iron man foam helmet attempt #5

Charlie117 · Jan 31, 2013

hi guys, this is my number 5th attempt a this $%^&* iron man helmet and yes i want to learn to make helmets out of foam. i know pep helmets look better but so those foam helmets if you put effort and time so thats what i want. this is the number 5 helmet since the 4rth in the left was smaller. so i did the helmet again ( the right one ) i am learning from mistakes but i think i will build it again since there are a couple of gaps, a total of 3 to be precise. so if theres anything that i need to improve let me know. i youst couldnt give uo on this since i failed with the other iron man foam helmets that were terrible. so yeah after seeign dragonfyre designs on youtube, i was like see hes iron man foam helmet looks awesome. why cant i do that? so i will continue to keep on going until i finish this helmet and looks perfect. if anyone is wondering, this is 7mm foam . i bought it on pep boys. it comes in a big roll. also i know that i mention that i have a few gaps 3 of them and yes i can fill them with bits of foam but the problem is that they were misplaced and kinda lifted up the helmet so it looks funny even though i fixed it with heat . i planned on covering the holething with foamies but it wont make sense since its not going to make those bumps dissapear. what do you think guys, should i finish this one ??? or make another one?? this one is good but not perfect like i want it. also the left one ( smaller one number 4 helmet ) i didnt cut the top lines that were suppouse to be cut. thats why it looks squarish instead of circular.

AdenS · Jan 31, 2013

Good start.

joshtried · Jan 31, 2013

something that helped my first build (though that did not come out "great" at all) was to pep the helmet completely out of paper first. i am not saying go and resin everything, but it will definitely give you a hands on 3d guide to help you further. paper seemed much more forgiving, and kind of naturally took its proper shape once everything was glued together.

the shot showing the right ear hole has a ledge that the left doesnt: i dont know how much glue you have on hand, but glue can be your friend to smooth out areas like this if you so desire. just plop down a bunch of glue and smooth to the desired contour. i have filled up to a 1/2 inch gap with glue as well.. i dont really recommend that as it was a huge pain and melted a couple of times onto my clothes, but it can be done.
you can also take your glue gun, stick it on the piece, and separate the joined pieces.. then go back are glue them together as they "should be"
another tip may be for you to glue less together at once. another words: if you are gluing 2 inches at a time, slow down and only glue 1/2 inch. this may slow you quite a bit, but your seems will be a lot cleaner, and this should eliminate your "gap" problem as well

as for the squashed look, instead of cutting the lines all the way to the outside, have you tried just cutting v's into the back side/inside so that your top can shape more circularly?

IF you are going to start over, why not just take a razorblade and separate everything you have glued so far? then you have no waste of foam.
overall id say keep at it with this helmet. it doesnt look bad. to be perfect, you do need some improving. perfect is hard to hit and takes most people a lot of time... hence, my helmet will never be perfect!!

Charlie117 · Jan 31, 2013

yeah i know what you mean , its true but the problem is i dont have cardstock lol and now i wanted to do that because i hate pepping small pieces and the iron man helmet am doing is hd so that means bazilion little pieces but now that i have a silhoutte cameo printer that cuts parts fopr ya well its a snap but i have no cardstock lol. thanks alot for your help really paid off since i paid close attention to your words and some of other peoples to since this helmet i failed miserably 3 times in arow due to angle cuts and well i did started again ahaha its my number 6 now and boy it looks beautiful . i know that there are better helmets out there but i am very very happy with it, specially for all i am been through with this helmet. see my other thread and you can see that it was a mess man. here are some pics of were i am right know.

joshtried said:
something that helped my first build (though that did not come out "great" at all) was to pep the helmet completely out of paper first. i am not saying go and resin everything, but it will definitely give you a hands on 3d guide to help you further. paper seemed much more forgiving, and kind of naturally took its proper shape once everything was glued together.

the shot showing the right ear hole has a ledge that the left doesnt: i dont know how much glue you have on hand, but glue can be your friend to smooth out areas like this if you so desire. just plop down a bunch of glue and smooth to the desired contour. i have filled up to a 1/2 inch gap with glue as well.. i dont really recommend that as it was a huge pain and melted a couple of times onto my clothes, but it can be done.
you can also take your glue gun, stick it on the piece, and separate the joined pieces.. then go back are glue them together as they "should be"
another tip may be for you to glue less together at once. another words: if you are gluing 2 inches at a time, slow down and only glue 1/2 inch. this may slow you quite a bit, but your seems will be a lot cleaner, and this should eliminate your "gap" problem as well

as for the squashed look, instead of cutting the lines all the way to the outside, have you tried just cutting v's into the back side/inside so that your top can shape more circularly?

IF you are going to start over, why not just take a razorblade and separate everything you have glued so far? then you have no waste of foam.
overall id say keep at it with this helmet. it doesnt look bad. to be perfect, you do need some improving. perfect is hard to hit and takes most people a lot of time... hence, my helmet will never be perfect!!

Charlie117 · Jan 31, 2013

well decided to make it again because am picky lol soo here its my number 6 foam iron man and boy do i love it. its not the best but i love it and it will be detailed with foamies so it looks more good than already is considiring all the trouble and hard times this helmet has giving me since i first tried. hope you guys like it. a big shout to all those people who helped me with this are sandy1973, coolc and drack, dbmike, the hero tutorials and dragonfyre designs and also those awesome threads of roxy roo and lil tyrant since there queens of foam but what i did love about there work was foam helmets! i like the hard stuff thats why i am making it since i want to show people that foam can sometimes beat paper helmets and this is youst the start. sorry that am talking too much i know i need more practice but am soo happy that i made this its youst awesome. the more you do this the better you get at it. also i know that the top part where those 2 squares are that wil conect with the faceplate are too high. i have to heat them and bend them down so they are nice but yeah thats all for today am tired >.<