Next Steps...

After creating the solid cross sections, I blocked off a bunch of the "quadrants" with more cardboard so I did not waste expanding foam...I still came up short though...

What I am trying to do here is make the general shape of the helmet with something that can be manipulated easily. Mr. Krix used expanding foam also but a different kind (I think) that looks easier to work with.

I needed my dad's help to hold the helmet while I mixed and quickly spread the foam beofre it salidified. Due to gravity, the foam ran out of the sides and did not really end up in the best shape, but it was good enough, and resulted in a very light model. I probably should have built more "dams" or resorvoirs to hold the foam so It did not slide off as easliy while it was a liquid. I poured one "quadrant" at a time obviously due to gravity, and I highly reccomend cutting away the excess of that section before pouring the next one (I used a coping saw) so you know the general boundaries of the helmet as shown here:

After all sections were poured, I used extra foam in each section to build up the dome shape. After cutting and sanding (using a respirator), this is what I had:

Now came arguably the WORST part of the entire process (so far)...using the Magic Smooth. The concept of using this stuff was to be able to build up on top of the foam to get the surface smooth and in the shape that it needed to be. I was told that it would sand, which it didn't. Both wet and dry sanding did not work whatsoever, either the sandpaper ripped or the resin stuff cacked on the sandpaper instantly. It was a total pain to mix (EVERYTHING got sticky and you needed water and a lot of room to work with it). Some parts of it never even dried and to this day are sticky...I dont know what I did wrong, but do yourself a favor and don'ts use this (you can SEE the wetness and stickyness):

Mr. Krix used Bondo and Spot Putty which I am not famillar with but must work better than this. I dealt with this **** for a while, weeks probably, and was trying to find ways to work around it. I went to ACE Hardware and picked up "Waterproof Epoxy Putty" (a lot of them....they're small), but that didn't work either. The volume of material was too small, it was too hard to work the two parts together, and it hardened in less than 5 minutes, so there was barely any working time (it's the gray spots):

Even though this process suced, I got a good, long look at the overall shape of the helmet and drew out plans for the future ear pieces and gold framing as seen in the last pic (drawn in black crayon).

I was doing this for about two weeks when the teacher at the art school came up with the idea to use gypsum spackling paste. God, I wish he had thought of this sooner. After seeing how easliy the spackle spreads and sands, I should have used this directly on the foam in the first place without ever using he Magic Smooth and Epoxy Putty. This is the first run:

Second run...looks a lot better, don't it?:



Although it doesn't look like it, a lot was done between the previous picture and next. I went through (and am still going through) a process where I put spackle on and sand it off evenly to see where I need to build up and where to take away. It's very time consuming but I am able to see even minor imperfections in the curve of the visor that will be visible when it is glossy black later on. Also, in order to build up the raised area around the visors, I had to put many thin coats on so the spackle didn't crack.

At this point, I needed to have something to put in the gala at my art school, since my project was obviously nowhere near done. With the help of the teacher previously mentioned, I measured and he cut out beveled ear pieces out of what appears to be poplar wood. I sanded the whole thing nice and primed everything in white and it actually looked pretty good for the show. I don't have a picture of it at the show as of now (ironically), but here is one of it with the ear pieces on, unsanded and unprimed:

As of now, I am using spackle to further refine everything. I made a huge mistake by using vinyl spackle instead of spackling paste, so watch out for that because vinyl does not sand (just one problem after another...). I am also detailing the ear pieces as well and will have pictures of those up soon (hopefully). after this, I hope it will be good enough to put together, clear-coat, and mold.

To be continued...