Moddified Mark VI Helmet

[dishabille]

Its the craft styrofoam from walmart.

Never use it if you can help it. when you shape it, it holds its form since its rigid but it leaves little bits of styrofoam all over your house and its kinda hard to get out of the carpet. Also its a b**** to get any suggestions on how to coat it because no one else has used it.

So, make sure you stick with EVA foam and foamies or pep for any future project. I wouldnt wish this stuff on my worst enemy.

 

[blackout11c]

In terms of coating it, try a watered down PVA mixture. Or check the "Help: for foam" section.

 

[dishabille]

I did both of those suggestions.

PVA glue: when watered down youre actually breaking down the glue since its water based, so when i applied it to the foam it just sat there and after 4 hours of it not drying in a very light coat on a test piece I vowed never to touch the stuff.

The "help" section was a little better they had a couple suggestions to make a film over the top to protect the cheap styrofoam underneath but I havent had a chance to pick up any resin or anything that could be considered to make a outer shell.

thanks for trying though,

dishabille

 

[dishabille]

update

Okay so today I've had a little time to throw some primer on it to get a sense of how its going. I think it looks okay but I think Im going to increase the side vent to cover more area because right now it just looks a little too blank. Or maybe yall could give me a suggestion of something to put there.




For the outer layer, I just havent made up my mind. Monday Im gonna order some smooth on 65D and play around with it.

til then questions, comments and suggestions are always welcome.

 

[TheGoblin]

The smooth cast seems like a good idea although resin might work too. For the side vents things maybe you could but in some led's or something.

 

[dishabille]

ive asked around and everyone has agreed resin will melt my foam so im gonna try smooth-on on a test piece and if it can build a solid piece ill order more and get to work coating this bitch.

 

[Sri LanKING]

I don't know if you've thought about it but have you heard of epoxy resin? I'm not sure if it'll work or you could try plastic coating

 

[dishabille]

yea i use epoxy all the time for fixing broken pieces around the house or on my truck but that wouldnt really fill the holes. im gonna try and smooth out all the bumps that have formed and grind them with a dremel then put a layer of foamies on top to see if thatll fix the gaps and popped bubbles of the styrofoam. then ill test the smooth-on and see where it takes me.

 

[Sri LanKING]

apparently epoxy will harden it and act as fibreglass resin so you can bono on top of it

 

[shotgun rumble]

o and they have plastidip everywhere! home depo, lowes, ace hardware!

 

[dishabille]

Update

So i was bored today and went and bought some foamies to play around and see what kind of detailing I could add to the helmet. I went to the a fabric store first and found some with sticky backs and holy crap they are awesome! If you haven't tried these they make detailing so much easier, you just cut it how you want then peel off the backing and stick. The glue on the back is really strong too so there's no need to worry about it falling off if you take a week or so on hiatus.

Anyways here's the good stuff:

In this pic you can see I did some more grinding, one of the fins up the center was skewed and the valley was bumpy. I also tried out the epoxy resin idea but i havent sanded it yet. It was a high of 100F not including humidity so being outside was a pain in the ass.



Here Ive got some of the foamies on, trying for the Halo 4 Chief look but my helm is much different than his. (the lights are further back, and the visor is a million times better)



Ive added quite a few pieces now and you can get an overall sense of what itll look like.




Hopefully once I finish the nose piece and a couple more details in foamies done i can start back on trying to smooth this damn thing.

As always questions, comments and suggestions are welcome.

 

[dishabille]

small update but kick ass nonetheless!

I called my local motorcycle dealership today to look into getting a couple chrome mirror finished shields(which is apparently the correct name for eye protection, who knew) and they said they had a ton in stock and since I wasn't sure what I was looking for to just come down and we'd figure it out. I get there and show the guy the style I like, just a full faced helmet, and he brought back your normal clear face shield. It was right so I asked about a chrome mirror and he brought out these two.



So i grab the better of the two and ask "How much?" "Nothing" is what he says, "For both?" "Yeah I cant sell 'em. Good luck with the suit." And I took off with both in hand. I was giddy, a full grown man giddy because of free stuff. haha

Moral of the story be nice and good things happen. I was afraid they were gonna be $20 each but walked away without spending a dime.
Now I just gotta figure out how to get the old goggles out and put this shield in. And since I was given two I might double it up to create more of a mirror since just one is kinda see through. Any thoughts?



this pic shows the two shields doubled up to make it darker.

 

[Frankyboy440]

I love the build so far! Lucky that you got them for free! XD
I think the 2 together looks best. makes it harder to see through.

Notice: I have no expertise in visor stuff. it's just what I think

 

[dishabille]

Update!

After much deliberation and sweating I decided to pull the old goggle look and throw in the "new" shields I got. Taking the goggles out was a ginormous pain in my ass and ended up breaking some of the styrofoam but I think it might be for the best since I have to cut into that area anyway.




here you can see where the breakage occurred but it looks worse than it really is and I hope it doesnt set me back.

I wanted a test fit of the shield and snapped a couple pics. I will end up trimming the nose piece down and adding details at a later date.




Ive bought some new gadgets Ill be using on this build and in my future builds as well. I got a mouse sander to help cut time and a couple new dremel bits to speed cutting things.

As always any questions, comments, and suggestions are welcome.

 

[dishabille]

Update! No pics though.

Ive spent some time on the helmet in between finals and speeches and whatnot. I had to remove a ton of the existing mask underneath to get the shield to fit properly but after about two hours and a lot of sanding I got it to fit decently. I will be doing a two layered shield to make it less see through and there are a few gaps I need to fill in with some epoxy putty just wish it had a longer working life.

 

[dishabille]

MAJOR UPDATE!!

Okay so I had to take some time off due to graduating college but Im back at it. I was able to get the shield in with some epoxy putty from home depot, it has a 25 min work life and hardens over night(thank you lady at hobby lobby for telling me to go to home depot). I was also able to do some more detail work, the design under the visor and around the temple areas is all done. A second coat of epoxy was applied and will get sanded tomorrow in between packing(moving to Fort Worth). I sure hope yall are paying attention to how royally I screwed up and arent making the same mistakes.

Anyways, heres what yall are here for...







Im not sure if Ill cut the vents into the chin or not really just depends on the time factor.



...and finally I cut the opening so itll fit on my ginormous head! Never thought Id see the day Id get to wear it. The shield works really well but still isnt as opaque as Id like but that should get fixed once I add the second shield and get the screws in place.

let me know what you think.

Dishabille