Superjedi's GMH--Pre-Pro 2

superjedi

Sr Hunter
JUNE 3, 2011

Hi all!
Well, here I go again. :) I received my amazing GMH helmet this week and I will be painting it as the Pre-Pro 2 helmet.
This will NOT be a fast progress thread (sorry to disappoint anyone who's seen some of my previous threads) as I don't have nearly as much hobby time these days.
But I will endeavor to document everything in as much detail as possible.

The helmet itself is just sexy. It's hard to get a read on how it really looks in photos. The proportions and shapes never come across in two dimensions as they do when you're holding the helmet in your hands.

The casting work is, as expected, practically perfect. I got helmet #9, and there's one small "booger" on the filled-in visor section. However, this will be trimmed away once I cut out that area, so no big deal.
The ear parts and stalk look fantastic, too. I test fitted the ears against the sides of the helmet and the mating surfaces are dead flat. No problem attaching the ears to this bucket! I'm debating whether to get Mojo's aluminum ears when he offers them. If I do, it will bring an even greater level of authenticity to the helmet.

Anwyay, on to some pics. The first couple of shots show it as I received it, right out of the box.

011.jpg


015.jpg


022.jpg


As you can see, the physical damage marks are perfectly preserved and will serve as excellent landmarks in plotting out the damage once painting begins.
Here's a shot of my new baby with my FPH (ESB) and Terminal Fettler (PP3) helmets. This gives a good idea of the overall size and shapes of the various helmets.

026.jpg


The only thing I've done to the helmet so far is give it an acetone bath. Chris recommended doing this to remove any traces of mold release.
Here's a pre-bath shot:

IMG_0578.jpg


By the way, Vinny's Pizza rules!! :lol:

After the acetone bath, I used some Palmolive dish soap and a Scotchbrite-type sponge to wash it off as well. This picture is post-acetone. Shiny!

IMG_0581.jpg


So that's really it for today. Next up is cutting out the keyslots and visor areas!
Thanks for viewing,
Eric
 
I'm probably going to copy everything you do on this baby. I started cutting mine today but have yet to give it an acetone wash. I figured I'd do that after I get everything cut out and trimmed. Keep it coming!
 
Aaagghh!! Pressure already!! :lol:
Well here's another quick update.

JUNE 3, 2011

I got the keyslots and visor areas cut out. This is the rough cut stage. I spent about 40 minutes total with my Dremel and a really small drill bit.
I began by drilling holes close to the perimeter of all the slots and visor, then sort of dragged the drill bit sideways to connect the dots. It's actually much simpler and quicker to use a cut-off wheel, but my last wheel broke on another project a few months ago and I never bought any new ones. Oh well. . .

Safety tip: Wear eye protection!! Dremels create a lot of dust, and if that drill bit should happen to snap while it's in use it will find the most painful place to embed itself!

Anyway, here are the rough cuts.

IMG_0583.jpg


IMG_0587.jpg


The next step will be to finish the edges with files. I have a large file which will be great for the edges of the visor opening, and a small set of jeweler's files for the keyslots and tight spots in the visor area.

Just a side note here about this helmet's construction. I cut out one side of the visor before making my way around the horizontal portion, and I was leaning my hand with the Dremel against the cheek. I didn't even realize it, but when I checked for flex, it barely budged!
I wouldn't recommend putting a ton of weight on it, but this puppy is pretty strong. (y)
 
Had to have an honorable mention of a single teeny weenie "booger" ?
I had been popping that little bugger off there on the first batches and
thought to myself, meh, Eric won't mind :lol:

Glad to see you starting on this brother. I can't wait to see this thing
up in lights with your paint ! For some reason helmets always seem
to look that much better with you just having touched them, even
before paint :lol:


Chris
 
Is this already painted? Have you finished it? Or not yet? :lol:

What a headache to do so many holes for the visor, go and buy a cut wheel for your dremel! Well, for you next bucket... :)
 
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Yes, KaanE, it's all finished now!! Some wonderful painting elves snuck into my house last night and completed the helmet for me. :lol:

JUNE 4, 2011

I got a bit of an early start this morning. A long while back I had bought a set of jeweler's files from Ace Hardware. It's a set of 8 files and it cost around $12.00.
It's an excellent set of hobby tools. The small files can really get into some tight areas and there are different shapes (flat, square, triangular, half-round, etc.) that can be very useful depending on your project. Highly recommended!

I lugged the helmet back out into the garage and trimmed up the key slots. Anything that requires sanding, drilling, or filing is done out in the garage. Prep creates lots of dust and I don't want that dust to fill up my house.

Here are the trimmed key slots.

IMG_0591.jpg


This shot is nothing special, but the morning sunlight was streaming so warmly through the (dirty) mini blinds and cast a radiant golden glow into my hobby room. It was as if Nature herself was providing backlighting for my photography. I'm including this picture on a purely artistic basis, sharing the heavenly aura that surrounded my GMH. . . at least for a moment. :D :wacko

I think I will call this shot "Casco de Oro."

IMG_0590.jpg


Sometime later today I'll start filing and sanding the visor area.
 
I have that exact same set of files, I have had them since my first helmet (DP95), by that time you were painting your second helmet which you sold when it was finished (MH I think?).

The "Casco de Oro" is a myth, which says it's in "El Dorado":

eldorado.jpg


PS: If you want to keep this thread clean of Sh*T ¡, just let me know and I'll delete the picture.
 
I agree, great picture! (y)

According to Mayan legend, in the year 2012, a great golden helmet would descend from the heavens and devour the Earth.
Now we see that it's all true!! Aaaahhhhhhh!!! :p
 
Awesome thread, superjedi! I'm right there with you. Going to the shop to finish fileing then get some primer on. Thing is I'm still working on my armor as well. My eyes are bigger than my stomach so to speak....exciting times we're living in!
 
I like how this helmet has the screw holes for mounting the ears... as well as the scratches and gouges to help plot out the paintjob like you said.
 
Yes, it's an excellent helmet all around. The "landmark" physical damage is certainly going to help when I get to the painting stage.

JUNE 4, 2011

OK, all the sanding, filing, trimming, gnashing of teeth, and inhaling of dust is at an end. :)
I finished filing out the visor area, then went in with my Dremel and a bullet-shaped grinding attachment to reduce the thickness of the visor "walls." This took quite a while longer than actually filing the edges smooth! The thickness has to be reduced though to bring it back to the correct thickness.
Again, I have to say the helmet is superbly engineered. I had to hold it at all kinds of weird angles to get to the inner surfaces and barely a hint of flex through the whole process.
It's almost as if this Fett Pride guy has done this kind of thing before! :eek:

Here's an overall shot of the cleaned up visor area.

IMG_0593.jpg


This pic shows the reduced thickness around the opening. Took a while, but it should look great when I finally slap a visor in there. You can also see how those little jeweler's files help to get the small corners nice and sharp.

IMG_0595.jpg


Once I was all done antiquing myself with fiberglass dust (*cough!*) I washed the helmet down again with a Scotchbrite sponge and some Palmolive dish liquid to remove any remaining oils and dust. So there she sits, drying off.
Next step: primer!
 
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The thinning part is what I was doing today. It's taking a long time for me because my dremel's a bit cumbersome and it's a hard area to reach. I only have the top part of the visor to thin out right now and I have to trim out the horizontals on the key slots... it's getting there. I'll post a new thread Sunday looking for critiques and advice.:)
 
Opinions requested!
In this shot of the PP2 keyslots, there are a couple of shades of gray applied in cloudy patterns.
I'm more interested in how people view the light chips/scratches. Do you think they're silver? Or do they just go down to the white helmet surface?
On the vertical edges of the green panels that border the key slot area, it seems that it's scraped down to the white surface. This color appears consistent with the damage inside the keyslot area.

PP2SlotDetail.jpg


This is probably the area I'll start with after priming. As with most of my helmet paint jobs, I'm thinking about starting with the back areas first.
Thanks for any thoughts.
 
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