WIP, my official thread

jokerfish

Jr Hunter
Here is the pic of the helmet from when I bought it from the Cargo Hold. Not 100% sure of the mold of the helmet, but its possible a SGT. Fang
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Notice the slight warping of the right mandible. Luckily, this was already a WIP, so I had some notes to go off of already on the helmet! The only thing I am not sure about doing is the dent in the trim of the T-visor. I know its there in the movie helmet, but I dont know if I want to get into actually adding more resin, or fiberglass to the bottom of the dip so it actually looks like a bent piece of metal as opposed to one with a little shave off the top
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I did a heat up on the helmet to straighten the mandible out, worked great. I want to get the visor mounted in heat it up again, then do my reinforcing to make sure that when the fiberglass hardens, its as straight as I can get it. I noticed the left one was slightly bent in towards the visor slot, so I think having it bolted in will put the shape back where its supposed to be
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After looking at some other WIP threads, I discovered that I had a lot of excess resin around the inside edges of the T-slot, so I need to do a bit more trimming before I worry about laying in the glass. Looks like I wont be spraying that primer today after all!
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I also need to straighten the bottom of the left mandible out. It flares outward, not straight down
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I also notice that the right mandible nas a very slight curve on the vertical line of the T-slot. I am not sure if this is screen accurate, or should I get a sanding block and make it straight?
 
Not a lot of progress to report from last night. I bought a Dremel 4000, used it for about an hour and it locked up on me. I managed to clean up the vents in the back of the helmet and so some sanding on the inner mandibles to try to get them even all the way wround, but didnt get much done. I just swapped out the dremel at home depot, of this one burns up, I must be doing something wrong!
 
Not a lot of progress to report from last night. I bought a Dremel 4000, used it for about an hour and it locked up on me. I managed to clean up the vents in the back of the helmet and so some sanding on the inner mandibles to try to get them even all the way wround, but didnt get much done. I just swapped out the dremel at home depot, of this one burns up, I must be doing something wrong!

while they will eventually die, that doesn't sound quite right.

make sure that you aren't putting pressure on the bit. you shouldn't press in hard to the surface. light touch, let the tool do the work.

don't cover the vents with your hands.

otherwise, i've used mine for 2-3 hours straight without an issue. it's about 4 years old now, maybe older.
 
I put a little pressure, I was using the cutting blade on the visor when it got extremely hot. I honestly think it was just a defective tool. I was not pushing it hard by any means
 
Iv eonly had my dremel lock on me while i was cutting through a metal door to install a dog gate. The tool got incredibly hot doing so. I havent had a lock on any fiberglass or resin item before.

i put the dremel in the fridge for about an hour then airblasted the crud out of it.

Works fine now, 2 years later. I use it about 3 times a month...
 
i think this has been discussed before, but i don't think the wavy brow is screen accurate, it's just appeared on the aosw helmet because it has been repaired a few times over the years and the paint job provides a bit of an optical illusion. second, did you read my post in your previous thread about NOT buying the dremel 4000 because it's a sack of poop?
 
i think this has been discussed before, but i don't think the wavy brow is screen accurate, it's just appeared on the aosw helmet because it has been repaired a few times over the years and the paint job provides a bit of an optical illusion. second, did you read my post in your previous thread about NOT buying the dremel 4000 because it's a sack of poop?

I must have missed the sack of poop post,lol, but I do agree with you there. I was cutting my visor and it started heating up again, so I just stopped and packaged it back up. I guess I am going to have to order one off the internet
 
Ok, so I have trimmed up everything I wanted. I can bring this POS dremel back tonight. My screw up for today so far involved self etching primer.I made one good spray and blasted the side of the helmet with gobs of junk, so its drying now and will get another light sanding in about an hour or two. It feel like 200 degrees outside, its probobly already dried. I dont know why I didnt read the label, but honestly, it doesnt look that bad. I like the gritty texture in it. If this were a topcoat, it would have been awesome, but I doubt I would be able to finish the helmet like this with fear of taping issues. I need to get a new gray anyway, so project Fett lid is on hold for a few hours :)
 
i highly recommend getting filler primer and rustoleum automotive primer from walmart, in the automotive section next to all the bondo. use the filler primer first, just remember it's thick stuff made to fill in tiny little holes and imperfections, but it works best with a light touch. don't go for full coverage on your first pass. do one light coat, going left to right passes, let it sit for 20 minutes then do another light coat, but this time in an up and down motion and let it sit another 20 or so minutes. alternate the type of motion you're using between coats until you have the desired coverage. let it sit for a few hours, or overnight even, then with a fine tooth comb, carefully search the entire surface of the helmet for any little imperfections that you don't want on your final piece. fill those in with bondo spot and glazing putty (again found in walmart, right next to where you got the filler primer), then sand the entire thing carefully with 400 or 600 grit (that's a personal preference), to get all the filled spots nice and smooth. once you have that done, take the automotive primer and prime the helmet again. same technique as last time, but this stuff finishes nicer i think. once it's all reprimed, get your 800 or 1000 grit (again, it's your preference, i like 800), and sand it smooth. at this point the helmet is ready to accept paint.
 
Heading to wal mart in just a few. I didnt think of using the filler primer, thats going to work out great. I have to check the bondo putty out to, that helmet is going to shine with no imperfections!
 
So todays lesson is that mtallic aluminum paint dries VERY slick. Primer does not like slick, so it did not stick to it at all unfortunately. Good news is, I was able to peel it all of with my fingers in about 45 minutes. Back to the drawing board
 
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