iron man foam helmet w.i.p

[Charlie117]

Hi 405th


So here's my first foam build , an iron man helmet. This is the front and side parts and the back is in progress since it took me some time to cut the paper and trace it in the foam matt because i have a thick sharpie marker and its dificult to trace the parts, so i need a thinner one. As you can see i am using a knife with brand new blades because i didn't find any exacto knive's here so i went and bought this bad boy at home depot. So the only problem am having is the edge's like how to glue each edge to another because ive cut them like normaly with out giving them the proper edge/ side edge. So here's a couple of pics of what i have so you can see , tomorrow after doing the back part i'll probably get the dremmel so i can sand down the pieces since some of them are kinda rough so it can look nice and clean and it makes it easier to glue. The picture that i am holding 2 pieces are the top and eyebrow i think of the iron man helmet for you guys to see how do i glue those part's, like i know how they go but how to glue them to the faceplate and give that 3d mensional look like the pepakura design.

husky knife woof woof lol

faceplate

this is what i dont get, this is how is suppouse to be glued?

ear

ear ( scrambled)

chin , mouth

faceplate chunks that need to be sanded with the dremmel.

this is what i got so far

closer look at those edges on how to glue them

forehead

faceplate with eyebrow or eye part

 

[DBmike]

Looks ok but if I can offer some advice from my own foam build. Before cutting your pieces out make sure you work out your edges so you know if you need a flat edge, under or over cut to assemble them and assemble one bit at a time to make sure each piece fits as you go. Also something to consider i use a craft nife on a number 11 blade, its not very big and gives tody cuts. Good to see after our earlier conversation that you got the pep all worked out
Good luck dude!

I'll post you some links to helpful videos on YouTube in a bit

 

[DBmike]

here's the links as promised mate,

this one is from a thread yesterday, just a cool little idea
http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/36423-Very-useful-foam-gluing-trick

and some youtube videos I watched before getting started

they're part of a series of tutorials so just check out the other videos from there.

Good luck man can't wait to see more from you!

 

[Charlie117]

Ohhh ok , yeah that was my problem so I guess ill have to give the pieces tbe edges because most of them there youst normal cuts but thanks to you for the videos now I know that I can give them edges even though I messed up cutting them like that, so tberew still hope lol. Thanks alot for the help!!!

Looks ok but if I can offer some advice from my own foam build. Before cutting your pieces out make sure you work out your edges so you know if you need a flat edge, under or over cut to assemble them and assemble one bit at a time to make sure each piece fits as you go. Also something to consider i use a craft nife on a number 11 blade, its not very big and gives tody cuts. Good to see after our earlier conversation that you got the pep all worked out
Good luck dude!

I'll post you some links to helpful videos on YouTube in a bit

 

[Charlie117]

well i failed at putting this toguether because of angle edges , like i dont know how to make them or wich pieces have to be able to have angle edges because not all of them have to be angled. the pictures that i will upload show a mess of glue, gaps and well youll see. about the glue , yes i know that is a mess am aware of that , i know i can make it clean by putting the hot tip to melt the glue , but the problem here are angle edges because the helmet is scaled good everything was perfect when i started putting the cheek parts. if theres anything that i can do to be able to pull this off any tips hints? ive seen alot of videos and still dont get like really its pissing me off. when i started to put the cheek parts , the pieces didnt quite felt in place and there cut correctly but not angle. so once you see the pics youll understand better and try to help me because ive tryed everything , reading peoples thread, watching videos , techniques and so.


heres me testing it to make another one since it was scale good

front

side

ear

mouth ( most of it lol)

cheeks

sides

 

[CoolC]

Foam seems easy, but some planning is required. You need to look at the model using Pepakura, if you have it. Any sides that need to be angled, you need to cut your pieces at an angle. For example, to achieve a 90 corner of two pieces of foam, you need to cut both sides at 45 degree angle. As for glue, you need to put just enough. I created a quick tutorial last year. Hope this helps. See my YouTube channel for more videos.

 

[Charlie117]

yeah i saw your video and it helped alot because i dont have a heat gun so i did the scoring tecnique that you are showing in your videos but besides that those angles are killing me like am watching the pepakura design and doing it , i follow the patterns and curves etc and still doesnt look like it on the program :S i dont know what am doing wrong

Foam seems easy, but some planning is required. You need to look at the model using Pepakura, if you have it. Any sides that need to be angled, you need to cut your pieces at an angle. For example, to achieve a 90 corner of two pieces of foam, you need to cut both sides at 45 degree angle. As for glue, you need to put just enough. I created a quick tutorial last year. Hope this helps. See my YouTube channel for more videos.

 

[Charlie117]

by the way , do you first cut the pieces like normallly and when you are about to glue them then is when you aplly the angle edge tecnique?? because if you cut them with the angle edges without seeign the pieces that you are about to glue you might mess up the piece am i right? first cut normal then cut angle ? how do you know wich pieces are going to be angled and wich are not ?

Foam seems easy, but some planning is required. You need to look at the model using Pepakura, if you have it. Any sides that need to be angled, you need to cut your pieces at an angle. For example, to achieve a 90 corner of two pieces of foam, you need to cut both sides at 45 degree angle. As for glue, you need to put just enough. I created a quick tutorial last year. Hope this helps. See my YouTube channel for more videos.

 

[sandy1973]

First you used the wrong knife and second you used too much glue. This is what I used for my foam build

and The cutting technique for angle cut with known angle.

with unknown angle I do the straight cut first and do the angle cut but using the sawing motion on the back side like this.

as for how to glue the piece together I put a little bit of glue on one side and use the tip of the glue gun to spread the glue in thin layer and put those 2pieces together and hold it for at least 30 sec. like this.

I hope this help.

 

[Charlie117]

ohh ok so you dont need an xacto matt cutter?? thats what everyone uses and recomends me, thanks for the help and pictures on the angle edges!

First you used the wrong knife and second you used too much glue. This is what I used for my foam build

and The cutting technique for angle cut with known angle.

with unknown angle I do the straight cut first and do the angle cut but using the sawing motion on the back side like this.

as for how to glue the piece together I put a little bit of glue on one side and use the tip of the glue gun to spread the glue in thin layer and put those 2pieces together and hold it for at least 30 sec. like this.

I hope this help.

 

[Charlie117]

Well this is my second try at the iron man helmet , also i bought a heat gun and bent the faceplate and the top part so here's what i got because am trying to figure out how the cheek's go and the mouth, am not very good at trying to put 3d pieces toguether so yeah am going very slow at this. As you can see am using less glue too and spreading it with the hot tip of the gun , and using sharp blades so atleast it look's good ofr now...

 

[CoolC]

I'll try to help you on what you have just accomplished. First of all, your hot glue amount is just right.

However, you used too much of your heat gun. The heat gun has melted the edge - you will never going to get a clean edge even after gluing. If you want to use the heat gun, try to focus on the area that you want to bend. Avoid the edges.

As for work, you may need to redo. The brow/above the eye (see the red arrow) should be cut angled in. If you angled it correctly, the forehead and the brow piece should never look flat piece. See pep file.

 

[Charlie117]

yeah i see pretty much where everything is wrong, you are very good on details but i failed again on the cheek since i managed to do a angle cut but i dont know what i did wrong that the mout pieces dont go, i dont think foam is for me nor pep . i think am youst one of those people that will never learn how to do something so simple even with refreance and end up buying cool props from other people instead of doing it myself. thank very much for your help but unfortuantly i am not talented as you guys.

I'll try to help you on what you have just accomplished. First of all, your hot glue amount is just right.

However, you used too much of your heat gun. The heat gun has melted the edge - you will never going to get a clean edge even after gluing. If you want to use the heat gun, try to focus on the area that you want to bend. Avoid the edges.

As for work, you may need to redo. The brow/above the eye (see the red arrow) should be cut angled in. If you angled it correctly, the forehead and the brow piece should never look flat piece. See pep file.

 

[Sky Walker]

As a 405th memebr i will tell you that quiting isnt what i reccomend. We all start somewhere; i know my first build was aweful and it was a pep build. doing things from scratch and without templated doubles the difficulty. i would recommend some of the pepakura Iron Man files (god knows they're out there) and take things slow and study up on the process. but i cannot physically stop you from buying other works. i do hope this post made you re-consider you previous desicion.

~Walker

 

[mkshane81]

As a 405th memebr i will tell you that quiting isnt what i reccomend. We all start somewhere; i know my first build was aweful and it was a pep build. doing things from scratch and without templated doubles the difficulty. i would recommend some of the pepakura Iron Man files (god knows they're out there) and take things slow and study up on the process. but i cannot physically stop you from buying other works. i do hope this post made you re-consider you previous desicion.

~Walker

I agree whole-heartedly with this comment. Every single person on here has started at the ground level, as a new member, or as a complete beginner at some point in time. We all learn at different speeds, picking up on things as we go to make us more efficient on what we want to accomplish. I hope you reconsider on your decision to resign the project. My best advice, learn how to work with the foam, but not necessarily on a helmet. Start with something small and simple, with enough beveled edges so that you get the feel of how to cut angles into the foam, how to apply the glue, work with the heat gun, etc.

I think I quite literally built my first piece about 4 or 5 times, and it was something small, a forearm or something. I have progressed in the past few years with pep, so I decided to try my hand at foam. I built 2 ODST thighs, and they turned out just dreadful. But as you work with it more, and get a feel for how it wants to naturally behave, you learn how to manipulate.

Again, I hope you change your mind. It's amazing the kind of pride that you can achieve once you get the hang of something, and knowing that you succeeded by completing your build. Best of luck buddy!!

-Matt

 

[Nhat Phan]

If you have a Dremel you could use that to make angles. Just sand it down at an angle and its great. I have tried it on my Master Chief Shin and it came out awesome even though it was my first foam build. But you have to be patience and go slow or you will sand down some of the parts you didn't want to and it can really mess you up.

 

[DBmike]

Don't give in dude. I have made a video with some of the techniques you'll need in it. I'll post it up and get you a link to it. I've made it pretty detailed so it's easy to watch but very informative

 

[DBmike]

link to my foam tutorial hope it helps
http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/36572-basic-foam-tutorial

 

[sandy1973]

Don't give up.

 

[Charlie117]

Here's the cheek that's been bothering me 2 time's already.

This is how it looks on the pepakura viewer

This is the mouth piece's

And this is the problem , this piece the right that go along with the mouth should not show the edge's. It has to go as one so it give's that 3d look, how do you make it as one piece like the pepakura viewer. Hope you understand. I even did an angle edge and it didn't work i dont know how to put those pieces toguether so it doesn't show those edges!.