Tie Fighter Pilot Helmet Build ( Intergalactic Supply)

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quite a few pilots built this week. Looking pretty good. InterGalactic Supply.

This will be a build thread tutorial on how to assemble the helmet.

Here are some finished photos.



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So first we start with trimming the hemispheres back. I like to only leave about a half inch to 3/4 of an inch on the top of the Mohawk to glue to. Any more than that and the Mohawk strip wants to ride hi and have a gap in between the helmet in top cover strip.

sand the surface of the white interior strip to be glued to each side of the hemisphere.

Starting to trim around the forehead and face as shown. At the forehead it's very important to bring the faceplate as far forward as possible so the trim line basically goes from nothing to about a half of an inch to leave a little bit of material in the brow.

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Okay so here you can see where I have marked the armor where I want to trim it with the pencil. This makes it easier and gives you a little bit of a guideline to follow.

You'll notice at the square feature around the cheek area, I have a line drawn from behind the middle "dot" to in front of the middle dot, At an angle. That is very important in keeping the hemispheres tight to the faceplate. Also the round cut allows for the cheek tubes to ride inside of the helmet hemispheres.

Basically follow the same detail on both sides of the helmet. Don't forget to sand the top and bottom of the hemispheres so they can be glued to the inner and outer strips. Be careful not to sand far to the outside edge of the hemisphere lip as you do not want to scratch the finish of the helmet.

I like to use a power tool for some of the areas but also hand sanding is usually best. Where I show the Dremel tool located is an area you want to make sure it is trimmed back away so the faceplate will not be squished into place so badly.

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Mark and trim the inside Mohawk strip to fit inside one of the hemispheres. Then using the adhesive of your choice, I like to use ABS cement in black, you quickly glue the inside strip and clamp it to the inside of the first hemisphere,evenly around the inside lip.

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While you are waiting for your glue to dry you can start trimming the ears. First I start with a rough cut around the outside edge and depending on the look you're going , for you trim The Returned Edge back to about an eighth of an inch.

I use Sharp tin snips to do the rough trim and then model lexan trimming scissors to do the fine-tuning. As always I usually finish my edges on a belt sander or hand sand with some sandpaper.

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Now it's time to glue the two hemispheres together. Go ahead and Dri-Fit the two pieces together and making sure everything is lining up properly you can quickly glue the outside edge of the white cover strip and put it together on the inside of the second hemisphere. Using strong Earth magnets and clamps make sure it is clamp together tightly with no gaps. Also make sure to look sideways at the forehead profile to make sure they are lined up above the brow line. So you don't get a crooked brow.

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While that glue is drying now we can start to trim out the faceplate eyes and Tube holes and mount the lens. I start with using a razor blade and very carefully score around the inside trim lines of the eye sockets. After that I use my Dremel tool to lightly score the backside of the plastic and then I can gently push the plastic right out of the hole.

After I have rough trimmed the eye sockets I then use sandpaper and my Dremel tool to dial in the back side of the eye socket return Edge evenly on the inside of the helmet. This allows the lens to sit flat against the eye features. Using some small needle files I also dial in the corners and features of the eye sockets.

Using my flat lens provided I simply line it up evenly over the eye sockets and Mark two holes on each side of the face plate. then mount them with two small short bolts and nuts.

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Okay this little diagonal cut is very important in my opinion to make the helmets sit tight to the faceplate as well. You'll notice I cut a little diagonal corner off of that square cheek feature detail.

Also try and trim the Sideburn details right about five eighths of an inch or so straight up to the half inch to nothing brow detail try to make it as symmetrical as you can on both sides.

Cut out the tube holes on the back side and Dremel them out being careful not to make the holes too large.

Mark the center of the white Mohawk strip with pencil, and Eyeball the center for head of the faceplate with a pencil mark this will help you line everything up to begin with.

Drill two holes in the top of the hemisphere, one on each side of the Mohawk about a quarter inch away from the brow and a quarter inch away from the mohawk.

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Squeezing the faceplate into position, eyeball your brown trim to be about 5/8 to 3/4 of an inch depending on the look you're going for. Using those two pre-drilled holes and holding the faceplate in position drill one of the holes through and insert a bolt. Line up your face plate into position and drill the second hole. Install the second Bolt. You can then put the two bolts one on each side of each cheek into that square detail we put the diagonal cut on earlier.

Then we are going to go ahead and pre Bend The Bottom Edge detail for the Mohawk strip. I mark it at 1.5 in and I use a heat gun to soften the plastic enough and bend it over the edge of the table to give it the 45 angle detail. Let that cool and sand the backside and preparation to glue it to the top of the helmet.

Also in preparation on the Mohawk strip I have added two strips of blue painter's tape that will help prevent scratches from the magnets during construction.

Once I trim the Mohawks strip to length. I quickly add adhesive to the backside of the Mohawk strip and then hold it in position and with my third arm Place magnets and clamps to hold the Mohawk into position. This is where you really have to be careful that you don't get any glue on the rest of the helmet hemispheres or face plate.

I then also quickly add two rivets to the bottom side of the helmet and that 45 angle detail we just bent on to the cover strip mohawk.

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This is why you want the faceplate to sit as far forward as possible and you make that drastic Trimline in the beginning of the hemisphere trimming stages. You want the forehead to sit as far forward as possible in the helmet.

And we can start on the ears and hold them into position and drilling them through the side with the bolt and then through the bottom of the cheek tube really holds this helmet very sturdy.

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Then we are down to the trident. You need to cut out about a 1-inch Notch of the top of the helmet hemispheres to accept the Mohawk trident indentations. Once you trim the Trident into position you can find the center of the Mohawk and Market on the trident rear even if it is not sitting perfectly straight. You then cut straight lines and angle back to your Center mark. After sanding the edges of the Trident and dry fit in the back on the helmet I drill two holes in the Trident Notch areas and begin to add the bolts to keep everything in line for construction. I then use a pencil to trace the area of the Trident onto the blue painter's tape. I then take a razor blade and cut out just inside of your pencil marks remove tape and install again to protect top of trident. I then use the open area that was cut from the painters tape so I can sand the Mohawk cover strip to accept the trident.

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add decals, and wash and prep pill box and ear greeblies for installation.

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Some details about the trident.

I measure 1 inch down from the front crease and make a mark on each side of the Trident. Then using a straightedge this one right at 15 mm which is approximately 5 eighths of an inch I draw a parallel line with the front angle of the trident. I cut those lines straight up to the flat Edge of the Trident and then using a straight blade I scored the backside of the Trident and breaking off the side flaps leaving just a flat piece to put the angled back portion of the trident.

And again as always depending on the look you are going for I like to leave a little bit of a return Edge on the front forks of my trident , then cut notches in pictured in next post.

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Some more photos showing The Notches in between the forks of the Trident. And also showing the little bit of return Edge I like to leave in place.

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Ok, back to the Tie Pilot build.

Once you get the hemispheres together, faceplate bolted in, and Mohawk Attached, you can work on the trident. I tape the Mohawk to protect from scratches with the magnets and once I position the trident on place , I mark the tape, cut just to the inside of marks, and peel away only what will be sanded and glue applied. I use the triangle piece of tape on the top of trident to or text from scratches.

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