Printed and added a better sized lantern

I added the new smaller sized lantern and mounted it with a rubber gasket under it as seen on the original helmets. I also removed, cut down and mounted the front lens and grill backing (not seen as the lantern isn't lit here).

I also added the support grill that goes under the lens in the top of the lantern.

I'm waiting for delivery of the lens material, a soft red transparent smart phone cover that has the same red/pinkish tint as the original and also is a soft plastic almost rubbery-like surface like they look to be.

Air coupling adapter test mounted

I've attached more of the parts I have even though some aren't perfect.

But it looks kind of nice while waiting to print new and additional parts.

New Conduit end fastener

New conduit end fastener modeled and printed.

Compare to this screenshot (Kill the Moon).

Early mockup assembly

This is the helmet with early parts as I try out attaching them with tape.

The flex conduit fastener end looks a little large and not enough rounded so I'll make some size and shape changes to it.

I also went back to the old lantern print even though it's too tall and has less internal features. It's because the new one was too wide. I'm working on a new thinner and less tall version of it.

But this is already looking pretty good. ;)

Forehead plate and mystery bracket

I've printed, sanded and assembled the forehead plate and bracket.

I was thinking that I should replace the dummy clamps on the bracket with holes through the bracket and plate that you put a steel wire through. Originally I suspect the bracket was simply stapled on to the plate this way. Perhaps the original plate was made of cardboard or soft plastic you can staple through?

These printed ones turned out looking pretty good and if I glue them in place they probaly won't come off.

Then again, nothing beats doing it the same way the originals were made, I'll have to think some more about this.

More parts printed

Now that my printer is working fully again I printed more parts.

I sanded and assembled these, then I added them to the Ear piece.

Of course I won't print the last insert as the ear piece and that part also will need to be changed for more of a curve to it.

Ear piece printed with minor issues

The print quality

I printed the ear piece body, but my printer had developed a minor fault causing a pitted and incomplete effect called "pillowing".

This was due to a power cable getting bent near the connector during printing and it's a well known issue that the manufacturer solved almost two years ago with a replacment housing.
I should have taken preventive measures against it long before this, I was simply being lazy.
Anyway, it's fixed now as you'll see in my upcoming posts, my printer is again perfect.

Luckily the model was still useable to test fit on the helmet as well as the inserts I've printed previously and it looks better than I expected for a first print.
Bear in mind that I don't havd a 3D-scanner (the good ones are still prohibitively expensive), I just use photos and measures to make a dummy model of the helmet that's far from exact.

The part fit on the helmet

I made screw holes in the helmet and screwed the ear piece in place with M3 screws, nuts and washers. The screw positions are covered by the bolt head plugs.

As often is the case it's not the things you think that actually go wrong. I put a lot of thinking and effort into the fit of the ear piece toward the rubber edge of the visor. This fit was spot on as seen in the photos.
The thing I got wrong was the angle and flatness of the
 helmet at the back where the L bottom of the ear piece meets it.

The gap is visible in the photo above and well as from the under side seen below.

I'll curve the L bottom of the CAD model in further to meet the helmet this week and then re-print it next weekend (it's a 3 day print).


After analyzing the problem with the printer, fixing it and planning the changes to the 3D model I played around with making some mockup photos with the chin light and the rubber bellow.

Ear piece inserts printed

I've printed and sanded some of the ear piece insert blocks and their details

M8 screw to hold the printed nut and real steel rivets turned out to be a perfect fit when my printed rivets came out as a failed print. ;)

Screencap comparison

Assembled parts, except the nut because I couldn't find my thread tools.
I guess I'll just thread it at work during my lunch break tomorrow.

The leftover holes in the big block is for the "Mystery clamp" (plausible old camera mount).

Comparing with the screencap of the panels it does seem I made them too tall. The screencap isn't the greatest and may be angled more than is apparent but regardless I may have to rethink some positioning and dimensions.

As I've noticed on my Gunstick project as well as this one these things are hard to spot until you have physical parts to compare with.

Mysteriously looking at another screencap my panels look to be just right. I need to look further into this.

Here's the nut threaded and mounted on the insert.

Chin light assembly with battery loom

Today I cut out the lens and mounted it in the Chin light Body.

Then I added the led collars and leds to the Chin light Core insert.

I inserted the core in the body. seemed to be a very nice fit, though it's not gripping which I most prefer. I may adjust the measures of the parts for that.

Then I tested the leds with a 9v battery.

Note the blue light?

This is also seen in screenshots from the series, as shown in several images I've posted earlier, thoguh these LEDs are brighter and I might need to use a weaker battery for them to get the exact same results. This is 9v leds powered with a proper 9v, I can power them with a pair of 1,5v instead to make them less bright. 

Note that the blue light from these lenses are only visibly blue in photos, it looks white to the naked eye. But when my helmet's done people taking photos of it at Cons will get the same blue as seen in the series which is cool. :)

I won't repost photos of the chin light on the helmets in the show, it's been done. Just check on earlier posts if you want to compare.

I could just wire this up in the helmet at this point, but I wanted the chin light to be replaceable and easy to install on the helmet so I took the extra time to make a cable and male/ female two part connector and battery loom for it.

For that professional look ;)  and also this makes for a better interchangeable assembly where i could even make spare parts of the chin light unit or battery pack to swap at Cons if needed.

Did I forget something part 2

So the air coupling was moved from the original position by the propmakers at BBC.

Let's have another look at that.

This is the coupling in its' original place.

The helmet mating surface for the coupling looks like this.

It's actually a flat surface, but with tracks for the locking mechanism. 

The yellow arm thing is the lock, it needs to function with the new placement or the hose may disconnect or tear loose unexpectedly.

I modeled it on the photos above and some measures of the physical parts.
The adapter should look something like this:

This is close enough to do a test print on at least.