What is the best way to make a helmet

Question

i've seen so many helmets online i just want to know what is an the best way to have a realistic helmet such as if i was going to make one from halo or iron man or something. would sheet metal be good or plastic, or fiber glass? and how would i go about making a mold?????

Answer 1

Costume Helmets for Sci-Fi type outfits... if you're making just ONE, I'd buy a batting helmet or construction helmet and modify it with any number of materials:  Styrene or ABS plastic or sheet aluminum are relatively easy to work with to modify an existing helmet.

MANY of the movie helmets are actually vacu-formed styrene plastic... here is an example: http://www.tk560.com/RFTHelmetBuilding.h...

Fiberglass molding is fun... difficult, but FUN.  I made several helmets for theater use by carving two-part foam blocks to match the exterior design... coating it with plaster and then vaseline, and then building up fiberglass and resin to get the "negative-mold".  Here is a link to some instructions:  http://www.cstsales.com/tutorials/fiberg...

As with ALL such projects... work on PAPER first... then in something like clay or foam where you can check your 3-D look over and over... THEN move into actual construction.

This link has more information on helmets and costuming: http://www.studiocreations.com/howto/