Senate Guard 'Plumed' Helmet (It Begins)

[TK IAIN]

"Previously on Battlestar Galactica"

I have so wanted to say that for ages but down to business!

Got the first initial undercoat on the helmet to show up and highlight any bits that need a bit more attention and work.
It will need some work but thankfully not too much in the whole scheme of things. Basically smoothing down the rough spots and filling in some holes.

Found that the ye 'olde P-38 body filler (a commonly used body filler in the UK) can't quite cut it so for some of the obvious blemishes I have used some fiberglass resin (but no fiberglass) mixed with the hardener and left for 24 hours that has done the trick for a lot of the holes. Did find that some holes would appear after some wet and dry sanding which really became annoying until I again mixed up some fiberglass resin and 'painted' the offending area, Both cheeks proved especially problematic with pin holes until I 'painted' them and now they are both solid and smooth.

This 'painting' adds some weight to the lid but seeing as I'm nearly at the point where I'll be cutting into the crest it does'nt bother me as I reckon it adds some much needed structural strength which removing a big chunk of the crest will cause to be lost.





Got a long way to go yet but getting that first undercoat made me feel as if the end is in sight (just about!). Once I have the helmet as smooth as the 'proverbial' the next big step will be those crests. I have a picture in my minds eye as to how to do it and I have been pointed towards a brilliant Roman Re-enactment site (many thanks Phoenix/Rebecca!) that has a superb tutorial on how the Romans did their crests and that will be followed closely.It is not 100% ideal for what I plan on doing but it's as near as damnit and does help take a lot of the quesswork out of the equation.

"Tune In Next Week!"

[TK IAIN]

Just another wee update for now.

Took delivery of some nice stiff A3 card to make the templates for the double plumes just to make sure I had got the shape and the angle right for both of them.

The angle is a little off as seen in the third pic but not by much (just needs another 10 degrees or so and that's that) but that will be sorted once I get the plumes themselves done.




Like I said this was just to get an idea of the actual size and proportions of the two crests and after much fiddly work with a pencil (christ!trying to get the shape of the helmet crest onto the paper was a sod but evolution only decided to give us mortals two arms!).I think I got it just about right but just got a wee bit to take off about a third of the way along methinks right as looking at pictures of the screen used lid the hair starts at 6" at the front and stays this length 'til its about that third of the way along it and then it starts to sharply follow the shape of the helmet crest itself until it gets to the bottom..



I did start the templates at 6" and it looked way too big once on the helmet but after a wee bit of head scratching and going 'bugger' I then took into account the amount of hair that will be inside the helmet crest itself and after a few wee adjustments I reckon I got it looking right.

Still got a bit of sanding and smoothing to do as I want to get the helmet itself ready for paint as doing the crests first would make the sanding too awkward once the crest has been cut away.

So!Next step will be to cut into the crest once I have the helmet as smooth as the proverbial. Not long 'til I have a go at making a trial crest so that should be good for a heart stopping moment or two.

[TK IAIN]

Been awhile since I have done anything with this lid thanks to life, the universe and everything getting in the way but slowly but surely getting there.

Got a week off work after taking some A/L so no excuse as to not doing anything.

Not much of an update TBH but just plugging away at it when I get the time. I have to admit I have been driven mental with the prep work as every time I think I have it spot on and smooth I look at it more closely and little pin holes appear or an area that I have missed needs a bit of work to get it smooth. More of an annoyance than anything else but I knew this was going to be a long winded project where I could take my time.
Some pics of where I am at now with the major prep work on the helmet surface. Just about finished so I am happy to leave it as it is at the mo and get on with cutting the crest and working on the plumes:-



I have decided to 'fill in' the crest of the helmet so I will have a base to work on when I start the plume channels. Still not 100% sure as to how I'm going to do that but I have a picture in my head as to how it will all look so if it does'nt work I can always come up with something else I suppose. Trouble is that once I cut the crest away that's that so little to no room for error once that's done.

So!Started to fill the crest in from the inside with some 2mm black ABS and fiberglass which as I said when finished will form the base of the crests:-



I think I will need to build up that 'base' from the inside a little bit (more so to the front of the crest) to give the plumes a bit more height but I will wait and see how this next step goes.

[TK IAIN]

Well!The dreaded day dawned at last.

Finally got around to cutting the crest away today so that I can then make a start on the channels where the two plumes will eventually sit.

What a pain in the a**e that was trying to get both sides of the notch at the front the same but after an hour with a pencil, ruler, protractor and the remains of an eraser I got there in the end. Thought that would be the most important bit as the angle of the two sides had to match up and look correct.



I did have a grandeous plan where the two channels would be cut but the crest on this lid is hollow ao I just decided to cut it all away and I'll start to build up the interior of the crest next week.
Thank god I remembered to but safety goggles as there where wee bits of fiberglass flyng everywhere but I do wish I bought a couple of dust masks (ended up pulling my t-shirt up over my mouth and nose in the end).




I have got plenty 1mm and 2mm black plasticard to use to build up the crest interior and then it will be time to start on the two crests at last and use up all that horse hair that I have had lying around for ages.

Thanks for following this thread folks.

[TK IAIN]

Slowly but surely getting there.

Have now got the two channels where the double plumes will sit now in place :-




After a bit of "very careful" jiggery-pokery with the 'ol heat gun the sides of the two channels are now straight and level (took ages to get sorted and by the time I had it done I could'nt be a***ed taking any more pics TBH and I had also knocked the lower edge of the lid with the gun and took a wee chunk out of it so that had to be sorted as well!). But!I can safely assure all that the sides are nice and straight and essentially finished.

Next item on the agenda will be to fill in the gap between them which I have thought about a lot and seriously considered just leaving it as it is (but after a bit of tidying up of course) as there are no pics of what this particular helmet looks like from the back and I have certainly tried for ages to find any at all. That little fact does leave me with a bit of artistic license as to the final finishing but suffice to say I will finish it off so it is level with the crest of the helmet.

Problematic bit will be that damn "V" shape at the front as that has caused no end of hassle as it is not perfectly symetrical (more so on the inside where both sides combine three seperate angles and are slightly different in internal shaping). But I will figure something out in the end, and if anyone reading this has any ideas please pass them on as I am always open to suggestions and new ideas.

I have got (what I hope is enough) plasticard to finish the gap off but have toyed with filling it with foam, fiberglass, modelling clay, etc,etc,etc but I think I will just go with the plasticard as I can easily get more if required and it's pretty easy to work with once you get the hang of it and take your time!.

So!There we have it for now - not too long to go now and once the gap between the two channels is filled it will be time to start on the plumes themselves and then the lid will get some final prep work before our man Jason Kerr gets it for painting.

Still have'nt got even a rough date for completion yet but should'nt be too long now.

Thanks to all for following this WIP.

[TK IAIN]

"Getting There"

Got the two channels for the double plumes finished today (at long last as my bank balance was taking a hammering with all the Plasticard I was buying!).

Anyhoo! on to a couple if pics I took this morning after leaving the whole thing to dry and cure overnight:-





As there are no pictures of the back of this helmet I did have a couple of options as to how to proceed with this part of the project but I decided to go for what I think was the easiest (I'm a lazy chicken!)option and just extended the "V" shape along the length of the crest from front to back and I think it turned out alright in the end.

For filler and despite what I have said in previous posts I went for the plasticard bits in a bottle of plastiweld and it turned out great both as a filler and as a means to bond two surfaces together finally. By that I mean the bottom of the right hand channel refused to stay joined despite literally drowning it in plastiweld and super glue but in the end it was defeated by a Superglue "Plastic Fusion" (held together whilst I watched "The Valley of Gwangi") and then some of that "filler" used liberally.

I don't know if this "Superglue Plastic Fusion" has ever been mentioned on these forums but it's damn strong stuff and it's on the right in the following pic:-



This stuff takes 10mins to set and after fully curing for 24hrs it can take a pull of over 400lbs so once your plastic is joined it is "not" coming apart. Stinks to high heaven though and it welds the two surfaces together permanently. I don't see it being of much use in the actual construcion of TK or Clone armour as one slip or 'blob' where it's not supposed to go and that's that gubbed so extreme care has to be exercised but I'll certainly be hanging on to it as it'll be ideal for 'repairs' at a troop if anything falls off my armour.

The helmet as you see it is essentially finished with only the final tidying up and a little bit of sanding and prep work to do before it goes for painting. Here it is after the crest channels were sanded down to the level of the helmet crest sides:-



Going to start on the double plumes sometime next week methinks as I am anxious to get this finished and cleared so I can finally get to wear it at a troop. Hopefully it will actually be recognised as a helmet from "The Phantom Menace" as my current visored version (as much as I love it) has screen time of "S**t!I blinked and missed it", and usually gets labelled as a Senate Commando or a Blue Guard Guy!.

Once again thanks for following this WIP thread and for the comments passed.

[TK IAIN]

After a lengthy lay off (I hate having knackered knees - all you want to do is sit and do diddly squat!) I'm back with a short wee update.

Anyhoo!After life, the universe and everything else getting in the way of things I finally got around to making a proper start on the plumes for this helmet.

This is only a trial run to see how things are actually going to go together and where any tweaks or major changes will need to be made. I have a large 'lump' of horsehair which will be used to prototype a lot of what will go into the making of the plumes before I commit and make them as they will be for trooping purposes. I reckon around 1/3 of this hair I have set aside for this purpose will be wasted as I adjust and make the required changes but I will still have more than enough for the two plumes (and a helluva lot leftover)

So!Here's what I have got so far (not a lot really but it's a start). Each of the tufts in the accompanying pictues is a shade under 8 inches long which is actually slightly too long for my purposes (after much debate and scratching off chins over on Forcepike and the Rebel Legion we all decided on the longest length of the plumes to be 6 inches, slowly curving down to 3 inches at the back - or as near as damnit!), so I will need to do a wee bit of trimming once all is finally done but I knew that was going to be required so not really a problem.



Quite simple to just fold a bunch of the hair over in half (decided the tuft to be the thickness of a pencil so they would all be roughly the same diameter) and tied around the bottom with the thread used for fishing fly tying to hold it all together. That was a bit fiddly as the hair is black as is the thread and it was a sod to find the end of the thread to tie it off at times.

That process gave me a nice bundle of hair to work with as I reckoned a little more would make the tuft too thick and it would be too thin if I went the opposite way (thank god for a HB pencil).

It's not abundently clear in the pics (damn black on black again) but the tuft is finished off with some plastic heat shrink which seals it all in for a full inch from the end and stops it all coming apart. That heat shrink will also be used to 'implant' the tufts into the plastic strips that will go into the grooves on the helmet and Volia'. Or that is what I hope according to my master plan!



The last two pics are just of the three tufts I have made already (mind that these are the trial/prototype ones) bluetacked into the grooves to give a general idea as to how they will look.



Will obviously look better with more hair in the grooves but like I said this was just to give an overall impression as to how it will eventually look.

Thanks for following this WIP and any comments/ideas, etc,etc will be welcome.

Still got a long way to go but slowly and surely getting there. Really glad I went with the real hair option even though it has presented it's own set of challenges.

[shivana]

Really nice work and interesting to see your progress.

[JesterTDA]

Looks awesome! I have a question...on the side image of the 3 "plugs" you can see light along the base. When you do more rows I think you could solve that problem by alternating the rows and the problem would go away. I'm really excited to see this project, keep it up!

[TK IAIN]

Looks awesome! I have a question...on the side image of the 3 "plugs" you can see light along the base. When you do more rows I think you could solve that problem by alternating the rows and the problem would go away. I'm really excited to see this project, keep it up!

Howdy there.

The side shot of the three 'plugs' is just them blue-tacked into place within one of the grooves to see what they look like and they will actually be lower down inside both grooves so no gaps will show.
I will actually be putting another row of hair alongside the main one to bulk it up more and that will also eliminate any left over gaps and also add some more support to the plumes.

Still got a long way to go but it's been fun!