The project took approximately 12 hours of labor, not considering any travel to Knoxville and excluding the initial trip to Des Moines for materials. Advising on construction and providing the tools and work space was an associate, Frank Mathias, Jr. of Bussey, Iowa, who owns far superior facilities than I have at my home. I have no knowledge of welding, and I called on his skills to perform that particular step for me on the antenna. The rest of the project was executed by me.
Every step of the construction was met with little or no difficulty with the exception of the shoulder area. Per my conceptual sketch, the neck was initially to be squared off. However, it was evident from the onset prior to even purchasing materials that a flat edge would prove to be problematic when it came to balancing the helmet on my head. I devised a solution by redesigning the helmet to include cut outs for my shoulders. This foresight is evident on the second series of concept drawings, near the bottom just right of the Dials, Toggles and L.E.D. ideas.
This added a significant amount of "real estate" to the face of the helmet, so at this point I redesigned the face to include two eyes and the nose elements. But, I stayed true to the original concept of a futuristic and stylized piece military hardware and have a great sense of satisfaction with the final outcome.
The following pictures documents the construction of the project at various stages, from the pile of seemingly unrelated items to the finished helmet on my head.
Some of the purchased items for the hat project.
Detail of a few of the more-fun items.
Test fit of shoulder cut-outs.
Using a saw, a hole was cut out in the approximate position of the nozzle. The trimmed gutter elbow was then inserted and caulked in place.
Cannibalized parts from a dead hard drive, some wood scraps and an electrical box. This functions as the control box on the back.
Application of light olive to various components in anticipation of providing visual dynamics and separation of items in the final product. Paint was purchased at Wal-Mart.
Rubberizing black paint was applied to obscure the wood grain on the few components cut from scrap wood.
Progress photo showing the completed face, the neck cushion and the rough-in of the eye holes and face grill... as well as two of the many empty Diet Mt. Dew bottles littering the workspace.
Detail of back box prior to final gluing.
Detail of final assembly of the left eye. Three loops were cemented to a hard disk from a long dead external drive.
Back box base made of wood secured in place. A scrap piece of tube was used to securely position the block.
First coat of black primer applied in preparation for olive body color. Primer was purchased at Wal-Mart.
Detail of "rivits" and "weld seams" using Elmer's White Glue purchased at Wal-Mart. The "happy accident" for this application was , as the glue dried, the blobs sunk in the middle slightly, even more completing the illusion of rivets.
Experimentations with the olive paint and black primer to resemble weathering we conducted.
Final paint job prior to detailing.
Masking for the red stripe with a few coats applied. Basic maroon spray paint purchased at Wal-Mart.
Finished stripe detail with star. Star was cut from a star downloaded from the internet.
Ear pieces inserted, as well as the left eye.
Both eyes inserted, awaiting backers with LED lights. Tubing also finished. An electric drill was used to punch holes in the nozzle and the conduit was tied inside the mask to secure it in place.
Back box with faux wiring nearing completion. The antennae array is visible to the right of the blue box supporting the mask.
Detail of face from under the "nose".
Detail of right eye with variable lenses.
Picture of final result from the front.
Picture of final result from the right.
Picture of final result from the back.
Picture of final result from the left.
