Tips and Tricks for making the Helmets

[sporgo]

The kittens are going to other homes so they are only temporary.

[:M3:]

[Volpin]

Finished blueprinting Thomas; should be starting the build on him soon. I tried going the pep route... but thats just not for me. Hopefully this one won't take 17 months...



Based mostly on the latest shots I could aquire from TRON and DJ Hero promos, I also used some screenshots from Electroma in the planning.

[foxymcfox]

Finished blueprinting Thomas; should be starting the build on him soon. I tried going the pep route... but thats just not for me. Hopefully this one won't take 17 months...

I said this on your Facebook page, but it bears repeating: That looks awesome!

The only thing you might want to look at are the small triangular pieces that bridge the space between the ears and the upper brim. I may be wrong, but from the top I don't think it should descend into the main helmet body at such a steep angle. That may be an issue of the helmet body being a tad too narrow...or maybe just a difference between versions I'm unaware of.

I was going to ask this over on your facebook page, but decided it might be better over here where other people might learn from it.

Since Thomas' helmet's front view doesn't cut through a single layer of the helmet (The widest points aren't all at the same depth from the front of the helmet) if you're using the method you used on your Guy helmet, how do you plan to work around that for that? Basically: Are you planning on following - more or less - the same method for Thomas as you did for Guy?

-Nick

[Volpin]

The only thing you might want to look at are the small triangular pieces that bridge the space between the ears and the upper brim.

...

Are you planning on following - more or less - the same method for Thomas as you did for Guy?

I see what you mean on those pieces. I was sort of blending as much as I could from the HAA and TRON variants (from the research I've done, they seem to be totally different versions) The visor area itself seems a tad narrower, which increases the angle of that part. This is probably something I'll need to figure out during sculpting though. I've also noticed there is a slight return angle on the inside lip of the rear part of the helmet I'll need to account for.

As for the building process, it will be different, but not by a huge degree. I won't be using expanding foam if I can help it. Essentially, I will be building the overall "dome" first, then once that shape is flowed out I'll add the visor elements and "chin" area. This will make more sense once I get into it.

I've also been looking at Guy's new helmet design, which also seems to be a radical departure from the established norm. I've started blueprinting that as well, but only have the profile done so far.

[foxymcfox]

IAs for the building process, it will be different, but not by a huge degree. I won't be using expanding foam if I can help it. Essentially, I will be building the overall "dome" first, then once that shape is flowed out I'll add the visor elements and "chin" area. This will make more sense once I get into it.

That makes sense. Hell, if you can build the dome and get the right shape for the visor, (Using a rigid profile to hold them in place) you'd just have to worry about the brims. (And the mouth and cheeks, but those are the least of your worries, I'm sure) And the upper and lower brims aren't anything some Apoxie Sculpt and Styrene can't handle.

Can't wait to see this progress. I have a 5 year head start on you, and something tells me you still might finish before I do. haha

Good Luck!

As to the new Guy design...I LOVE IT. It just seems so much more well balanced than the old version. Thanks for sharing your line drawings with us as you create them!

-Nick

[Akkazento]

/

quick question regarding the guyman helmet: which adhesive did you use to glue/stick the visor on the casts? and have you any tips how i could stick it to the inside of the helmet?

[Volpin]

quick question regarding the guyman helmet: which adhesive did you use to glue/stick the visor on the casts? and have you any tips how i could stick it to the inside of the helmet?

mine are actually attached to a lip on the helmet. I used 3M weatherstrip adhesive. For mounting to the inside of the helmet, I haven't gotten that far yet... I'll let you know when I do though.

[greygizmo]

Looks great.

3FN - any GuyM updates?

[ThreeFN]

Looks great.

3FN - any GuyM updates?

Plenty.

I've got some new images programmed in:

Light bulb:


Samus Aran Visor:


Very surprised the first one didn't make it's way into my brain. Second one came out of left field but seemed appropriate.

The rest has been EPIC CAD work:



Some of the changes you might be able to see in the image:

-Lower profile sub visor mounts. By changing the mounting axis to be parallel to the horizontal plane, The mounts intrude less into the 'important space' surrounding the sub visor and more into the 'wasted space' between the base ribbing.

-Redone LED recesses. Each LED should just slot in and have a consistent depth irrespective of the local curvature. This was an EPIC undertaking to say the least. Luckily I didn't have to do that 192 times (one half of 16x24=384) rather found a new tool I hadn't used that only meant I had to do the pattern 8 times.

-Mounting work for the video goggles. This is two parts, a 'gogholder' that holds the video goggles themselves, and some 'standoff shafts' that are part of the sub visor, which the holder then slots into.

-New Side light bars lighting system. My compatriot in insanity (from here on will be referred to as ThreeFF/3FF for 3Fn's Friend) pointed out that by using one rainbowduino to power the lightbars, I was using 1/6th the luminosity of the whole display to power about the same total area in the light bars. Not good. So instead, I'm using 48 shiftbrites at about 5-8 lumens a pop per color. Suckers will be viewable FROM SPACE. Auxiliary lights will still be driven off of the 7th rainbowduino.

-Holders/diffusers for the shiftbrites. Needless to say these need to be 3D printed and 3FF and I are still working on the details of these buggers. Things like material, thickness, post process treatment, etc.

Something you can't see:
-Pre-cut slot for inserting the hair wire. In the further pursuit of the axiom/spirit/insanity of this project, The slot is now sized to accept 2.5mm EL wire 'hair.' Lot of unknowns surround this right now, but it at least is available as an 'upgrade path' for the future without having to have the base completely redone.

as you can probably guess, that has been taking up the bulk of my time outside of work. Which also has been epic. We won the Grand Award for Security in Best of What's New in the December issue of Pop Sci.

3FF and I are hoping to get started on the LEDs (1.5k solder joints, give or take a few hundred) over the holidays. How close does this make us? I have absolutely no clue. But there is always progress.

I also did the CAD for the Thomas helmet group buy somewhere in there