In this Instructable, I will be showing you guys how I made a wearable Halo 3 Scout Helmet. This is my first Instructable and my first Halo helmet. I am not going to say that this is the best way to go about making one of these bad boys, but it is the way that I completed the task in as little time possible.

Here is a list of the items that I used for this project:

Bondo Body Filler

Bondo Glass

Bondo Fiberglass Resin

Cardstock paper

Xacto Knife (or something similar)

Scissors

ModPodge

Tape

Lots of paintbrushes

Some Diet Coke cans

Latex Gloves (Important)

Dust mask (Important)

Safety Goggles

Sandpaper (Medium 120 grit)

Shims

Dremel Drill

Some cardboard or part of a box

Foam

Various colors of Paint

Step 1: Find a Good Pepakura File

I was originally going to build a Recon helmet but, alas, the pepakura file did not want to work. First off, if you want to actually be able to use the pepakura files, you will need to download the Pepakura Designer 3. Here is the link to the website:

http://www.tamasoft.co.jp/pepakura-en/

If you want to be able to make changes or create your own pepakura file, you will need to buy the designer but if you just want to look or print something with it, that is free. I got my helmet from the Halo Costuming Wiki and this particular helmet was made into a 3-D model by nz-tk and while I'm at it, I would like to mention 405th.com. They have all sorts of things on that site and it is really helpful for people who are new to this kind of stuff.

Step 2: Build Your Pepakura File!

Okay, so this was probably one of the hardest steps in the process of making this helmet. It took a lot of time for me to build this helmet just because of the whole paper folding and gluing process. It might take a while because you might not be able to fold or glue one spot of the helmet while a different spot is drying. Unfortunately , I did not get any pictures of this step however there are pictures of the completed project of step 2.

What you are going to do is cut out the shapes that you just printed out on the paper. Be careful not to cut on the folding lines! I used ModPodge and tape to keep the pieces together. Also, you might want to consider getting a pack of foam brushes or cheap small paintbrushes because that ModPodge will dry on there and never come off! I only used the tape when I could not get to a spot with the ModPodge.

I opted to skip the part where the visor would go but the parts that were not cut out can be used as a template for cutting the visor that gets attached to the helmet in a later step.

Step 3: Do the Inside!

The next step is to help the helmet from caving in on itself when you put the Bondo on the outside of the helmet. This is where the fiberglass resin and the Bondo glass come into play. (I, unwisely, used up most of my Bondo body filler on the inside of my helmet however I would recommend using the Bondo Glass on the inside. Because of its texture, it does not work well on the outside. I speak from experience. You do not need to use the Bondo Glass but I had some leftover from previous projects.) You can use either the body filler or the Bondo glass. One can of Bondo body filler should be enough for one helmet even if you do the inside with it as well.

We are going to mix the fiberglass resin and the body filler into the same container. Yep, that's right folks, mixing them both together. Now, before you do this, unless you want your rugs or carpets to act as a drip cloth and be permanently stuck to your floor, you may want to consider moving outside. In addition to not ruining your nice floors, you also get some air circulation so you are not breathing in too much of the fumes that the chemicals you are playing with are giving off. This is where the cardboard, latex gloves, and dust masks make their debut. I used part of a POMs TP box to act as a catcher so I did not ruin my Dad's garage floor. Next, you should put on some latex gloves or else you might get some very sticky stuff on your hands that is a bit difficult to get off. And then add a dust mask into the mix and just for extra safety, you can, and should, wear safety goggles or glasses.

Now onto the mixing. Make sure you read the instructions on the tube or jar or whatever you have before you start mixing away. I used old icing cans that my Mom saved from a while ago to be a mixing container for this part. Now for the instructions:

1. (Optional) I put some Fiberglass cloth on the inside of the helmet before this process just to add some more strength.

1 1/2. Take a shim and mix up the Bondo Glass really well.

2. Use that same shim to scoop some of the Bondo Glass out of the can and into the icing container.

3. I covered the bottom of the icing container with Bondo Glass and then added a squirt or two of hardener.

4. Then, you mix that up a lot with your shim.

5. After that is mixed up really well, go ahead and add a bit of fiberglass resin to the Bondo glass mixture. (There is not an exact measurement, so you will just have to eyeball it but if it helps, I took an old measuring cup that comes from a tub of laundry detergent and I measured about half an ounce into the cup and then mixed it into the Bondo.)

6. Once that is all mixed, it should be pretty liquidy. You have two options now, if you are using the Bondo Glass, you will most likely have to use a paintbrush and spread the mixture around in the helmet. If you are using the body filler, you should be able to just pour the mixture into the helmet and really slosh it around. It should stick to the sides and edges.

7. Once that is in there, set that aside and go play some video games for a while! Other options include, but are not limited to, exercising, fishing, playing board games, reading, sleeping, and studying. I let the inside harden for about 20 hours before I started working on it again.

Step 4: Do the Outside!

This next step took a while to complete because I did it in sections. I decided to try something different than what I had read from other peoples projects. Instead of putting the bondo on and sanding and repeating that process several times, I made the mixture more of a liquid and spread it on using a paintbrush.

This step is similar to the previous step except I have some better(ish) measurements for you to use! I had some Diet Coke cans leftover so I took a marker and drew a (mostly) straight line from under the part where it says Diet Coke with Lime Flavor all the way around. Then I cut it out using my pocket knife but you can use whatever you want. This acted as my measuring cup for the mixture I was about to make. I filled the part that I just cut out with Bondo body filler, almost enough to fill the entire part up, and then I added a little splash of resin. Add hardener, mix well, and then make sure it is a liquid. It should be about the consistency of chocolate sauce, except it should run smoother. Then, use your paint brush that you have to spread this Rondo (Resin and bondo) mixture onto the helmet. Make sure that it is thick enough so that it does not run all over the place. The Rondo should set itself and fix any bumps that it has made, and if there are any little holes in the mixture just put some more on your brush and go over it again. Make sure that you are not doing too much at one time, and let the spots that you do dry before flipping your helmet over to do another spot. Also, do not let your dogs tail accidentally brush into the helmet while it is still wet.

Step 5: Stop, Sanding Time

This next step is basically sanding your helmet until it is nice and smooth. I noticed that not all parts on my helmet needed sanding but I went over them with 120 grit sandpaper just to be thorough. I used the dremel drill and attached the sanding tips to go over the helmet until I got the desired smoothness. If you accidentally sand one spot to much, you can go over it again with some more Rondo mixture.

Step 6: Final Layer!

Just to be safe, I went ahead and did another layer of fiberglass resin. This time without any bondo mixed into it. This hardened up the outside a little bit more and added some smooth textures. The finished helmet should look something like the pictures above when you are finished with the resin. If you want a super strong helmet, you could put a layer of resin on the paper before you do the whole Rondo process, but I did not so I don't know how that will turn out.

Step 7: Painting!

This step was the easiest out of all of them. While painting, I would recommend wearing some gloves and lay down some cardboard so you don't accidentally paint anything important.

This step is only limited to your imagination, if you want a striped helmet with alternating colors or a helmet with rainbows and unicorns, it is all yours. And the beauty is, if you mess up you can always repaint it and start from the beginning. Meaning, don't be afraid to try something with your helmet. I tried blackwashing it to make it look more like it was in battle, but that did not work out too well.

I started with a base coat of metallic silver, so that way when I used the weathering techniques that I gathered from many places on the internet, it would look like the paint has chipped off. I went ahead and painted the whole thing silver but you do not need to do that if you know where you want to place your battle damage. I just wanted to make sure it was all the same and symmetrical.

Step 8: More Painting

On this next step, I added a strip of black around the helmet where it was indented and above and below the visor area. Make sure that you tape off the areas you don't want affected by the other color of paint you are using. I also added a little battle damage to the black part. This was used by putting a little bit of toothpaste on the silver area before I painted the black onto the helmet. Then, when the black paint was dry, I simply wiped the toothpaste off. It left a nice little scratch on the helmet. You can also use mustard instead of toothpaste. If you don't have any on hand, you can buy the cheapest kind since they are all mostly the same.

Step 9: Painting the Third Layer

I used some more mustard to add more battle damage to the top. I also did the top part (above the black strip) and the bottom part (below the black strip) in separate sections, just to be safe. There were some parts on the helmet that I left un-sanded on purpose. They were just little circles of space that the Rondo did not fill in all the way. I only added a few battle damage scratches but you can add as many or as few as you want. Also, after I spent about fifteen minutes taping up the top part in preparation for painting the bottom, my Dad walked by and said "Why don't you use a plastic bag or a piece of paper?". -_- I wish I thought of that before I taped everything up. So for the top part, I put a plastic bag around the bottom and it worked a lot better than just tape. Make sure that if you use the bag, to tape the ends down really well. Just to be safe, I taped a border and then taped the bag over top.

There may have been some spots where the paint seeped through the tape or slipped underneath the tape. You can easily fix these by getting some model paint and painting over it. You can see some of it in the last picture above.

Step 10: The Finished Project

Once that last coat of paint is dry, go ahead and wipe the mustard or toothpaste or whatever you used off. Now, you might be thinking, "Is that it? Am I finished?" however the answer is no. You are still going to need an awesome visor for your awesome helmet. Unfortunately, I did not have an awesome visor on hand so I used a clear one that I got from a thrift store. I did not cut out the visor to fit the helmet or glue the visor into the helmet, however you can do many different things to fit the visor to the helmet. Of course, the color of the visor is also your choice. I also added some foam to the inside of the helmet to make it fit my head better.

And this concludes my first Instructable. I hope you all enjoyed reading my crazy adventure of making a Halo 3 Scout helmet. Any votes for the Game.Life 4 contest would be appreciated!