I have always wanted to get a Royal Guard helmet together, especially to mold. Opportunity arose when local member was cleaning out her closet and was selling her damaged Don Post for $50. I wasn't quick enough on it, but another local did and was kind enough to let me borrow it for these purposes.
So without further rambling here we go.
I couldn't seem to find the pictures of the Don Post, but basically before molding, the shoulder had a large chip out of that I had to fiberglass and fill. After this, I filled the words on the back and stripped the previous paint job and smoothed it out.
So after molding, I casted one and this is where I was at.
(This isn't the same casting I am modifying, but it is from the same mold.)
I cut the helmet horizontally in half and mocked it up with plastic strips and bolts.
Tried it on, and I believe I decided to add an extra half inch to it
It fit me just fine, but I wanted to make sure it would fit most. Supposedly the average male head is 24". Now I don't know if that is true or not because from measurements I have gotten from other members interested in getting a helmet, and their general opinion, I apparently have a large head at about 23 3/4". In any case, I made it a goal to try to make this able to fit someone with a 25" head.
In the end, the gap was 1 1/2 inches.
When I was content with the fitment, I wrapped the whole thing in clear tape and fiberglassed it.
Now some of you may notice that things do not line up correctly. This was done intentionally. If I had lined up everything so the reference lines I made where straight, the top of the helmet would have had a rather large flat spot that would have made the helmet look very odd and oval. So what I did was drop the back part slightly so that the curvature from front to back could be consistent. This made a few challenges later on, but I feel it was the right thing to do. Took more work but hopefully I only have to do this once anyways
So than the body work started. Added a couple layers of filler to the gap and surrounding areas.
(I forgot to snap a pic before I started sculpting the dome. Guess I was too excited.
Spent a few hours working on it, and this is what I came up with. This is just getting the basic shape of everything down before further refinement. Had to cut out the visor area to see how the helmet fit on me.
Ugh, now I am wishing I had taken more photos because this is rather fun to see the progression. Oh well. This is where it is at right now. I haven't spent too much time on it so far. This was all done in a couple days with the body work consisting of the majority of it for 2 or 3 hours each of those 2 days.
I wanted to post this up in this step so I could get some opinions from you experts before I do a lot of the refinement and finishing. If there is something you feel needs changing, let me know!
For those who might want to know, I did not want to cut it vertically. I feel like Don Post did such an excellent job on the face of it. Modifying it seems as though it would take away from pretty close to perfection in my opinion. I could be wrong. In any case, there certainly isn't an issue of room in the helmet for myself. When putting on the helmet I can put two of my fingers together against my face and the tightest spot in the helmet where the cheeks come in. I measured my two fingers together, and that comes out to 1 1/2". So in theory, it should fit most people up to and maybe including a 25" head.
Thanks for looking! I am excited for this thing for sure.
-LordZacharious
The Senate guard on the other hand is heavily modified.
