So as you will have seen in my last Daredevil update, all of the sewing for this project has been completed and first on my list of non-fabric parts is the helmet!
I'm not entirely sure when this post will go live (I guess that all depends on how long it takes for me to finish the helmet) but as I type this introduction it has been a whole week since I last worked on the suit. This is partly due to the extra hours that I've been picking up at work, but also because I was feeling a little burnt-out after spending 4 weeks working non-stop on this cosplay. Now though, I feel refreshed and ready to tackle more of Daredevil's suit!
I knew that trying to make the helmet myself (even with the help of Pepakura templates) would be time-consuming and not look anywhere near as good as I would want. So, I turned to Etsy and bought a 3D printed version from a seller called 'MyCosplayArmory'. I honestly couldn't be any happier with this, it looks great and the level of detail is astounding!! It's so much better than anything I could have made by hand! In proportion to my head, it's a little bigger than the helmet from the show but once I add some foam padding and wear the hood underneath, it will be a perfect fit.
Before I can start painting the helmet, however, I need to sand it down and clean up the remaining print lines! Most tutorials recommend progressing from 200 to 1000-grit sandpaper but I didn't have enough different types of sandpaper to do this, so I had to simplify the process a little.
I began by using a file to smooth out the most severe print lines and "stepping" (mainly around the top of the horns, underneath the brow and the very top of the helmet.) Next, I rubbed the entire thing down with 120-grit sandpaper and small, circular motions to make it all nice and smooth. And finally, I finished the helmet off with my mouse sander and some really fine-grit sandpaper.
Next, I gave the whole thing 4 coats of matte black acrylic paint (simulating a high-build primer, which covered up the remaining print lines and made the helmet super smooth!)
Once the black undercoat had dried, I roughly painted the red parts of the helmet with some "bordeaux red" acrylic paint (although it looks more purple/pink.) I did this to reduce the number of coats of my specially-mixed red paint that would be needed to cover the black paint.
Next, I mixed the bordeaux red with some cherry red paint (in a roughly 1:1 ratio) and began painting the red parts of the helmet. After the first coat, it looked a little bright, so I added a few drops of black paint. After the second coat, it still looked too bright so for the third and final coat I added a few more drops of black paint. Much better!😁
And finally, I painted the black portions with glossy acrylic paints!
I'm honestly so proud of how this turned out! Normally when working with 3D prints, I have a tendency to rush the clean-up stage and the finished product doesn't look good. With this, however, I took the time to make it as smooth as possible.
I also really like the colour scheme that I managed to achieve - I was originally aiming for a glossy season 2 look, but instead I think I reached a cross between that and the matte look from season 3/The Defenders. All that needs to be added are the lenses (but I'm still trying to figure out the best way to recreate them) and some foam padding - all of which shall be covered in a future post!
Thanks for reading.😊
Comments
Post a Comment