I Make Helmets

Clone Trooper Helmet

This helmet was made to replace my first one, which found its way to hockey games a lot if you can believe it. I use it below to demonstrate the process I’ve developed. I go through a lot more steps compared to what I used to, but I’d like to think it is clearly worth it.

Half-Life 2 Combine Helmet

This helmet was made as a gift to my brother. This was by far the hardest one to print because of how thin some of the sections are and how many of the surfaces that mate together are very rounded. I ended up designing internal fixtures to keep them together with magnets.

Scout Trooper Helmet

This helmet was made as a gift to my father. Fun fact, I actually put together and printed the stencils for the grey decals on the forehead and the side. This one took a ton of sanding because of the crevices in the design, which felt impossible to actually get smooth.

The Process

Step 1: Print the design and fuse the main bodies together. I use cyanoacrylate (superglue) and then melt together the seams with a soldering iron for good measure.

Step 2: Slather on a lot of Bondo Glazing & Spot Putty. Then sand it down. You might need to redo this a few times.

Step 3: Use a spray primer. This will fill in any gaps the Bondo was too thick to get into. You should make sure to put multiple coats.

Step 4: Apply your base colors.

Step 5: Wet sand your base colors. Wait until it is bone dry and repaint, then sand again. Keep doing this until you get a really nice glossy finish.

Step 6: Cut out the visor material. I use low grade welding visors and cut out what I need, since they are cheap and also rigid, meaning they stay in the helmet better.

Step 7: Glue together all the components and paint in the details. For most I use painters tape and cut out the sections I want to paint, such as the mouth grille and the side vents.

Step 8: Add weathering. You can use sandpaper to scuff up the paint if you want (that’s what happened in Step 5 & 7) as well as brown acrylic paint, water, and a paper towel to add dirt marks.

I’ve Improved!