New Member with Wife, Working with MoW Helmets

So the wife and I are going to be joining the ranks of custom Mando mercs soon and we are planning/gathering materials. I recently picked up in an auction two never worn Man of War Studio buckets. Got a Rubies as well but obviously the MoW are much nicer

First off was wondering what everyone thought of the MoW helms and also what if anything I should know about these buckets (dos and don'ts). The foam lining inside keeps the helms on tight though it seems that the foam is a big tight on the face so that when you put the bucket on it causes the helm to spread and widen which seems to look awkward. I assume i can cut down the foam inside to have it fit better without it spreading wide as it does now. The MoW helmet though seems too big for my wife, it fits, but it seems way to big for her frame, so I guess the Rubies would be a better choice for her? Haven't gotten the Rubies yet but getting one anyways just to have and figured it might work out better for my lady.

These helms don't need any type of reinforcement installed? They seem kinda soft, I'm used to fiberglass helms from other costumes I've done.

What is the best paint to possibly do some touch up on the helmet that should crack or peel? I wan't to just do some minor alterations to match out custom suits we're working on.

Also been searching but didn't see anything, but anyone know any good tutorials on installing fans in a bucket to cool things down? Used to do Cobra costuming with Wife for our GI Joe group and wearing Viper Helmets would kill me at the end of the day so definitely want to install some kind of cooling/ventilation.

I've never had any personal experience with a MOW helmet. You say it feels a bit soft? As in it feels a little bendable? This may be because the resin/fiberglass layers are extremely thin. The only way I know of you can fix that is to actually add more resin to the helmet. I would probably pull out all the foam and just put in what you need. I use just enough foam in my helmet to make it comfortable for me. You don't need 360 degree foam inside the bucket, because your not planning on playing Monday Night Football in it.

As to your wife's helmet. If you guys are wanting to join Mercs, then you need to know that Rubies Boba Fett helmets are no longer accepted into the club. However, the Rubies Jango Fett 1 and 2 piece helmets are. You will thank us for that later when you haven't dropped a huge wad of money on a **** helmet like the Rubies Boba.

Fans are not hard to install at all. I don't know of any tutorials just on fans, but have you tried looking in the Helmets section on the Mercs boards? There are TONS Of tutorials and helpful threads in the "Helmet Info" thread stickied to the top of that board. There is a thread that shows the insides of buckets, and you can get a good idea of how people placed their fans. For my own bucket, I keep my fans at the back of the helmet and angle them to blow forward around the back of my head. This way my visor never fogs and cool air wraps around the inside of my bucket. You can grab a couple small 12v fans at radioshack and hook them up to 9v batteries. Those will last you a few hours.

I know about the no Rubies thing and the Mercs rules, thats why I was happy to get the 2 MoW buckets, but I just don't see it working with my wife as they seem awkwardly big on her. Only thing we were thinking that if we can bulk out her armor enough in various locations that it will offset the large head aspect of the costume. Probably try to get some good sized Shoulder pads and armor on her might give better proportions to the whole look. Since she was going for a female Mando we were planning on something more simpler and less commando, more "scout" like look that she could have fun with.

I will look at the Radioshack fans things, that might be a simple solution to try.

Yes the MoW buckets are resin, it's very light but seem very durable so I don't think it probably needs reinforcement, the helm shouldn't break even if it fell, it just seemed awkward that it deformed when a person put it on but I think I can get rid of that problem by cutting out bunch of the foam inside since that is what is taking up so much space inside. We are going to try to work with the MoW buckets though so we can both hopefully be able to join the Mercs down the line.