This is Diego Valdes. He is an aerospace engineer by day and an avid cosplay DIY-er by night, and what makes Diego stands from the sea of cosplayers is his Animatronic Gray Fox Helmet. Yes. That Gray Fox. The fictional character, a former agent of U.S. Special Forces-turned-mercenary, from the popular video game franchise Metal Gear Solid. Obviously, Diego’s creation wouldn’t be as impressive if it was merely a helmet. What makes it so dope is, it is a full functional animatronic helmet. Impressed by the attention to details on the original Gray Fox’e helmet, Diego took up the challenge to tweak the helmet so that it will be technically feasible to animate it.
He started with a 3D model of his head, followed by a combination of 3D printing, multiple sanding and painting processes and molding to create this stunning piece of work-of-art. A bunch of electronics were thrown in too, together with some requisite program to enable the helmet to work as intended. All told, it took Diego a good seven months to arrive to what it is today. Diego has since started working on Gray Fox’s armor using EVA foam and prior to that, he already prepped the hands for the upcoming suit and built a Gray Fox’s katana out of a bokken he bought online.
The Animatronic Gray Fox Helmet alone is enough to impress, so we can only imagine how the entire getup will turn out to be (no doubt, beyond awesome). Perhaps Diego may want to consider hand gesture activation or voice command for the animatronic helmet for a more high-tech touch that befits the theme. Anyways, we can’t hardly wait for the whole thing to be completed. Skip ahead for quick intro of the build of the helmet.
Images: Diego Valdes.
via INSIDER art.
