Project Concept

My name is Owen, I graduated with a Mechanical Engineering degree and love to have side projects that allow me to explore ideas I have not been able to have experience with. Previous projects have included sets of armor, trebuchets, and custom electronic lightsabers. Many times the projects I have will advance through several versions and/or upgrades. The purpose of this blog will to be to document the progress of the 3rd version of my Mandalorian Helmet. Currently I have experience with two Mandalorian Helmets. You can see these below. The first two are version 1:

 This Second one are a more recent build I did using sheet metal instead of cardboard and plastic to get a weightier feel and opportunity for some cool weathering. You can't see because of the painter's tape, but I did this one with a reflective visor.

Both Helmets were built using Alan Sinclair's 2006 paper patterns. You can find them yourself here at the Mandalorian Mercs forum where you can find several other patterns as well.

My brother has also spent time in building Mando Armor;

 And this is where my idea for the current project came from. After realizing it was difficult to talk to each other with helmets on I decided that I wanted to insert a walkie talkie into our helmets so that we could communicate without having to take them off. The other difference is that you can notice that he built his using the Rangefinder. This is where my second idea comes into play: I want to place a camera into the Rangefinder than then run the image down to the wrist gauntlets where it can be displayed and recorded.

This Project has been posted to Kickstarter to obtain the remainder of the funding that I need for the project. I own all the tools that I need for the project, and just need to acquire the build materials. The list is here:

• Cobra MicroTalk Walkie Talkies ($30)
• For the comm unit
• 2 5 Gallon Buckets ($7)
• For the main helmet construction
• Two Part Epoxy ($16)
• Plastic Resin EasyFlo 120 ($25)
• To smooth out and strengthen the dome
• JB Weld ($6)
• JB weld is great for the metal parts that I will be adding to the outside of the helmet. Seals and holds metal better than epoxy.
• 1 Sheet of Steel ($10)
• This allos for a cleaner, harder surface of the outside of the helmet as well as an opportunity for some excellent weathering
• 2 Speakers ($9)
• To replace the single speaker with stereo sound.
• Video Camera ($100?)
• I plan to purchase a used camcorder off Ebay or Craigslist. I would rather not buy a brand new camera for dis-assembly. Another option could be to use a car rear view camera and viewscreen.
• Costume Fett Helmet ($35)
• This will be for the ear sections with the viewfinder. It is far easier to harvest them off this toy helmet than creating my own from scratch with enough space for electronics. Also comes with a decent visor plate that can be tinted and trimmed to fit the custom helmet I am creating.

With the shipping for some of the internet items I cannot pick up in-store the project total comes out to about $250.

This Blog will continue to document the progress of the Kickstarter campaign and then the build process. I will be trying to include as many videos/pictures as possible in order that others can duplicate and improve upon the work that I have done.