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[Mercy]

Hey all.

Well, I'm ready to dive in headlong...
This is by far the most complex part of my build, so I'm sure the going will be slow. I appreciate all of your feedback and suggestions along the way.

I have an old HBF that I butchered a few years ago, so that will be the dome for this build. The interior was fiberglassed for rigidity, and the face and ears had been completely removed, so first steps are to build a custom face.

I curved a piece of sintra around the entire front and drew the shapes for the tee and cheeks. Obviously, there is no template available for this shape, so the cheek pieces were created from scratch...rough cut with thick paper, trim, fit, re-shape, step back and look, scratch head, throw out and start over, rough cut, trim.....repeat as necessary. You wouldn't think that cheeks could be so tricky to get just right.





You might have noticed from the other threads, but I love a thick, dimensional look to everything. So another full piece of sintra was laminated on to the first layer.



Once the adhesives cure, the final shape of the tee gets trimmed out, exposing the cheeks underneath. Then apoxie sculpt to fill and smooth.
Once I can confirm that polyester resin will not melt sintra, I'll lay a quick layer on the inside to stiffen up the whole thing. I hate warped helmets, so I'm going a bit overboard to make sure that doesn't happen.

I also planned ahead for the visor, making sure that there would be a 1/2" flat flange all around the tee cutout to make sure it will mount flat and even.
Face should be done by tomorrow night (hopefully), then on to the montrals/lekku. Here's a hint of the next steps coming up...

[GardenGeek]

As always- lovely job. It seems like the visor-T will be fairly narrow compared to the usual buckets.

I'll be watching this one with interest. I find your lamination techniques to be very inspiring

[Bowfanny]

Very nice! I like the lekku/montrals detail and you're off to s fantastic start!

[Laaran Kar'ta]

I think your ideas are genius. I'm actually thinking of just buying a large boba fett helmet and bondo-ing the crap out of it.

[Natan Vizsla]

Holy crap dude. This looks awesome so far, keep it up and you'll be a real Togruta in no time.

[Mercy]

OK, lots of work done today on the kit, but mostly little detail work underneath the hood, so not very exciting.
But, here's a little of what's going on...

Exposed the cheeks today. The photos don't show the cool little difference between now and yesterday...but you can trust me
Only stinker is that I'm super anal-retentive about things, and I noticed that there is a height difference between the left and right cheeks of about 3/32" which throws the curves off a touch. Gotta build one side up just a hair to make them match.

 

The horns began as a substructure of foam-core. This way I could make the left and right sides identical. (yes I'm picky about symmetry lol!)
I then wrapped then in paper strips and stuffed them with poly fill to force them into a round shape.
Tomorrow they will get a coat of fiberglass to make them rigid. I hate using bondo, but I'm pretty sure there will be no way to avoid it.



Once the horns are finished and attached, that paper triangle in the middle will become a sintra layer used as a base for an akul-tooth "trophy".
I Keep thinking about animal trophies fitting with Togruta culture, but they clash with my backstory/personality, so these ideas may change.

[Godgoblin]

Loving the idea and its looking great so far. Although filling the horn section with polyfilla is going to make them extremely heavy depending on the weight of the rest of the helmet might make it slide off to one side.

Have you thought about using expanding foam instead? Can spray it in the gaps and cut away at the excess, it's also much lighter than filler.

Edit: just re read and saw that you have already done that section, how did it turn out?

[Jorad Werde]

instead of bondo try Apoxie Sculpt.  It's a 2 part putty that is oderless and fumeless so it can be used inside safely.  it's also very easy to smooth (just a bit of water) and has a 2-3 hour working time once mixed together.

[Mercy]

Loving the idea and its looking great so far. Although filling the horn section with polyfilla is going to make them extremely heavy depending on the weight of the rest of the helmet might make it slide off to one side.

I think we're talking about two different things. This polyfill is an ultra-fine nylon "fluff" that weighs about 2 pounds to fill a garbage bag.

I just started working with apoxie sculpt (it's the gray stuff in the seams of the cheek parts). I have yet to try it on anything bigger...I'll give it a shot.

[Havelock]

Vod, I've said it before and I'll say it again.  You are absolutely, totally, completely, bat-osik insane!  And I cannot WAIT to see this bucket finished! 

[Mercy]

Vod, I've said it before and I'll say it again.  You are absolutely, totally, completely, bat-osik insane!  And I cannot WAIT to see this bucket finished! 

Lol! I'll take that as a compliment

[Elekbah Dhagal]

I think we're talking about two different things. This polyfill is an ultra-fine nylon "fluff" that weighs about 2 pounds to fill a garbage bag.

I just started working with apoxie sculpt (it's the gray stuff in the seams of the cheek parts). I have yet to try it on anything bigger...I'll give it a shot.

Could you post details on the "polyfill" you mentioned.  Like to look into it.  Thanks

[Mercy]

WalMart craft section...near the pillow foam.
Poly-Fill polyester fiber fill (for stuffing pillows, teddy bears, etc.)
It looks like a plastic bag filled with a huge cotton ball.

[Elekbah Dhagal]

Oh...  thanks

[Mercy]

Let me say this....

I LOVE APOXIE SCULPT!!

It's a pleasure to work with.

Horns formed and now being molded to the helmet. I had to epoxy a bolt into each horn and holes in the helmet to secure them in place while I did the work, But overall I'm very pleased with how it's going.

Next step is to finish shaping the horns, getting them perfectly symmetrical, and applying a smooth finish.
I haven't decided whether to make them real horns poking through the helmet, or the helmet formed over the horns. I suppose I won't know until I see how it evolves.

What do you think?

[Elekbah Dhagal]

I don't know if I mentioned this to you.

The Smooth-on brand of epoxy putty (called, Free Form) is stocked at:
Reynolds Advanced Materials
1727 E Weber Dr, Tempe, AZ 85281
(480) 967-7727

If you have not been there; It's worth checking out.

[Mercy]

I don't know if I mentioned this to you.

The Smooth-on brand of epoxy putty (called, Free Form) is stocked at:
Reynolds Advanced Materials
1727 E Weber Dr, Tempe, AZ 85281
(480) 967-7727

If you have not been there; It's worth checking out.

Sweet. Tempe is on the far side of the valley from me, but I make it out that way from time to time. I'll check it out.

Thanks

[Laaran Kar'ta]

Let me say this....

I LOVE APOXIE SCULPT!!

It's a pleasure to work with.

Horns formed and now being molded to the helmet. I had to epoxy a bolt into each horn and holes in the helmet to secure them in place while I did the work, But overall I'm very pleased with how it's going.

Next step is to finish shaping the horns, getting them perfectly symmetrical, and applying a smooth finish.
I haven't decided whether to make them real horns poking through the helmet, or the helmet formed over the horns. I suppose I won't know until I see how it evolves.

What do you think?

This is turning out so awesome! You rock!

[Mercy]

So, before I can finish the horns, I need to decide how they will be mounted.

If they are actually part of the helmet, I need to leave the flairs at the bottom so they will blend into the rest of the helmet.
If they are horns poking through holes, then I need to trim the flairs back and devise a transition between helmet and horn.

I like both approaches about equally, so I'm putting this out to the community.

Which way would you prefer?

Thanks in advance...

[Jorad Werde]

part of the helmet, as if they were an added part of the helmet to protect the horns

[Straka Zulu]

Either way, you might have to bulk up the dome a little.

That said, I'll second Havelock, this is bat-osik insane!  I LOVE IT!  8)

[GardenGeek]

Excuse my ignorance....but are the horns/lekku of a togruta hard or soft? If they are hard, then would it be possible to even fit them through the helmet to get them into the horn holders? Though, correct me if I'm wrong, aren't there also side and back lekku/horns as well? 

At the moment, the horns look substantially wider than the helmet itself. Likewise, if they're hard, wouldn't they be somewhat protective themselves? If they're soft- I would have the horns you have on there be part of the helmet and therefor made of beskar. Actually, part of the reason Beskar is so awesome is because it can deflect or protector from lightsabres right?  If they are horns, I would bulk out the sides of the helmet so they could potentially fit in there, and/or make removable looking panels on each side that would clip in after the helmet is on.

[Naasad Tal]

I believe the horns/lekku are prehensile, which means they can be controlled by the togruta. I know for a fact that Twi'lek lekku are prehensile. so that would mean they are soft, but have a muscular structure.

That said, I would make the horns part of the helmet.

Can not WAIT to see this one finished up...especially with that gorgeous armor you're making

[Natan Vizsla]

I'm not sure the horns (montrals) are prehensile but I believe the lekku are to a small degree. The montrals are essentially their ears and are fleshy, they are hollow to act similar to our eardrums. I would definitely go with them as part of the bucket. There are the three lekku that you'll need to mod the bucket to allow dangling out but one step at a time. So far it's a great job Mercy.

[Mercy]

Excuse my ignorance....but are the horns/lekku of a togruta hard or soft? If they are hard, then would it be possible to even fit them through the helmet to get them into the horn holders?

Shhhhh...

The horns are at least semi-solid, so technically would require a mask or a two piece helmet. This is Star Wars.... we ignore inconvenient details here...
Lekku are fully prehensile, just like Twi'leks, and the tail is soft too, but just kinda hangs there.

As a practical build consideration, I need to work on one element at a time: horns first, then the tail, finally the lekku.
I based the proportions from the Shaak-Ti figurine, so when finished, this helmet will be massive! Tall, wide, and deep. That's one reason I had to bulk out the shoulders of the armor so much, so I wouldn't be a bobblehead. Right now the horns put me at about 6'9"

The armor over the lekku and tail will be segmented. Hopefully this will give the illusion of being removable.