HALO EVA Helmet Visor Project

When they came out with HALO3, the folks at Bungie included a lot of options for customizing the look of your armor in the game.  Among the many permutations avalable is the "EVA" version, shown here:

I think the helmet is pretty snazzy, even if the large gold dome would work best as a sniper magnet.  Still, I haven't liked it enough to spend the time building one from scratch. 

A while back I acquired a raw casting of this helmet in a trade with another maker.  The main challenge for this particular helmet though is to get the gold-tone, full-head faceshield to have the proper metallic sheen and still be transparent enough to see through.

I came up with this plan knowing it would not be perfect. I did expect it'd look the part though.  Here's how I went about it...


Step one, cut out the recessed areas:





Step two, cut out pieces of 1/8" amber acrylic, cook them in the oven until they're soft and flexible, and press them into the holes with a rag so that they become convex:



Step three, spray the helmet with black primer and test fit:



Step four, tack the acrylic pieces in place with CA adhesive and test fit again:



Step five, caulk around th edges with clay:



Step six, mask off the inside of the acrylic where you'll need to see through:



Step seven, pour a batch of black casting resin inside and coat everything:



Step eight, after the resin has started to cure and before it is fully hardened, peel out the masking tape to uncover the acrylic viewports:



Step nine, mask off the viewports, pack the edges with filler putty. Then, when the putty has dried, spray the visor gloss black:



Step ten, spray on a coat of Mirrachrome, allow to dry, and then remove the masking tape:



Step eleven, test fit:



Step twelve, wipe down the inside of the acrylic parts with acetone and/or rubbing alcohol:



Step thirteen, dry out and remove fumes from inside the helmet:



Step fourteen, lightly spray the inside of the acrylic parts with Mirrachrome:



Step fifteen, smile for the camera:



Step sixteen, test fit:



Step seventeen, spray on a coat of Tamiya "clear orange" acrylic:



The color looks about right in sunlight, but it loses a bit indoors:



Still, it seems to fit in with the rest of the stack okay:



Sooner or later, someone's going to ask about visibility. Here's a shot from the inside of the helmet:

The dark spot is where I put the Mirrachrome on a bit too thick. Otherwise, it's a bit cloudy but it works.


Step eighteen, mask off all of the metallic parts and spray on a coat of satin white paint (the primary color I've chosen for this helmet):


Step nineteen, hand paint the brown portion (the secondary color I've chosen):


Step twenty, test fit:


Step twenty-one, hand-paint the black details:


Step twenty-two, sit back and marvel at what you've wrought:


Now I just need to find a very large friend with a very small head to dress up as the Meta from Red vs. Blue...