Thor Movie Helmet Display

[Kevin Gossett]

For Christmas, my wife purchased a Thor movie helmet for me from ebay. Wasn't too bad out of the box, but I knew there were a few things I could do make it look a bit better.

Mainly I wanted to clean up a few areas and repaint it. It was a dull silver with some "patina" or "rust" weathering added on. I wasn't a big fan of the yellowish patina, so I wanted to give it a brighter finish. First thing I did was sand down a few bumps, and take off the paint. Once I got down to the bare resin, I filled a few bubbles and imperfections, sanded it to 400 grit, and gave it a coat of primer. At this point I wet sanded the entire piece to 1000 grit, and gave it a shiny black gloss undercoat.

For the final finish, I used Dupli-color Chrome. It is a pretty decent rattle can chrome, but won't give you a mirror finish (which I am OK with in this instance).

Last year I commissioned Eric (hdtheater) to make an Avengers logo helmet stand on his CNC. It turned out wonderfully, so I went to Eric again with an idea for this helmet. I thought the Mjolnir capstone with runes would make a pretty cool base. The runes read: "he who wields this hammer commands the lightning and the storm". Eric did a little research and found the font that was used for the runes so he could sketch up a rendering for his CNC. At this point we were faced with a decision. Screen accurate or screen idealized? The screen accurate Mjolnir runes are actually slightly jumbled to where some letters are transposed. Do we stick with this or go with the correct "spelling"? After thinking it over, we both thought it was best to go with the "correct" version.

I just got home from picking up the stand from Eric, and I'm very happy with how it turned out!

Here is the helmet on the primed stand:

And a close up of the runes:

Then I came up with another idea... What if I incorporated my Mjolnir into the base? Here is what that looks like:

In order to it work, I would cut a hole in the top of the hammer so that I can secure the dowel to the base and through the hammer so everything is nice and sturdy.

So what do you think? Base by itself or Mjolnir and Helmet displayed together?

 

[TheShinyOne]

Nice helmet! Reading your description it seems to me that you're gonna have to sacrifice a perfectly good Mjolnir to fix it to the base! Seems a waste. Isn't there a way with magnets or something? If so, I like this set-up.

 

[Kevin Gossett]

I'm actually scratch building a new hammer, so the sacrifice is OK with me :thumbsup

 

[Hexvas]

The base itself looks great, and when you throw in the hammer I like it even more.

If indeed you are making another hammer and you plan on displaying them together I'd make the suggestion of muting out the hammer in the same color as the base. This way the focus will be on the helmet and the new and improved hammer.

 

[Kevin Gossett]

Did a little finishing work on the base last night. I wanted it to be a little thicker and heftier than what Eric normally does, so he laminated two baseplates together. He also unexpectedly shellaced and primed it for me too, so it was practically ready for paint when I got it!

There was a slight seam where the two pieces were laminated together, so I used some spot putty to fill the gap. I used a popsicle stick as a trowel and put a thin skim coat along the entire outside edge. Once dry I sanded it smooth and reprimed it.

Now it's ready for paint!

 

[Kevin Gossett]

Any other thoughts on hammer or no hammer?

 

[nick daring]

I've thought about doing something similar.

Can you post a pic of the hammer and helmet together from a little further away? It's hard to tell how it actually looks in that photo.

 

[Kevin Gossett]

As you wish

Got the base painted a nice aluminum/silver today. Just need to do a black wash on the runes and add some depth to the piece. Then I'll sand down and refinish the hammer so it matches with the base.

 

[nick daring]

I think that looks badass.

I was thinking of just having the hAmmer just holding up the helmet by itself but the addition of the disc base really turns it into a proper display.

Which hammer is that?

I'd hate to see a perfectly good hammer get messed up to just be On my way! A base though. Does look cool however.

 

[Kevin Gossett]

It's the Disguise hammer heavily modified

 

[Luke0312]

Wonder what it would look like if you had the hammer on an angle, sitting on one of the corners. Have the handle of the hammer tilted backwards, away from the front of the stand? Just thinking out loud.

 

[SampleName]

It's a no-brainer to use the hammer! I think it looks awesome and that you should use it. :thumbsup

 

[Kevin Gossett]

Thanks for the input guys!

Did a little more work tonight on the base. Blackwash on the runes, and then used a round sponge brush to stipple a mixture of gunmetal, chrome, and paint thinner in a random fashion to give the piece an aged metallic feel.

Without flash

With flash

Also sanded down the hammer and primed it. If I get some time tomorrow, I'll do a little spot putty filling and more sanding, then apply the same paint technique as the base

 

[sgtfury4017]

Looks pretty darn sweet!!!

 

[trappster]

The aged base looks awesome.

Using the hammer as the helmet stand takes it to another level. I vote for using the hammer.

 

[Kevin Gossett]

Thanks for the kind words! :thumbsup

Since pretty much everyone (except my wife :lol) thinks the hammer adds to look, I'm going to incorporate it! It has been sanded, primed, spot filled, primed, and painted the same base coat of silver as the stand. Tonight I will add in the blackwash and "aging" to give it the same depth as the base, then this one will be all done!

 

[jedimarkj]

That is too awesome!

Very smart! :thumbsup

 

[Peerino]

I like it very much. But to my mind, the plate could have been a bit bigger.

 

[Kevin Gossett]

If I had thought of using the hammer before having the base cut I probably would have gone bigger too. But I still like it

 

[allosaur176]

Great Job man!!