Hasenbrau
New Member
Hello all and a belated Happy Halloween!
I just wanted to share my Halloween costume(s) and build this year. Maverick and Dead Goose! This setup was a blast to wear and actually won my buddy and I first place at our company Halloween party with a bit of nostalgia and morbid humor.
While not nearly as ambitious as last years costume: http://www.therpf.com/f24/warhammer-40k-space-marine-full-scale-new-wip-breakdown-163509/ I still found this 2 man costume setup a bit challenging in it's own right, mostly in trying to track down the right kind of gear without having to take out a second mortgage. Fortunately I had a family friend and retired USAF pilot, who was able to help me identify all the gear used in the movie so I knew what I was looking for going into this.
I had a good time going into bargain hunting mode, as well as recreating the flight helmets from the movie. Some stuff's not 100% accurate, but often that meant the difference between 50 bucks and 500. Still, this stuff will run you more than some foam and spray paint.
Here's WIP photos and breakdown. Thanks for looking:
Maverick Helmet from old Gentex shell HGU-33:
WIP:
I got this helmet in pretty good shape but still obviously past it's usable service date. The two MBU masks were hard to come by and acquired separate from the the helmets. One is actually missing a number of internal components as well as a comm cable.
Stripping it down. The edgeroll foam on these old flight helmets are generally gone if the things are dated a decade or more. The leather was also torn and cracked:
I skipped a few wip images here, but similar to the Goose helmet: Old reflective tape was removed. Clear coat and paint was stripped, un-needed holes were filled. Then helmet was primered, painted in a dark blue metalic (like the film) and clear coated.
The protective foam and leather covering inside this helmet wasn't too bad off. I cleaned it up and restained a few spots and saved it for reuse:
Using the old edgeroll leather as a guide, I cut new leather pieces and stitched them to the helmet:
Replacement open-cell edgeroll foam from a proper flighthelmet supplier is 60+ bucks and takes weeks to get. Seeing as how I had only a few days to put together these helmets, I used pool noodles (it's the same stuff for about a buck).
Glued in place:
Next came the taping. I decided I was going to use reflective tape as would have been used on a real Naval aviator helmet of the era. Obviously the movie props used no reflective tape to avoid unwanted reflection on film. This took some measuring and my eyeballs:
I did both visors at the same time (Note the Goose visor is not the correct type, but close enough. I had also originally intended to smash it up)
Lots of little sticky triangles
Once the new edgeroll was cut to size and glued in I was able to wrap the leather and glue the inside edge.
Putting the salvaged headliner back in. Also, for the Maverick helmet, I rewired the headphones.
Mostly assembled:
Next post: Main helmet detailing.
I just wanted to share my Halloween costume(s) and build this year. Maverick and Dead Goose! This setup was a blast to wear and actually won my buddy and I first place at our company Halloween party with a bit of nostalgia and morbid humor.
While not nearly as ambitious as last years costume: http://www.therpf.com/f24/warhammer-40k-space-marine-full-scale-new-wip-breakdown-163509/ I still found this 2 man costume setup a bit challenging in it's own right, mostly in trying to track down the right kind of gear without having to take out a second mortgage. Fortunately I had a family friend and retired USAF pilot, who was able to help me identify all the gear used in the movie so I knew what I was looking for going into this.
I had a good time going into bargain hunting mode, as well as recreating the flight helmets from the movie. Some stuff's not 100% accurate, but often that meant the difference between 50 bucks and 500. Still, this stuff will run you more than some foam and spray paint.
Here's WIP photos and breakdown. Thanks for looking:
Maverick Helmet from old Gentex shell HGU-33:
WIP:
I got this helmet in pretty good shape but still obviously past it's usable service date. The two MBU masks were hard to come by and acquired separate from the the helmets. One is actually missing a number of internal components as well as a comm cable.
Stripping it down. The edgeroll foam on these old flight helmets are generally gone if the things are dated a decade or more. The leather was also torn and cracked:
I skipped a few wip images here, but similar to the Goose helmet: Old reflective tape was removed. Clear coat and paint was stripped, un-needed holes were filled. Then helmet was primered, painted in a dark blue metalic (like the film) and clear coated.
The protective foam and leather covering inside this helmet wasn't too bad off. I cleaned it up and restained a few spots and saved it for reuse:
Using the old edgeroll leather as a guide, I cut new leather pieces and stitched them to the helmet:
Replacement open-cell edgeroll foam from a proper flighthelmet supplier is 60+ bucks and takes weeks to get. Seeing as how I had only a few days to put together these helmets, I used pool noodles (it's the same stuff for about a buck).
Glued in place:
Next came the taping. I decided I was going to use reflective tape as would have been used on a real Naval aviator helmet of the era. Obviously the movie props used no reflective tape to avoid unwanted reflection on film. This took some measuring and my eyeballs:
I did both visors at the same time (Note the Goose visor is not the correct type, but close enough. I had also originally intended to smash it up)
Lots of little sticky triangles
Once the new edgeroll was cut to size and glued in I was able to wrap the leather and glue the inside edge.
Putting the salvaged headliner back in. Also, for the Maverick helmet, I rewired the headphones.
Mostly assembled:
Next post: Main helmet detailing.