[bloodhound31]

The answer to my boredom prayers, to keep me sane and creative.

Found a cool site called the 405th. It's very geeky and nerdy so it's right up my alley. These guys use scratch-building and Pepakura techniques to build 3D wearable armour. It could be just a helmet, or full-body complete with lighting, mini arc-reactors and energy weapons.

There's Stormtrooper helmets (Clone Trooper and the newer ones), Halo armour, Predator heads and much more. I'm thinking of making a collection of sci-fi helmets to adorn the observatory.

The cutting, folding and shaping is very fiddly, technical and requires a lot of concentration, patience and planing.

Once the paper/card is shaped, resin is applied to the outside to stiffen, then the inside is lined with fibreglass matt, sanded and trimmed.

The outside is then bogged with car-body-filler, sanded, shaped and cut in with fine details.

Lastly, it is primed, painted and clear-coated with high quality automotive paint for a movie-grade finish.

Humble beginnings with stunning results. (I've included someone else's pic of their attempt.) Here's where I am at so far. Just applied the first coat of resin to the outside. It looks a bit rough, but you just wait.

P.S. the old paper shuttle is one I made a couple of years ago. Need to dust it off and repair it to hang in the observatory, along with my paper Cassini and Galileo models.

Baz.