May. This was not a very productive month. As far as getting Delta any closer to completion anyway. For other projects, it was a very good month. I began work on my version 2 of Destro’s mask, and upgraded my vacuum forming table…already.
For Delta, all that I got done was just cleaning up the wiring, lining the inside of the helmet with old Crown Royal bags, and getting the back pack started. I have to say, that I think it actually looks pretty cool with all the bags in there. It looks much better than just the raw foam that was visible.
This does serve four purposes.
1) It helps to seal down some of the Mache from pealing lose.
2) It covers the foam skeleton on the inside.
3) It allowed me to conceal and secure the wiring for the lights and fans.
4) It gets rid of a lot of Crown Royal bags.
I did route the wiring out the back and it will be concealed with the back pack.
The back pack is really just a board that the tanks will mount to, and the board will mount to the frame on the helmet. I will likely permanently mount the board to the helmet, but the tanks will be removable for transport and storage.
I need to trim this a lot shorter too, but I like the layout.
Well, big daddy Delta is not going to be the only costume that goes to Atlanta…hopefully. I am also working on an updated version of my Destro costume from last year.
While I absolutely love this costume, I did run short on time and had to leave a few things in a state of half baked. Mainly the back of the mask being made from vinyl and kept closed with Velcro. With everything I learned from it, I am well under way with a version 2.
Back in March, I decided to try my hand at making a vacuum forming table. The basic idea is you take a positive mold or sculpt, heat a piece of plastic until it is just about to melt, put it over the mold, and use a vacuum to suck all the air out and form the plastic around the mold.
The table itself was easy enough to build, except for marking and drill over 1500 1/4” holes. I went with a side by side version instead of the top down version. My idea was that heat rises, so a heat source under the plastic would work best.
I did line the heat side with WonderBoard, just forgot to get a picture.
I went with a toaster over as my heat source. The one I picked up had two burners.
This lead to some heating issues. Hot spots. Uneven heating. Not enough heat. All that lead to some rather interesting foil attempts at a solution.
I had to eventually break down and get a second toaster over. I looked at other options, but this was the cheapest and all I could afford. Maybe one day there will be a version 3 with a more professional heat source, or at least a bigger toaster oven.
I could have likely run all 4 elements off just one controller, but I thought why try to increase my risks for a fire more than I already am.
With that all done and working, I took my original mask and made a vacuum mold of it. I want to use it as a base for a sculpt and since it is already the right size and a great starting point, why not.
Next, I filled the new plastic mold with a fun little compound Melinda and I came up with of newspapers and water run through the blender and then glue and flour added. I baked this for quite a while under a heat lamp and outside before I felt brave enough to remove it.
I didn’t get any pictures of the final product, but it is working out great as a base. I did try to do just a quick vacuum pull of just it with a few changes made by adding clay, and well, anywhere air could pull through, it did and caused the plastic to form around it. I ended up with a lumpy mask.
I then just went and built up the rest of the features, evened out a few areas and gave the whole thing a coat with air dry clay to get a good solid working positive.
I marked the eye areas with raised bits so I would know better where to cut for the eye holes later.
The pull from the clay piece turned out really well and I am on my way to a good Destro V2 mask.
This is only the front, but I will use it to build the back and will sculpt ear molds separately and put it all together. My plan is to use rare earth magnets to hold the front and back together. I guess that this will add the effect of also scrambling the CIA brainwave scanners as well.
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