garydavis8 Posted March 22, 2015 Report Share Posted March 22, 2015 Hi guys So Im really pleased to be on this forum and have already had some great advice. Have a ATA kit on order( going to be a long ten months, but worth it). As like many noobs I dabbled on ebay before finding this great site but I always look at a negative as a chance to do a positive. I 'won' a helmet on ebay just as I found this site and having received it thought it would be a good chance to test my hand before getting my ATA kit. Especially as I have never worked with this type of plastic before. This is the kit I received My first impression is that the hips was very thin in some places ie by the mics, almost put my finger straight through it. Plus the grooves on the mouth were not apparent, I used the decale as a guide in the end. Plus it was already trimmed in certain places (eyes sides) but not in others. I had looked forward to trying my hand at this Despite this it was a piece of kit I could play with, using tk4510 videos as a guide( they are fantastic) I started detailing only to my horror realise the rear of the helmet seemed too small, maybe Im a noob but after checking, rechecking etc etc I could not not get the top and the bottom to match up without a glaring gap at the bottom. Remembering this was just a test piece and after sleeping on it I decided to make the best of it, cheating a little( a looooooottt) and figuring the ears would cover it I sped on, firgetting the screw at the bittom would go into nothing. But managed to line it up mostly by using some spare plastic from old toys to put behind as an anchor. Unfortunately as it moved/ moves so much I could not shape the ears to the detail I wanted (plus I really couldn't find the line that for me should have been more evident when cutting the ears ( I may go back and sort this or as Ive worked with resin etc in the past fill in the gaps as Im not sure the plastic will take too much screwing/unscrewing as the holes are really close to the edge of the back plate due to it being over trimmed. Anyway as a first try with for me I think I haven't done too bad but would love any and all advice for my future project. Ps Im waiting on paint to correct certain bits ears, mouth etc and have since received my screen accurate green lenses but will probably keep these for my real bucket. Oh and I haven't shown the inside as its just a mess of foam and tape at the moment. Im going to test different things to make it comfortable to wear, including the hardhat method that looks fun. So here it is until I get my paint, all comments/advice welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gazmosis[501st] Posted March 22, 2015 Report Share Posted March 22, 2015 Well, I you can chalk this up to good practice. Your ATA kit that you will receive will be similar in many respects. The face will be different with more tooth dents and your dome will be a bit more bumpy but the construction will be similar. I suggest for your next build, that you get yourself a Dremel tool with a sanding drum. This will help you micro tune the fit of the ears with control. You will need to trim out more details but they will be better defined and outlined. There will be mold lines present on the ears, but don't follow those as they might differ slightly from the final position of your helmet. Sneak UP TO those mold lines according to the fit on your helmet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garydavis8 Posted March 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2015 Thanks Gazmosis I have actually bought my first dremel and will try out the sanding feature before letting loose on the ATA kit( used the drill feature and almost pierced my living room table ) Ive seen your advice on other threads and have some of it noted down started a little bucket note book. Im looking at trying an e11 home build but also have a email notice for doopydoo just in case. Im going to do the fabric belt myself( old hand at sewing after doing my rebel legion jedi costume) as I want to get ahead whenever possible. I also think I may do the holster myself Do you know the dimensions or where I might find them? I can probably do it myself once I make/buy the E11 but hard facts make it a lot easier. I'll finish by thanking you again because Im sure I'll have lots of questions in the future, I love this hobby but I think It brings out my ocd, got to remember to take a break next time to take a few more photos. Gazza D "A dark man with a light heart, one very confused jedi." Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garydavis8 Posted March 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2015 Oh Gazmosis one last question, are all helmets so claustrophobic? Ive seen the stuff other people have put in theirs and apart from a bit of foam mine is quiet tight, so tight in fact I have to squeeze the sides in to get my nose in! Ive measured the dimensions at the bottom where my head goes in and it's 26cm wide (10.2") and 18cm long (7"). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Locitus[Admin] Posted March 22, 2015 Report Share Posted March 22, 2015 mine is quiet tight, so tight in fact I have to squeeze the sides in to get my nose in!Are you turning it sideways before putting it on? You need to do that and twist it back once it's on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garydavis8 Posted March 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2015 Thanks Locitus I actually didnt know that, ( amazingly in all the threads vids etc Ive watched Ive never heard that ) even doing that I find it a little snug on the nose maybe I just have a big hooter Gazza D "A dark man with a light heart, one very confused jedi." Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russellr2d2[TK] Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 Sand the ears to final shape. It's slow and the folded sandpaper will give you a smooth line. Sand / check / sand / check and so on. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russellr2d2[TK] Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 (edited) . Edited March 23, 2015 by russellr2d2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bone[TK] Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 Because it hasn't been mentioned before, I will do that: On your next helmet, don't dremel out so much material from the teeth. The teeth should have a bit of a thickness, meaning they should have somewhat of a return edge. Take a look in the reference picture section to see what I'm talking about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garydavis8 Posted April 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2015 So As I said I wanted to work more on this bucket to test out a lot of things I saw on the website, first thing I did was sand the ears, they're better but because the helmet arrived trimmed too short and theres space at the bottom each time I correct it it never goes back exactly the same and some of the plastic is a little brittle. I did paint the ear pieces but as I didnt want to risk taking them off yet again it was a pain in the @@@@ to do, they came out ok Gazza D "A dark man with a light heart, one very confused jedi." Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garydavis8 Posted April 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2015 Gazza D "A dark man with a light heart, one very confused jedi." Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garydavis8 Posted April 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2015 Whoops still have to paint the screws white! Gazza D "A dark man with a light heart, one very confused jedi." Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garydavis8 Posted April 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2015 (edited) I also painted the teeth decals as they were a bit lacking and put the mesh behind them, apparently the photo wont upload will try again later Gazza D "A dark man with a light heart, one very confused jedi." Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Edited April 7, 2015 by garydavis8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garydavis8 Posted April 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2015 Next came the inside, wanted to do the whole cotton mesh thing but decided to go with a pva glue water mix as in some areas the plastic is a little thin and felt this might strenghen it a bit, just before doing this I added the 'hard hat attachements to add the support in later. Gazza D "A dark man with a light heart, one very confused jedi." Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garydavis8 Posted April 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2015 (edited) Ok there are other photos but for some reason some are too big no matter what I do! Time for a break I think. Anyway after two coats plus painting the support black I was quite pleased but in putting the hard hat support in some of the paint came off so I will have to give it a last coat to get it 100 percent(ocd). Looks much better especially around the bottom of the ears where you no longer see the gap. I also tried something from another thread putting a bit of plastic pipe in the bottom which looks pretty good, just a few last bits to do, paint screws white, repaint black parts which I scratched and put in velcro for the piping ( so as I remove if I change my mind) and for the padding at the side. I have to say that I think its not come out too bad in the end, my son loves it calling it his helmet so thats cool as Im looking forward to getting my hands on the my ATA bucket and kit some time in the future. Just wondering how the hell I could fit in a fan(s) and microphone/sound effect system in this bucket or any as there really doesnt seem to be much/any space, ah well that's part of the fun Gazza D "A dark man with a light heart, one very confused jedi." Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Edited April 7, 2015 by garydavis8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garydavis8 Posted April 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2015 Oh thanks for the advise bones, I actually didnt dremmel the teeth it's all done by my craft knife, I did go back and clean it up a bit but as I said before the detail on this bucket around the teeth area was pretty poor and I tried to use the minute ridges it had, still good practice for a decent bucket to come. Ps has anyone else tried the pvc cheesecloth solution? If so which is better more practical? As this one is more than likely going to be a model and/or a plaything for my son I decided to go with the pva, but Im not sure if it would stand up to trooping? Gazza D "A dark man with a light heart, one very confused jedi." Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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