Full Metal Jacket Joker's Helmet and Other Projects

TuskenRaider

Active Member
I've not been into prop making for long and recently was getting frustrated with having so many unfinished projects on the go. I decided to take on a few simpler projects that I knew I could finish relatively quickly. I haven't been very good at tracking my builds with photos which I plan to improve. Anyway here's my FMJ Joker's helmet 'build' (no real building exactly!):

First of all I got all the parts together. Picked up a real M1 helmet pretty cheap, it was either Belgian army or UN as it was blue, also found a genuine mitchell pattern helmet cover for a good price, I already had the bicycle inner tube for the band and bought a CND/peace badge.
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I very roughly painted the helmet green so you wouldn't see any blue showing through any gaps in the helmet cover. Cut the inner tube to size and used contact adhesive to form a loop. Then it was just a matter of putting it together and writing on the text (which I didn't get exactly right, but hey). Such a quick and simple build and such an iconic prop from one of my favourite films. I just need to add the accessories to the band (toilet paper packs I believe).

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Here's a few other simple projects I've been able to finish recently, although I didn't track the builds:

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I wanted a stand for my HP wands. I envisioned a living tree in the shape of a rack (something you might see in the HP universe?). Anyway two sheets of 6mm MDF for the side panels and 3/4" PVC pipe for the crossbeam. Then added foil and tissue paper to add the texture/spiralling trunk and Milliput for the snaking roots. Then just a matter of painting.

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I also managed to finish a 5th Element stone (solid plaster with details carved out), Holy grail (I used a PVC pipe and a cast of a coffee cup for the internal structure then fleshed out with clay) and Guardians Awesome Mix tape.

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Finally, I picked up this Staff of Ra Headpiece on Etsy, it's a great mould but the paint job wasn't great so re-painted it. I should really say I re-finished it since the gold is Rub N Buff and then just weathered with acrylic paints.

Thanks for looking and for your inspiration - so many of the projects on this site are incredible. I hope to improve and share more projects with you in the future.

Rob
 
Helmet looks great! Mine's been sitting on the shelf for 6 months, time to get it done. Did you just use acrylic paint for writing? That was my plan but wasn't sure how well it would work on fabric.
 
Helmet looks great! Mine's been sitting on the shelf for 6 months, time to get it done. Did you just use acrylic paint for writing? That was my plan but wasn't sure how well it would work on fabric.


You could also use a black fabric marker from Walmart or some other store that supplies fabric products. Tat's what i used on mine and it turned out great!!
 
Sorry all I hadn't noticed the replies until now. I don't log in as often as I should! Thanks a lot for the comments.
@bklyndodgers42 @PropReplicator2 I just used a sharpie for the writing. I imagine that's what they would have used on the originals (or what soldiers would have done in real life). I think it's OK that the coverage is not really amazing because I imagine that's how it would have been on real soldiers helmets. These sorts of 'builds' are great because you don't need to be super neat and precise :lol

@The Schlitzie Thanks a lot, I'm in the course of replicating the other Fifth Element stones, will post a thread on it as it gets further along the line, some closer pictures below...

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Sorry all I hadn't noticed the replies until now. I don't log in as often as I should! Thanks a lot for the comments.
@bklyndodgers42 @PropReplicator2 I just used a sharpie for the writing. I imagine that's what they would have used on the originals (or what soldiers would have done in real life). I think it's OK that the coverage is not really amazing because I imagine that's how it would have been on real soldiers helmets. These sorts of 'builds' are great because you don't need to be super neat and precise [emoji38]

@The Schlitzie Thanks a lot, I'm in the course of replicating the other Fifth Element stones, will post a thread on it as it gets further along the line, some closer pictures below...

View attachment 709463View attachment 709464
How tall is the stone?

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How tall is the stone?

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Hi Cavx, so sorry for the incredibly late reply, as per my previous post I really haven't been logging into the site very often. Life just seems to get in the way! I made the stone 8.5 inches tall. I came to this estimate based on judging how big the stones look in Korben's hand when he's removing them from the Diva. I would guess my hands are a little smaller than Bruce Willis' so my stone may be slightly on the small side. I also understand that there were two sizes of stones used in the film. Smaller ones for the diva scene and slightly larger ones for the temple scene though I haven't ventured into looking up what sizes were actually used (if that information is even available).
 
Did you use a helmet liner?

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Hi Gwarguts, sorry for the incredibly late reply, as per my previous post I really haven't been logging into the site very often. Life just seems to get in the way! I'm not familiar with the terminology but I assume a liner is something that would go inside to make the helmet wearable? If so, no there's nothing inside the helmet at all. I am only planning to display it so for me I had no need to put a liner or anything else inside to make it wearable/comfortable.
 
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