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How to make a cardboard costume helmet

by Honus on October 3, 2006

Table of Contents

How to make a cardboard costume helmet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Intro: How to make a cardboard costume helmet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

File Downloads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Step 1: Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Step 2: First form the base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Step 3: Making the dome frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Step 4: Filling in the dome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Step 5: Final shaping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Step 6: Add details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Step 7: Painting/finishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-cardboard-costume-helmet/
 Author:Honus Multi-Bot
I'm a former bicycle industry designer turned professional jeweler.

Intro: How to make a cardboard costume helmet

Here's how to make a low cost costume helmet using cardboard. Helmets are usually one of the hardest and most expensive parts to make for a cool Halloween
costume so here's a simple method I use. The methods I describe can be used to make almost any kind of helmet but I'm showing how to make a Star Wars Boba Fett
helmet as an example - I have an instructable for the rest of the Boba Fett costume here:
http://www.instructables.com/id/EYA7U14EM9ETVPKGR4/

The templates provided are used by permission from The Wizard of Flight via the Dented Helmet- the definitive Boba Fett costume resource-thanks Alan! The templates
are designed to be printed on 8.5" x 11" paper.

For more great scifi costuming templates check out SPC -there's a lot of fantastic patterns there!

File Downloads

boba_fett_helmet_templates_std.pdf (802 KB)

[NOTE: When saving, if you see .tmp as the file ext, rename it to 'boba_fett_helmet_templates_std.pdf']

boba_fett_-_rangefinder_rev_a.pdf (215 KB)

[NOTE: When saving, if you see .tmp as the file ext, rename it to 'boba_fett_-_rangefinder_rev_a.pdf']

BF Helmet Dome Templates.pdf ((612x792) 39 KB)

[NOTE: When saving, if you see .tmp as the file ext, rename it to 'BF Helmet Dome Templates.pdf']
Step 1: Materials
You'll need some cardboard sheet- about 1/16 inch thick material works best. Use the kind that looks like paperboard- corrugated cardboard won't work. The kind I used
is called newspaper board and it comes in 30"x40" sheets. It is manufactured by Crescent as well as Arches and is sold at craft and picture framing stores. Crescent
shows it on their website as Grey News Mounting Board:
http://www.crescent-cardboard.com/

You'll also need some white glue, sandpaper, a hot glue gun, some lightweight spackling paste, an X-Acto knife and some Minwax Polycrylic sealer.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-cardboard-costume-helmet/
Step 2: First form the base
For this example I'm going to construct a Boba Fett helmet from the infamous Star Wars character but these techniques can be used to make almost any helmet. I was
able to download some Fett helmet templates from the Dented Helmet forum. http://www.thedentedhelmet.com
I printed out the templates and glued them to the cardboard with some rubber cement and then cut out all the pieces with an X-Acto knife.

I first bend a large piece of cardboard to form the bottom of the helmet. Getting the cardboard slightly damp (use a misting spray bottle) will make it easier to bend. Then I
epoxy the joint at the back of the helmet. Next I make the "cheekbone" sections by bending the cardboard and tacking it into place using a glue gun. I only use the glue
gun on the inside of the helmet. Then I smear white glue over all the joints on the outside of the helmet.

Image Notes
1. glued joint
2. glued joint

Image Notes
1. this is the "cheekbone"

Step 3: Making the dome frame

To make the top of the helmet, the "dome", I first make a cardboard ring and glue it into the top of the helmet. This will give the frame something to attach to. The dome
frame is made from two interlocking cardboard semicircles and is then glued to the cardboard ring.

Image Notes
1. cardboard ring insert
2. dome frame

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-cardboard-costume-helmet/
Step 4: Filling in the dome
Now cut some long triangular cardboard wedges. Start by bending these as close to the curve of the dome frame as you can. Start by gluing the wedges to the frame first
with the hot glue gun, then working your way gradually to the middle of each frame section. There will be a lot of trimming and adjusting involved so take your time.
Getting the curve of the dome right will make finishing the helmet much easier. After the dome is filled in smear all the seams on the outside of the helmet with white glue.
You can see that I've also cut out the opening for the visor at this time. Now drop that bucket on your head and make sure it fits the way you want it to.

Image Notes Image Notes

1. start filling in wedges here 1. this should be the last wedge glued in each section

Image Notes
1. inner surface form of helmet
2. outer surface of helmet

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-cardboard-costume-helmet/
Step 5: Final shaping
Here's where the spackling paste comes in. Spread lightweight spackling paste over the dome of the helmet and any other areas that need to be smoothed out. When it
dries sand it to shape. It will probably take at least a couple of applications to get everything looking the way you want- this is especially true if your helmet has a lot of
compound curves.

Step 6: Add details

Now add any additional details. The "ears" on the helmet were made from laminated sections of cardboard the were glued together with white glue. They were then cut to
shape. I used a bench top belt sander to help shape them. The "ears" were then glued to the sides of the helmet with a hot glue gun.

The dent on the top of the helmet and the two small triangles on the front were then cut out with an X-acto knife and then a piece of cardboard was glued onto the
backside. The dent was then filled in with spackling paste. The rangefinder was then constructed from folded cardboard sheet and then glued together.

There is also a panel that gets glued onto the back of the helmet. This is done by cutting out a rectangular section in the back of the helmet and gluing the panel into the
inside of the helmet.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-cardboard-costume-helmet/
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-cardboard-costume-helmet/
Step 7: Painting/finishing
Now coat the entire helmet with some Minwax Polycrylic sealer. This will seal everything and make your helmet much easier to paint as well as help make your helmet
water resistant. Then just primer and paint your helmet! A Boba Fett helmet takes a long time to paint........

The visor is just some tinted plastic that is then glued in. I used hot glue but epoxy putty works really well too and is probably stronger. I then added some foam to the
inside of the helmet to make it fit my head so it wouldn't flop around.

That's it- time to go trick or treating!

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-cardboard-costume-helmet/
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-cardboard-costume-helmet/
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by slimguy379 Mandalorian Halloween Fett Arm Starwars Boba Costume
Armor by Costume by Gauntlets Fett knee armor (Photos) by
Robert595 logic bomb halloween by logic bomb alexzgar2010
costume by logic
bomb

Comments
50 comments Add Comment view all 732 comments

SpikeCoatsA says: Sep 2, 2007. 6:32 PM REPLY

For those whom this may concern, I've revised that Leonidas Spartan template to make it look more like it did on the movie.

SpikeCoatsA says: Oct 15, 2007. 6:48 PM REPLY

Here are some pics of my helmet. It's made from a child's batting helmet (I cut out most of the padding for it to fit), I cut off the visor and about 1/4 of the
back of the helmet (the back is actually the front. I cut the faceplate out of two paper notebooks (the cardboard in the back). I used gorrilla glue to glue it
on and duct tape to hold it in place while it was drying. for the crest I cut a couple pieces of some thin board, glued it on, put play-do inside of it, then I
used bristles from an old broom to stick in the play-do. Then I sprayed it down with metallic gold spray paint. I used black paint for the crest

omnikin says: Oct 16, 2007. 5:07 PM REPLY

Awesome! What did you cut the batting helmet with? Also, what are the measurements for the revised face plate? I'm making a similar one.

SpikeCoatsA says: Oct 16, 2007. 5:27 PM REPLY

The faceplate measurements are as is, except I went ahead and stretched out the top as far as I could. I cut the helmet with a jig saw.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-cardboard-costume-helmet/
 Honus says: Oct 16, 2007. 6:33 PM REPLY
Great job!

cisco3609 says: Nov 4, 2007. 5:20 PM REPLY

Here is my spartan helmet

cisco3609 says: Nov 4, 2007. 7:10 PM REPLY

pic

Honus says: Nov 5, 2007. 6:08 AM REPLY

Fantastic!

Honus says: Jul 20, 2008. 1:40 PM REPLY

Here's a preview for the next cardboard project- Rocketeer! I've always wanted to do this one. The helmet patterns are almost finished and then comes the
jetpack..... stay tuned for Halloween. :)

musicninja17 says: Aug 7, 2008. 8:42 PM REPLY

Holy crap its blender!!! I lOve blender! but how do you make the template? (into a flat page that is?) How exactly could you do that in blender without
having to manipulate all the edges yourself?

Honus says: Aug 8, 2008. 6:48 AM REPLY

Blender is great! This is actually the first 3d object I've ever done. Make your model in Blender and then import it into Pepakura Designer to make
your template. Pepakura is just awesome.

musicninja17 says: Aug 8, 2008. 5:07 PM REPLY

One question though--- how exactly do you get the .blend file into a usable extension??

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-cardboard-costume-helmet/
 Honus says: Aug 8, 2008. 6:30 PM REPLY
You have to export it as a 3d file such as .obj or .3ds

musicninja17 says: Aug 8, 2008. 8:22 PM REPLY

Dude thanks! Pepakura rocks!

chinchymork says: Aug 9, 2008. 10:17 PM REPLY

Thanks!

minerug says: Aug 10, 2008. 5:30 AM REPLY

On the topic of blender, do you have to model the helm from scratch, or can you upload a pic or something?

Honus says: Aug 10, 2008. 6:45 AM REPLY

I had to model it from scratch based on reference photos.

minerug says: Aug 10, 2008. 4:52 PM REPLY

How long doe it take to make a pattern like the rocketeer?

Honus says: Aug 10, 2008. 6:23 PM REPLY

I could probably do the 3d design in a couple of hours now that I sort of know what I'm doing. A really complicated design could take several
days.

minerug says: Aug 10, 2008. 6:49 PM REPLY

Could you send me the .blend file of your rocketeer helm, I am interested in modifieing it to suit the helm I am designing. (minerug@hotmail.com)

Honus says: Aug 11, 2008. 5:40 AM REPLY

Sorry, but I'm not posting it until it's finished- there's still a lot of work to do! There are a ton of online Blender tutorials- just click the help
button in Blender.

minerug says: Aug 12, 2008. 2:19 AM REPLY

ok, np

musicninja17 says: Aug 15, 2008. 3:31 PM REPLY

Also look up blender noob to pro wikibook. Its THE BEST learning guide!

musicninja17 says: Aug 15, 2008. 3:33 PM REPLY

But you can upload a pic to paste into the backround of blender so you can kind of trace over it in 3d.

Honus says: Aug 16, 2008. 9:23 AM REPLY

You sure can- the trick is to get them scaled the same.

minerug says: Aug 16, 2008. 5:22 PM REPLY

ok, thanks

minerug says: Aug 16, 2008. 5:26 PM REPLY

thanks

Mr.NHRA says: Aug 23, 2008. 6:16 PM REPLY

I see the dome of the helmet looks to be tricky. I measured around the boba fett helmet and then blew up a balloon to that size. then i paper machete the
balloon. it worked great and was so easy compared to all those triangles.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-cardboard-costume-helmet/
 minerug says: Aug 26, 2008. 5:11 AM REPLY
bloody good idea

noxvox says: Aug 27, 2008. 6:46 PM REPLY

Gasp! I love that movie, and no one's ever heard of it! Stop encouraging my fetish for heroes with jet packs. Great job BTW.
For those of you who want to make helmets on the cheap, art stores sometimes sell silver reflective paper that looks a lot like metal until creased. For
some reason, my school had reams of it, so I used it to make a murmyllow sp* gladiator helmet (one with a fish crest). It stayed in my car for months and
I wore it occasionally to scare other drivers.

diablo_03 says: Oct 23, 2008. 6:34 PM REPLY

hello i love this helmet, you are great. can you please tell me how you did it? what are the measurements that you took? thanks allot.

Chicken2209 says: Oct 26, 2008. 5:35 PM REPLY

hows the rocketeer helmet coming?

Honus says: Oct 26, 2008. 7:57 PM REPLY

It's getting there but it's going to be a while before the project is finished.

Chicken2209 says: Oct 27, 2008. 12:10 PM REPLY

cool, i wish i could do something as cool and inspirational as this

starwarsfanatic95 says: Dec 29, 2008. 3:16 PM REPLY

so finished the helmet(had alot of fun building it).im trying to build this helmet.do u think i should use the newpapaer board or should i use a boba fett helmet
as a base and paper mache from there on.

Honus says: Dec 29, 2008. 10:49 PM REPLY

I'd make it from scratch- it's too different. You might do a search and see if someone has already made a template for it.

koopatroopa says: Nov 1, 2009. 3:10 PM REPLY

Here is my helmet i used the cardboard at the bottom but used plaster for the top

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-cardboard-costume-helmet/
 Honus says: Nov 1, 2009. 4:15 PM REPLY
Awesome!

Anoop101 says: Nov 12, 2009. 7:50 PM REPLY

Its awesome

Jaden Vynark says: Mar 18, 2011. 11:25 AM REPLY

I found basically everything at Hobby Lobby, including newspaper board. For the visor I used some dark grey thin plastic sheeting, also found at Hobby
Lobby.

Jaden Vynark says: Mar 18, 2011. 11:19 AM REPLY

Is it possible to make the antenna rotate? Because I had an idea for a rotating antenna. I was thinking I could stick a rotating motor on the antenna, to make
it spin like it does in star wars bounty hunter. I could run a wire throught the sleeve attached to a button switch, with a battery. When I want it to stop in front
of my face, I just hit the button again. I would probably put a hole in the antenna and add some clear sheeting to be able to see through it. Would that work?

Jaden Vynark says: Mar 18, 2011. 11:13 AM REPLY

What type of sealer did you use? Satin, Clear gloss, or Semi gloss?

Jaden Vynark says: Mar 16, 2011. 6:13 PM REPLY

I don't exactly know where to cut the hole for the visor. Do you think you could reply and tell me?

Honus says: Mar 16, 2011. 9:34 PM REPLY

It's the "T" shaped section on the front of the helmet.

Jaden Vynark says: Mar 16, 2011. 8:43 AM REPLY

I'm creating my own star wars character would it work if I didn't add the antenna, because my character does not have one?

Honus says: Mar 16, 2011. 4:27 PM REPLY

Sure! Just fill in the gap where the antenna stalk connects to the helmet.

Jaden Vynark says: Mar 16, 2011. 6:10 PM REPLY

Thanks Honus you rock!

Eye Poker says: Feb 21, 2011. 8:50 PM REPLY

Not a Magneto, Dr Fate or Hawkman amongst them all?

Honus says: Feb 21, 2011. 9:50 PM REPLY

Not yet at least...

A Magneto helmet would be pretty cool. I could have sworn someone was making one.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-cardboard-costume-helmet/
 ERNESTRIPIO says: Feb 4, 2011. 3:42 PM REPLY
YES! A DART VADER HELMET !! OR BOUSH OR SNOW TROPER OR ...

view all 732 comments

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-cardboard-costume-helmet/