Project Cosplay - Helmet completed

Well, this weekend there has been a focus for me on completing the Blake's 7 Federation Trooper helmet. It is now done, all bar touching up the paint in a few places. I decided in the end not to use the plastic from the drinks bottles I'd been collecting. Instead I bought a couple of plastic folders yesterday and used those for the plastic bands around the rim of the helmet. They actually worked better than the green bottle plastic would have for two main reasons: bottle plastic has a very strong memory and continually tries to wrap itself back round into the curve of a bottle and, probably harder to deal with, it is very thin and easily melts in contact with the hot glue. the plastic I did buy was quite strong but also just right in terms of the flexibility. It also came flat so was much easier to work with when bending around the helmet.
I modrocked the helmet on Sunday morning, which was very enjoyable actually. That stuff dries very quickly, so too did the black spray paint I bought on Saturday from Hobbycraft. I was able to glue the visor into place (two strips from a shandy bottle). It was a little trickier than I expected due to the melting of the thin plastic. I used a bit of flat black foam for the badge and a disk of cardboard, which I painted grey and added a bit of detail to with the glue gun.
The tricky part was working out how to suspend the plastic around the rim of the helmet, I'm still not sure whether I've done the right thing or not, I chopped up some cardboard and had two layers of struts that support the plastic rings. The lengths of folders didn't quite fit the circumference of the helmet so I had to use some extension pieces bit they are at the back and hopefully not too noticeable. One thing I've learned though about making helmets - if you're modelling the head with a balloon makes sure it's big enough. I used quite a small balloon and the helmet just about fits my head but is a little too snug and I fear I may have to work out a way for it to fit my head better.