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[Kebii'tra Verda]

EDIT: 10-16-2015 It has been over 6 years since I made this bucket. I have received several messages asking about this project, and while I have been entertaining the idea to create a new thread that is updated, it may be a little while until that is done.

EDIT: 2-4-2018 To anyone asking, I no longer make the dome I used for this helmet. That was part of a failed vac-form helmet project from LOOOOOONG ago. The templates for the W.O.F. dome can be found in the TEMPLATES section as part of the patterns I used to make this helmet, or you can use a bike helmet, hard hat, etc.

No, not Homer Simpson, Homer from Home Depot!

A while back I picked up some buckets from Home Depot for the purpose of seeing if I could make a good helmet out of them. I think it worked...
For both inner and outer shells, make the templates wrap around the bucket with only one seem in the back. Flip the bucket over, bottom side up, to make your marks and cuts.

You will have a little piece left over. Cut it out and use it as the scab connector in the back.


On the outer shell, trace out the cheeks, visor, and back and cut. Lay this piece on the inner shell to make guide lines for the glue.


After the glue has set, cut out the cheeks from the inner shell .

Make the cheeks from Sintra and add a Mandalorian Arsenal dome. (Shameless plug... ) dome I no longer make.


Lay down two to three coats of Krylon for Plastic, letting each coat dry thoroughly before proceeding.


I used Smoke Gray as the main color, and the Jango Light Blue for the ears and cheeks. For these ears, I fashioned them out of Sintra...


...and bolted them on. For the right ear, I simply flipped the pattern to make a mirror image.

Cut out for the visor (the bottom section WILL come out later)...

...and paint the clan sigil on the forehead.

Plus, for now I cheated. I'm using MS Paint for the visor.

That's it for this helmet. It really was that simple. But, as I mentioned in the Official Clone Wars Mando thread, I will be sacrificing this bucket to turn it into molds for a helmet run. I've had so many requests for helmets that I think the time will be right a lot sooner than I had planned. I'm still going to make the armor, as planned, but this bucket will be going under the knife soon after that.

Enjoy!

david.

[Corr Ordo]

*poke* Updates, sir?

[TrooperJasher]

great start, any new updates?

[Kebii'tra Verda]

Not really. This was just a simple tutorial to show how you can use 5-gallon buckets to make a helmet. All it needs is a real visor, but that's been covered in other threads. If I do eventually turn this into a mold for casting, I'll probably start a thread in the Trading Station.

David.

[Synnr Falco]

What do you use to cut the buckets?  I've been doing most of my cutting of sintra with a fresh utility knife. But I think I curved surface like that wouldn't work to well.  jigsaw? sawzall?

[Kebii'tra Verda]

Rotary tool with the cutting disk finished off with the sanding drum.

David.

[Taxtro Duo]

Hey David, how this bucket helm, fit someone with a bigger head? This is my problem with all my buckets/helms, they barely fit due to the largeness of my noggin.

[Kebii'tra Verda]

Well, this one was made like my others with the WOF patterns. If you have a larger size head, just scale the drawings up to a size you are comfortable with.

Here's the easiest way to do it: Measure around your head at the temples. Take that number and divide it by pi (3.14). You do this because you are looking for the diameter of your head. You find the circumference of a circle by using the formula pi x D, so reverse that to find the diameter. Take the number you get, round up, and add 1 inch from side to side and 2 inches from front to back. This is because the dome of the helm is not a true circle. Now, print out the pages with the dome base pattern (page 9 and 10) and put it together. Find the difference between the front/back and side/side measurements from the pattern versus what you measured out. Divide the numbers to get the percentage of increase and use that to scale your patterns.

It sounds complicated, but trust me, it's not.

David.

[Dar'manda]

Well, this one was made like my others with the WOF patterns. If you have a larger size head, just scale the drawings up to a size you are comfortable with.

Here's the easiest way to do it: Measure around your head at the temples. Take that number and divide it by pi (3.14). You do this because you are looking for the diameter of your head. You find the circumference of a circle by using the formula pi x D, so reverse that to find the diameter. Take the number you get, round up, and add 1 inch from side to side and 2 inches from front to back. This is because the dome of the helm is not a true circle. Now, print out the pages with the dome base pattern (page 9 and 10) and put it together. Find the difference between the front/back and side/side measurements from the pattern versus what you measured out. Divide the numbers to get the percentage of increase and use that to scale your patterns.

It sounds complicated, but trust me, it's not.

David.

I couldn't understand this at all, but the wife seems to, so i'll have her do the math!

[E'nam Atreuh]

Nice a fellow Nole' s fan! good bucket  (no pun)

[Kebii'tra Verda]

For this one I used Locktite Waterproof Adhesive. I don't like it as much as the last tube of contact cement I had which works a lot better, but I needed some quickly and this was the only comparable thing on the shelf.

David.

[Dar'manda]

So, the last tube you had that you DID like was?

[Kebii'tra Verda]

That would be a red tube of something called "Welder." I'm still trying to locate more and when I do, I may buy out the stock.

Okay, another step towards making copies of this thing. I took the advice of some people and worked on making the sides more narrow. Basically, what I did was attach some temporary braces from side to side to make it hold a narrower shape.

Ignore the white pieces of sintra in the visor area, that's to hold the top of the mandables in line with the brow. And here's a comparison (if you can see the difference) between a Rubies (Jauri's), the CW, and my own scratchbuilt.


For those curious about the measurements, it's roughly 8 1/2 inches (21.5cm) from inside ear to ear and 10 1/4 inches (26cm) front to back.

I will hopefully be able to do more after the first of the year once I get my student loan. (And yes, that includes the other things I need to finish up on. Some of you know what I'm talking about. )

David.

David.

[Squirrel]

I want one. It looks good. how crisp are the seams?

[Kebii'tra Verda]

Keep in mind, this is just the prototype. I still have to make the initial negative mold then the final positive, plus finite touch ups. It will take a while, but my plan is to have the seam from the rear half rest under the front half with only minimal seamage right next to the ears.

David.