Yay for Thixo

With the print layer done I started on bulking it up so it would become stiffer. Problem with this is that silicone is too runny. The solution to this problem is thixo. Thixo is an addiive you can add to silicone to thicken it up.
As always check the Flickr stream for more pictures.

Jonathan

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Rubber Time

It's been two weeks since I finished Iron Man so the laquer's had good time to fully harden. So I thought why not begin the moulding work. Last night I had a bit of a play with the silicone rubber to make some keys for later. I had to check the the modelling clay I was going to use wouldn't stop the silicone from curing as some clays contain sulphur which does. Anyway all the keys set fine so today I began.
I started with prepping the helmet with clay and creating a skirt for the silicone to run onto.
I then start the moulding by mixing 200grams of silicone and painting it on. First dabbing the silicone in then using a circular motion to rub it in.

As always check the Flickr stream for more pictures.

Jonathan


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It's done!

It's done! It's finally done!
Got a bit of a late start today because I crashed at a mates house last night. But things began well, sprayed a few final coats.
Then masked off the gold chin section, and wrapped a plastic bag over the rest so there was no accidents. I then spray red over the chin, to stop any gold bleeding. Once dried I spray the gold on top, again about 4 coats.
When those coats were drying I was cutting up some screws so I could glue the heads onto the face plate and helmet. I then used the dremel to make some dimples for the screw heads to sit in.
Once all the screw heads were glued in I then sprayed some more spray paint on top.
The last bit of painting was the black paint on the jaw. To do this I sprayed some black spray paint into it's lid and then used a paint brush to apply it.
Once all done I applied three coats of laquer to protect it.

Now for it's public reveal.
As usuall check my Flickr stream for more pictures. I'll take some more of different people wearing it and upload them soon.


Jonathan

Paint time

Been a miserable cold wet week this week, so I haven't had much time to work on the helmet.

Today I finally got the chance to work on it and it's gotten on very well. Got it finally primed and ready for the paint. Starting with the faceplate I found using these car spray paints takes some patience. You have to spray from a good distance to get a nice even coat. It also looks strange going down as I think it has metallic pieces in it which look like they fizz when they touch the surface.

After a few nice even coats it's looking very close to being done. I still need to dremel some holes for the bolt details but then that should be it.

Check my Flickr photo stream for more photos.

Jonathan


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Details details details

As the title says details was the job of the day. The eye is in the detail, and this is especially true of every piece of work I make. This meant that I didn't finish today, but I'd rather finish later and have it the way I want then rush it.
I bought a tube of car body scratch filler thinking it would be easier to use then the two part filler, boy was I wrong. This stuff doesn't harden like the two part filler, and it doesn't sand at all well. Unfortunatly this took up some time.

Jonathan


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Day off

So I got some spare holiday days at work so I thought I'd take today off. So I got up kinda late, but got a good 4 hours ish of work done on the helmet. I was mainly focusing on the circular ear pieces to get the layered look around them. I found one side was shallower so I had to build up that side with filler, then sand and mold. After a decent amount of sanding and dremeling I sprayed another coat of primer.
Check out my Flickr photo stream for more photos.

Jonathan


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Jaw's almost done

Continued on the jaw a bit today. Got the dremel out to grind down the inside of the thick side to balance them out.
Also worked on smoothing out the rest of the latest filling. Then a dust and wipe down before another primer coat.
Check my Flickr photo stream for more pictures.

Jonathan

-- Post From My iPhone

Jaw time

I find sometimes that I can't be bothered to work in the evenings when i get home from work, yesterday was not one of those days.
I got some work done on shaping the eyes better, and fixing a gap on on side of the jaw. This gap happened because the jaw warped and I had to fix it to make it symmetrical.
Anywho check the updated pictures.

Jonathan

-- Post From My iPhone

Hello world

My first ever blog post!

So after showing friends and collegues some of my previous projects they said I should keep a blog showing my progress. So here it is :D

To see some of my previous projects and see my natural progression check my Deviant Art page @ http://awaken-benihime.deviantart.com

I'm currently working on an Iron Man helmet, from the movie.
Here are the steps I've already done, followed by the steps I still have to do.

1. Find a Pepakura model of the helmet you want, print, cut and glue it together.
2. Once assembled resin the outside to help firm up the card.
3. Fiberglass the inside to give it strength.
4. Use car body filler to build up the detail on the outside, in layers.
5. Sand between layers.
6. Spray with primer, this helps bring out the imperfections and you can also draw on some of the details.
   

To be done:

1. Use body filler to build up the detail, using files and sand paper to shape.
   
2. Primer the whole thing, followed by further sanding with high grit sand paper.
3. Mask off and spray the colours.
4. Spray a protective coat of laquer.

Here are some pictures of it from yesterday.

So I got a lot of work done yesterday, but today the weather has taken a turn for the worst. When it's wet I can't get any sanding done :(
Let's hope for better weather.


Jonathan