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[Cyare Kebii'tra]

Alrighty, time to dust this thread off and make it my official bucket WIP. Again, this'll be my second helmet, but no longer a scratch build. I received the Intimidator from Hondo last week. My original design has changed somewhat, and I'll put that up in the next few days, but I figured I'd add a few pictures of what I already have. Skip to reply #14!

Original Thread:

Hi everybody! I'm really new here, but I've been lurking a bit because I'm really interested in building my own kit. I made my first helmet from scratch out of chipboard in a very constrained time frame (for Halloween), so it's not as good as I'd like it. Since I've been thinking of going light and eventually applying to the Spec Ops brigade as a recon specialist, I figured I'd try to incorporate a long-range scanner into my helmet design. I don't want a large bulky attachment though, and I'd like to keep the ol' rangefinder, so here's what I've come up with. What do you think?

[Adenn Kyram]

That has definitely got possibilitys

[Cyare Kebii'tra]

Messed around in Google Sketchup a bit. Much clearer idea than my drawings. The stalk is probably longer than it needs to be but this is still a quick mock-up.

Perspective


Front


Back


Left


Right


Top


Bottom

[Nirob]

Looking really cool. Especially the rangefinder.

[Cyare Kebii'tra]

I've been looking at the requirements list and was wondering if that visor shape would be acceptable for a modern era mando? It says "full T-shaped visor", but I'd like mine to be curved and split as shown in my more recent helmet design:





Does it have to be the angular, strict T like Boba or Jango's helmet?

[Than'del Coret]

Looks to me like a modern, legacy cross. I dig it

[Pointoforigin]

Yeah you should be fine with that.

[Cyare Kebii'tra]

Great to hear. And thanks! I wanted a little more visibility than the standard ol' T offered. Didn't realize I was getting closer to the legacy realm. I must say, the "cross" looks pretty sweet though.

[Than'del Coret]

Hey the way I see it, legacy had to come from somewhere. Surely some mandos used trial and error to perfect the "traditional" armor, thus the full coverage of legacy. But I really do love the bucket. Now get building

[Cyare Kebii'tra]

I'm gonna print out the templates this weekend. Another scratch build! Maybe my third helmet will be a cast of this one if I'm satisfied with the quality.

[Kane Friax]

like i said on your other thread: Looking Great!

-Kane

[dcubed121]

I don't like rangefinders and I like the way that looks.

[Ran]

I like the helmet, slightly modified T's always (well...usually) look cool in my opinion. 
My only complaint is the shin plates, it seems a little random to have brown plates when the rest of the armor is grey and blue.

[Cyare Kebii'tra]

I like the helmet, slightly modified T's always (well...usually) look cool in my opinion. 
My only complaint is the shin plates, it seems a little random to have brown plates when the rest of the armor is grey and blue.

Oh, those are substitutes for boots that go maybe 3/4 up my calf.

[Cyare Kebii'tra]

It lives! I'm finally ready to start. I have a couple exams this week so I won't do much work until the weekend, but I'll show you what I have so far and upload my new concept in the next couple days. It's not much different. For now, beware the mass of pictures below.

First off, the Intimidator from Skirata Arms. Great work by Hondo. I removed most of the flash today. (Also, in case anyone was wondering, it's just under 9.5" without ears.)



It's a good thick and fairly even helmet, but I after removing the flash I found that the vent areas are pretty thin in a couple spots. I'll reinforce those with fiberglass resin and cloth down the line.



Here are the ears and RF I'm planning on attaching. Been slowly cleaning them up over the last couple months. Have a bit more work to do though. Yes, I'm still doing the left ear mounted macro, but I have a plan so that it'll still look good in the event that I want to go without it for a while. More on that in the future. The stalk and RF on the far right I won't use, and the ear piece between them may also be extra.



I've taped up some mock ups to see what it might look like. Ignore the left ear for a moment.





Okay, now about the left ear. Hondo did some amazing work with the vents and I'm not sure I want to cover them up. I've come up with three possible options, two of which are fairly similar.

Option 1: I don't use the left bottom ear piece, leaving the vents exposed:





Option 2: I mirror the right side as far as ear placement (Boba style), with the vents out of sight:



Option 3: Similar to option 2, except Jango style:



Any opinions? And like I said earlier, clear concept drawings to come tomorrow or Thursday.

[Ran]

Since you aren't going for True Mandalorian, I'd choose an option that covers up the vents.
That said, I cannot wait to see you do this, always loved the Intimidator.

[Than'del Coret]

I'd have to disagree. Its a new style and I think the vents should be shown off for how awesome they really are. But that's just my two creds.

[Cyare Kebii'tra]

Alrighty, here's a concept for covering the vents and the macro! The gradient is supposed to symbolize bare metal. Credit goes to the MandoMaker for providing me a nice base.



Also, here's a quick alternate to see what leaving the vents might look like. So, any ideas which I pick? I like them both. 

[Hondo Karr]

The cool thing about a "modular" helmet like this is designed to be is, you can put it together and keep it modular!

If you use small rare Earth magnets to attach the earcaps over the vents, you can simply paint over the magnets after you glue them in place and it will allow you to attach the pieces, remove them, move them around and give you all kinds of load out options for different events/photo shoots.

[Cyare Kebii'tra]

I think I'll have to look into that then. The problem at the moment is that the ear pieces don't fit perfectly over the vents. There are small gaps on either side. So I'll have to find a way to make them sit flush and hide the vents underneath while still having them removable. Challenge accepted. I was leaning toward leaving the left vents uncovered anyway, but if I manage it I'll still have my second option, like you said. I'm more fond of the asymmetrical look.

[Hondo Karr]

They were kind of done that way on purpose to allow for airflow and better hearing. If the vents are opened up (ie cut a small slit in each overlap and back it with screen mesh) and the earcap is put on over it, when it's centered, painted and weathered, the seam crack is nearly invisible. Those small seams along with the open vents would make a great palce to install fanse to bring in fresh air or push out old air, or leaving them open without a fan would allow for better hearing

I did something very similar on a couple of helmets I used over the years and it really makes alot of difference.

[Cyare Kebii'tra]

Oh, I see. Can you recommend anything for cutting out those slits in the vents? They're a little thin. Think a regular reinforced dremel bit would do the trick? I don't want to ruin them or else I'll definitely have to cover them up.

[z2the4]

Holy cow I wanna see this thing finished its going to look Amazing.

[Tact Kor]

Nice concept, I really like how you are doing the LRRF.

For what it's worth I prefer option 1, if you do cover it I think the jango style looks cleaner than option 2

How are you planning to build the LRRF?

Looking forward to seeing the rest of this

[Hondo Karr]

Oh, I see. Can you recommend anything for cutting out those slits in the vents? They're a little thin. Think a regular reinforced dremel bit would do the trick? I don't want to ruin them or else I'll definitely have to cover them up.

I would either use the carbon fiber cutting wheel or one of the micro drill bits.