My Early Disasters pt 2 - A Biker Scout Helmet - How hard can it be?

I'm now worried that the stormtrooper bucket is going to be the highpoint of my efforts. I had thought that it would be simple to adapt some of the techniques to build a back half for the Clone Trooper Voice-changer helmet I had, so I began work when our last set of visitors left in July...

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Exhibit One: On the far left of the picture, a standard "face only" voice changer Clone Trooper mask. The visor is too wide and will be the last part of the adaptation. First I have to make the back half of the helmet.

I started by building a framework for the back half out of cardboard, as I had used for the Atlanthia-method Stormtrooper Bucket.

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Easily falling back into bad habits, I failed to do any measuring. I just kind of hoped that it would be about right. There's also a fair amount more duct tape in evidence with this piece - finding the angle to glue in the cardboard strips was tricky, and with only half a helmet, it wasn't possible to use a stand. I needed three arms. I do not have three arms.
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This angle shows the more slapdash nature of the framework. It's not as neat and organised as it was for the previous helmet. And that's saying something.

Skip on a couple of days, and I've got the paper mache out again. Well, that's not strictly true. My Eldest daughter is modifying the Time Lord Headpiece I built her two years ago, and SHE has got the paper mache out. I just pinched it.
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Things to note at this point - I'm not looking at any reference pics yet. Also, the reference pics I've found are not matching up well. There's a huge variety of Clone Trooper Helmet designs, and the back area isn't pictured that often. I'm not sure which version this helmet is based on, so I'm looking at two or three different designs and I'm going to make the one that is least complex.
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Of course, the biggest concern is the transition point between the plastic helmet/faceplate and the new material added to the back. I decided to push ahead with filler and see how smooth I could get that transition before building the more detailed rear areas.

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First, podge on that filler. Over fill, if you will.

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The first round of sanding left some obvious dents and deficiencies, plus it showed I'm going to need some very fine-grain paper to restore the surface of the plastic after the rough sanding scratches it up.

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If you look really close you can see a little impression where the two surfaces meet, but it's not bad. I'm pretty sure that some more gentle sanding and a few more coats of paint, then some lacquer will reduce even that.

The next part of the plan is to get the rest of the filler smoothed out to a similar standard, then decide on a pattern for the back, and build that over the smooth surface. That should make things easier, rather than trying to smooth a base surface after the other stuff goes on top. Here's the latest front view:
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Yea, a new post!

I think the final blending looks pretty good (at least in the pictures).

Your skills are definitely progressing grasshopper ;)
 
"...this was looking better and better. Or just slightly less crap."

Awesome! I swear that should be the new tagline for the RPF! It applies to SO many things!
 
Thanks blewis17. "Slightly less crap" is the mantra I live by. I even carved it onto a block of wood to hang in my workshop, but since it was done by me it says "Slightly less carp".
 
This one is going to go slowly for a while. To get the best surface I can, I'm making the underpiece smooth. Fairly smooth. As smooth as I can get it.Then I'll settle on a final design for the rear of the helmet and build up over the (hopefully) smooth surface. If I don't do this, I can see myself trying to sand areas that I can barely fit my fingers into, and that never goes well.
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I'm thinking I'll build the raised areas with flooring foam, and filler over them. I don't have the chops to design a folded card solution. I know my limitations... I have reached them many, many times!
 
I used a smaller package of filler to fill in the small divots in the surface of the helmet, then dug out my cheap plastic costume helmet that came with my daughter's Clone Trooper costume when she was eight. It's too small to copy directly, or cast from, even if I had the equipment and skills (nope to both!) but it really helps having a 3d version of the pattern to look at (It's close enough to the design I favoured to be useful as a reference).
See how I have all the reference materials to hand!
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Ok, no matter what I do, the picture won't display correctly. Sorry folks!
Here's the other one, probably also sideways, showing where I carefully sketched out the lines of the new material. Planning in advance. I may get this one a bit righterer than the others. "Less crap" is the watchword. Are the watchwords. Whatever.
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Yep, sideways it is.
 

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Ack. That tube of filler was "flexible" wood filler. When I sand it, the stuff comes right off, leaving the holes it's meant to be filling. It's actually a step backward, since I'm going to have to remove it all, then do it over with the right stuff. But not today, because I have regular DIY to screw up* before going to work.

*I'm sure it's not news to anyone that my skills at prop building and modding are based entirely on my skills at DIY. Thus, imagine the state of my house. Nothing is straight. NOTHING.
 
So, after time out to do dull stuff, like lay a new floor in the study, I finally get a chance to move the mod on a little. In other words, the family went away for a couple of days and left me unsupervised....
I measured. I really did. I used a tape and everything, then drew out the pattern I decided on, right onto the flooring tile I had handy.
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Then I cut it out.
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Even with the custom-built mount, it was a pig of a job to glue the damn thing into place. I glued my fingers AGAIN.
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What the hell? Oh, we're doing sideways uploads again, huh? Fair enough.

Now, I know it looks bad, but have patience - there's a lot of bumpy road between here and when I'm done. And when I'm done, it'll still look crap, but you can be sure I'll have put the work in.

For now, here's that weird disc on the back, and a crest. Well, what WILL be the crest when I have more time and a boatload of filler.....
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Oh good, sideways once more. Can we all just take a moment to blame Windows 10? I don't care if that's why or not, I just think it needs to be done.

Thank you.
 
Thanks for the birthday wishes, RPF!
One more day without family, and I decided to paper mache. Smoothing out the transitions between foam and undersurface seems like a smart move, since it worked so well putting filler on the mache with the previous project. I don't know when I'm going to get back to this, so I moved faster than might have been wise, but to balance that I drank several beers.
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Oh for... Sideways, dammit! Anyway, first, filling in around the edges. Don't look at that crest. Seriously. It will get better.
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See? Looks fine. Maybe a little off-center. Maybe. But it's at the back, right? Who's gonna see it? And before, it wasn't even there at all. This has to be progress.

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Right. Essentially, this is it. I get to filler over the mache and smooth it out. I get to paint it up nicely. Then it's the really, really tricky part - I have to adapt the front piece, because this is a kids' helmet and the viewpart, the T-slit, is way too big. Any advice you guys can offer on that would be gratefully received. Not saying I'll be able to DO it, but I'll listen, I promise.
 
Have I mentioned my lack of patience? I slapped some filler on top of the paper mache, but found the notion of smoothing it out too tedious to consider for days. The worst part was clearly going to be that grey strip around the top. It's slightly recessed, which means sanding it smooth in an awkward way. I don't hold out a lot of hope for doing a good job there. Here's the early filler photos:
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The crest is also going to be a tricky thing to get straight.
 
I used the Dremel to carve into the grey strip, but as always, it was tricky to get the angle right, and I ended up just sort of chewing it away. There's a lot of work to do.
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Still working - very slowly - on the rear details.
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Since I'm also working equally slowly on the bathroom reno, this isn't going to be finished soon. Not this side of Christmas. And I probably mean Christmas 2015, but don't bet on that....
 
More slow progress. I'm smoothing out the added filler, trying to get the edges neat. I have to build up the bottom edge of the rear of the helmet, and then I'm going to have to figure out how to make the top of the crest wider. I don't think filler will be the best material there.
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I'm pretty sure I've already spent more time on this surfacing than on any other project. I think I've learned why people use Bondo and car filler, not the dry wall filler I'm using. It's all about the surface finish. So, I'm sanding, and carving (first time for that!) and painting and then sanding again. Before long I will be too bored, and then I'll fill in the spare areas on the visor and things will be really tricky. Not sure about the painting - should I go with a regular trooper, or try for Captain Rex?
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Thanks le1120! Today I took a couple of minutes to mask and spray the front, re-shaping the visor to make it more movie-accurate. This will, no doubt, make it harder to see out of, but I'm not kidding anyone that I'll be 501st ing this thing. Just for fun, folks, just for fun.

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