Ncr Ranger Helmet Build

So after careful thought and not wanting to cosplay a batman villain like all my other friends i have come to the conclusion that constructing NCR Rangers armor would be much more interesting and fun in the long run.

The Helmet

i'm using a pep file to get the helmet to the right shape before i jump in and make it out of plastic for the final copy. I want the helmet to resemble something like this build. The build is by Kommissar and you can check out his entire project here http://www.therpf.com/f24/fallout-new-vegas-ncr-veteran-ranger-finished-101257/.

I would like to make it as close to game standard as possible and hopefully that's how it will turn out. 

Armor, Duster and all the other stuff.

The armor is going to made from EVA foam, as it won't melt when spray painted and also is quite easy to add battle damage to via a soldering iron. The duster is looking to be quite difficult to find though, so i may have to ask my nan the resident clothing creator to help me out in that department. The arm bracers/gauntlets/armor what ever you want to call it will be made from the EVA foam as well. other than that all that is needed is a few little bits and bobs like the rangers sling across the chest for the gun to hang on his back, and the ammo belt which i can probably buy from a toy shop.

The Gun

It has to be the AER9 it just sits so well with the armor, and seen as finding a ranger sequoia may be slightly difficult, and making one would just be to boring I've gone and found myself some blue prints of the AER9.

The blue prints are quite easy to follow, this is mainly just a wish, hopefully i should be able to produce something that looks a lot like one otherwise its off to Mr Toys to buy a cowboy pistol and then buy some gold paint and paint some plants onto the toy gun to make a cheap Sequoia. The AER9 is going to be made mostly out of thin mdf (possibly) and some steel in areas where possible.

Progress So Far

so after printing out 31 pages of pep file, and spending about 5 hours cutting out the pieces with scissors cause i could not for the life of me find my Stanley knife i began construction of the helmet, the actual helmet part is pointless to me, its just there for good measure and to see if i have to scale it back. I'm planing on buying a steel helmet for the final build as it would just add that bit of realism to the whole Helmet/mask piece.

The front came together quite nicely and the added strip around the bottom, which you can't see in the picture really helped hold it together.

 Ended up using some tape to get the front and back to stay together while they dried, its now staying there out of fear of utter destruction if i try to remove it.

At this point even with the main seams taped it still was quite flimsy and this made it very hard to try and get the two top sections connected.

After i got the two top sections connected, mostly using tape and possibly magic, as they were so irritating i felt like head butting the already constructed piece, the structural integrity of the Helmet went up a whole lot to the point i could put it on my head. However even with my abundance of fluffy hair it is still quite large, so a smaller helmet when i go to the final will probably be the way to go.

You can see here all the tape holding the helmet together, however I think for about 2 hours work and a fair bit of swearing it came together quite well.

 This morning work came after i spent a whole lot on ancient history until i realized i was drawing designs for the duster and armor in my research book, so i decided i'd start on the mask. These eyes are some of the most painful things to make out of paper, so note to self never use paper again, always go for card cause its a lot stronger. however with minor adjustments to the design i managed to get them to go together.

 next came the mask its self, which overall at first went together relatively easily, however with out its backing (the line that goes around the outside of each piece you can see, it was really flimsy and held no shape at all.

 Eye's in and raised nicely also the structure at this point had been fixed up using the backing bits, and a strip inside of the nose area. The hole mask just neeed a few little bends to really take on the proper shape now.

 Here you can see the hole cut for the canister, luckily i found my Stanley knife or that would have been very fun to cut with scissors.

 Helmet and mask together just for good measure, couldn't get it on my head yet as the mask wouldn't stay on, and after all the trouble I've had today with getting the mask to stay together i really didn't feel like breaking it.

 I'm fairly certain however that i have built enough of the mask to get a fair idea of how the mask will work when i convert it to plastic (which i haven't decided on yet).

Tried to build the canister as well to see how that would go. Paper Hates Being Cylindrical, it kinda stuck together but it just kept falling apart. i will have to keep that in mind for when i make the final copy, possibly making it from a metal tin cut so the bottom slips inside the top could be easier.

quite happy with the progress, going to start building the chest armor on the weekend hopefully, but that really will only happen if school isn't killing me. If anyone has a look at the blog and takes the time to read it well your a nice person and ill try and update again as soon as i can.

Jaisus Signing off