Got back from work tI find all three drill bits waiting for me, so put them to the test.


I started with the forged jobber drill bits, but apart from a lot of squeeking, not a lot happened. They stayed sharp after the abuse, so I know they are good quality, they just didn't bite.


All hope was then pinned on the tungsten carbide tipped multi purpose drill bit. I took it really slowly and gave it a good bit of pressure.


We have a winner!!! I was gobsmacked. This drill bit went through it in about 50 seconds:




Admittedly the hole was already started, but trust me, this one works. I'm going to do the next one in a bit, so I'll see how long it takes with a fresh hole. From the amount of filings that came off, it won't be very long

I've set up the bit sharpener and given the bit a fresh edge, more soon.

Well, that's hole No.2 (by hand)




I used the tougher of the two jobber bits to deepen the marker first, then used the multi bit, the combo seems to work well.

I managed two more holes, and a good start on the fifth, but there is no more cutting head on the bit to sharpen, I'll have to order a new one.



The last hole I did is off the mark enough to stop the rivet going through (grrr). The pilot for hole five is bang on along with the first three so it should be secure enough with those four outer ones, and filler (whichever type I end up using).

I don't fancy drilling them all out, too much room for error, so I'll drill out the remainder on the cam....



....and glue "for show" rivets in there instead (might include hole four in that lot and fill the hole from inside).

Looking at it lined up with the holes, I can now see that the cam is pointing upward some, but I'll have to live with that, hartfield steel is no fun to play with and it's beating up my toys





I'll have to wait till next week for the replacement bit and other workshop paraphernalia to arrive, in the meantime it's back to experimenting with stuff to make the lobe plate with, some more tidying up of the parts, seperating the chin strap from the earpiece cutout, and trying to find some respectable paint that is close enough (I've heard brown bess is no longer available, but haven't found a close enough alternative yet, most are slightly too brown/green, so I guess it's down to preference now).

For a brown bess substitute, I personally used Aervoe 999 "Earth Brown" then dusted (got about 2 feet away) a touch of olive drab over the finished product.. Ive never seen real "brown bess" in person, but I think my pulse, motion tracker and helmet cam all look pretty solid in the color department.


A quick bit of advice on yoour camera placement there, you may want to angle it down a bit. You will want to make the camera level to the way it sits on your head, not they way it sits on your table. As it stands, I suspect your helmet cam will be pointing up in the air when you put the helmet on.

Looks cool though. I personally just glued mine on and wussed out of drilling the holes!

As above, whilst you are still working on it try and get that camera position correct now or you may regret it later.

Sorry, because this is such a bugbear of mine, see attached pic to give you some idea of how yours will look when worn and how it should look.


It should be pointing/filming where you are looking, not the ceiling.

Martin

_________________
Martin 'Victim' Victory
A86/TQ3.4.49421E3
UKCM 13th Regt. 1st Batt. Freebooters


you can't take the PUNK outa Spunkmeyer

What he said ^

Mine is pointed slightly too high (Im talking milimeters) and it's enough to really annoy me.

_________________
AKA: Simon

I did the holes freehand and ended up being more concerned about going through :/ I will most likely be gluing it on correctly for this helmet, but I have an idea for jig I want to make for my drill press when it gets here for future helmet builds.


Thanks for all the advice and tips guys

Hi guys

Did an experiment with a firm piece of 10mm foam I got from work to see if it would be malleable if heated, and to see if it kept its shape after.

The experiment proved a success on both counts, so trimmed it roughly to shape, have it a blast on bothe sides with the heat gun, held it firmly against the the helmet till it cooled, and voila, one lobe plate:





Sort of.....

I'm going to try a trick I learned from Xrobots (one very ingenious, cool dude) where a coating of resin is laminated onto the outside of EVA foam via a layer of watered down white PVA. The PVA sticks to the foam, and the roto casting resin sticks to the PVA.

If you haven't already, take a look at Harry's invaluable site
http://www.harryharris.com/armour.htm

First place to go to and see what the screen used ones look like.

Martin

_________________
Martin 'Victim' Victory
A86/TQ3.4.49421E3
UKCM 13th Regt. 1st Batt. Freebooters


you can't take the PUNK outa Spunkmeyer

Thank's for the link, very cool

Well I did a bit more trimming to the lobe plate, but I think it still needs a little refining:




Once the shape is right, I'm going to glue a layer of 1mm craft foam (heat formed) onto it. I'm hoping that by heat forming the thin layer of foam, I can replicate the plate flap that goes round and under the helmet peak.

I'm still a little concerned by how much the peak sticks out , so I might cut the "exess" off first to bring it in line befor forming the thin piece over it.

I've also have a new formula that will give the lobe plate a good hard skin using a mixture of Bondo and resin (one of those "I wonder if that'll work" moments), and also work rather well as a glue for PVC.

If you would like my opinion, no, do not cut the helmet to suit your plate. Cut/mold your plate to suit the helmet.

Have you got, can you get more of the foam?

If you cut the bottom of the plate rounded, instead of straight like you have, you may have better luck in molding it and getting it to go down further over the peak.
Also you could make the cut through the foam, at the bottom, at an angle to match the angle of the peak so it sits better.

It might be an idea to practice with some thick cardboard first, so you end up with a working template.

Martin

_________________
Martin 'Victim' Victory
A86/TQ3.4.49421E3
UKCM 13th Regt. 1st Batt. Freebooters


you can't take the PUNK outa Spunkmeyer

To be honest, cutting the peak wasn't a job I was looking forward to

I can get more of the foam from work do I'll keep at it. I like your suggestion and had considered it, but I had already trimmed it when I thought of doing it that way.

Two layers of the foam pieces will make it 20mm thick, it'll probably take that to hide the peaks anyway. I'll have to carve it back a little in places, but making the foam surface pretty hot and then pressing on it seems to work for making it thinner.

I found another piece of foam at work yesterday, it's a lot thiner, and stretchier. I taped it stretched over the helmet with the smaller/thicker foam piece underneath:



The effect is rather promising, though I think I'll try a different type, maybe 2mm EVA craft foam or something akin to that as it can be heated and shaped easily.

Well the last couple days have been dry, and relatively warm, still a little snow here n there, but nothing to moan about. As such, I've been able to do some much needed spring cleaning in my storage and work shed

So, with some newfound worktop space to set up my drill press, I've been able to finish putting the earpiece together (not glued together yet though):




Unfortunately, the lower hinge half wasn't quite aligned correctly on the one side and as you can see, the drill bit came through the outer wall. Not a major prob, a bit of filler should sort that out ok:

Did the filling/sanding on the helmet and resin parts




Then I did a test fit with the helmet cam temporarily fixed in the proper position (using Punkmarine's photo edit as referance), though the mannequin head is looking upward a little which keeps throwing me off, so needed to tilt it forward a bit to get it right:



It also looks ok from an aerial view, the lens looks square enough to the helmets centre line





I was also able to order the lobster plates from Mooncrest now they are back in stock.

I do have an IR sensor, lobe plate, an another set of lobster plates on the way, but in true greenhorn style, found out after transferring my hard earned, that the guy was a goddamn re-caster, really really not happy about that

I've made enough items to know how much hard work goes into them, and I would never willingly support any of it. I'm so kicking myself for this total laps in senses, but lesson learned, and this rookie will be doing a some serious digging for reputability before handing over any hard earned in the future, that's for sure.

I feel like I dissed you guys good and proper through my blind ignorance, and for that, I offer my humblest apologies

wow thats looking great! Ill be building a helmet very soon and this is great inspiration!

Thanks nick-a-tron, I'll most likely do another one after this for myself.

Other than finding a drill bit that would actually make a hole in one of these buckets (and accidentally buying from a perp), its been pretty straight forward. I havent got very far due to time constraints, but I reckon with all the parts at hand, one could be made paint ready (or better) in as little as three good days with no distractions.

The lobster plates arrived in the mail on monday The quality of the fibregalss pulls is very good, and both were pre trimmed.

The only downer is a split in the lower plate that runs to the bump near the base.



Considering the quality of the parts I've had from him so far, my suspicion lies with its care during transportation.

I sent a pic of the damaged part with accompanying polite message, and a replacement is already on its way


Well, im going to get back to actually working on it, rather than waffle on the finer details of it, I'll catch you later

The first of the lobster plates ready



I also contacted Mooncrest, and a replacement for the cracked plate is on it's way

The stutf from GA arrived today, biggest load of c¤◇p on the planet! The lobster plates weigh a frelling ton, and the lobe plate is tottaly asymmetric



The IR sensor is static, no mention of this from his site, and looks like it was a "made in a minute" project



Comparing it to referance pics, he got the basic shape right, then went totally blue peter on it's a** (for those that don't know my referance, it's a kids show here in the uk, made famouse for using sticky backed plastic for just about every make project they demonstrated, regardless of materials).

I can't use any of these parts, even if I was inclined to, I can use the IR as a template at least. After seeing his attempt, I've realised that anything I make will at least be better

Lesson learned....

Having scratchbuilt some duds in my time, I am amazed at this guy's self-confidence. He really thinks this is good enough quality to sell?? Now folks on here have worked wonders polishing his turd-of-a-smartgun into something pretty damn cool, but these bits look like a lost cause. Sorry man!

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My entry-level prop and costume tutorials: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12751

First of the lobstet lates on

Yeh, but at least I have the decent parts to be getting on with, and the lesson wasn't too expensive in this case, so I count myself luky really.

Just purchased an IR sensor from spat. Seems I got luky, as by chance he had one in stock, and its already on its way (thanks spat, your my hero, this bucket just wouldn't be right without one )

At least I can legitimately use spats guid for it Talking of which, I'll be cutting the liner to make room for it now its on rout.