Bought Helmet! What next! Help

Evening TDH!

I just aquired the Mystery Helmet from Sgt. Fang (shipped anyways, can't wait). So when it arrives, I know I will have trimming, cutting, and sanding. What tools are the experts recommending? Dremel or x-acto, what type of sand paper, wash with soap and water several times before priming?

Thanks all!

Congrats! Another Fett from VA

A Dremel tool or any kind of rotary tool. An Exacto isnt going to work to cut out the visor area. You will need some glazing putty the red stuff from Bondo in a tube for any small spots.
You need to decide which paint job you are doing and then get all the paints for that version. I recommend wet sanding the helmet with 220 and then 320 grit wet/dry sandpaper. Be sure to get the right paper or it will just fall apart.
Woody

and for a fang youl need some elbow grease

Thanks! Elbow grease? Where do I get that? J/K!

I am awaiting the arrival of a Jinto Helmet,and what im doing now is trying to locate the paint i will need for the ESB paint scheme.
I already have a dremel from my Hot Wheels customizing days.I am also going over all the ESB paint ups on THD as well as going through the referance pics.

Ok. Got the helmet. I read somewhere that you should not cut out where the visor goes to prevent warping? Does that sound right? Seems to me that you would want to cut it out and then sand and prep it for painting. Is there some sort of time that you have before it does this? Sorry for the ignorance. Just nervous, want to do this right!

Psh, I cut the visor out first thing. It's resin, it won't warp unless you leave it in the Las Vegas sun before you put the visor in. Plus if you leave the visor area in and paint it, you have to repaint the part you cut out anyway.

I've done about 6 SgtFang helmets, and with each and every one the visor has been cut out first prior to prep work and painting.

I like to cut it out mount the welders shield with blue tape over it so u can paint with it in there and its sturdy as well

Thanks Guys. Appreciate it!

Ok. Cut out the Visor last night. Might have to use a little bondo, dremel got away and nicked the top of the visor. Oh well Sand sand sand. I am going to start the process of wet sanding tonight. Question though, the keyslots in the back of the helmet? Any tricks to cutting those out. They are a little small for the dremel. X-acto and patience or maybe a small drillbit and then an x-acto? Thanks.

I would recommend a small drill bit to put some holes in the slot areas and then use hobby files to finish them out.

What dremel tool did you use? I usually just use the round cutting disc.

Multi-purpose cutting bit. The disc made me nervous, guess I should've used that.

With the disc I can whip out a visor in about 15 minutes, but I understand you being nervous. The disc is really easy to use once you get it on the helmet, but you can just use a large file to smooth everything out on the helmet you have there.

I am really hurt. Nah not really. I was nervous. Yeah sanded it last night and it looks much much better. Going to work on it some more tonight and I was going to fill in the, uh, ok mistake in the center of the t-visor. I guess I should feel honored that fang sold me a helmet huh? Guess I have a winning personality! HA. Below is the latest picture

No i think you miss under stood what i ment i didnt mean that he sold YOU a helmet i mean that he sold any one a helmet a realy thort hed given up on it , i personaly had tryed to get one from him in the past , and was told hed stoped making them
.thats all it wasnt implied directly at you

The visor is looking a bit better, head down to Home Depot and pick up some files and you can take care of it a little more. And you should get some Bondo or any other kind of filler to fix the depressions around the visor.

I know I know I was being silly!

Yep. Bought some bondo already put the first one on. Also got files and worked on it some more. Thanks for all the tips. Looking better by the day!

Originally Posted by GCNgamer128

The visor is looking a bit better, head down to Home Depot and pick up some files and you can take care of it a little more. And you should get some Bondo or any other kind of filler to fix the depressions around the visor.

Good Deal. Thanks to Jinto and GCNGamer. Made it further tonight. Even got the keyslots cut out. Phew.

Bucket looks great! Good job!

Looking good that cleaned up nice.

So silly question. Should I wet sand it then prime it or prime it then wetsand it. My original thought was to sand it with 320 then prime then wetsand and prime again. Would this give the spray paint more "bite" so it sticks better or with resin does it not really matter much?

I've worked on a couple of Fang helmets and didn't sand before priming. The primer will give you a good look at any areas that may need to be sanded/filled anyway, so I don't usually bother sanding first.
If you wash the helmet first to make sure any traces of mold release are removed, you shouldn't have a problem with primer sticking to the resin.
Duplicolor self-etching primer is a really good product. I've used it on several resin prop kits and it adheres really well and goes on nice and smooth. It's a sort of grayish green color, so you may need another light primer over it depending on what painting method you're using.

Alright! Thought I would post an update. Been working the helmet now for a while. Had to put it together the other night because I was excited. Here is the progress so far. I am planning to fiberglass the inside of the helmet this weekend (For added strength). Then painting!!!

Looking pretty wizard! lol I am going to keep an eye on this thread as I should be starting my first helmet before too long. Thanks for explaining how you have been proceeding. How do you plan to fiberglass the inside? I am a newb too.

Plan. What is planning? LOL. I saw some threads in here about doing it and I am a clutz so I figured the stronger the better. Got the fiberglass kit from the auto parts store. Going to cut the fiberglass into strips and then put it on the inside of the helmet. In theory!!

Ur visor are is a little on the wide side you may want to figure out just how wide its supposed to be based on pics and get it a little more narrow...

Ok! Now that the weather has finally calmed down and started to get warmer, I started painting the bucket! Yeah. Below is the progress, it now looks like it is metal. Phew, now comes the masking fluid and lots of work. Will keep everyone posted!

Ok. So masked the dome last night with masking fluid. Painted the dome tonight. Used Sage Green and Moss Green. Misted it and see below. Is it right or does it need to be darker? This is taken inside (obviously!!!) and under fluorescent lighting.

and

Ok. So I painted it last night (see above post) and was wondering what you all think about the color of the dome? Too light? Too Dark? Thanks