First I must state the majority of the credit goes to Mr. Tony Barton, if it weren't for his inspiration and subsequent tutoring I would have never been able to do make a Drill Instructor hat.

  This all started because I was in a bit of a dilemma. I had a project that had fallen by the wayside for several years because I didn't have a hat that fit a Hasbro peanut head. Believe me I had tried several brands. Even Hasbro's wouldn't fit because it was made for the classic collection figure. I had tried putting some foam on the inside of the hat. Even though it fit the head the size still dwarfed the noggin and it looked just plain goofy. Compromise and use a different figure head for DI Dad? NEVER! Well everything turned out better in the end, because I am so very happy with the realistic looking hat.

 

  For me the most difficult part was getting the sculpey clay form for the hat the right shape and size. The second roadblock was the color of the hat. And I had to have the right color, which of course could not be found (the artist's eye for color can sometimes be a curse). So I chose some cream colored felt with plans to paint it. After several variations in the process, I was stumped because the paint always came out looking caked:

  Thanks to a tip from an the Ulsterman, a member of the www.onesixscale.co.uk forum, I started using fabric paint. I purchased the fabric paint at my local Hancock's Fabric store.  The brand name is  DecoArt SoSoft, read the label carefully because you don't want to purchase their 3-demensional paint for this project.  This acrylic paint is limited in it's selection for those seeking military colors but the primary colors can be mixed to whatever color you want.  Enough of the babbling woman get on with how to make the hat...

 

Tools needed:

dremel tool; okay so mine's an off-brand
scissors
drill
spade bit for drill; about 3/4 inch, size depends on brand of figure head
socket for ratchet; again size depends on which figure will be wearing the hat
oven and stove-top; used to bake sculpey and boil water
iron; no not the metal, the home-maker's appliance
compass; the kind used to draw a perfect circle
paintbrushes, 2 each; one used for glue the other for fabric paint
patient and understanding spouse, 1 each; a must because there will be an extended mess

Supply list :

sculpey form
felt fabric; about 6 inch square
white glue, slightly watered down (just enough so the felt fabric can absorb it)
wood block with hole drilled in center
template made from card stock; used to trace the brim
fabric paint
fabric ribbon, 1/4 inch wide
Fabri-Tac
Rio Rondo leather lace, I used 1/8 inch wide but it looks slightly large to scale
hat badge from Costwold; US Army or USMC

Wooden block: 

  The first thing you'll need to make is the wooden block. It is best to use a spade bit smaller than the target hole because the inside will have to be sanded down (there's always splinters and uneven edges). The inside of the hole will need to be absolutely smooth. I ended up using a ratchet socket as a guide to make the hole inside the wooden block, as I knew it would be a perfect circle. After the sculpy form is finalized you'll need to adjust the hole in the wooden block.

Sculpey Form:

  Sculpey is an oven-baked polymer clay, if you never used it you might want to check out the how-to on their site.  It is fairly simple to use and can be found in just about any hobby store. The clay can be shaped into various types of forms for different results for a hat, definitely something to be creative with. For a campaign hat you'll need to shape the clay into a straight-up cylinder with a tapered top. As I stated above this was the most difficult part for me, but only because I was trying to get it perfect. I mean how hard is it to shape the sculpey clay into a cylinder shape with a dome on top   I never could get a shape I was happy with so on my second attempt I made the form slightly larger on purpose. After the sculpey was baked according to the instructions on the wrapper I made the adjustments with a dremel tool on the sculpey form using the hole in the wooden block as a guide. Sorry I can't give you exact measurements on the sculpey form as it all depends on which brand of head sculpt, even the individual head, will be wearing the hat. It is something that has to be played with and the size and shape have to be discerned in person.

Adjusted hole on wooden block:

  Try some trial and error runs on the sculpey form, that is step #1 of the process below. Don't worry the felt fabric will reshape after it has been dipped in the boiling water. Once you have a shape in the form that you're happy with grab the dremel tool again, because the hole in the wooden block will need to be adjusted. All you have to do is make the hole slightly larger than the sculpey form, just enough room for the wet felt to fit in between the wooden block and the sculpey form. Otherwise the felt fabric bunches up and wrinkles. Yeah I know it is a snug fit now but the wood will swell when it's wet and make it an even tighter fit.

Card stock template:

Basically it will look a like a paper donut, area in white is the paper:

  You can use what ever material you can think for the template, but it needs to be stiff so you can trace around it for the brim of the hat. I didn't have any card stock on hand, so I was resourceful--I used a paper plate. This is where the compass is a must to make a perfect circle. The easiest way is to make it after the fabric is formed (glue step has dried) so you can have a snug fit over the crown of the hat. Again this was something that had to be played with to get the brim size right.

Process:

1. Dip felt fabric in boiling water and press over the sculpey form with the wooden block, let it fully dry.

2. Use an iron to press the wrinkles out while still inside the block, doing your best to avoid the sculpey form as the plastic will melt.

3. Once the felt fabric is dry you can remove the sculpey form. But this step works better if you leave the fabric inside the wooden block. Apply glue with a paint brush to the underside of the brim, this is the side that will end be being the underside of the final product. Paint the glue just a tad to the inside of the crown so it can maintain it's shape once removed from the wooden block. Be very careful to avoid painting into the crown very far up or dropping any glue on the top part of the crown as it will hamper the shaping of the "Montana" peak.

4. Once the glue is dry, take the hat out of wooden block and apply glue to the top side of the brim, again avoiding the crown of the hat with the glue. Handling is a good thing here because it is important to get the brim shape as flat as possible. Allow glue to dry.

5. Use the "donut" template to fit over the crown of the hat and trace a good circle on the brim with a pencil. Cut the brim with scissors; I found cutting the felt with scissors worked much better than an exacto knife.

6. Paint with fabric paint. This is the same steps as with the glue, paint the underside of the brim, let it dry. Flip over and paint top side of the brim, dry. You'll want to paint the crown of the hat last as this is when the peak is shaped.

7. Shape the peak while the paint is still wet, yeah it's messy but the fabric paint stiffens it up a bit when dry, which is an advantage because the peak will keep it's relative shape once dry. I would recommend studying images of the "Montana" peak if you don't have a 1:1 model. There's no tried and true method to explain the shaping of the peak. I pinched it with my fingers, again it is something that has to be played with to get it right.

Finishing touches:

 
  After I had studied some images online of 1:1 campaign hats, I noticed the leather band did not go completely around the outside of the crown. Rather it went around the front on the outside of the crown, then on the sides it went to the inside and was worn as a strap on the back of the head. So I used an exacto knife to cut the holes where the brim meets the crown and inserted the leather lace through the holes. I used fabric-tac where the ends met up on the back of the head. If you have a buckle to adorn it with, use it here. On the outside of the crown underneath the leather strap is the fabric ribbon. This ribbed ribbon goes all the way around the outside of the crown. I couldn't find the ribbed ribbon 1/4 inch wide, so I purchased 3/8 wide and trimmed it down. I used the same color of fabric paint on the ribbon as I had used on the felt fabric. After this project is all done I'm looking at the image of 1:1 dad and the 1:6 leather band looks slightly large to scale. If you're a stitch NAZI you can try a narrower ribbon (1/8 inch?) and something smaller in the Rio Rondo lace. I used Fabric-tac to attach the hat badge. I've waited until now for the links to the hat badges because I'm not sure about the USMC badge I ordered. I think it is supposed to be black and the one Cotswold labeled as a USMC hat badge is silver, in addition it looked a bit over-scaled. They require a minimum order so try several different ones.

US Army hat badge (for sure)

USMC badge:

• USMC cap badge (silver),
• USMC brass,
• Collar brass LEFT / RIGHT When I wrote the article the left collar brass is backordered.

 

  Hopefully I haven't confused you with my instructions, if you have any questions send a private message to me via the Trenches forum. Yes this was a lengthy process, but it wasn't very difficult for me. I think the biggest drawback was that I am a perfectionist and was never happy with an attempt, I had to try and try again. The one thing that kept my nose to the grindstone to actually complete the campaign hat project was that it for my personal human hero. A figure I had built as a tribute to my beloved father-in-law. Dad was veteran of three combat tours, one in Korea and two in Viet Nam. Between those tours he served as a US Army Drill Instructor in Ft Gordon GA, retiring sometime in 1972. It was the battle against Rheumatoid Arthritis that ended his life in 1998.

Again many thanks to Tony Barton for his help!

 

F106lady