Scratchbuilt Wedge Antilles X Wing Helmet
First of all, this is my first thread and I’m from Germany, so please excuse if my english isn't the best. I always wanted to have an X-Wing Helmet, but the kits you can buy on ebay are quite expensive, so I decided to build my own one. I started by designing the helmet in CAD. I optimized the CAD file with MeshLab and made a pepakura file out of it. The first helmet I built seemed a bit small so I decided to scale it up and do the paperwork again.
This is what I ended up with:
Then I gave it two coats of Resin and fiberglassed it. I did one surface by the time and sanded off the excess Material to get nice sharp edges.
When the outside was completely fiberglassed, I applied a coat of fiberglass on the inside to give it more strength.
Then I gave it two coats of Bondo and sanded it for hours. I did again one surface by the time. Then I gave it a coat of gloss white paint to see if there are any imperfections left.
From this state on it was nearly always the same process- applying bondo and sand it down again….
I masked off the unfinished surfaces so I could paint the sanded ones. I used green paint to prime it, just because it was a cheap discounter color that I didn’t need anymore.
When everything was sanded smooth, I gave it a few coats of white gloss paint.
Then I test fitted the edge trim and glued the end cap to the Mohawk. I built the end cap with styrene plates, which I hot glued together and filled with bondo. The inlay was built using plexiglass. Sadly I didn’t take any photos of this process.
When this was done, I decided to add more details then I wanted in the first place. I started with the “strap holders”. I built them using a 5mm thick piece of plexiglass, which I sanded to the right dimensions. I used two M3 screws per side to attach them to the helmet and used bondo to fit it to the right shape of the helmet at the contact surface.
Then I started to build the “Horns” on the backside of the Helmet. I used a lot of bondo to build the rough shape. Then I sanded it to the right shape. It was quite tricky to get the right shape done, but finally I think I got it.
When both sides were done, I gave it a few more coats of white paint. So that’s what the Helmet looked like when it got its basecolor.
Now I could finally paint it. I decided to make it to an Wedge Antilles Return of the Jedi Helmet. So first I masked off the two upper surfaces and painted it with a moss green.
Then I masked off the areas that will become black and spraypainted it.
Then I masked off the yellow/black stripe on the Mohawk and the decal on the sides of the Helmet. So that’s what it looked like after this.
Then I masked off the “Dot Decals” and painted them.
Finally my favorite part: the weathering. I used some light green color to give the moss green surface some highlights and mixed some black acrylic paint with lots of water and a bit soap to weather the rest of the helmet. So that’s how the finished Helmet looks.
In the next weeks I will build the interior. I hope you like this thread and I’d be happy if you’d leave a comment.
Greetings,
Sneezo
First of all, this is my first thread and I’m from Germany, so please excuse if my english isn't the best. I always wanted to have an X-Wing Helmet, but the kits you can buy on ebay are quite expensive, so I decided to build my own one. I started by designing the helmet in CAD. I optimized the CAD file with MeshLab and made a pepakura file out of it. The first helmet I built seemed a bit small so I decided to scale it up and do the paperwork again.
This is what I ended up with:
Then I gave it two coats of Resin and fiberglassed it. I did one surface by the time and sanded off the excess Material to get nice sharp edges.
When the outside was completely fiberglassed, I applied a coat of fiberglass on the inside to give it more strength.
Then I gave it two coats of Bondo and sanded it for hours. I did again one surface by the time. Then I gave it a coat of gloss white paint to see if there are any imperfections left.
From this state on it was nearly always the same process- applying bondo and sand it down again….
I masked off the unfinished surfaces so I could paint the sanded ones. I used green paint to prime it, just because it was a cheap discounter color that I didn’t need anymore.
When everything was sanded smooth, I gave it a few coats of white gloss paint.
Then I test fitted the edge trim and glued the end cap to the Mohawk. I built the end cap with styrene plates, which I hot glued together and filled with bondo. The inlay was built using plexiglass. Sadly I didn’t take any photos of this process.
When this was done, I decided to add more details then I wanted in the first place. I started with the “strap holders”. I built them using a 5mm thick piece of plexiglass, which I sanded to the right dimensions. I used two M3 screws per side to attach them to the helmet and used bondo to fit it to the right shape of the helmet at the contact surface.
Then I started to build the “Horns” on the backside of the Helmet. I used a lot of bondo to build the rough shape. Then I sanded it to the right shape. It was quite tricky to get the right shape done, but finally I think I got it.
When both sides were done, I gave it a few more coats of white paint. So that’s what the Helmet looked like when it got its basecolor.
Now I could finally paint it. I decided to make it to an Wedge Antilles Return of the Jedi Helmet. So first I masked off the two upper surfaces and painted it with a moss green.
Then I masked off the areas that will become black and spraypainted it.
Then I masked off the yellow/black stripe on the Mohawk and the decal on the sides of the Helmet. So that’s what it looked like after this.
Then I masked off the “Dot Decals” and painted them.
Finally my favorite part: the weathering. I used some light green color to give the moss green surface some highlights and mixed some black acrylic paint with lots of water and a bit soap to weather the rest of the helmet. So that’s how the finished Helmet looks.
In the next weeks I will build the interior. I hope you like this thread and I’d be happy if you’d leave a comment.
Greetings,
Sneezo
