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[Kurshi BeJahaal]

I finally got started on my buy'ce. So far so good, I think. Once I got rolling, it moved fairly quickly. I started with two 5 gallon buckets and a hard hat. I used the WOF templates found on the forum for my parts.

I started with these pieces and traced them on both buckets. I used snips to cut them out. (A dremel with a cutting wheel was later utilized to save me from blisters and hand cramps!)


I put the inner surface and visor together with tape and traced where my cheek pieces go. Then I cut them out.



After doing that, I screwed the trimmed hard hat to the visor/inner surface. I made sure to mark the center of the visor and dome so that I could get them lined up pretty closely before screwing them together.


After doing that. I began to fiddle with the cheeks. I found that by making a slight score with a utility knife I was able to see a line so I could bend the cheeks to help give me a crisp angle. i worked them slowly and carefully and then finally crimped them down with a pair of needle nose pliers. I then used hot glue to attach the straight side to the rest of the buy'ce. After gentle bending and shaping, I followed the curve and got them in. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.



I then added in the lower cheek parts. Same method was used. I also glued a little white piece at the bottom of the T visor to fix and fill the gap that was there. My beard sticking out made the buy'ce look a little small, but after tucking it into my shirt, I think it'll be okay.



So far, I think the size should be alright. I'm 6'2" and 190 and this is how the WOF template turned out for me. What do you guys and gals think? Am I heading in the right direction? Can I proceed with the bondo/sanding/bondo/more sanding step yet?  Any and all critique and advice will be welcomed!


The Small piece of plastic is hopefully going to keep the cheeks from moving forward through the small gap. (Will be fixed in bondo stage).

[mobcake]

I think that it looks a little bit long. The face structure seems spot on, I think that the problem is with how high you have the helmet placed. Usually the domes a Mando helmet are significantly shorter than that. Unless of course this fits your head, and if so, then it looks spot on. Just might have to smooth out the indentations with some bondo or other material so it's a smooth dome (unless you're keeping them). I might be wrong about the length so you should definitely hear a few opinions first

[Kurshi BeJahaal]

I think that it looks a little bit long. The face structure seems spot on, I think that the problem is with how high you have the helmet placed. Usually the domes a Mando helmet are significantly shorter than that. Unless of course this fits your head, and if so, then it looks spot on. Just might have to smooth out the indentations with some bondo or other material so it's a smooth dome (unless you're keeping them). I might be wrong about the length so you should definitely hear a few opinions first

Good thought. I didn't think about that until you pointed it out. I'm not completely locked in to this height yet. I could maybe drop it just a tiny bit. My eyes almost look perfectly through the visor though. If I do drop it a bit, I might only be able to move it about a half inch or so. Anyone else have thoughts on this?

EDIT: I DO plan on adding bondo around the rim where the hard hat and lower half meet. I hope it will help round it out a little more as I do think the dome looks a little too tall and narrow right now.

[Kurshi BeJahaal]

I decided to go ahead and fix my Homer Simpson looking dome. haha. 
I dropped the back of the hard had a few inches in to give it a better slope. It doesn't look anywhere near as tall now, so I feel better about how it is turning out. A big thank you to mobcake for pointing that out. So here's where I'm at now. Let me know what everyone thinks!

[Bowfanny]

Looks great to me and one thing to note is if you add earcaps then your helmet won't look so narrow and tall. For some reason that fixes some of the aesthetic whereas Mob already gave you the dome tip.

[Kurshi BeJahaal]

Looks great to me and one thing to note is if you add earcaps then your helmet won't look so narrow and tall. For some reason that fixes some of the aesthetic whereas Mob already gave you the dome tip.

That was something else that I was noticing. It definitely looks narrow. I had planned on one ear cap for sure, but might end up with two when it's all said and done. I can also maybe add a little wider bit of plastic in the back where I had my initial gap when cutting my inner surface. Thanks for the heads up, vod!

[mobcake]

Looking a lot better! I think that if you use bondo or something else to even out the dome with the big ridge in the middle of if, it will widen it too. The earcaps will definitely help though

[Kurshi BeJahaal]

Thanks mobcake! I'm hoping so too. As this is my first helmet build, I'm still trying to work out the kinks as they come up. Your input is definitely appreciated!

[Kurshi BeJahaal]

Alright, so more progress has been made! I used a hairdryer to heat the hardhat/dome while putting pressure on it to help get rid of the narrow look. While it cooled, I wedged it in between the couch and the wall to help it keep its shape.



I obviously need to cut out the visor area better, but that will happen in time. I kinda rigged up a rough ear cap that I made from several layers of scrap plastic from the buckets used to form the helmet. It'll be covered in bondo and sanded out. I've got my fingers crossed that it'll turn out halfway decent!



So then here is where I was before I added my first layer of bondo. I'm reaaaaaaally hoping that my buy'ce isn't too short. If need be, I can always add a little more plastic or material around the bottom to give it some more length.



And then here it is with the bondo smothering it. Man, that looks fun to sand out.



Mine is on the left, while my buddy's is on the right.

[mobcake]

Looks significantly better, vod! Great work!

[Kurshi BeJahaal]

Looks significantly better, vod! Great work!

Mobcake, you're the man! Thank you for everything so far! You've been a big help!

[mobcake]

My pleasure, vod. Very glad to be able to participate this community as they've helped me through so much for my kit so far. Anyway, I'm blown away about the details you've been able to achieve with the ear caps just by using the scrap pieces of plastic. That's some really impressive work, vod

[revanite]

Great job so far. Quick question. Did you use anything other than tape to stick the inner shell and outer shell together?  If so what did you use?

[Kurshi BeJahaal]

My pleasure, vod. Very glad to be able to participate this community as they've helped me through so much for my kit so far. Anyway, I'm blown away about the details you've been able to achieve with the ear caps just by using the scrap pieces of plastic. That's some really impressive work, vod

Thank you! I'm limited with funds and materials, so I just kinda have to make it work for right now. I feel like I should have waited to put the cap on after doing the bondo/sand phase. I'm hoping this won't cause any issues in the long run.

Great job so far. Quick question. Did you use anything other than tape to stick the inner shell and outer shell together?  If so what did you use?

Thank you! I held the inner and outer shells together with hot glue. I'm not sure how well it'll hold up in the end, but this is all a learning process for me so far. There are also screws holding the visor, inner shell and helmet together (as well as more hot glue) while the bondo dries. I've already found a few things I'd like to do differently next time, but it's been a fairly simple process so far. If I had more than just Sundays to work on this, I'd be further along by now.

[Kurshi BeJahaal]

I started sanding. Note to self and other shinies... EASY ON THE BONDO! The more you put on, the more you sand off! 



I also found a cap for a PVC pipe that I think I can utilize for part of an ear cap. I plan on putting a shortened antenna (think of an antenna from a wireless router) on it. It'll be modified and blended in a little better than just stuck on the side.

[Bowfanny]

Also a good tip when bondo is still soft but curing is use a razor blade or box knife blade and shave the high points down before its completly hard because you then save yourself quite a lot of sanding and you can clean up edges so they are square-ish without killing yourself with cutting the bondo when it's fully set. Those are my tips of the day!

[Kurshi BeJahaal]

Also a good tip when bondo is still soft but curing is use a razor blade or box knife blade and shave the high points down before its completly hard because you then save yourself quite a lot of sanding and you can clean up edges so they are square-ish without killing yourself with cutting the bondo when it's fully set. Those are my tips of the day!

This will be a life saver! All those little mountains and valleys are a pain in the fingers to sand down! Thank you!

[Bowfanny]

This will be a life saver! All those little mountains and valleys are a pain in the fingers to sand down! Thank you!

That's what we're here for Vod!

[Kurshi BeJahaal]

I've been worried that my buy'ce didn't cover enough of my neck. It wasn't explicitly mentioned that it was too short, but I have been thinking about it this whole time.  Here is where I started:




So I added 3/4 of an inch around the front and back to the ears. I plan on tapering the section by the ears towards the back. Is this addition to the front and back necessary? I'll be wearing a balaclava to hide my neck and obnoxiously long beard. But here's where I ended up. I'll be fixing the details with bondo, but I'm curious to hear what you guys have to add!




Sorry for the blurriness on the second picture. But let me know if this is better than where it was before! 

[mobcake]

I think it was a sound decision, vod. I hadn't noticed it befofe but once you pointed it out it definitely did look a tad short. Your additions look fine, just have to remember to cut the ends away so it looks like a smooth transition from the actual bucket to the additions (But I'm pretty sure you mentioned that already lol). Great job!

[Kurshi BeJahaal]

I think it was a sound decision, vod. I hadn't noticed it befofe but once you pointed it out it definitely did look a tad short. Your additions look fine, just have to remember to cut the ends away so it looks like a smooth transition from the actual bucket to the additions (But I'm pretty sure you mentioned that already lol). Great job!

Yep! I'm gonna make sure I add a piece right behind the ears and taper it up towards the back of the helmet. I don't want that jagged awkward look that I currently have. It's been a long time since I've been able to do anything on this helmet. I'm anxious to get it going again.

[mobcake]

Awesome plan! Can't wait to see how it comes out. I really like the segmented visor

[Kurshi BeJahaal]

It's been a while since I updated this. I have since peeled off a majority of the bondo and went over my seams and glued together parts with quiksteel. I learned about this stuff at a clan armor party and I love it! To help me see where I needed to sand a little better I hit my helmet with primer. This allowed the primer to be visible in the low "valleys" of the bondo.



Then I started the quiksteel process. It's fairly time consuming, but it seems to really sturdy up my buy'ce!









It's far from pretty, but I'm OCD and want to take my time and do things right the first time.

[Kurshi BeJahaal]

Awesome plan! Can't wait to see how it comes out. I really like the segmented visor

I forgot to update the thread with my other idea. I'm tossing around an idea to give the face a vented look. Almost like a screen or an air filter over the "mouth" portion of my helmet. I scrapped an old computer for parts and thought this might be perfect. NOTE: This will be fit snugly into the lower part of the T. It won't just sit on top like this. Thoughts on this? I'm DEFINITELY keeping the visor shape with it too,

[Solrac]

Thats awesome. Looking forward to starting mines.