and now for something completely different: 7602's ESB helmet

Gutted for ya Brian.... That happened to me on one occasion but was only a small area and didn't have to strip it all back... :facepalm
 
Gutted for ya Brian.... That happened to me on one occasion but was only a small area and didn't have to strip it all back... :facepalm

the good news is the stripper didn't seem to damage it much. one of the keyholes was a little thin, and that melted a tiny bit. but i can re-shape it with some epoxy putty easily enough.

i used that super harsh chemical stuff that melts the paint. i figured it would talk longer to sand it all smooth than it would have to just make a new helmet, so i wasn't going to bother with that.
 
when last we checked in on our intrepid hero...

he was stripping down a helmet using terrifying chemicals.

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the only damage was at the bottom keyhole... the resin there was really thin, and the stripper melted it a little... it was a quick fix though with some epoxy putty.

and now... fast forward... i did what some devout ESBers would consider heresy, but it's actually a hybrid of the ESB hero and the PP3. i picked and chose what i liked from each. hey, it's my bucket, i can do what i want with it ;)

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and my first clear rf topper. it's the same 1 piece mold, but i poured it with clear resin and painted the black parts in. i'm really happy with how it came out, though i'll probably drill out my molded in LEDs and replace them with some non-functional red ones.

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i need to reposition the visor a bit... the vertical part of the t is way too wide right now. that's easy enough to do though.

i also have to do the final weathering of it... i'm going to add more scratches, the black marks over by the killstripes, and other bits of the current state of the esb hero that i like.
 
Almost done... got more of the subtle stuff to do, but the bulk of it is finished. I didn't take the best pics, as you can see by the fact that the visor looks orange in the first few, then super super red in the later ones. I was just letting the camera figure out what it thought was best, and I disagree with its decisions. But it gets the idea across...

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The black gunk is post-ESB, but I think it looks cool...
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The brown buildup in the turn signals is something that stands out to me from the original.
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The back isn't fun. I think the face is worse though...
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Magnetic ear!
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I'm not sure how safe this will be. I *might* just glue it. If I lose the cap, I can always make another :)
 
That has a nice look to that paint job! I know what you mean about the camera messing with your colours...With the rare earth magnets i double them up for some extra power, might work for you too...(y)
 
That looks really nice. Are those rare earth magnets on the earpiece?

yep. since this one is 99% display only i'm not overly worried about it getting knocked off. if i decide to wear it out, i'll probably glue it on.

they hold well, but someone brushing against it would take it right off.
 
I've been wondering what to do about my own earcap. I don't want to glue it on, and screws get a little in the way and stuff. I like the magnet idea. Maybe a couple slightly larger rare earth mags will hold it tighter. Then again, mine is also mainly for display, so really it doesn't matter that much. Yeah, I think I'm gonna go look for some magnets.
 
larger magnets would definitely be good. i'm not happy with this at all... i keep knocking it off just moving it around my house.

i've actually been thinking that i'd epoxy screws into the earcap, drill through the helmet, and put nuts in the inside.
 
my BKBT RF stalks came in, and fit perfectly. as a testament to the quality of his work, his match the MR within a millimeter or two overall!

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i also replaced the MR style borden connector with a real one

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i sanded off the plating to reveal the brass inside. drilled a 1/2 hole, fit the new one in, filled the edges and touched up the grey paint around it, with a little grey on the borden itself. again with the lousy pics... i need to stop doing this stuff in a rush before work ;)
 
The real borden adds so much if you ask me. It's actually a tad bigger than the MR one (which Brian and I were confused about since it was scanned off a real one).
 
So I spend months on mine and you make it sound as if you just threw this together real quick, and yet it still looks 100 times better :lol: Simply amazing!

And you layered that paint on THICK, I like how it makes it look.
 
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