Alright folks! Thanks to a very high interest in how I constructed this helmet, and a friendly bump from Levi (
) I have assempled a step by step process for making a helmet.
drum roll...
HERE IT IS!!!
1. Print out and modify templates to your liking then assemble them CAREFULLY!!! (main helmet only. DO NOT put earcaps, keyslot &c. on yet...I tried that once and AHHHH!!! I made a rather large bother out of that whole build...)
2. Skim coat the entire thing with bondoglass (you can get this at walmart). You need about a 1mm coat evenly spread over the entire helmet.
*steps 3 & 4: use one or the other. not both. Or your head wont fit inside the helmet.*
p
3. Cut out sintra or comparible plastic and line the inside of the helmet with it. On the dome, use two perpendicular strips from front to back and from left to right. I'd recommend glueing these all on with a strong adhesive (epoxy, contact cement &c.)
4. Fiberglass the inside of the helmet. I would recommend three coats of resin with two coats of mat "sandwiched" between them. You can do more, but that is the minimum for a strong helmet. anything extra just makes it better!
5. Bondoglass the exterior again to an approxomate thickness of 3-4mm.
6. Sand exterior smooth starting with a coarse grit sandpaper (I start with 80) and working smoother till you reach about a 220 grit for the final, leaving the bondoglass at an approxomate thickness of 3mm.
7. Add keyslot (you will have to cut into the back of your helmet for this part. It is OK to cry here. It always hurts slashing something you spent a gazillion hours sanding. :cry
)
8. Paint, damage and detail to your heart's content. :love (my favorite step)
9. Add earcaps (I recommend following antman's
thumbsup
process...I believe it was called the MTE...)
10. Add visor and any lights, gizmos and gadges you like.
And that is my 10 less-than-easy steps to building a helmet. Hope this is helpful! Sometime I will try and get pictures to go with each of these steps...
:cheers
A'den
