Just finished my colander helmet build in time for Halloween. I would say it’s about 85% accurate as there are no good shots of the top, back and left side so I had to improvise somewhat.
Started with 9" diameter 7 star colander - after looking at screengrabs for days and dozens of these on eBay I came to the conclusion that the pattern stamping is wildly different on many of the colanders and orientation of the center star varies. I believe the one you want is like below - center star with tips pointing toward the outer star tips. Also want the outer stars to have bottom row of holes as parallel to edge of bowl as possible. There are versions with and without handles but I identified holes where the handles were cutoff on the prop. Further supported by the fact that after years of watching GB I finally noticed Dana has the exact same colander in the kitchen! So they either bought a few or recycled hers. The problem you will run into if trying to screen match is the legs and handles seemed to be placed randomly so getting the holes to match will be tough
By dumb luck I am 99% sure I found the short ceramic insulator although I think the prop uses white ceramic vs natural color I found.
I couldn’t find the longer ceramic insulators (look like spark plug tops) so I 3D modeled and printed them. The smooth cylinders are nylon standoffs.
Got all the right resistors - it’s REALLY hard to tell but I am sure there are 2 Dale RH-25’s on the back-top of helmet.
Started with 20G wire but after getting so far I decided it looked too fat so went with 22G which looked right to me.
Coiled wire with 1/4" dowel and drill and hit it with heatgun to help it hold shape.
Used a ribbon cable folded in half since you can see the helmet is connected by a long one to computer/lab equip. Shortened mine and added some connectors.
Can’t find a real Pro-tec strap anywhere so used a generic chin cup, elastic strap and vinyl cut the logo. Need to do second pass as I think it looks too big.
The hardest thing to find other than the colander and insulators was the stupid mustard zip-up! I’ll get better pictures of the whole costume later today.
Yes, after I botched my colander-handle-removal, I went with a handle-less strainer for my second attempt. I figured if I ever feel a desperate need for the holes where they removed their handles, I can drill them in the exact locations much easier than finding a perfect colander.
Seeing yours finished makes me want to get back to working on mine.
The vinyl solution to the chin-strap looks great. I found a cheap original Pro-Tec chinstrap on eBay. It was in pristine condition, but that was because of a bad paint bleed on the letter P, so it was ‘take the bad with the good’.
The standoffs were always a stopping point for me, though. Any chance you’ll make your 3D files and/or prints available?
Misprint or not - I call that a win! I also don’t think having the handle holes is vital - even if you did they were all made so different they most likely wouldn’t line up anyway.
I can probably hook you up with stand-offs - send me a PM.
Hello! I am starting to try to build one of these. What are your suggestions on removing the stands and the handles? I know you said you botched it which is what I’m trying to prevent myself from doing. Any help would be appreciated!
This is what I ended up doing. I was having trouble with trying to drill them out as they didn’t have a divot, it was just sort of a round cap. But I took a nail and dented it. Also, a better drill bit that wasn’t dull to begin with helped. LOL.
Thank you all for your help. I’m not sure if this is one of you, but I’ve been loosely following Man Cave Puzzles guide on Youtube and 3D printed all of the parts from his thingiverse at https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4616229. Here is what it looks like so far!
