by Detravoid, on Flickr



Borderlands Zero Helmet 002 by Detravoid, on Flickr



Borderlands Zero Helmet 004 by Detravoid, on Flickr


Borderlands Zero Helmet 005 by Detravoid, on Flickr


Then I coat the helmet with fiberglass resin to strengthen the paper.
You may not be able to see it but the helmet warped a bit, but next we then had coat the inside of the helmet with a urethane resin to strengthen the helmet. Now I do see people messing with fiberglass on the inside of the helmet but I really REALLY didn't feel like touching fiberglass anymore after working the letters from my old job at a movie theater.


Borderlands Zero Helmet 017 by Detravoid, on Flickr


Borderlands Zero Helmet 018 by Detravoid, on Flickr


Borderlands Zero Helmet 020 by Detravoid, on Flickr


Borderlands Zero Helmet 021 by Detravoid, on Flickr


Borderlands Zero Helmet 023 by Detravoid, on Flickr

Next applied auto body filler to the helmet visor to smooth out the edges.


Borderlands Zero Helmet 026 by Detravoid, on Flickr


Borderlands Zero Helmet 033 by Detravoid, on Flickr


Borderlands Zero Helmet 058 by Detravoid, on Flickr
Borderlands Zero Helmet 050 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!


Borderlands Zero Helmet 048 by Detravoid, on Flickr


Borderlands Zero Helmet 040 by Detravoid, on Flickr

Okay so at this point I'd like to say I got paranoid and tried making it perfect and even in the beginning. Which is stupid now that I am almost done and looking back, I literally had to build up and sand down the same surfaces 5 times after the visor was finished.


Borderlands Zero Helmet 065 by Detravoid, on Flickr


Borderlands Zero Helmet 064 by Detravoid, on Flickr

I essentially finished the front and got started on the significantly more complicated back end of the helmet.


Borderlands Zero Helmet 081 by Detravoid, on Flickr



Borderlands Zero Helmet 085 by Detravoid, on Flickr


Borderlands Zero Helmet 086 by Detravoid, on Flickr


Borderlands Zero Helmet 088 by Detravoid, on Flickr


Borderlands Zero Helmet 091 by Detravoid, on Flickr


Borderlands Zero Helmet 090 by Detravoid, on Flickr

The craters in the helmet were a result of my uneven coating as I was still getting acquainted with the filler.



I stopped taking pictures since I found myself sanding everything down, THEN rebuilding, then sanding it all away THEN rebuilding again and It was because I got into this stupid trance where if I work hard it'll all work out instead of being smart about it. So lesson learned, work on one area at a time, if you try getting the details of every area at the same time you'll go nuts and screw up.

Long story short and a couple of life lessons in prop making, I reached this point last night!


Borderlands Zero Helmet 111 by Detravoid, on Flickr


Borderlands Zero Helmet 110 by Detravoid, on Flickr


Borderlands Zero Helmet 109 by Detravoid, on Flickr


Borderlands Zero Helmet 108 by Detravoid, on Flickr


Borderlands Zero Helmet 107 by Detravoid, on Flickr


Borderlands Zero Helmet 106 by Detravoid, on Flickr


Borderlands Zero Helmet 105 by Detravoid, on Flickr


Borderlands Zero Helmet 112 by Detravoid, on Flickr


Any questions or advice would be gladly appreciated

 

[Uridium]

Thats looking awesome.

And thanks for posting so many pictures, its really helpfull to see the full process for people like me who are very new to doing these (or any) type of builds.

 

[Krim]

I had more pictures but Honestly it was just me going mad from the dust X.X

 

[Jonny]

It's looking great! Where do you plan on cutting out a panel?
Did you try it on before closing (finishing) the Pep?

 

[Krim]

Yeah I did put the helmet on before making it. In fact the first time I built the pepakura it was a bit small so I had to scale it up 10%. It fits but I will have to cut the flaps on the bottom of the helmet whenever I cast the helmet. I left them there for support to make the mold. Now with the visor, I tried my best to separate the visor from the helmet but it honestly gave me so many grey hairs that I just made it one flat surface. I will be using my reference art to draw where the visor will be cut out.

 

[The Schlitzie]

That's turning out really well, especially for your first project!

 

[TymanRoach]

Leaves falling from the trees/ Snow drifting onto the ground/ Life leaving your corpse. :thumbsup

 

[Dainbramage546]

Nice work, that helmet looks sick!

 

[Paul Alfred]

This is looking really great! You're doing a great job, and I can't wait to see it finished! I hope my attempt at this helmet turns out as well as yours seems to be!

 

[Assasin]

Looks really good so far dude, any more updates? would love a Zero costume

 

[Krim]

Sorry for no updates, actually I have had this thing finished since June. I have just been busy since I now do props as a full time job and have been doing small side projects here and there (Currently Working on a N7 helmet). I will post the rest of the photos shortly. Just have to go back a couple months and organize them! On a related note, I worked on a Borderlands 2 Machinama called Jack's Exodus and made the sword, costume, and finished out a helmet! Unfortunately due to legal issues the machinama hasn't been released :/

 

[clancampbell]

Really looking forward to seeing more of this! Fantastic work so far!

Rich

 

[SuperFLY]

I would love to do a zer0 costume, looking forward to seeing the progress

 

[The Schlitzie]

Pics! hehe

 

[Uridium]

Looks great so far.....

 

[Krim]

Finally got the pictures together!

I skipped a couple of photos, but essentially I used brown rustoleum primer. Did a quick wet sand with 600 then 1000 grit sand paper.
There were a few small holes in the helmet so I used wall spackle to fill them in and used 800 grit sand paper to even it out.

















After all the sanding we end up with this.






















Finally we do a last coat of primer using a contrasting color to make sure we get a nice coat over it all.


























Now we start the molding process. I wanted to do a mold without a seam but that just didn't seem feasible or at least it would
tear the mold apart after a couple of casts... if I could even pull it off. The issue here was that the bottom was much smaller than the widest part of the helmet. So a two part mold would have been a good option... but instead we (my partner and I) made a 3 part mold. It was a bad decision but at the time it seemed like a two part would be a bad option.

 

[Krim]

We end up with this monster.



The helmet is cast in Smooth On Onyx Fast and it came out surprisingly well. The seams aren't too bad to sand, however some rebound crept into an area it shouldn't have and so we have a slight build up on the top of the helmet, nothing 5 minutes of heavy (but careful) sanding won't fix.


















Now when doing the visor for the helmet, we simply cast the front half of the helmet and reinforced it so it can withstand vaccuforming. I simply use a sheet of P.E.T. in our ghetto oven rack and vaccuform it over our... other ghetto vaccuformer, It looks pretty good despite the lack of suction.




Finally this is how it looks when finished, our friend (who happens is also our 3D printer technician) had a Zer0 costume uses one of our casts. I would use one of our photos, but I think his showcases the helmet more since he has a finished costume.





If you have any questions about how I did it, feel free to ask. Even if it seems dumb, I would be more than happy to answer your question!

 

[The Schlitzie]

That turned out awesome!

 

[Beer_Money_Props]

Nicely done!

Care to show those of us who may or may not be contemplating our own ghetto-vacformer setup what you used?
Not that I need it...I'm uhhhh....asking for a friend.... :ninja

 

[Krim]

Haha, well It was my friend's but there are a lot of cheap vaccuform builds that use your kitchen over to heat the plastic. What exactly are you... er I mean your "friend" trying vaccuform?