Star-Lord Helmet, Guardians of the Galaxy

Based on the helmet featured in Marvel Studios’ film Guardians of the Galaxy, the Star-Lord helmet is the most time-intensive project I’ve completed so far – totaling well over 200 hours of labor. This was a rare personal project – I loved the design, and wanted to challenge myself to hand-make something obviously symmetrical and “machined” looking (knowing full well the movie helmet was almost entirely 3D printed). The more time I invested, the more I wanted to make sure I replicated the original as accurately as possible!

The body of the helmet was sculpted, by hand, from automotive body-filler. Additional details, such as the inset stripes at the back, mouth “grill,” and small “nose” section at the front, were made of hand-cut plastic. Thicker pieces like the “ears” were made of layers of acrylic cut on a scroll saw. The “breather tubes”, side air-lines, and eye-sockets were tooled by hand on a lathe. The only pieces done by machine were the laser cut acrylic lenses for the eyes, and the delicate, etched lines on the cheeks – which were laser etched into plastic plates (using a template I drew, based on available reference), and embedded into the body-filler base.

The entire helmet was then matrix-molded in silicone, and a resin positive slush-cast by hand in urethane resin. 

Painting involved over 20 different colors of paint, mixed and applied in roughly 8 layers. Weathering and chipping effects were then added by hand, and LEDs added behind the eyes. The helmet splits in 2, and is held together entirely by a magnet and fiberglass flange system, sturdy enough to keep the helmet on even during running or dancing.

Photos by SunnyHeadCase.