VacTrooper's Helmet Update!

[VacTrooper]

Hey guys! Been a long time (since i rock and rolled...)

 

But anyway, I have been posting in other older threads (a long time ago, that is) of my helmet progress, and well, you know how I finished the cap and back? I have that part casted in... well, vacuum-formed HIPS. I just vacuum-formed the mold (effectively giving it a nice sand-down), popped the mold out (kinda ruining the plaster original in return, but it doesn't matter because the pull is pretty tight anyway), and Ta-Da!

 

I have a lighter, tighter, and less in the way cap and back mold: These are the only two pics I could get off before my camera died...

 

 

What to do from here? Well, I gotta know if it looks good to you guys, first! The next step? Make a final mold from this. Now, what I've been thinking of doing is spreading bondo on this inside, then maybe some fiberglass, and spread more bondo on top of that, and so on until I have like an inch or so of bondo and fiberglass layers. I might also add a wooden dowel that stretches accross on the inside to act as a handle for demolding... MAYBE. I'm worried that that idea will end up breaking the mold. What do you guys think, though, of my Cap and Back?? I'm sooo happy with the way this turned out. That plaster mold DEFINATELY was NOT solidly made at all, and now I have sort of a "welded" female mold of it. Now, I just gotta fill it with something. And I'd like to try to save my HIPS Female Mold of it, just in case my Male Plug Mold breaks or something. What do you think of my Bondo/Fibergalss idea for the mold?

 

Dang, I love how this turned out.

Edited February 1, 2021 by gmrhodes13
photos updated gmrhodes13 2021

[TK bondservnt[501st]]

use aluminized resin for making vacc form molds.

you just use this instead of plaster.

 

backed up with wood.

if I were forming the back of the helmet

I'd make a place to cut the helmet off.

back the buck with aluminum.

you know? a strip behind where you plan to demould

 

when you watch AAinsworth's dvd's on making the helmets

he cuts the cap n back off the mould with a box cutter.

this allows for the undercut to be deeper.

 

his forming machine actually pushes the buck UP into the plastic

after he has blown a bubble raising the plastic.

 

he then uses a blower to help demould the part.

blowing out through the buck's forming holes.

 

each buck actually has small holes to help with the pull.

and then those same holes help demould.

Edited March 18, 2010 by TK Bondservnt 2392

[VacTrooper]

I might look into that, thanks for the heads up!