WIP: Restoring a P1 Bio Helmet

[PredatrHuntr]

Thanks to ONEEYE (Richard) for giving me a Bio that he got from Bathunter years ago. Kudos to you Richard!

It began as a "Porsche" style P1:

It was called a Porsche due to its sharp defined lines - as opposed to the rounded curves traditionally seen on a P1. Ironically, the Porsche was the very first Bio I ever purchased from Predfann waaaaay back in the day. I got rid of it years ago, so its very cool to see one again since I don't think they are made anymore.

Bathunter then redesigned it to look like this:

When I got the Bio from Richard last week, the jawline was noticeably warped and the plastic added on bits were very fragile:

The original plan was just to replace the LED's, but I had to fix the jawline too. I knew this would be a daunting task, so I asked Richard if I could attempt to restore this Bio even if it meant changing the look that Bathunter gave it. He said go for it.

Then I got thinking that I could redesign the Porsche to be a hybrid between a rounded P1 and the defined Porsche. I drew red lines along where I wanted to make adjustments:

My first task was to fill the cheeks in and give the jawline support again. I got creative and took some plastic cutting board and cut it to fill in all the holes in the Bio:

Then I used bondo to fill over the plastic in order to make them rounded again:

Then I started sanding down the sharp edges on the mouth:

Then I stopped and had to go watch LOST lol! Gonna keep updating this as I work on it...

 

[xdmray]

pretty interesting work. cool to see how this progesses.

 

[MProjects]

Killer looking bio Jason coming along great

 

[svehunter]

Looks great Jason

 

[PredatrHuntr]

Worked on it for an hour and a half today.

Fixed the wonky left eye (your right):

Rounded the chin and mouth area some more:

Rounded the edge of the crown, smoothed the bondo cheeks and smoothed the area where the hoses go:

 

[Unforgiven Hunter]

The only critique I have Jason is that the bottom jaw line on the left side seems to stick out further then the right. Other than that it looks great so far, and I can't wait to see more of it.

-Chris

 

[PredatrHuntr]

Ya I know, I just ran out of juice on my Dremel. More to come!

 

[biohunter76]

That's a lot of work dude, Hat's off to ya!

 

[PredatrHuntr]

Thanks Casey! I looked for fiberglass, but had to use bondo instead. It works, so I just have to sand it down...

I really have an appreciation for you, Daman, Paul and everyone else who sculpts Bios. I figured I'd see how far I could get just using a Dremel first. I can see how symmetry drives you crazy! And smoothing the surface...well, thats a bitch too lol!

 

[xdmray]

yeah mate, the best skill you will ever learn when it comes to this craft/art, is patience.

 

[roninpredator]

It's coming out great Jason.
How did you go about fixing the wonky eye? that was the main reason for me not to get another porsche but I have ben itching to ge tanother one and was contemplating the fix. I'm currently going to work on my wolf morgan bio to fix the same problem and see if I can fix the warp.
You my friend are full of surprises..
keep the pics coming

 

[PredatrHuntr]

It was easy - just a steady hand and my Dremel. I went slow and eyed them both up to make sure they were the same.

 

[Unforgiven Hunter]

Is there any updates on this Jason?

-Chris

 

[PredatrHuntr]

No no yet sorry. Too darn busy, but hopefully soon!

 

[Bovine13]

Lots of detail sanding and precision trimming. Cheers to ya.

 

[PredatrHuntr]

I've filled a bit more, but nothing picture worthy. Sanding takes time and patience. I have little time and lots of patience lol!

This is the guideline I've been using for stuff that needs to be worked on:

And this is what it should look like when its done:

 

[ONEYE]

You are very welcome!

Somehow, I missed this thread. Now I've bookmarked it and am rabidly keeping up to date with you progress.
Wow, fantastic work!

 

[PredatrHuntr]

I'm taking a break from this, painting heads and making LED's. I have too much on my plate and ironically I only have to draw at work when its dead.

As soon as I start working on this again, I'll make sure to post updates.

 

[PredatrHuntr]

I kicked myself in the ass and started on this again tonight. Its going to look more and more like a mess before it starts to look half decent. Right now I'm at the turd stage lol!

I slapped on some more filler and filled some of the small dents and nicks:

The part where the hoses go had some very sharp edges and I wanted to make them curved to the point where its just an indentation and not so defined.

 

[PredatrHuntr]

More ugliness:

Filling the indentation in the lower jawline:

Removing the dent above the left eye:

Filling the dent in the side:

I was considering taking macro pics of all the flaws, but I only thought of the idea when I was half way done filling, so you're just going to have to take my word that this Bio has imperfections a-plenty! I'm a perfectionist, so this is going to take time to get right.

I am looking forward to sanding it down and seeing it take shape again.