DP '95 question

ok, just got my DP'95 and I wanted to know if I should fill in the scratches with bondo or just buff them out with some fine sand paper. the scratches are not deep at all, and I will need to sand the thing before painting it anyway. Also, this helmet... smells weird. no no, not like human fesces (that would make for a far funnier post) but like resin or glue... and its POTENT; stank up my whole house when i left it indoors for a few hours. Is that errr... normal? I bought the helmet "new" it is unmodified, at least as far as I can tell.

let me know.
cheers.

I would first give it a light sanding with about a 200 grit sandpaper. Hit it with a coat of primer and if the scratches are still there give them a thin coat of bondo. I have a DP '95 that had some small scratches on the mandibles, but I just left them. After painting over them it just added a nice texture to the battle damage. That smell is normal. Is it a white interior? Funny thing is, it's only been in the White interior DP's that I've had. The green interior DP's didn't have that smell.


Paul

yep its white interior. the surface of the inside is a bit tacky to the touch as well. Is there a way to clean this thing out so that it isn't sticky and doesnt reek?

If you're doing a Boba helmet I see no need to fill any scratches at all. The thing's supposed to be scratched up. If you're converting to a Jango, that's a different story.

Well there is some unaccurate scratches on the right side of the red visor part facing you that sticks out pretty bad if you dont bondo it.

If your not worried about details though noone will notice.

Its actually for my custom, so I'm not too worried. I'll do some light sanding for the sake of good primer adhesion.

Light sanding=GOOD. Like you said it's great for PRYMER adhesion. I have the same helmet and let me tell you...DON'T DROP IT! Even though that thing is vinyl it's brittle.
The interior of mine was tacky too, I just used a basic cleaner (Simple Green, Goo-Gone, or Citrus-cleaner) it will get rid of the sticky without messing with the integrity of the vinyl.

Here's to hoping that your bucket has no major deformities


~Darren

Is there anyway to get rid of the smell?

Paint the inside

cal196 wrote:
Paint the inside

Roger that. A few days ago, I sanded the inside and bondoed it; 'took care of that problem.

Ya, I painted the inside black because the white was showing my face threw the green visor. So I just primered the inside then painted it black, I had excepted the smell as always stinking but to my surprise it went away

Brush it on? Cause I can imagine spraying it in wouldn't give it that even a coat.

ok, i'll have to paint it next; the bondo I used is white.

I taped the inside of the visor off, and the outside of the helmet to protect it from overspray and coated the inside the autoprimer, then a couple of coats of black plastidip.

Plastidip? Wow, good thinking. I'll bet that cushions a bit more if you ever get your bucket knocked around.

Know what works even better than plastidip? Spray-on truck bed liner.

Just as an experiment I spraypainted the inside. It did take care of the smell, but I don't intend to leave it like that. I'll probably use the Plastidip.