How to make a Daft Punk Guy Manuel Helmet and costume!

So, since my last build of Isaac Clarke, there has been a passion growing in me for making props, therefore I decided to tackle a project of higher magnitude and so I chose to do Guy Manuel's helmet from Daft Punk, so I will stop blabbing on now and begin with the procedure.. So let's do this! Haha.

Step 1: Materials

Here's the list of materials I used and which you will need too:

Bondo Body Filler can x2 (Or any other body filler)
Bondo Fiberglass Resin
Bondo Fiberglass cloth
Bondo Spot and Glazing Putty
Sand Paper sheets - The grit's I used were
40 Grit, 80 Grit, 180 Grit, 220 Grit, 2000 Grit.
Expandable Foam (Spray foam)
Card-stock paper (or cardboard)
White and brown Rustoleum Primer spray paints
Ply wood boards (4ft x 8ft)
Disposable painting brushes
Liquid nails (Great Wood Glue)
Acrylic Clear Sheet
Epoxy glue (Plastic)
Hot glue sticks
VHT Nightshades
Automotive Black Spray paint

Those were the basic materials you need, now I also made a step in which I made "copies" of the master I made, so I will explain the process, but here are the materials you will need:

Smooth-on's Rebound 25 Brush-able silicone Rubber
Smooth-on's Smooth-cast 300 Bright White Liquid Plastic
Smooth-on's Thi-vex II

Tools I used:
Dremel or any other rotary tool (It is my new best friend)
Scissors
Shop Vacuum
Hacksaw
Hot glue gun

Optional tools to have at hand:
Jigsaw
Sander (I wish I had one..)

And for safety matters:
Goggles
Respirator
Leather gloves
Latex Gloves
Vinyl Gloves

Body Attire:
Black Leather Jacket
Black Leather Pants
Black Hiking Gloves

Comments

[pirateINDUSTRY]

If you wait until the Bondo is half-dry, you can use sculpting tools to "carve away" and sculpt the bondo. It sometimes is much easier than sanding completely dry Bondo.

[mirage18]

hey man, can you shoot me an email, im wodering if you would be willing to make me one or two of those white casts, and how much you would charge for them :D im looking to make 2 more helmets and i dont have the time to do all the other steps again, already have a basic one, i want to try to make a tron one and a steampunk one :D but i wanna start with an actual base this time to save time, get back to me with the answer asap please and thank you :D email is
[e-mail] just set the subject as Guy Manuel Helmet or something like that.

[jumbohiggins]

Hey, I know I'm a little late to the party but if you are still answering questions I would love to ask you a few things as I am trying to build one of these now.

1. After you apply the bondo to the expanding foam model, are you hollowing out the expanding foam so you can put the thing on your head? I am trying to follow volpin as well as you but neither of you really mention this.

2. Can I immediately bondo the expanding foam or is there an in between step? Volpin mentions urethane resin but your's seemed to turn out ok.

If you could answer any or all of these I would be super grateful thanks so much.
Great build.

[escape977]

Is there any way to make this cheaper?

[SinAmos]

I just love it. I love your lover as well. Haha.

[TheShrubPatrol]

OH GAWD.
I'm wetting myself <3
That was fantastic. I made a Thomas Helmet last year and I think your guy Manuel one is great :D

I hope their next album comes out soon <3 <3 <3 <3
Great job again!

[JaeJada]

How long did this take u to make. I'm not sure if u said it anywhere, if you did sorry about that.

[techman711]

hey this is truly beautiful .. i know you probly get asked alot and what not but is there anyway i could get a mold man like i have no money right now to make a mold .. so plz email me at [e-mail] it would mean a crzy amount to me because this is an on going thing i dream of making ... idk but anyway i could get help other than this would be amazing ..

[Anthony pantarino]

Hey how did you make the cr
Are board model cause I can't figure that out. Thank you ..
\--/

[Cepeda97]

I'm slightly confused with this step. Do you break the jacket mold in half and what is the shell? What do you reattach with nuts and screws?

[QualityBuilder460]

Is a dremel absolutely needed or is there a a cheaper substitute?

[QualityBuilder460]

Can I have an extended explanation about making the vacuum form machine thingy? Because I don't quite understand.

[QualityBuilder460]

How long did it take you to make this helmet?

[QualityBuilder460]

Sorry I have a lot of questions.. hehe.

After you have made the card stock model and have carved out the shape how do you take the cardboard out of the inside? Or do you leave it there?

Im going to make one my self i just wanted to understand the build better so I dont screw up! :)

[QualityBuilder460]

What did you use to make the registration keys?

[QualityBuilder460]

About how much would it cost to get the framed sprayed chrome?

[jxwonn]

How much would you say it costs for this whole project?

[FennecCooper]

Somewhere around $300-450

[9999AWC]

Hey! I'm just wondering if you could make me one of each! Well first I need to know the price of each and both combined! Oh, and do you ship to Canada? I'd really like to be daft punk for Halloween! My price range is 200$ (for now but I'm not sure)! Plz reply!

[FennecCooper]

Shoot me an e-mail - [e-mail]

[JellyyFishh]

Who else thought White red and green el wire would be AMAZING for the aesthetic back wire details!

[doogles]

would the trial size smooth cast be anywhere near enough to attempt something
like this?

[FennecCooper]

Sorry for the late reply!
A buddy of mine was able to accomplish one of his builds (equal size of mine) with the trial size of smooth-cast.
He wished he had more, as some layers weren't thick enough for the mold to last long.

[doogles]

thanks alot! im kinda short on cash now so the trial size seems right up my alley

[TheBoss303]

How much of the smooth-on silicone rubber did you use?

[FennecCooper]

$180-190 USD.
That excludes the $18-22 USD shipping fee.

[Thisguy18]

This is awesome. I am currently in the middle of almost the same build, but doing discovery era. but if i cant figure out the electronics Ill go with tron era.
You got some really good work there
thanks for the inspiration and the fine instructable

[FennecCooper]

Glad to help out others with this instructable ^-^

Might I say, I am working on the Tron Revised version, it actually appeals to me more, haha!

[JellyyFishh]

HELLO! WONDERFUL 'ible. Just wondering if you could make me this visor and the base thing. I am terrible at all this but can certainly pay for it! I am a master of the electronics and In turn i could make you the led array on the sides that guy usually has. either that or money:)

[FennecCooper]

Hey Jellyfish!
I am currently in the process of remodeling my Guy Manuel helmet in order to resemble the Tron Revised version.
This version may still be turned into any of the previous ones of course.
I don't fully understand your question, are you interested in purchasing a kit from me?

You can check out my Facebook page - facebook.com/fennecprops
I will be updating my build, or you may also shoot me an e-mail to - [e-mail]

I'll be glad to answer all your questions ^-^

[JellyyFishh]

Hello again!! I want to buy a helmet with visor but not with el light things. I want to remodel it to resemble the original gold and black visor one (i am working on led array for it (rainbow and some details)


Concluding, I would like to purchase a helmet (with visor) but no silly el lights :)
Thanks!!

Yours, JellyyFishh

[FennecCooper]

Okay, well, simply contact me at - [e-mail]

I'll be sure to get to you quickly! ^-^

[janthedude]

could you give me an assumption on how much all the materials are?

[FennecCooper]

Sure thing! A rough estimate depending on how much you have laying around would be $300-450

[nothingfi]

do you have to make the cast or can you just use the original one you made?

[FennecCooper]

You can use the original one you've made, but it will be a lot heavier if you go with the original master route :)

[g0nn el tren]

So.. you also watch Volpin Props?

[FennecCooper]

Volpin is a huge inspiration to my work! :)

[Lonxx]

Looks great and makes me imagine other Tron probs. Is it possible to look through the visor from the inside. I always wondered how to make those "one way translucent" parts.

[slinkeyj3]

In the instructable, it says to use a molded clear plastic-like material. You use window tinting to make it black, so you can see through it because it acts like a tinted car window.

[FennecCooper]

Correct!

[Daft Punk]

This thing is amazing! Can you see through it well? About how much did the process cost? I need a good estimate. Thinking about starting one over the summer with my parents.

[FennecCooper]

Of course! It has great visibility : )
I wouldn't want to be running into walls, haha!

A rough estimate depending on how much you have laying around would be $300-450

Cheers on your project mate!

[nothingfi]

can you see out of it

[Tekonis]

Or maybe would u consider making another for sell?

[FennecCooper]

I have sold 3 raw castings already. These have been exactly sold as seen in step 12.
The card stock model is just the helmet blueprints printed out on cardstock, then put together along with more paper to create what appears in step 2.
I'm so sorry if it doesn't make sense, I'll be glad to explain in further detail if you'd like me to.

[barbie the filthy bastard]

extremely impressive work.... although the instructions are great, im still a little confused about step 2... i would appreciate it alot if you can explain it with more detail please.. thank you..

[FennecCooper]

I understand your confusion, and I apologize for my lack of ability to explain things in detail.
Okay here it goes, I made some blueprints for the helmet and printed them out in 1:1 scale to my head, this included a front plane of the helmet blueprint, 2 side shots and a rear shot.

These pieces were then traced onto a big cardstock (cardboard), they were then cut out and kind of put together to make an "X" so I could have the actual size of the helmet and see what is was going to look like.

Since you are just going to have a "X" and "Y" plane of the helmet (Aerial view) you want to fill in the "Z" plane which will turn the piece from a 2D figure to a 3D figure, so you link the gaps of the "X" plane and "Y" with either paper of more cardboard.

By this moment, you should have something that looks like the one in the picture.

Then you want to spray foam around the whole piece so you could later carve the piece until you get your desired shape.

If you still don't understand, let me know, I'll be more than glad to make an example step by step video or addition to this instructable : )

[barbie the filthy bastard]

if you would be so kind to make the step by step video... it would be of great help because im still a little thrown off on how to make the cardstock figure.. thank you again

[FennecCooper]

Sure! It might take a little while to get it done, but since I am working on a new piece now, I will try and make a video of my model so you can grasp the idea a little better : )

[barbie the filthy bastard]

sounds great to me...thank you for taking the time to explain this to me. Might this new piece be the Thomas helmet?

[FennecCooper]

Well I already started working on that one, but I am working on a ronzler helmet build from Tron Legacy

[ksykes]

Great job documenting your build, and the finished product looks phenomenal!

[FennecCooper]

Thank you!

[cronama]

nice nice nice!

[ナさん]

かっこいい＾＾☆♪
あなたの仕事が好きだ。

[aruiz13]

Sweet!

[solipsism]

do you have a large photo of the inside of the helmet from step 15, I would love to use it in a photoshop for a background of a space station.
[e-mail]

really cool helmet btw. I wish i had more equipment to do fibreglas

[Tekonis]

This is awesome. I'm going to attempt to make one when I get home from Iraq. Just wandering though at the beginning where do u get the card stock model to begin with?

[Mermaid716]

Awesome job! Where did you find the best price on the EL lighting?
Thanks for sharing.

[FennecCooper]

http://www.amazon.com/11ft-Neon-Glowing-Strobing-Electroluminescent/dp/B005LY5DDO/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1320171824&sr=8-4

Enjoy

[Robotrix]

This is an amazing helmet, but the part I appreciated the most was the explanation of how slush casting worked. I've seen the Volpin helmets and all I kept wondering was how someone could get such a smooth, thin cast from a negative mold. Great work and I hope you get a lot of use out of your helmet!

[FennecCooper]

Glad to know you understood the process : )

[mikegalloway]

Awesome! I really enjoyed your article. The final product looks amazing. Way to go.

Don't forget to enter this into the 4th Annual Epilog Laser contest!

[FennecCooper]

Sure thing!

[Gepetto Father]

Very nicely done! Daft Punk costumes never grow old!

BTW, man, you freakingly look like me. That separated at birth thing. I was shocked. =D

[FennecCooper]

I guess my funky face brought some type of resemblance between us, haha! And thanks man, appreciate all the positive feedback.

[jmitch77]

This is so awesome!!! Inspires me to try some sculpting and casting! Thanks for sharing and posting a great instructable!

[northconnor]

Awesome! How's the visibility through the visor?

[FennecCooper]

I'll post a picture from the inside out for you to see : )

[FennecCooper]

Its fairly good, but I will remake the visor out of another material which is crystal like, so it would be practically like wearing sunglasses.
Right now the visibility is still good.

[leggomylegoeggo]

this is utterly and entirely awesome.

[FennecCooper]

Thanks!

[jonnysoups]

Great 'ible!! Did you spray the nightshades on the outside and inside?

[FennecCooper]

Outside, if you spray it on the inside then you wont be able to see ^-^

[likestoparty]

Well done! Looks expensive, but a great primer on custom helmet molding. Thank you very much.

[JBZG]

Cool as.... a very cool thing...gret work

[The Papier Boy]

What would you approximate the total cost of this project?
Excellent work, btw.

[FennecCooper]

A rough estimate is $450, I know it was a bit expensive, but I'd like to believe it was totally worth it : D

[mikeasaurus]

amazing, looks like you put a lot of work into this!

[FennecCooper]

Yes I did! took me two months to fully complete it : )

[monsterlego]

AWESOME!!!

-ML-

[ramicaza]

holy crap that looks amazing!!! i can see you put a ton of work into it, congrats :)

[Penolopy Bulnick]

That is crazy awesome!

[FennecCooper]

Thank you! I worked on this really hard : )