odst visor help

[Shadow the ODST]

been about 4 years since i have been on this website so a bit rusty on how everything works.

for the past 4 years i have been trying to make an odst helmet but things like education, work, helping my mum, bloody body filling the helmet (body filler, sand,body filler, sand for the 4 years) and a lack of enthusiasm/motivation have resulted in the helmet taking this long and i want to finish this helmet as i have sunken so many hours and even tears into making it but it feels like bit of a chore now.

i have finally got to the visor stage and i am completely stumped. i have been looking through hundreds of treads, tutorials and even etsy but some are not detailed enough for me as i find step by step or photos to help me the most and i am not sure which method to go for.

i don't have a vacuum former or 3d printer and i don't want to spend money on equipment i will use once. same for making a cheap former.

all the etsy based stuff in in the usa and shipping to the uk is a bit hefty in price.

i would like it so you can't see into the helmet (i am a bit self conscious)

i have the pep file for the helmet and can easily just print out the visor part.

ideally i would like to have the crisp edges down the middle of the visor like in the game but will settle for more curvy visor deign.

sorry if this is a bit long and has been a bit too back story-ish or has been posted in the wrong area but i would really appreciate some help/pointer to steer me in the right direction of how to make the visor.

thanks in advance

 

[xXDashIVXx]

been about 4 years since i have been on this website so a bit rusty on how everything works.

for the past 4 years i have been trying to make an odst helmet but things like education, work, helping my mum, bloody body filling the helmet (body filler, sand,body filler, sand for the 4 years) and a lack of enthusiasm/motivation have resulted in the helmet taking this long and i want to finish this helmet as i have sunken so many hours and even tears into making it but it feels like bit of a chore now.

i have finally got to the visor stage and i am completely stumped. i have been looking through hundreds of treads, tutorials and even etsy but some are not detailed enough for me as i find step by step or photos to help me the most and i am not sure which method to go for.

i don't have a vacuum former or 3d printer and i don't want to spend money on equipment i will use once. same for making a cheap former.

all the etsy based stuff in in the usa and shipping to the uk is a bit hefty in price.

i would like it so you can't see into the helmet (i am a bit self conscious)

i have the pep file for the helmet and can easily just print out the visor part.

ideally i would like to have the crisp edges down the middle of the visor like in the game but will settle for more curvy visor deign.

sorry if this is a bit long and has been a bit too back story-ish or has been posted in the wrong area but i would really appreciate some help/pointer to steer me in the right direction of how to make the visor.

thanks in advance

What color visor are you going for? In a situation like this, your best bet would to purchase one of the ones of of etsy, but I know they are pretty pricey already. There are some substitutes you can do for a homemade visor cheap and easy, but they will not get you the detail and shape you want to strive for. Maybe as a substitute you can find some thin transparent plastic like a bi der divider and print the pepakura file onto that, then cut it out with the tabs and all. Then glue some friction form window tinting over that and assemble as if it was a regular pepakura file? It should work, but there may be a small chance you will still see the tabs through the tint, and it wont be as sturdy.

 

[Shadow the ODST]

What color visor are you going for? In a situation like this, your best bet would to purchase one of the ones of of etsy, but I know they are pretty pricey already. There are some substitutes you can do for a homemade visor cheap and easy, but they will not get you the detail and shape you want to strive for. Maybe as a substitute you can find some thin transparent plastic like a bi der divider and print the pepakura file onto that, then cut it out with the tabs and all. Then glue some friction form window tinting over that and assemble as if it was a regular pepakura file? It should work, but there may be a small chance you will still see the tabs through the tint, and it wont be as sturdy.

not quite sure on the visor colour, the helmet colour scheme is black and red (my 405th avatar is what my helmet looks like at the moment) and i am not sure what would suit the helmet without being too garish.

i looked at an etsy pre-made visor and just delivery to the uk was £57.69! so sadly that's not an option.

i know an art shop that sells plastic sheet that would a bit thinker than binder which might help in strength and maybe hold a shape. by this point i would not mind if the tabs can be partly seen but some tutorials mention using a mirror film, if i decided to go for a silver/reflective visor maybe it would block out the tabs but it all is window sized but i guess i would not run out if i messed it up a few times

what colour visor would you think would suit the helmet? red, black, grey, mirrored or mirrored coloured

 

[xXDashIVXx]

not quite sure on the visor colour, the helmet colour scheme is black and red (my 405th avatar is what my helmet looks like at the moment) and i am not sure what would suit the helmet without being too garish.

i looked at an etsy pre-made visor and just delivery to the uk was £57.69! so sadly that's not an option.

i know an art shop that sells plastic sheet that would a bit thinker than binder which might help in strength and maybe hold a shape. by this point i would not mind if the tabs can be partly seen but some tutorials mention using a mirror film, if i decided to go for a silver/reflective visor maybe it would block out the tabs but it all is window sized but i guess i would not run out if i messed it up a few times

what colour visor would you think would suit the helmet? red, black, grey, mirrored or mirrored coloured

Oh geez... really it's up to you, but I am a stickler to having things flor or be detail oriented, so in my head I would do a black visor, but if you have more red detailing than that would work well, but I wouldnt use silver unless you have white/grey accents all over the suit. If you do go this route, please tell us how it goes

Also, does amazon mark up shipping alot? I purchase mine from there and it worked great, but yet again, my visor wasnt a very complex shape and I dont know how well this stuff would work when being folded like pepakura over a plastic and iff it will need to be able to stretch to pull it off.

 

[Shadow the ODST]

Oh geez... really it's up to you, but I am a stickler to having things flor or be detail oriented, so in my head I would do a black visor, but if you have more red detailing than that would work well, but I wouldnt use silver unless you have white/grey accents all over the suit. If you do go this route, please tell us how it goes

Also, does amazon mark up shipping alot? I purchase mine from there and it worked great, but yet again, my visor wasnt a very complex shape and I dont know how well this stuff would work when being folded like pepakura over a plastic and iff it will need to be able to stretch to pull it off.

i might jump into halo reach spartan customisation and see what looks better black or red visor

amazons not too bad with shipping thankfully. yeah the odst visor is annoyingly complex compared to most visor designs. i have got some 1mm thick clear plastic now and once i settle on a colour i will look into which film to get and then experiment a bit on how to put it all together.

 

[TurboCharizard]

i might jump into halo reach spartan customisation and see what looks better black or red visor

amazons not too bad with shipping thankfully. yeah the odst visor is annoyingly complex compared to most visor designs. i have got some 1mm thick clear plastic now and once i settle on a colour i will look into which film to get and then experiment a bit on how to put it all together.

Visor film on wacky shapes like the ODST can be heckin tricky to get everything to sit smooth to the surface. Have you looked at using a synthetics dye to avoid the dreaded wrinkles and creases of film?

 

[Kusak3]

well complex issue. The visor on my avatar image is actually 2 pieces to semi get the correct look. with window tint film to make it black. and that helmet is my old pep bondo one. Because of the curved shape of the visor the tint film is nearly impossible to get to lay flat. At least it exceeded my patience level. These days I rock a 3d printed Rookie ODST or a Dutch ODST depending on my mood. and the visor for the rookie is just a motor cycle visor does not have the signature ODST shape. The one on my Dutch is a Vaccum formed visor that I did from a visor buck that came with my 3d models for both helmets. I just havent had the time to pull a visor for my rookie. My visor is tinted black with poly I Dye. In the greater picture you are only going to capture so much detail on a vaccum formed visor. I have a highly detailed buck but the complex groove line just simply will not pull.

One of the issues you will face with ordering a visor is will it actually fit your helmet. If you did any sizing changes to your helmet it most likely will not fit. I have 3d printed several helmets one of them in the standard sizing and I know for a fact that Sean Bradley's visors will not fit in that helmet, His visor is standard sized for his helmet designs. And dont get me wrong he makes a beautiful visor. Originally I had planned on going to him to get visors for any helmets I sold to people but when I found out that his visor wouldnt fit a helmet I had printed shot that idea in the foot.

 

[Shadow the ODST]

Visor film on wacky shapes like the ODST can be heckin tricky to get everything to sit smooth to the surface. Have you looked at using a synthetics dye to avoid the dreaded wrinkles and creases of film?

never herd of that method, ive only had old 405th forum posts to go off on and none have mentioned dyes but if it will make my life easier then i will look into it. thanks

 

[Shadow the ODST]

well complex issue. The visor on my avatar image is actually 2 pieces to semi get the correct look. with window tint film to make it black. and that helmet is my old pep bondo one. Because of the curved shape of the visor the tint film is nearly impossible to get to lay flat. At least it exceeded my patience level. These days I rock a 3d printed Rookie ODST or a Dutch ODST depending on my mood. and the visor for the rookie is just a motor cycle visor does not have the signature ODST shape. The one on my Dutch is a Vaccum formed visor that I did from a visor buck that came with my 3d models for both helmets. I just havent had the time to pull a visor for my rookie. My visor is tinted black with poly I Dye. In the greater picture you are only going to capture so much detail on a vaccum formed visor. I have a highly detailed buck but the complex groove line just simply will not pull.

One of the issues you will face with ordering a visor is will it actually fit your helmet. If you did any sizing changes to your helmet it most likely will not fit. I have 3d printed several helmets one of them in the standard sizing and I know for a fact that Sean Bradley's visors will not fit in that helmet, His visor is standard sized for his helmet designs. And dont get me wrong he makes a beautiful visor. Originally I had planned on going to him to get visors for any helmets I sold to people but when I found out that his visor wouldnt fit a helmet I had printed shot that idea in the foot.

i have looked into a motorcycle visor as apparently if you use a heat gun on the inside you can bend it to make it a bit closer to the odst visor shape and you can cut into different parts, mold to rough shape then glue back together but i feel like that would be a lot more complex construction then using 1mm plastic and would not have much margin of error.

another reason why i would not be buying a pre-formed visor, spending all that money for it not to fit but mainly because they are bloody expensive as i would have to ship from america and if buying an l85a2 ris for my airsoft gun has taught me getting stuff from america is a pain due to customs and how useless they are.

 

[TurboCharizard]

never herd of that method, ive only had old 405th forum posts to go off on and none have mentioned dyes but if it will make my life easier then i will look into it. thanks

It's actually really easy and gets some excellent effects.

Complex Form Visors Done Cheap

I get a lot of requests to help build helmets and because of it I wanted to develop a relatively quick and painless approach to making one-off visors that look good and don't break the bank. If everything just used a standard motorcycle visor that'd be awesome but we're not so lucky in the world...

www.405th.com

 

[Shadow the ODST]

so i decided to go with a black visor as it looked better with the overall colour scheme and after buying some headlight tint film started to experiment and practice to see the results before i go any further.

the flat piece i plan to try and bend once i have let the glue set and see if the film can handle being bent a bit. the other pieces were to test how it fairs at a curved and uneven surface and it has turned out fairly well (especially seeing the scrap visor is really warped)

now comes the question of how to assemble it all. one idea is to cover flat plastic with tint then cut/bend the tinted plastic into the visor shape

or

assemble the plastic into the visor then cut the tinting film into 3 separate pieces which are cut to the shape of the top, middle and bottom sections of the helmet as i know getting one big piece of tint film and trying to get it to cover the whole visor would be impossible to do without bubbles and crease especially on the middle section that create the uneven shape of the visor as i assume that's ware most of the problems arise.

 

[Punk odst]

If you’re still looking for a visor I have a red mirrored ODST visor I don’t use any more is more than happily sell to you for like 10$ and ship it to you

 

[Shadow the ODST]

If you’re still looking for a visor I have a red mirrored ODST visor I don’t use any more is more than happily sell to you for like 10$ and ship it to you

well for now everything is going well in making a visor so for now i don't need one but if my current attempt goes to hell and i get fed up trying to make one then i might take you up on your offer but for now i am good thanks anyway though.

 

[Shadow the ODST]

this is the current status of the visor. i am quite happy with how well the folds in the middle turned out and it fits well in the helmet, a bit of sanding on parts of the helmet to help it fit as the pep helmet had a more curved visor than the one i have made but now i have to join all the pieces together which might be a challenge as the middle part is a modified version of the pep file so fingers crossed

 

[Walshy]

Can I ask for an update on this? Im in the exact same position and would love to see the result <--- 1st Comment on this website btw

 

[Shadow the ODST]

Can I ask for an update on this? Im in the exact same position and would love to see the result <--- 1st Comment on this website btw

thanks for the comment as tbh i completely forgot about this.

so here's an over due update on the visor. trying to join the lower and upper parts of the visor was a long and annoying process of failed attempts. i started with using off cuts and plastic glue bought from the local warhammer store to join the lower and upper.

then started the huge issue of trying to figure out how to fill in the gap. i slipped paper into the gap and tried to trace the gap with a pencil which had mixed results and used that as a template to cut out the pieces needed

then i started cutting out pieces of plastic to fit the gap however it was did not look very good and was not really working so i abandoned that design (for now)

i decided to make a new design that was based on the original pepakura design, so all i had to do was fold them into place but bending plastic with a tint film is impossible without damaging the visor and the upper visor cracked while bending.

after being very disheartened by another failed attempt i decided to go back to the previous visor and once again attempt to fill the gaps. thankfully i realised that even if the plastic pieces between upper and lower visor look horrible they would be hidden by the tinting film. so once i had everything glued (with gorilla super glue) together i went onto the very tricky part of using the tinting film to cover up the middle sections of plastic.

as you can see in this picture it looks very messy especially thanks to my attempt at hot gluing the visor in place which was a challenge in itself.

however from the outside it looks much better

and here's the 99% finished result. i am thinking about putting lights in at some point in order to mimic the in game helmet which can go from tinted to see through also it needs some cleaning up as i have moved onto the pistol so its been gathering dust.

also i few tips:

using gorilla glue is better than the war hammer glue as the war hammer glue does not work well with the type of plastic and dries slowly however gorilla super glue leaves a white mess so if you use it make sure you use as little as you can within reason as once it lands on the plastic its not coming off again trust me.

i found that using surgical spirit does a really good job of cleaning of any gunk like left over war hammer glue.

remember it does not have to look perfect. i got all worked up and demoralised to work on it because it did not look perfect in my eye however people won't be looking at you helmet up close so just have fun making it.