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My new helmet bucks


Chef

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Finally got my helmet bucks back from my buddy Nath.

 

They're going to need a bit of final fettling before they are ready to pull from and I've got my head very deep in a colonial marine project at the moment, so they're going to be a few weeks away yet from anything like a test pull, but progress is progress.

 

E39B79B6-8607-4038-BF0F-50DCEF0CDFF6-3685-000008EA6D6E2FBA.jpg

 

66602196-B65F-4F23-9278-7EACEAC41ED8-3685-000008EA7342772D.jpg

 

F004F0BF-A309-4323-ABB3-2CECDA6C56A8-3685-000008EA76D97CDE.jpg

 

 

Sorry some of the pics are upside down. I can't seem to edit photo bucket from my iPad. When I get the laptop back I'll amend this rather serious breach of form!

 

I've gone for the traditional method of construction. Whilst more complex. It is more screen accurate.

 

Stay tuned.

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Looking good Rob, maybe deepen the visor bolt indents. I also needed to add a filler piece below the chin section to allow the plastic to keep thick at the bottom lip. As many pull holes as possible on all the sharp parts. Nice job.

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Yeah, if anything, all the indents are going to need to be widened out by 6mm, to allow for material thickness once pulled. Snout will need deepening as well as the visor bolts.

I'm probably going to need to adjust the faceplate so it's a better fit in the visor, but I'm going to have to pull the visor before I can make that judgement.

 

I'll be running around all the detail and sharpening all the edges. This has been taken from my own bucket, so I'm essentially going to have to adjust what is a finished bucket back into Buck Masters.

 

It's not going to be a straightforward task, I know...

But then this is costuming, when ever is it straightforward.

 

John, I'll probably catch up with you on FaceAche if that's alright.

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Here's a quick initial test pull for me to gauge what needs doing, just of the faceplate and shroud at the moment.,

 

 

file-34.jpg

 

 

file-35.jpg

 

 

The shroud itself isn't too bad. I need to make it a bit taller so I get a better return edge, and mark in the trim lines.

 

The faceplate I'm not so pleased with initially. It needs a lot of the detail tightening up and as John said, about a million more vac-holes, especially on the snout.

It pulled and released OK, but the detail is a little weak, so I'm going to have to sharpen all the edges to get the most out of the 3mm material I'm using.

 

But, overall, not a drama. Nothing I hadn't expected to be honest.

Coming along!

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Well... I'm having a bit of frustration at the moment.

 

I can pull the faceplate and shroud, fine. I'm really happy with the pulls and the detailing.

 

But the main bucket.. That's another story.

 

I can get it to pull the detail, really beautifully. But then I can't get it to release from the buck.

Basically the detail on the back of the lid is stopping that bit of the lid coming off the buck.

 

So basically, I need to make the detailing less defined on the back, which obviously I'm not happy about.

I think I can make it so it's not as deep, but still have some good crisp detailing.

 

I'm going to have a peek at the screen used buckets and the production bucks too to see how they went about it.

 

I'll see if I can get some pictures up of what I've got so far.

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Here's some pics of the main bucket that I pulled...

 

file-37.jpg

 

file-36.jpg

 

 

As I mentioned, this little bad boy did NOT want to come off the buck, those back details are just too deep.... And unfortunately I cracked it pulling it off.

 

But that gave me a perfect excuse to demonstrate the Plastic repair that I've spoken about in another thread.

 

ABS/HIPS plastic shredded and melted in Acetone, forms a paste. I then applied this paste to the back of the crack (roughed the area with a bit of sandpaper first) making sure some of it squeezed out the crack. I left it overnight and hey presto... it's all nice and solid now.

 

If you look in the picture of the back of the bucket above, you should be able to see the crack around the indent detail.

 

here's a picture of the inside of the bucket with the repair paste in place.

 

file-38.jpg

 

So this can be used as a filler, or repair putty.

 

 

 

 

I shall be probably reducing the depth of those indents to make removal easier. I'm also probably going to adjust a few fit and finish areas to make it more defined.

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Guest Evans86

It looks great, apart from the crack ;) Lots of detail seems to have come through and its a shame you'll have to reduce the depth of the indents but I'm sure it'll still look top notch :D

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Cheers Tony...

 

 

Now then... As you all know, I'm having a bit of a mare with the buck not releasing, and I'm pretty convinced that this is due to the rather deep indents on the back of my buck, grabbing the plastic.

I'm altering this as we speak.

 

I've had a search around and can't find this, so I'm throwing it open to all you chaps.

 

I'm after a picture of the original production bucks....

 

I can find the one that shows the left hand side, from the front. But I'm specifically after a shot that show the indents on the rear right hand side of the bucket.

 

 

 

So if anyone has one, or a link to one.

 

I'm all eyes!

 

Cheers

Rob

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Rob

 

would you be able to make the buck able to be taken apart once the plastic has been vac formed over?

i.e. cut the buck into slices that some how bolted or screwed together before vac forming over and then

can be unbolted and the slices of the buck individually taken apart and pulled out?

 

I saw another member years ago do this with the knee armour.

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Yeah, I could do...

 

The issue being I'd need to get a decent pull from one, then get the buck out...

 

From that pull, I should be able to make a solid resin buck, which I can then slice up.

 

 

The only real problem being that you would always get a small draw line where the two bits join up. No matter how tight you get the join. I put a tiny little scratch line on my bucks to show the trim lines when cutting, and these show up.

 

It has to be possible... It's how the originals were made, and how John has made his.

 

I just need to be a bit savvy about it I guess.

 

But I can see why all the other chaps do it via a different method.

 

 

 

I have done a couple of test pulls where the detail was a bit weak (didn't get the plastic hot enough, my own fault) and they released easy enough (comparatively).

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well, I've finally had a bit of a eureka moment and got the bucks sorted.

 

Was definitely that rear indent keeping it firmly in place. I've shallowed them out, which hasn't resulted too great a loss of a detail. It's still there... just not as deep.

I ended up making a new more solid buck to deal with the extra issues that this side has.... But such is life.

 

 

Here's a few pics of the build so far. This is using the one that cracked earlier.

If anyone else uses this style of build then I suggest getting some really strong rare earth magnets to use when joining the two halves.

I didn't have any to hand, and ended up using screws, which is only going to result in more residual work in the long run... Hey ho!

 

 

file-53.jpg

 

file-54.jpg

 

file-55.jpg

 

file-56.jpg

 

file-57.jpg

 

 

All held together with tape (apart from the main bucket, which is all glued, ready for filling, sanding and finishing.

It's not lining up too bad to be honest. There's a couple of bits that will need tweaking into place mainly on the visor shroud. But nothing too serious.

 

In terms of build difficulty... I'd rate it as above average, say 7 out of 10. There is a lot of time, patience and complexity in getting the halves to match up right, trimming sanding etc. Then there is glueing the bits together, making sure they all line up with each other...

Then there will be filling, sanding, painting.... and final detailing.

 

So a lot of skills required to complete this style of bucket. Certainly not for the feint hearted.

 

Overall, I'm pleased thus far.

 

I'll post up more as I get further down the line.

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