Eye Eye Capt'n! - Lenses and Weathering

The Eyes are the Windows to the Soul....

It took me a while to get round to completing the project but I am SO HAPPY to say that the Rocketeer helmet is finally complete.

When I started this one I thought I'd do something nice and simple and with as few niggly details as possible.

What have I learned from this? With something so "minimal" there is nowhere to hide as far as finish is concerned. ANY errors will show up more than on something more "cluttered" with detailing. That being said, I promised to post an update on how I went about creating the lenses.

As is the ethos with this "blog", this was a learning experience for me and hopefully will provide some insight to others of some of my "solutions". 

In no way do I profess to being an expert in this stuff. Far from it. I just make it up as I go along.

So.

Here goes.

Lenses and finishing.....

This was the stage we got to last time. Having got a bit excited and being eager for it to "look nice" I did a bit on a premature paint job and sprayed up the EVA foam lens templates in a dark green colour just because I thought the green would look good with the gold paint.. I also attached the lens screws.
Having done this I noticed in the photo that there were a couple of "dinks" on the mouthpiece that I couldn't quite see in real life. Weird..as they stand out like a sore thumb in the picture! I was also not at all happy with the edges of the eye holes.

Time for a bit of a fix up!

First, I turned my attention to the lenses and how to fabricate them. Now, if you are anything like me, you will have all sorts of bits and bobs in your work area that "might come in handy one day". I happened to have a few sheets of very thin plastic packaging from a variety of presents that Santa bought me this year. The contents are long forgotten but I still covet the packaging!

My intention was to cut the required shape and GENTLY soften it with a heatgun.

At least that was the theory...

What I ended up with was a shrunken, Pringle^TM shaped mess.

Time for a rethink...so much for being a cheapskate. I'd just have to go out and spend money on some thicker plastic!

After a quick trip to Hobbycraft (A crafters version of IKEA. You go in for something simple and come out with a whole load of stuff you didn't know you wanted), I found a small sheet of 3mm clear acrylic for around £4.00. IDEAL. Hopefully.

So. Do I cut the lenses to the exact shape of the eye hole and  recess them a fraction and glue them in? Or, maybe I can make them bigger and glue them on the inside of the helmet...
What are the chances of cutting the lenses to the EXACT profile of the hole to get a seamless fit? In my experience of my own skill level....pretty slim.

The solution?

A thin "shim" of 2mm craft foam on the inside of the eye socket for the lens to sit on and glue into place seemed the best option. 

This gave a small overlap inside the eye socket for the lens to sit on nicely once shaped. I painted it with black acrylic paint to give it a more "industrial" feel.

Using the foam piece that I cut and shaped earlier as a template, I cut the lens from the acrylic sheet with a Dremel (is it just me or do those cutting discs shatter really easily?! Best wear eye protection for this bit!).

Once cut I went down the route of gently heating it with a heat gun (much like EVA foam) and bending it with a semi circular former to create a bulged curve...

This was OK but I couldn't quite get the curve as smooth as I'd like and was a little nervous of heating the acrylic multiple times without shrinkage. So I decided to use one of the EVA foam infills I'd created earlier and let the acrylic "droop" over it when heated.

This gave a much smoother curve and a really nice snug fit onto the lens mounts.

You will note from the picture that the rim of the eye socket is a little rough around the edges which I was not at all happy with so it was time for another rummage in my "box of wonders" for something suitable to assist with a cleaner edge.

The solution in this case was some electrical sleeving for Earth wires that I'd bought FAR TOO MUCH of by accident a few months ago. I only wanted about a couple of metres and somehow bought about 100ft! That's internet shopping for you...

A quick application of car body filler to blend it in and we are almost ready to go.

A quick repair of the mouthpiece and we are ready to give it a coat of paint...

Once the mouthpiece was painted black and the lenses and screws were put in place, it was my intention to stop there and not add weathering....

But I couldn't resist! After all, it covers those little imperfections so well!

There will ALWAY be bits that I'm not happy with, but on the whole, I'm really pleased with how this one turned out. Let me know what you think by commenting below.

I'd LOVE to hear your opinions and tips!