Roman Helmet?

I am making a Roman General helmet for a costume but I have come up against a problem. I have a crest from a replica historical reenactment type helmet, it's made of (I am assuming) real horse hair and brass. Normally I made helmets from foam so they are lightweight and easy to wear, however if I try and attach this crest, it will be way too heavy and rip through. It attached to it's original helmet with nuts and bolts, the original helmet was thick leather layered up and hardened, but the helmet I am trying to replicate is a very shiny chromed silver metal. Any help and advise would be gratefully recieved. It seems a shame to waste the crest (which I spent £40 on) but I might be able to remove the red hair and put it in a foam setting and just do away with the metal? Or maybe make something inside the helmet that will hold the weight? The one I have is very raised, similar to the first picture but the one I am trying to replicate is enclosed like the second picture. Could something be added around the base of the crest to support it? I don;t think foam would be strong enough?

Bump...

Is a 3d printed helm base an option? I've worked up a few where the tassled 'mohawks' were used, and they worked out quite well. While still not a cake-walk, it would likely be a lot easier to get a chrome-like finish on a finished 3d print than on foam base.



Alternately, Stick with the foam, but then add a skull-cap liner of sorts on the interior to distribute the weight and static pressure you've gotta deal with from the mohawk. The bigger the skull-cap liner, the more the weight gets distributed, and if it's then adhered to even a foam helm base on the inside, you get all of the extra strength and the liner helps the rest of the helm to keep it's shape. That's what I would do anyways :thumbsup Good luck with it!

From what I understand, considering that the crest is heavy and that you want a smooth shiny metal finish on the helmet i wouldn't use foam unless you coat it with something like epsilon pro and sand it like crazy to get a nice smooth finish.