TheDentedOne's FP ILM CC Repaint!

tubachris85x

Well-Known Hunter
TheDentedOne's FP ILM CC Repaint! 90% Done!

Here I go again! I may get 2 weeks off of school, but I got ALOT of work to do. Good thing, cause I find myself bored out of my mind when I'm down at my parent's for breaks.

So to get to this next helmet, this is a repaint. Some incredibly vague backstory, this was apparently painted by an art teacher, if I remember correctly. Originally, I was to remove and re-install the visor. From the looks of it, it appeared it was forcebly glued in there, the virtical portion made the mandibles sit too wide, and looked 'off.' When I did remove it, oneside actually sprang out as if it was under tension.

Really, the biggest issue is that the person who painted it, litterally did just that, paint it. Alot of corners were cut on this, and for that, I am re-doing this helmet, fixing the issues that were not dealt with.

First up, over all, from a distance, it doesnt look too bad, it's when you get up close, it starts to show it's true appearence

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Upon closer inspection, it's clear that the helmet was not sanded smooth, or he used a really rough grit. There are these scratch marks all over the helmet's blue sections, and is quite noticable in person, hard to pick up on camera though.

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You can see one thing about the paintjob which I honestly think looks bad, is the "rusty" looking weathering. Fortunatly, it's easy to remove with some water and elbow grease

Next thing, I don't know how this was cast, but there are noticable gaps between the helmet and the top sections of the keyslots. I plan to fill with bondo, and paint over it (top will be blue, but bottom will be rubb and buff)

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Air holes are everywhere on this helmet, need to fill them

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Final thing, I don't know what happened with the RF box, but it does not appear to be painted the same color/paint as the rest of the helmet. The good thing though is that it's attached to the stalk very well.

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So that's what I gotta do, I dont know if I'll be able to finish it, but I'll do what I can. It's coldcast, so no need to rubb and buff the whole helmet, but I'm going to get me some steel wool and aluminum polish to shine up the silver, per request of TheDentedOne.

Leaving tomorrow morning!

-TC
 
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Looks a nice helmet. You the man chris on painting superb helmets.
Sure it in good hands.

Thank you very much! I try my best and try to learn new things to make it better (y)

I finally got around to starting. My parents have had their own schedule of chores for me to do..:ugh: So right now, I'm juggling around this, a small repair job for Revolverocelot (I'm working on it bro!) and the scout gear, which I got full permission to make it as accurate as possible.

I managed to pic up some steel wool, got the finest grade I could get. I began stripping it today, and the wool really helped to get all of the really gunky weathering off, I was not able to remove all of it, due to that the small corners and the like are really hard to access. So right now, I stripped what I could with my mouse sander, trying to be careful as to not accidentally sand down detail lines. I need to get a new sanding sponge so I can get the rest of the areas. After that, tape off the silver, and spray some primer, sand it down to get it smooth so those scratch lines no longer exist.

So here it is right now. I used the wool to shine up the silver and it's alot shinnier in person then it was before

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-TC
 
lol thanks mojo!

I am going to try a new paint-stripping technique, because I am really afraid of ruining the detail lines on the helmet using sanding paper. I was told that using brake fluid, brushed on, will react to cause the paint to come loose, and can be wiped away after a day or two of this.

I honestly may try this with my own BKBT when I return home. Just that royal blue rustolium is a big pain in the '_____'
 
The helmet is cold cast, meaning a metal powder is mixed into the gelcoat. You can then buff that with a fine grade steel wool. That fine grade wool can remove some paint lightly.
 
The helmet is cold cast, meaning a metal powder is mixed into the gelcoat. You can then buff that with a fine grade steel wool. That fine grade wool can remove some paint lightly.

lol I'd try to type out your board name..rather number if I memorized bro, but your right about this. Just took some find grade steel wool, 0000. You'll see like very small and fine powdery like shavings come off of it, but it shines it in the process. If I ever have time to, I'll get some aluminum polish and go at it with that.
 
Alright, well I'm going to get back on this hopefully tomorrow. I just got back in town last night. While home, I just never had any other chance to work on it with all of the obligations my parents needed me to take care of, etc..So yea, I'll be making some more progress as soon as I can!
 
Didn't forget about this one! Just been a bit busy with everything going on. I managed to tape off the silver, so I just need to finish sanding off the inner cheeks, and then I'll get to work with the bondo to fill those air holes.

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Some pics from today's work so far. Wet sanded about 98% of the paint off, and then went at it with some steel wool. Really nice and shiny, makes me feel like I'm actually working with metal! I then added the bondo in 7 different places. Once I sand them down, I'll primer and get ready to paint!

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-TC
 
Got around to sanding the bondo down, most of it is finished, but I still need to re-apply more in some spots. The gap that was present on the upper part of the key slots (where the key slot casting was attached via fiberglass) is pretty much filled and sanded down. I just need to add a tiny bit more to that, and it'll be good to go. I'll begin the actual painting process soon after.

-TC
 
wow looking great, i wish i had half your skill,
maybe one day ^_^

lol trust me, just learn from doing it. I failed miserably my first time. One thing you gotta remember, that my old GoJu Sensei taught us: "everyone starts at the bottom"

As for the helmet, I'm at 99% done with the bondo phase. Filling the back key slot gap has been a huge pain. Once the last of the bondo cures, I'll sand it down, and prepare it for paint!!!!

-TC
 
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