It began with a project that his friend sent him a link to. The guy knew Cruse loved Star Wars, so he sent him a link to a website that discussed how to make lightsabers.
That’s how it started. He made lightsaber handles, and with each one he made, he would use different material to keep making it better. He would research what materials to use and how to use them.
One day, when Cruse was about 15, he was browsing the Internet, and he saw a picture of a Master Chief helmet that was made of paper. The Master Chief character is from the video game Halo, a game that Cruse enjoyed playing. The paper helmet sparked an interest, so he decided to Google search the print out for making one of the helmets.
His first print out guide was two sizes to large, so he printed it out again. The project intrigued him. He saw what other people could do with the paper helmets, and knew he could do a better job. It was a challenge.
After Cruse finished cutting, folding and shaping the paper helmet, he decided he didn’t like the look as much. The shapes were blocky, and the parts of the helmet that were supposed to be smooth weren’t because of using flat paper. Cruse wasn’t satisfied with that. He decided to detail the project.
Cruse covered the entire helmet in sheets of plastic and auto body filler called Bondo. He smoothed everything over to the right shape. The sanding of all the hard and angular lines took a great deal of time. Cruse spent about four to five hours a day on his project, for about three months before he finished. Once he did smooth the helmet, that’s when he painted it.
The project was the first time he ever worked with electronics as well. The character in the game had four small lights on either side of the helmet. So to make it realistic, Cruse did the same. He bought four LED lights with built-in resistors and wired them to batteries, before arranging them in the helmet.
“I consulted with my dad a lot,” Cruse said. “I would ask him his opinions on building materials and how my plans would turn out.”
Cruse worked in his garage, on a workbench across from the garage door. That’s where he would use the auto body filler, fiberglass resin and cans of spray paint. His planning work took place in his kitchen, at the bar.
He would spend time hunched over the bar, with a piece of his plans scattered to the right, and everything else sweeping out from that point across the surface. He would tinker with this paper, and then move onto the next. His tools and methodology were a bit haphazard, unorganized and scattered. But that’s how he liked to work.
When Cruse finished his helmet, he posted it, like his other work, on the online community. Cruse said they had an entire website devoted to the paper helmets.
“The most anyone else had ever done at that point with the helmets was use auto body filler on them, but they would just essentially cover the helmets and sand it down a little bit,” Cruse said.
The attention to detail on Cruse’s helmet was pretty high. The response he received from the online users was more than Cruse expected. He was the first person to take the craftsmanship to another level, and show that much detail and commitment to making the prop better.
After he displayed his helmet, showing his friends and family, he decided to post in on eBay.
“I sold it for $350.”
The Master Chief helmet was one of the first projects that spurned Cruse on, pushing him to continue challenging himself. By using electronics for the first time, it began his love affair with putting lighting and wiring in other projects, including building an LED light-up arc reactor from the movie Iron Man, and refurbishing an Xbox in the style of the Iron Man movie.
Through Star Wars Cruse found his love recreating props, and through his Master Chief helmet project, he realized he was phenomenal at it. So did everyone else.
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