Assembly Instructions for Wild Wild Pussycat Helmet Kit

Originally posted in 2018 via Facebook, this archive describes the assembly instructions for our My Hero Academia Wild Wild Pussycat Helmet kits that you can order for yourself from our store!

Welcome to the tutorial for our Helmet Kits! The images in this tutorial are from the first version of our sold kits. Updates and additional information on the current (V3) version of this kit are updated where necessary. Applicable picture are below each section talking about them.

This assembly takes a good hour or so, and the whole thing needs at least an overnight to have the wood glue set up. This kit is plywood for weight and strength, and I instruct the use of wood glue for this reason. If you use any other glue then that's on you.

Materials supplied:
52 - Laser cut plywood pieces
6 - 3D printed pieces
6 - .125 x .25 Magnets

Materials needed:
A masking tape
Epoxy
16 Small screws no longer than .5 inch
A drill (to adjust screw holes)
A drill bit in the size of the screws you have
Small clamps
WOOD GLUE <<< Very important

1. Locate these pieces.
V3 - Lower two pieces will have holes that are diagonal from each other.

2. Locate the main structure rails. The inner most rails are for the bottom, and the outermost are for the top.

REMEMBER! There should be 2 of each piece, and you will need to assemble each half of the helmet as a MIRROR of the other! 

3. Check the placement of the bottom rails and the larger inside piece.

See the larger slot on the bottom rail? Those will become the BACKS of the helmets.
The slot on the standing piece should be facing towards the FRONT of the helmets. In the V3, the lower hole faces the front, along with the slot.

Put a small dab of wood glue on the underside of these inner pieces and press them back together. 

4. Check the fit and angle of the smaller inner piece next. 

The slant of this inner piece should look like this from the side. Remove piece, add glue, replace. 

5. Both of these pieces are now done. Set them aside for the moment to dry. 

6. Grab your two upper rails and find the four pieces that connect to them. 

7. These are two upper rails with one of the connectors. See how only one side fits in nicely? that's how you can check if they're in the proper position.

Almost every piece in this kit has these sort of quirks (haha) where the notches will line up VERY specifically. If it's not fitting, it may be upside down, or backwards.

ALWAYS CHECK YOUR FIT BEFORE YOU GLUE! 

8. We will now connect the bottom rails to the top rails with these pieces. 

9. Check the fit!

See how the assembly notches match each other on the two front edges, vs the back two edges? That's how you'll know it's right.

Remove piece, add glue to the inside where they touch and replace. Let set up for a moment.

10. Time to use the tape!

Check the fit! This is the back piece. For now, use tape to hold it in place on the top and bottom. Don't glue yet, you may have to move these pieces in the next step.

11. Adorable little baby basket! Now, let's give it some stronger supports. 

12. Here are the supports you're looking for. Two of them are already fit inside of the frame. Each will only fit one way! Each may be more circular, to attach by screws to the 3D printed outside, but the notches will be the same.

Once you've found were they go, glue them into the frame, and then ad a little glue to your two taped pieces. You may have to readjust or replace the tape as you do this.

V3 - There are now holes in these pieces, which will made them have a rounder appearance, but the notches are still identical!

Once these pieces are glued up, set them aside to dry until the next step, which won't take too long. The tape should help expedite your helmet assembly, as you can peel all of it off at the end, post-cure. 

13. Time for the ears! Find these pieces. 

14. Separate them into left and right. Don't accidentally make the same side twice!  DON'T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

15. Find the 3D printed pieces that are curved like this. Also find your screws, drill and drill bit.

Notice how there is a top that is very STRAIGHT and a bottom that is more POINTED. 

16. V3 - The holes are diagonal! This helps avoid having them backwards OR upside down. Also, the holes should be slightly filleted at the bottom to avoid splitting.

Take a moment to check your holes vs how wide your screws are. Because of how the 3D print is constructed, the hole structure may SNAP the 3D print if the screw is forced into the hole.

Take your drill, and use your bit that's the same diameter as your screws and drill out these holes. Be careful not to go too far and come out the back!

The STRAIGHT part of the 3D print is the top, and the plywood tabs that are LARGER should point in the same direction as this edge.

17. Once your holes are the right size, and you've made sure that the ply and 3D part are in the right orientation, screw through the ply to attach your 3D printed part.

18. This is the right-hand piece. See how the notches fit into this part?

19. And here is the whole assembly.

If we were to only put wood glue on the ply that's touching, we'd have a very wobbly piece. Check the next section.

20. Find this piece, and check the fit. This piece will help the whole section stay stable as it dries.

Add wood glue to this setup and tape over the front piece to keep it stable.

21. Tape should be enough, but clamps also work very well. Set these aside, face down. Double check that you don't have any leaking glue, and protect your flat surface with something.

22. Wood glue likes to seep into cracks, and it will dry/cure HARD. At some point, adding an extra line of wood-glue to your joined pieces can increase the stability.

23. Same with this piece, you can put a large dab of wood glue down inside and let it slide along the joint to make a more firm coating.

24. These two pieces slip into either side of these assemblies on the sides with the large notches cut out.

25. Slip the bottom part underneath, and the part next to my thumb in the picture with slip in with a little pressure.

26. Find these two pieces. It will be easy to tell which points down, because the V3 pieces have an additional loop on the bottom that slides into the top support rail.

27. Dab a little glue in there and tape them up.

28. Time to start putting them together!

29. Check fit, one side ear into one side rail section.

30. Here is where we'll be working next.

31. Find these two pieces! They are going to help us lock in the ears to the rails.

32. CHECK FIT WITHOUT GLUE FIRST!

Once you're comfortable with how they slip in, you can add a few dabs of glue and slide them in and then....

33. Tape up that bad boy to keep it in place!

34. This is the back area piece. V3 - These back pieces now have a tab that extends though the top rail, but it's still a good idea to run glue around this inside edge.

35. Like this!

I'm holding the whole setup against my stomach, to keep the pieces together while I add the glue.

36. Find yourself feeling like there's too much glue? Don't worry, it'll set up like a rock in a few days at most. Just don't get it on your clothes, because wood glue does not come out of fabric!

37. Find these pieces. There is a right and wrong direction to the left piece here. The right pieces should be fine either way.

38. Check fit. Dab glue, assemble as shown, tape where necessary to keep it tight.

39. Find this piece, check fit. Make sure it fits comfortably as shown, Dab glue, tape.

40. Find these pieces. It is time to make a little box on top, where one of your magnets is going to go.

41. These pieces are symmetrical. Dab glue and assemble.

42. The piece with the hole! It doesn't matter if the hole faces towards the front or to the back, just make sure you make it face the same way on both halves of the helmet!!!!!

Either way, make sure that this piece sticks out towards the front of the helmet by the 1/8 thickness. Dab glue, assemble, tape.

43. Ah yes, the nice front surfaces, without the extra slots for assembly. We'll be layering these over different areas.

44. Here is the first piece. Dab glue up aaaaall behind it, so that there are dabs over a good portion. Add to the front and tape down around the large section.

This piece fits up next to your small piece for magnets on the bridge.

45. Do the same with this small curved piece to the front. This piece will fit over the others and cover the pieces at the bridge!

46. Make sure to add a little glue here, both in front and underneath!

47. Faces for the front and faces for the back magnets.

48. Check placement. Dab glue, assemble, tape. Repeat other side.

49. These pieces will LINE UP with the other pieces on the back. Dab glue, assemble, tape.

50. Beautiful boxes.

51. Time for more 3D printed parts!

 

52. The smallest parts will have some support material to remove. The notches will align, and these should fit into the setup with a little bit of pressure. Put this part into the notch on the rail first, and then press with your thumbs to lock it into the upper notch.

You can peel back a bit of the tape to reveal the notch if necessary. Don't remove it entirely though, that locking piece still needs to set up in its proper position.

53. SNAP!

54. V3 - These two parts have 5 different places for screws on both sides.

55. Remember, you don't want you parts to split, so drill out these holes as necessary.

 

56. Attach through the frame! Remember, there are FIVE on either side!

57. Gaps? These should be much less in the V3. The best thing to do for them is

to use a little bit of epoxy for the plastic, and tape/clamp them closed. Save that for after your glue sets up though! (You can also heat them a bit after the glue dries if you're a pro, but YMMV!)

58. Look at that! You're almost done. You'll want your clamps at this point. The helmet should touch reliably where the magnets are supposed to meet, but sometimes that's not always the case. To the clamps!

 

59. CLAMP THE TOP!

Get your sides even. You don't want the glue to make the helmet setup wonky.

60. CLAMP THE BACK!

This is going to make your helmet set up in the CORRECT POSITION. That wood glue is going to turn into a rock solid structure.

WAIT 24 HOURS! WAIT! WAIT! BE PATIENT!!! WAIT AT LEAST ONE DAY FOR A FULL SET!!!

61. 24 hours later, come back and take off the clamps and tape.

Magnets: There are 6 magnets included with the kit when purchased through our shop. 3 for each side. CHECK THE POLARITY! Use epoxy in the holes on the top and back portions, and put the correctly polarized magnets in and cover them with tape. At this point, you can snap your helmet together (this will help the magnets attain the right alignment, and the tape will keep them from sticking together) but DO NOT PULL IT APART AGAIN! Not until your epoxy sets up for the recommended time.

CONGRATULATIONS! Your helmet kit is ready for finishing. Bust out the sandpaper, filler primer, exact-o blades and paint, you're ready to take your kit up a notch. When you're finished, please tag us in a picture (#lightningandlace), we'd love to see your end result!