My Hayabusa Helmet/ Armor Thread

[sirblood]

pick up a couple cans of resin... that's how heavy it will be... A lot of people have tried expanding foam, but its risky business as you have a 50-50 chance of it ripping your gun apart... You will want the barrel to be a wooden dowel though

My new armor is getting kinda heavy I'm guessing yours will as well... I'm super reinforcing my chest piece though...

I hope your luck with snaps works out better than my past experience with them. My 1st suit was a westerfield and I tried using snaps on the belt, ended up drilling them out and used industrial velcro instead. industrial velcro sticks to dried and unpainted resin like super glue.

 

[Roxas 56]

Is there something lighter to pour in them? That would be a little awkward to carry through a convention.

 

[Roxas 56]

If anyone on this site lives near the Pittsburgh area, I'll be wearing my armor to Tekkoshocon which is an anime convention at the David L Lawrence Convention Center held April 3-5. I'm not sure which day I'm going to go yet probably the 4th. I'm showing off my armor here cause comic-con is not even close to me and I make minimum wage so I'm poor. And if I can find a way to get my armor on a plane, I'll be wearing it at Anime Boston in Boston, Massachusetts as well. Let me know so I know to look for you!


On another point, I sanded my my helmet with my dremel today and I'm going to get primer and paint started this week. Keep watching for updates!

 

[Twisting Neather]

I'm looking forward to seeing how it turned out.

 

[box o crayons]

use expanding foam and leave the butt stock open all the foam will just poar out the end and leave your gun perfect of course put a resin coat on to be safe but when finished just trim the foam and put a end cap of cloth on the end then detail

 

[Iceman29]

Very nice work Roxas!

Keep up the good work and looking forward to seeing more progress.

 

[sirblood]

Just a word of warning when flying with your armor... it can and will cost you a LOT to bring it with you. They now charge for over sized luggage and overweight luggage. Used to be 50 pounds for overweight, but I wouldn't be surprised if they lowered that since they reduced the amount of luggage you can bring...

Your best bet is to pack as light as you possibly can and put it in your carry on. Use your armor as your 'luggage'. If you get the largest sized suit case you can find, it will only hold most of your armor, but I would suggest bubble wrap as padding to protect it from the major abuse it will get on the conveyor belts... just line the outer part of the suit case and maybe use some to prevent rubbing damage on the armor... unwanted chips.

When it comes to making everything on your armor as smooth as possible, you will want to avoid relying totally on the dremel... a sanding block really works good for that... the most course sand paper you can find if possible, and a finer one when you get the general shape... A little trick... you can hide accidental nicks from your dremel as battle damage... it should look perfect once you get the knack for painting the battle damage.

 

[Roxas 56]

use expanding foam and leave the butt stock open all the foam will just poar out the end and leave your gun perfect of course put a resin coat on to be safe but when finished just trim the foam and put a end cap of cloth on the end then detail

Thanks for the help! I there a certain kind of expanding foam that works best and how much does that stuff go for?

 

[Rhith]

I sent you a PM Roxas, but I was wondering if you scaled your helmet at all and to what number. Looks great! My build of the helmet is coming along but I think my attempt to scale it made it too small.

 

[box o crayons]

i just picked up a can of great stuff expanding foam and it was 7 dollars and thats the best stuff it will probably take 1-2 cans though so just buy one to start because im not sure how much you need

 

[Roxas 56]

I finished peping the right fore arm piece and I was wondering what a good method for getting it on and off would be since I can't have it fit snug and keep it in one piece.

 

[Achille]

Do you mean it's too loose and slips off your arm? After you've finished it, throw a bit of padding inside of it, that should keep it on. Or (if you want to keep it on while it is still just paper), wear a loose sweatshirt, the sweatshirt simulates the padding it has when it's finished.

 

[sirblood]

You are welcome to use my method.

Pick up a long roll of Industrial Velcro, I know they sell it at Wal-mart for around $20. Now you will make a wrist strap and have the back attached to the inside of the forearm. You won't want too much of an overlap, because it would increase your wrist diameter, thus making it more difficult to put the forearm armor on.

You make the wrist strap by taking a strip of the soft Velcro for one side, and stick the same length of the rough side to the other side. The result is a strip that when wrapped around something, sticks to itself. You will want the soft side facing your wrist. (you stick the glue side of 1 to the glue side of the other one)

There's a couple different methods for attaching the strap to the inside of the forearm armor.
1) couple strips of Velcro. That way when you pull the armor off , the wrist strap will stay on, but the Velcro attachment will come loose. This is the way I would suggest. What I am doing is applying a strip of the rough Velcro all the way around the bottom opening. The top part you can keep in place with foam.

2) you attach the wrist strap to the inside of the forearm armor, and make a finger hole at the bottom near the wrist to be able to stick 1 or 2 fingers in to get it on or off.

 

[Sven986]

Not bad! your helmet is coming along nicely! keep up the good work!

 

[Roxas 56]

Update!
Here are my security shoulders:

Hand Plates:

Here's my right arm piece. I haven't made the left one yet but you know what It's going to look like. I'm going to cut out the 2 blank sections on inside of the arm to make it fit my skinny girl arms better. After resin, I'm going to put a foam inside to make it fit secure.

This weekend I'll be finishing the resin on my chest piece and I'm starting the shoulders, so keep an eye out for another update next week.

 

[OrrionCarn]

You're whole suit is looking nice Roxas. Can't wait to see it when it's finished!

 

[Roxas 56]

I started working on the boot pieces and I have some questions about them.
Is it best to permanently attach them to a pair of shoes or make them removable and what's the best way to attach them?
How many layers of fiberglass should I put on them since they'll be hitting the ground?

 

[Roxas 56]

Yet another update.
Today the weather finally got up to 60 degrees so I was finally able to put a couple coats of primer on my hayabusa helmet.

The other day I stayed home from school cause I was sick and I built the right shin and boot piece.

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[sirblood]

A lot of people attach them to boots... but I prefer not to

With my old armor suit I found it best to have black running shoes and have the boot covers just sit on top of them. I would keep the shoes very loose so I could just slip them off and on fairly easily. Running shoes tend to be a lot more comfortable and when you will be standing for several hours you WILL want very comfortable shoes. Getting a pair of gel inserts wouldn't be a bad idea either.

My new armor's nearly complete calf armor has a piece of velcro attached to the back of the boot covers. keeps the calf piece from moving around and makes sure the boot cover can't lift up.

I also found out that you WILL want to have shoulder suspenders attached to your belt so help support the weight... thigh armor and the belt both attached to it... will pull it down otherwise... I have a plasma rifle attached to the belt via a thin Velcro strap that only serves to add more weight to the belt... lol.

You will need to put in a couple pieces of foam into the boot covers to lift them off the ground a little ways

 

[Roxas 56]

Update. I finished my helmet the other day. It has soft squishy foam on the inside and visor. I got the visor and from a toy police helmet at the party store for $2. I used my airbrush to paint to put pearlized white and silver on it. I loves it!