Skirata Arms Supercommando build

[Narseryc]

I started this build and figured I would try to make a WIP for any guidance that may be acquired from it.  This is my first pre-build helmet so it is an adventure for me! 

This buy'ce was acquired as a merchandise trade.  When I received it, the cheeks were removed as well as the top portion of the visor.  The original cheeks were sent with the buy'ce so I put them back in to find out if it would fit.  The cheeks made it too tight for my melon and so here we are!     I didn't think far enough in advance or I would have taken pictures of it with the cheeks cut out.

What I did was took some scrap cardboard and made cheek templates, one for each side.  I traced these on my plastic material and cut out with a scroll saw.



I then took two part epoxy and epoxied the the seams on both the inside and out.  With the size of the cheeks, it somewhat reminded me of the DW look, so I figured I would add some greeblies & vents to make use of the spacious real estate!



I am not a big fan of adhesives for greebles, so I took these, cut small slots, bent them towards the cheek, heated them and pushed then into the plastic.  Once they were in place, I rapidly cooled them with a damp cloth.

This was the cardboard template that I made for the cheek vents.  I wanted them to be somewhat in the same location on each side...



Once that was done, I took my Dremel and cleared out the ear channels.



Between the vents, the ear channels, and the wholes behind the greebiles, there should be plenty of options for voice amps, fans, LED's ect... 

Here is where the bucket stands currently



The next part I am going to address is the vents in the back.  I know that I am going to do custom vents in the vent space, just not sure as to exact design yet.   

As always, questions, comments or concerns are always welcome!   

[Uneek Top'El]

Looks great  are you going to leave the visor area as is , not cutting the rest out? I like the way it looks now! Good luck on the rest of the build!

[Kebii'tra Verda]

Looks nice, ner'vod! Interesting to see one if it's possible to improve on these bad boys. you're off to a great start!

dAVid.

[Narseryc]

I settled on a design for the back vents.  I took a measure of the space and made a cardboard mock up.  From there, I used a ruler and marked up the design I wanted with the repeats I was looking for.  I used an X-acto knife to cut out the vents.



I took the pattern and traced it onto the vent area.  There was a bit of a challenge with the existing texture, but it worked out more of less.  I then took a 1/8 in drill bit and drilled pilot holes in the vent areas.



I then used a routing bit in my Dremel and cut out the slots.



A note of mention is to cut out inside the marked area as the outside of the mark is where the template starts.



That is the finished product thus far.  I have to take a small file and file out the remaining area go remove the rest of the material as well as straiten the edges as well as square up the corners.  I will post pictures of the finished vents one I have them filed out.   

[Narseryc]

Here is the finished product.  All filed down, strait and sharp lines...



The next part is going to require a heat gun that should be arriving any day.  I need to make a few minor adjustments to the overall shape, nothing major, just a few little things I noticed.

I am also going to try and setup a Chicago bolt visor fastening method that will allow interchangeable visors! (without having to rip out the hot glue!   )

[Pointoforigin]

You're winning the heck out of this build.

[Azereth]

Lookin' really good. Those greeblies on on the cheeks look suspiciously like floppy disk parts 

[Kardos Shantiel]

You amaze me once again, buddy.

[Narseryc]

OK, so a bit of progress to report.  Once I received the heat gun, I started working with some PVC I had lying around.  I cut the tube along the length, heated it until it was malleable, and flattened it out under a sheet of plywood.  Worked like a charm!  So then I begain thinking, what can I do with it now...

I took a look at the WOF ear templates and made a run of it.



The piece on the left is the standard design.  The piece on the right is my crazy brain child...    I took the templates and cut out two pieces to get the thickness I needed.  The odd part missing in the middle is where the existing ear cap fits in.



Since the ear caps on the SC aren't perfectly square to the helmet, I had to curve the side that fits against the helmet to get a nice tight fit



Here is how it fit to the helmet.  You will see I marked with pencil the area of the existing ear that needed to be removed in order for it to be flat with the new pieces.



This was the "Point of no return" for me when I took the rasp and started to remove the exiting ear cap




Once that was fit, I then cut out the piece that the stalk would fit into and allow it to move.





Getting excited, I had to take these shots just to see how it would look!




I then took the outer portion of the ear cap I constructed out of cardboard & traced it twice onto PVC pieces.  I cut them out, Gorilla Glued them together, and sculpted the final shape.  At this point, I put the pieces together with tape just for the pictures.  I am going to use bolts to attach the inner ear pieces to the helmet, and then rare earth magnets to the outside piece to hold it on.  I will also add a few pegs so the alignment is correct and doesn't allow the magnets to slip if bumped.  The RF stalk fits onto a small post on the inside of the outer ear piece.  With this setup, it will allow a usable RF stalk, but also allow me to disassemble it for storage or travel.     Not to mention it gives me the opportunity to have different RF's and stalks that will be interchangeable depending on the event.   





In the last pic, it does look like it's pulling away from the helmet, which it is due to the temporary tape fixture.

Anyway, that is the progress I have made.  Next up will be to mount the inner ear pieces permanently, install the magnets & pegs, then on to the visor!

As always if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to ask!   

[Veman Gilamar]

I am so glad I saw your thread, very inspiring ideas. I have the cheeks cut outta mine since I have a big head but I have been trying to decide what I want to do. Not that I plan to copy you but give me some ideas looking at what you have done.

[ConDar Ward]

Nice Job Vod ...... Totally missed this , thanks for pointing it out to me .....

[Jaro]

Fantastic job so far! The one thing I wish my SC had was an RF, so you've lit a fire my friend!

[Niabi]

Nice Vod i like what you have done with the RF

[Zolar Kresh]

Are you going to build up the rest of the ear cap or leave it as it is?

[Narseryc]

So finally I have some more progress to report!  I became a little side-tracked with a HBF build.  I will post those pics soon enough!

I took the "inner ear" and attached it to the buy'ce with machine bolts.  I drilled the holes a touch smaller than the bolt so it would self thread.  I left a bit of the bolt exposed to act as a seating guild for the "outer ear" part.  The object in the upper part is a recessed rare earth magnet piece from a hard drive.  I used the dremel with a small routing bit so it would sit flush with the rest of the "inner ear" piece.



This is the "outer ear" piece.  I drilled small holes for the exposed bolts to fit into so it seats solid & won't slide around on the magnets.  In those holes, I glued small rare earth magnets so they will attract to the end of the bolts while still allowing the two parts to sit flush.  The object in the bottom is a recessed HD magnet piece that attracts to a similar magnet on the inside of the buy'ce by the bold heads.  The object in the upper part is a piece of flat steel that I recessed to fit against the magnet on the "inner ear" piece.



And this is the two parts together.  It is a good solid fit, but can be removed to allow for safe transport.  Next is to build the actual RF and a bit of bondo to smooth the rough edges.  Then a good wash & it should be ready for the first coat of paint!



Thoughts, questions, concerns, comments are always welcome!