Elumusic

We built a 24"x24"x30" tall printer. And we attempted the same. First of all, the only way you are going to be able to ever do this is with an endless supply of filament. It is going to take so much filament to do this for the larger pieces, back and chest plate. We successfully produced a portion of a Boba Fett helmet in pieces and glued it together and are now making a mold from it. The other problem is it has to be thicker than the HIPS or ABS and then it get's heavy. All kinds of problems associated with using a 3d printer to make armor. In my opinion it will never be feasible. Not to mention a 3D printer does not print smooth, no matter the setting.

Finished pulling the new V2 helmets this weekend. I will assemble them next weekend and then start the painting process. I am super stoked about the tweeks. Stay tuned. I'll start a new thread.

I'll be screwing around with some plaster molds here soon and will do exactly what Walt recommends.

yeah...the camera blows the top one into the upper perspective and lower one into a low perspective. It's true. The only change is the frown and tubes.

The room temperature is exactly what I have an issue with. 61 degrees outside working in a non heated space. Eventually the space came up to temp with the oven and then everything worked great. So I need to combat the problem with more heat....either that or just wait till we get some more 70 degree weather in a couple of weeks. Not to mention I think I gassed myself out being in the space with the melted plastic fumes. Here is a shot of the new pull vs the old one. The top is the new.

Thanks. I have a few more weeks before I'll have something to assemble. I am adding additional heat coils to the heating table to melt the plastic a little faster. Right now it takes about 10 minutes to heat the plastic. Longer if the ambient temperature is below 70 degrees. I need it to take about 4. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Weekend update. I got the face to pull with a small learning curve on the .093 HIPS I used this time around. It was a chore to pull off the mold. But the helmets did not fair as well. Unfortunately I could not get the polystyrene to pull off the mold. Because of the thicker HIPS and the deeper bell, and the reveal under the bell being too far back the HIPS would not come over the bell. It was so locked on I had to rip the HIPS off the mold in pieces. Bummer. No big deal. I will need to modify the mold just a hair to get that reveal to be a shorter distance from the bottom of the bell. I know it will work. Just need to be patient. So for your measurement question Vern... Here is what I have. Top of eye line to top of frown ~2.5" Top of frown (upper lip) to vocoder ~2 5/8" frown width at center top lip to bottom lip ~7/8" eye height top of eye line to lowest point on eye ~1 3/8"

I will do that Vern. I have to add that I increased the frown size (made the teeth a little longer) I took it off the bottom of the frown toward the vocoder. Made a huge difference. I also smoothed out the dome to get rid of the bumps. It's very smooth now. I ordered some HIPS to try out the new molds. My only concern is the bell size and releasing the helmet from the mold without issue. I may need to increase the return under the bell so that there is less surface to pull over the bell.

I finished the mold modifications this weekend. Larger tubes and a little deeper bell shape on the back. And of course I had to modify the ear buds to fit the changes. I made them a little smaller as well. Ready to pull some more helmets.

Next one in lime green. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks guys. It is much appreciated.

I finally finished my first day of the dead helmet. I haven't completed the base yet, it still needs paint. The stands were produced by Eric. His page is here if anyone is interested in purchasing one for themselves. I had these rose bases custom made: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/15215-helmet-stands/#entry184501. And if you are interested in what it took to get from nothing to here, you can find my mold build and vacuum mold assembly here: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/27185-albuquerque-storm-trooper-helmet-mold/. I'm not exactly sure what the plan is yet. My first thought is to make about 5 of these in different colors and designs and put them in a gallery and accompany them with photographs of female models wearing them in ball gowns and lingerie, but I have had a few requests to sell them outright. We shall see how this progresses and how much energy I have.

And just my two cents. A pep model is a computer based model printed and assembled by an individual. I customized my pep model because I didn't like what I found. The model was free to use and open sourced. Open source pretty much means you can do whatever you want with it as long as you don't limit others of the same use or sell the pep model. And once you put bondo on a pep model the model's dimensions are now changed. The pep model is only a base for a sculpt. The sculpt itself is still original. In fact I am tweeking the sculpt once again to fit my tastes and to incorporate some of the comments I have gotten from Vern and others. It is my own. It is original. But the actual shape of the design is owned by Lucas. It is a fan sculpt remake of a copyrighted design. I don't consider it a re-cast. And what I do sell is only for 501st members or those who support the cause. Bottom line: I am not a re-caster. The pep model was free and open source, my sculpt is my interpretation of the original form created from the ground up. So I disagree that those who sell should be labeled re-casters. The statement is too broad.

That's a good tip. I'll keep that in mind my next go around.

A few more pics. I am also going to drop the bottom edge of the frown about a cm. More to come.

A little more work on the mold this weekend. I'm going to extend the bell a little as well as the side tubes. Based on some side by side comparisons with movie photos I want to make the tubes extend out a little more. I've also smoothed the helmet a little more. Here is pass #1.

Finally got the vacuum former off the back patio and into my storage shed. This spring I will be adding on to the shed so I can have a home for the vacuum former that will double as a work shop for this kind of stuff. I plan on doing a few smoothing passes on the helmet...and I still haven't made one for myself yet.

I put a clear gloss coat of laquer on my HIPS helmets and they look perfect. If it get's a scratch and you have painted it white, the scratch will show. Just sayin'

I'm going to send Vern a finished helmet so that he can do a side by side comparison with three other helmets. It will be cool to see.

I can do that Vern...but I need to make a helmet for myself first. I'm hoping in the next couple of weeks.

My next two helmets are complete.

Right on brotha! looks great.

I want to follow it, wherever you go to post Walt.

Let me know what you figure out. I'd like to know if you see something that I haven't already noticed. I have a list going of things that I know of.

I have learned a lot about both types. HIPS is by far easier. But to be honest, you don't need to paint it white. A clear Laquer coat over it prior to painting details makes it just as shiny as ABS without a doubt. It flexes better that ABS and if something goes awry, you can sand it and re-spray it.