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I make toys for kids who don't want to grow up. I'm on the lookout for new projects. If you're interested in commissioning me to build something ridiculous, shoot me an email.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

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):
EVA Visor 19

Step nineteen, hand paint the brown portion (the secondary color I've chosen):
EVA Visor 20

Step twenty, test fit:
EVA Visor 21

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

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

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...

12 comments:

  1. Very cool! I was wondering tho, I can understand using clay to caulk the outside of the lenses so the adhesive doesn't leak through. But Doesn't the clay leave a wicked residue on the acrylic? How do you get it clean enough to paint?

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  2. It does leave a bit of oily residue, yes.

    A great trick I learned from my latex mask making experiments though: oil-based clay cleans up easily with rubbing alcohol.

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  3. where would i buy a gold visor because i am making a helmet

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  4. how much would you sell and Eva helmet fully done?

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  5. So good topic really i like any post talking about Ancient Egypt but i want to say thing to u Ancient Egypt not that only ... you can see in Ancient Egypt Ancient Egyptian Gods and Goddess and more , you shall search in Google and Wikipedia about that .... thanks a gain ,,,

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  6. i am acutally making a meta costume :D
    i bought the helmet kit, as i have an exrremaly limited amount of time.. and i am currently making the armor my friend shall cosplay texas and i am going to be the meta, i hope i am "tall" enough.. 180.. is not exactly huge...

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  7. can i ask how a spray paint is see through. if i were to spray it onto perspex would i het the same result. can you explain? cheers

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  8. I want to make a big, Avatar-Style face mask and mirror it. Can I ask if one would be able to stencil in black over the initial mirroring coat of mirrochrome?

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  9. By the way, how expensive is a can of Mirrachrome, because I'm a cheap-ass and I want to make a helmet with a stencil on the outside.

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  10. Where would I find where you show how to build the rest of the parts for this suit?

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  11. excelent, any document to use as base?
    or any tip to do mine?

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