Amazing Grandma

My grandma is amazing. when growing up i learned my left from right playing guantlet with her on the nes. We played all the Mario games, she even played world of war craft. She was a good pool player, and loved life. I have the coolest grandma ever. She is now with my grandfather... it was unexpected and i am having trouble with it. She was going to see the Hobit today... she would have loved it. that is all for this week.

Quick Update

My work below, the Vader shirt has been taken down by a direct complaint from George Lucas. Well his lawyers anyway, but I'm going to pretend it was him to make me feel better. I am a bit miffed, it was obviously a drawing, and a parody. I know it was legal for me to sell it, otherwise spaceballs, the other 500+ T-shirts on redbubble alone, and every other parody should also be taken down and owe George money. They acted pretty quickly. Right now I do not have any way or money to fight it, so today the giant kills the ant on that one. Hopefully it is the last time something like this will happen.

Night Stand

Well it is finals week, yay. I have a massive paper due in Art class by tomorrow night that I haven't even had time to start. I just finished with my English class as soon as I submit this post. Yesterday I finished my other two classes with three finals. During all that I started with a new project, I will be cleaning out my basement and fixing it up a little so it isn't so dingy. This is a temporary fix until we can afford to finish it. I continued working on the new fence to hide the trash cans. I have one section out of three built. Also I fixed the problem with my Vader shoulder armor. All I had to do was take a strap with buckles and cut/burn some holes in the proper places and screw it into the straps that hold the shoulder bells on. The next Vader related project is the helmet mounting system. More on that later.

I have been having problems with people messing with my X-mas decorations outside. I am going to buy a camera and hopefully find out which little snot is doing it. I am tempted to put out an electric fence attached to the reindeer. However, I would probably get into trouble for that. Personally If I put a no trespassing sign out, I think it should be legal to place any sort of trap I want to. Land mines, claymores, electric fences, and giant pits come to mind. Makes me angry, obviously.

I was able to put out a new shirt on Redbubble. I was trying to convey that even evil can call for peace. That just because one believes in peace, it does not make them a good person. Also, that the call for peace can be used to subjugate. Finally that "peace" without freedom simply isn't a desirable situation. What it needs is a catchy caption to go under it that conveys all of the above. I have two pages of possible captions, but none of them work. So I decided to put it out and let it speak for itself. You can purchase it HERE.



It works because Vader wanted peace. He fought very hard for it. In the end to achieve peace he joined the dark side and in doing so decided that the only route to peace was enslavement of the whole galaxy. That from now on it would be the emperors way or a death sentence. A sentence he would gladly carry out on an individual, a race, or an entire planet.

I have started building a new night stand for myself. The first piece of furniture I built was a giant dresser. You see, I wanted a very tall, oak, black, shiny dresser. I searched many shops to locate one. Failing to find what I wanted, I did what any person would: I built one. I gained many skills in doing so and got exactly what I wanted. When I got married it became my dresser and her other four pieces of bedroom furniture. I was going to complete the set and sell hers, a plan she agreed with. Well six years later I am starting to do exactly that. Here is the original:

I had to cut it in two to get it our of my mothers basement, and I still have not fixed the fact that you can see the cut. For the new piece, first I built the front, back, and sides. The front is oak, the sides pine. They are just a skeleton so they need not be of oak. Then I built a fake back which will be a secret door. Here is the starting pieces of the back and a side that is put together:

You can see the pocket jig, and the best drill I have ever owned or used. The front:

Then I attached them together. I use a pocket screw jig. This plus glue makes a strong and professional looking joint. The secret door will be attached by wooden dowels so it can swivel open. Here you cannot see the back or fake back, because I made a mistake in my math and they require am adjustment before they will fit.

Next I put together the secret drawer and the backs. Both fake and real. Then cut the sides and top that go over the skeleton. Build the drawers, router and sand. Then stain and clear. I will post another update after that.

Vader Shin Guards

This week I was able to accomplish a lot. School is wrapping up and next week is finals, so this coming week might be slow as far as getting other things done. Today I am going to wrap up my ten page report for final turn in, and I already worked on my new night stand (more on that later).

This week I had to cut off a lock that made sure no one stole my trailer hitch off my truck because it rusted and the key would no loner fit. I used a cut off tool and it only took about 20 min. Now I will use a simple pin system and just hope no one steals my hitch. I also started work on my end table, and a fence I need to build around my trash cans so I will stop receiving angry letters from the HOA every winter. The rest of the year they are hidden by the bushes, when the leaves fall I get angry letters. So I will build a fence and see if I can get an angry letter for that. You would think they were helping pay my mortgage.

I climbed all over my roof, there were some bee's poking around when I set up the Christmas lights, so I filled the nooks and crannies with caulk in case they were thinking about setting up a hive. If they did already I might need to call someone. I certainly am not climbing around the attic if it is full of bee's. BTW climbing on my roof is nuts, the second floor is STEEP, so steep that the builders installed safety attachments so you can hook your climbing gear onto something. Finally I spent some time shopping and I am almost done with my Christmas lists.

Anyway, on to interesting things. I finished my Vader shin guards. The straps that held them on were terrible. They were too short and the buckle would come off when you tried to put them on.

So I cut new straps and sewed them on permanently to the guards. I used a sewing machine, it isn't going to win any beauty contests. This is because the guard was in the way, so I could not maneuver it around like I wanted to. However, it isn't going to fall apart, it isn't going to let the buckle fall off, and it isn't going to be seen while wearing the costume.

You can see I added a folded piece at the end of the strap and sewed it to ensure buckle retention. You can also see that I forgot to dust the insides.The next Vader related  project will be the shoulder armor. One of the straps that holds that on is missing and I might need to make a new one.

little reminder

I made these, and they are awesome. At least I think so...

Thanksgiving and Egg Nog

Nothing big to report this week. I have been writing papers and doing the thanksgiving thing. I cleaned my house from top to bottom and hosted my family here at my place. To say that my wife is a good cook is an understatement. Thanksgiving was amazing, everyone felt bloated even family members who normally do not eat much. The only pic I took was of the turkey, it turned out so good looking it could have been in a magazine. I wish I had a nice camera, I blame the loss of what it looked like to these pics on my phone camera. Suffice it to say this was the best looking turkey I have ever seen in person. Looked better than the ones in magazines when they cheat and spray paint them to look like that. All that and it was YUMMY! Everyone asked my wife how she got it so brown and tasty.

My contribution was basting said turkey, doing the dishes, baking my cookies the night before, and making my egg nog a couple days before. My cookies are simple but VERY good. Simply make a chocolate chip cookie batter without chocolate chips and bake in mini muffin tins. Then when you pull out of oven smash in the small reeses peanut butter cups immediately. I made these with my step mom one Christmas when I was probably ten to thirteen and remembered the recipe. My egg nog is currently on the eighth version. I started with the Martha Stewart recipe and have been changing it one ingredient at a time for years. I saved five Jack Daniels bottles which I de-labeled and wash to put it into when I make it. The original recipe makes way too much so I halved it. I usually get to make it twice a year so each time I tweak it a bit. If I ever get it perfect I will share the recipe here, for now it is not good enough for that. I think I will make another batch before Christmas and one actually for Christmas, maybe it will be time at that point.

Other than that I have been working on those papers I talked about, registered for classes next semester, and buying Christmas presents. My shopping is about 98% finished. Just stocking stuffers left. I always do my shopping on cyber Monday, mostly on Amazon. It is just so much easier to get everything in one place and without driving about dealing with people. I have a couple new projects I have started, so more updates to come.

Vader boots part two and Stool.

Well this week was busy as usual. I have a ten page, four page, and five page paper due in three different classes and a big math test on Monday. That has been frying my brain all week, today I visited the Denver Art museum for the four page paper. Lets see, I began to field day my house, since we are having thanksgiving here. I started planning for that as well. After getting my Vader boots I am a bit disappointed. The spit shine isn't very good, in fact I don't think they used polish at all, just some chemical. It will work, but ill have to re-do it at some point. I added the pics to the other post.

I managed to finish building a stool for my grandma so she can get into bed easier and fixing my fence. Here is the pile of extra wood that I grabbed the stool from:

You can also see parts of my halo costume on the shelf below, they were made by Thorlossi not me, I still need to finish them. Next I then guesstimated the length and cut the top two pieces. Good guess because it came out to 30 and 1/2 inches exactly. I then used the extra material to make the feet and braced them with a 2X4. I used a pocket screw set to construct it. I learned a couple of years ago that the best way to make furniture is a pocket screw setup, not only does it hide the screws, but the pocket and angle makes for a very strong connection. Plus it adds a professional look. I then routered the edges and stained it black.

Once dry I beat the top with different implements I found in my garage to give it a weathered look. Then sanded it smooth using 220 grit. Sanding most of the black stain off shows the grains of the wood and really highlights the weathering we did earlier.

I then stained one leg with dark walnut and the other with a red stain. I liked the walnut but decided to leave the red on that one leg. So I stained the rest with the walnut and let it dry. Then gave it five coats of clear varnish. I found out last year that I prefer to use spar varnish. This is more expensive since it is meant to be used for maritime items. I don't really understand why they sell anything else, If I am putting a clear protectant onto one of my pieces I want the most protection available. I can't believe it took me this long to discover it. I used it on my dog run fence when I fixed that earlier this year in an attempt to find something that would actually work, since the stuff I used before flaked off over the years. If this also does not last the next thing I will try is a two part resin mixture type application.

These pictures don't really do it justice. In person it is super shiny and the wood grain is so deep that one almost gets vertigo thinking you are going to fall in. The weathering makes it look like a antique not like I just built it.

Vader Boots

First thing I want to give credit to the folks over at the 405th Halo costuming community. I forgot to do so when mentioning my Halo armor. If it was not for that place I could not have done anything with the Halo helmet. They have all the files, and information on how to use them. From scaling, to printing, to using pepakura, all the way to finishing. The forums there are a wealth of knowledge on how to make props.

That being said, I accomplished adding all the slats to the fence and constructing the stool. They are both in need of paint jobs next. Desk is clean (I forgot it was made of wood). I got new tires on my truck. I replaced them with what I already had, some Firestone Destination AT's. They eat the snow like it isn't even there, and my truck rides like it was new again, amazing difference. I had two big tests, got a C in math and a B in economics. Not too bad but I can do better. I engraved my PS90 but more on that later. I also finished another T-shirt design. It is the two most annoying floating "helpers" ever created who finally got together in a dating site. It can be purchased HERE:

I mentioned my Vader boots earlier, and thought I might expand on that topic. I had made some wooden internal lifts that would fit in the boot and raise my height about 3 inches. Problem was they were very painful. I used foam on the sides to make them wider without compromising the fit into the boot, and bought an insole to put over them. Then I put a small pad widget that my wife had in my sock. That helped, but they were still painful after about ten minutes.

So in revisiting the issue I thought of many things. One was to cut up a cheap boot and use that instead of my lifts. I scrapped that one and tried stuffing my slippers in the boots. That worked but was too cramped inside there with my foot and all. At least it was comfortable. So I needed something similar but without the top part. Enter a pair of my wife's flip flops. If I removed the strap it covered the bottom of my foot. And viola, problem solved. With all that in the boot and a thick pair of socks I can walk around for hours and only have slightly sore feet.

The boots themselves are actually Nazi marching boots. Not that I would normally own these but it is screen accurate to what Vader wore in the movies. After searching and searching for ones that had the nails in the soles and the horseshoe in the heel I found a place that sold them and acquired them. With all the metal in the bottom they make me sound more machine than man while walking about in the costume. Right now they are at a local shoe repair place that is giving them a spit shine. Not that as a Marine I couldn't do that myself, but for $12 it was worth my time to let a professional take care of it in probably 5% of the time it would take me. I pick them up tomorrow, so I will edit this post and add the picture of the boots below here at that time.*

*(could have sworn I took a picture of the boots before I left to drop them off, but it went AWOL)

Escaping dog

Well nothing interesting this week, I just finished a bunch of stuff last week which means I am just starting a bunch of new stuff this week. I started cleaning off my desk (big job), and building a stool for my grandma to get into bed easier. I also started to fix up my fence, I am replacing nine slats. Since I finished my manican the next Vader related project is to finish the boots. More on that later.

I started and finished fixing the screens on the windows of my house, it doesn't sound like much but they have been ripped since 2008. My Husky decided that being up on the second story wasn't going to stop him from going out the window. He chewed up the screens on two of my windows, then jumped out onto the roof. Since the screen snapped shut he was then trapped on a very very steep roof up a story. When I got home from work I panicked since he was not in the house and I saw the windows. I was driving around the neighborhood fearing the worst. Turns out he was in the backyard. My neighbor was nice enough to get his ladder and get my dog down, then stick him in the yard.

Fast forward three years to 2011, I wake up in the morning and the dog is missing again... This time he broke through the fence in the backyard. Who knows when this happened but I called in to work and drove around looking for him for eleven hours. Then a lady finally called me and told me she had my dog, and she had him since early in the morning when he walked into their house. She also told me she was thinking about keeping him despite the collar with my info on it. But she saw the reward I posted on my door and wanted it. I did pay her, and being a gentleman I didn't punch her face in, probably cause I was just so relived to get my dog back.

The joys of owning and loving a husky.

DPMS AR10

Alrighty another week, that was fast. This week I finished listing books on Amazon, even sold a couple. Total there are 143 on there now, hopefully they will sell, then I can forget I ever tried that. One could make extra money selling books on Amazon, but if your time is valuable it isn't worth it. Going to FOL sales at libraries and scanning books to see which ones are not selling for a penny, then going through and listing all the books you buy, it is a little tedious. Somehow people sell books for a penny and think they are making money... Since Amazon takes a cut about the same amount as shipping, they are making like thirty cents per book at the most.

I also cleaned out the garage, it gets a little cluttered even though I try to clean up after all my projects. Finished getting all the relevant files off of my computer, I replaced it with a tablet, since it can do everything I did on my computer with one exception. Word possessing has not really reached the tablets yet, the apps available are about the same technology as word in 1990. So I use my wife's laptop for that. Say goodbye to the tower computer folks! I managed to paint the walking stones outside before it snowed last night. They were a hideous color and now they are red to match other elements of our yard.

The cool thing I did this week was finish putting together my new rifle. A couple weeks ago I sold my FNAR heavy barrel because it was super heavy. I think the only purpose of that rifle is if you are in a SWAT team and sit with it on rooftops a lot. Certainly it is not useful as a battle rifle (self defense, Chinese/zombie invasion ext..) or for hunting. Here is a shot of it:

I replaced it with a DPMS AR10 Sportical. this is a bit shorter and lighter, useful for home protection, zombie/Chinese invasions and hunting. Here it is as I bought it:

I proceeded to add stuff to it. A quad rail hand-guard for attaching accessories, Magpul magazines which are lighter and better than metal ones, a bi-pod that folds, a folding front grip, a Magpul sling mount on the front, a 550 cord sling mount, a slide fire stock, a primary arms 4x scope, a blue laser, and a Magpul MS3 sling. You cannot see the blue laser, it had not shown up when I took the pictures yet. You can see everything else, I think this is a good addition to my collection.

*******Warning, Rant ahead!**********
Now a short rant, I believe in the Second Amendment, I have written papers on the subject. It boils down to a few points. One, a rifle is not more dangerous because it has more features or is black. The same as a black car is not more dangerous than a white one. This stems from the definition of an assault rifle: mainly there isn't one. It is different every time a law is written for them. Two, make as many laws as you want, your only hurting law abiding citizens. In city after city, country after country, banning firearms leads to higher crime and more murders. How is that possible? Well criminals are called criminals for a reason, they don't follow the law, they will buy things even if banned. Meanwhile disarming law abiding citizens puts them at a disadvantage. If you were a criminal would you attack a place with guns, or without? Reminds me of the guy who held up a gun store and fired a coupe rounds off, ya, he is dead. Make no mistake, if I had been in that theater a couple months ago that guy would be dead too and less people would have died. Three, the Second Amendment protects all weapons for all legal reasons. Not just hunting, not just home defense. If I want to spend every penny I own on the best weapons for killing zombies, that is my right as an American. It does not matter if they are useful for hunting or not. One of the reasons for including the Second was that the founding fathers knew that all governments have the potential to become tyrannical and put their citizens last. Even the government they drafted they knew it was possible, that is one reason why they inserted the Second, another reason is that General Washington did not defeat the British with his right to free speech, he shot them. The Japanese didn't even consider invading mainland America because "there would be a gun behind every blade of grass". I have more points and quotes, but then this wouldn't be a short rant.
*********/End Rant**********

Darth Vader

Here is what I accomplished this week. I re-ordered my truck title for the third time (sigh). Got my lawn aerated and sprinklers blown out, still on track in all my classes, listed more books for sale (I bought a bunch of books to sell on Amazon a couple years ago and they were inactive for a little over a year since I moved to Kalifornia for awhile. Now I am slowly re-listing them), and tried out a new paint for outside on the walking stones. That last one is drying right now.

However, in interesting news, I finished my manican rework! A couple years ago I built a manican for my Darth Vader costume. I figured a $2500 costume should be displayed. What I did was run to the hardware store and pick out PVC parts that would make a body. A connector for the hips that also worked for the shoulders, some elbow joints, a knee joint (only one, the other leg is straight), some feet, pipe for the bones, and a Styrofoam ball for a head. After a bit of measuring my parts I began cutting on the pipe. I added some inches to the spine and the legs since Vader is 6'7 and I am only 6"1. The boots add two inches, so I only needed to add four. Then I put all the parts together and glued some of the joints.

At this point I had a skeleton, so I added some skin and muscle. I ended up using an old pair of long johns which I filled with pillow stuffing. Then an old stocking cap over the Styrofoam so one wouldn't see the white thought the helmet. Next I made the hands. I took some wire coat hangers and bent them into fingers, then taped them into the wrist pipes and made a fist on one and a Vader like crushing pose on the other. Next I took some dish-washing rubber gloves,stuffed them and put them over the fingers. Viola, hands. These I might replace some day since they don't quite look right.

After using him for awhile I decided earlier this year he needed a rework, that Is what I just finished. The main problem I addressed was that he really had no hips, making the cod piece and belt difficult to attach and make look right. It also made him look somewhat funny. Here is how I fixed it, I bought a cheap trash can, round and about the right size for a torso. I turned it upside down and tied shoe laces to the bottom to make it less round and more human shaped. then cut a hole in the top for the "spine" to fit into and tied the same shoe laces to the hip "bones". That mostly worked but the pants wouldn't fit, so a quick trim to the hip area and my Vader looks way better. Plus his belt/pants/cod piece wont fall off anymore! Very embarrassing for a dark lord of the Sith to have his pants falling off all the time. The secondary problem I fixed was that joints were constantly coming apart and very hard to get back together without access to actually touch them. To fix that I simply took the whole thing apart and glued all of the joints except the arm to shoulder joint. That needs to come apart to get his clothes on, so I drilled a hole and stuck a bolt in the hole to hold it when together. So now my manican isn't adjustable to different posses like before, but at least he won't fall apart. Sorry for the lack of pictures, I didn't plan on sharing this when I was building or fixing it. Here are some though of the finished product.

Notice two things in the background, one that shelf to his right is six feet tall, second there is an unfinished Jango Fett helmet on my other shelf that I need to work on. Next though I need to finish this costume. It is a complete ESB Vader, however there are some things I want to change. First the boots are good, but the internal lifts I made myself are uncomfortable. I need to revisit that. Second the straps on the shin guards suck. Third the cape is too long, it drags on the ground a bit. Fourth the helmet mounting system I made needs to be fixed a little. and finally some of the things need adjusted so they fit correctly.

Leave me alone box part 2

Alright, another busy week, so busy in fact I forgot to post yesterday. Today is overflowing already. I have a doctor appointment right after my sons, and my English homework hasn't even been started. I also need to track down my truck title that I should have received by now, and set up the appointment to get windows put into my California house. This week I finished another T-shirt: Here

I also sold my FNAR and bought a DPMS AR10 which I am waiting to show up at the gun store. I spent the rest of the money from that sale on accessories for the AR10, a scope, a laser, a grip with rails, magazines and a bipod. I think I ended up with $50 leftover. My truck got an oil change, and it needs some more work, but it is stuff I can do to save money. (I can do the oil too but since I bought it new the first five years of oil changes were included). All that and some more boring stuff.

The cool thing is I finished my Leave me alone boxes! They wanted to argue about every step of the way. I ended up screwing in some tiny I-bolts and attaching a rubber band to that so they would close right. I also installed a spacer block to raise the finger up so it would hit the switch in the right spot. I had to unsolder the AA battery packs and re-solder in some 9v connectors. I think I might sell one, the other is for my aunt for Christmas. Not sure if I want to sell it or not.

Zip Line

Another week down. I think time is speeding up, seems like weeks are only 24 hours long. Remember being in school and getting the summer off? Back then a couple months lasted forever. These days I dare not blink, I might miss a year.

Anyway the day after my last post I received my birthday present from my mom and step dad. A trip into the Rocky's to go zip lining! They splurged this year, and it was awesome. We went up to Colorado Adventure Center in Idaho Springs. We ended up waiting an hour and a half after we were supposed to start. A lady in the previous group was scared and would not go after tower four. (seriously? who zips three times and then gets scared?) This presents a problem since there are only stairs on the first tower (to keep people off when they are closed). Then her friend chickened out on the fifth tower. Sigh. When it was our turn they bussed us up and got us all rigged up. Practice started on a rope about four feet off the ground, to get the basics down and get comfortable with the rules and equipment. Then up the first tower we went. This course was five zip lines, two short in one direction, then across the river, then a really long one, and finally back to the first tower. This course is brand new, I mean the tags were still on the lumber new. If you drive on I70 now you cannot miss it. I recommend it, it was a blast. Myself and Steve are the ones that did it.

The next day was my party with family. Always good to see everyone, play games and eat cake. Since then I sent off some parts of my shotgun to get polished, and listed another one of my rifles for sale. I want to sell my FNAR and get an AR10 instead. My Vader manican hit a snafu, so I am working on that. The leave me alone boxes are not done, which is what I thought I would be telling you today. One decided to not work at all and the other needed some changes to work properly. It decided to throw the lid all the way open, so I had to rig first a couple magnets (didn't work) then a rubber band. They are so close to done I can taste it. My Halo helm got a little progress as did another T-shirt I am working on. I have a couple papers to peer review today and my VA money didn't come, so I need to find out why I can't pay the bills this month. Sigh. Everbusy is right.

Leave me alone box

Alright time for an update. On Saturday I went shooting at my friends property, we shot clays and an old truck he has with my new Saiga, that is a fun firearm to shoot. After going through about 200 rounds we worked on building his new barn. I have helped him with this before and it's getting close to completion. Two days ago was my birthday, just another day once you reach a certain age. For my birthday my wife did buy me tickets to the Broncos vs Texans game on Sunday. That was a blast. We lost, but it was a  great game. The stands went nuts on every 3rd down and I think we made enough noise to rattle the Texans a few times.

My vet visit went well, my Husky Zeus is healthy. He is six now, still acts like a puppy mostly but we have noticed him calming down a little.

All that and some tests and papers for school. Also I have my manican for my Vader about halfway rebuilt, just need to find a suitable torso. Finally I wanted to show off another one of my shirts before I start on the main topic:

Comma, for dramatic pause is a statement my drill instructor always used to say. I incorporated it into a Nintendo controller. That can be bought HERE. I have been saying "more on that later" about my leave alone box. Well it is later and here it is:

If you look up on your favorite video site "leave me alone box" or "most useless machine ever" you will see what I am trying to accomplish here. I purchased a blank jewelry box from a hobby shop and modified the lid by cutting it in half and gluing, then relocating the hinges. Next I sanded it down, added primer, paint, then clear coat. I then bought all the electronics and soldered them together. Right now I am attaching them together and working out the bugs. In the pics you can see the double, double A holder. Well that didn't work out, it drains the batteries too fast. I need to use a nine volt instead. I am going for a slower turn off than the ones you see on the internet. Probably about a week and I'll be finished with these at which point I will post a video.

Halo Helmet Part 2

Well I forgot to add a link to that shirt I posted about last week, so here it is: HERE
And here is a similar shirt I made but with more of Link's swords. Bonus points if you can name all the games included in this shirt.

And here is the link for that: HERE

This week was busy, as always. I sold my shotgun that I talked about last week and a couple other things. I turned the money from said shotgun into ammo. Never know when you might need some, and its easier to have around then to buy every time you want to go out. Lets see... I got some parts for my leave alone boxes and soldered them together (more on that next week). I am taking my dog to the vet in about 40 minutes from right now while I write this. Finally I screwed up my helmet a bit.

When we last left my helm was in the first stages of being sanded, filled, sanded, filled, ext... Since that point I have added some of the lined details, I did this using a saw blade for a saws-all minus the saws-all. I drew the lines where I wanted them and then went over it many times with the blade. Doing it by hand allowed for more control. I have since bought some carving tools that would have made this easier:

I have argued with this helmet for a long time now. Parts of it are not working out, so I cut them out and started over:

You can see the lines I cut in the above pics, a curve on the back and a line on the visor. The parts I cut out refused to end up flat or symmetrical. So I cut them out and started over by cutting out pieces of plastic I had into the correct shape and fitting them into place with Bondo:

Why yes, it is sitting on a cutting board that I made from scratch, thanks for asking! Then I fitted my visor (protected by plastic wrap) temporarily so I could sand them helmet to match. This will be nice for the molds I pull off, they will fit this visor with no work at all. At this point I ran into trouble. I accidentally sanded the nose piece too far, then I remade it using Sculpy, and sanded that too far. Sigh. That is where the helmet stands right now. I need to figure out the nose piece, then I think I will cut out the vents and the flat area for lights and re-do them the same way. After that I will prime it, sand it, fill it, sand it, and prime it again. Once that is done I will make another update on it.

Halo Helmet

Alright week two and a whole 0 views to my blog. Oh well, it will be more interesting when there are more posts. This week I have gone to four classes, wrote a paper for art class and am stalled out on what topic to pick for my paper that is due tomorrow for English. I bought a new Saiga 12 shotgun, learned how to operate and disassemble it, and bought a Kushnapup stock for it. Also I added my old shotgun to the things I have for sale online, designed a new T shirt that I am still working on to finish, and went to the doctor. Here is another shirt that I designed earlier last month:

It is based on the Zelda games if your not a gamer and didn't know. I put the swords I like best from two of the games and the phrase is from the first game. I mentioned last week that I am working on a set of Halo armor. currently I am trying to finish the helmet. I started with sheets of card stock with the pattern printed on in, cut them and glued them together:

Then I had to coat the inside and outside with resin to strengthen the paper and prevent warping:

Next I put about four coats of Rondo inside the helmet. Rondo is half Bondo and half resin. It is pretty soupy, so one slushes it around and it dries in minutes to a product harder than Bondo, but thicker than resin. A good choice for inside the helmet to add strength and for the parts I need to sand through the paper to make the helmet the correct shape:

The next step was to add Bondo to the outside and begin the very long process of sanding. Add Bondo, sand, primer. Add Bondo, sand, primer.... ext. That is still going on today. I have managed to cut out the visor and add a lot of detail in that area in the past few weeks.

That"s all for this week. Hopefully I can make some progress on the helmet and everything else!