Fixing a 96-7

K

Kento Smeld

Guest
The newbie to the fourm gots a question

A few years back before TDH existed I got a DP Fett bucket and tried to fix it up. I failed horribly.

I tried a few times to paint it and never looked right to me and the visor never came out good.

Its sat on one of my shelfs for about 6 months now and I feel motivated to try to fix it and try to get a good one. Now heres the problem. The thing is so warped I tried to just force it back and the paint cracked opps. Getting a ne helmets not really an option at this point either.

So heres the problems it has any ideas on how to fix them are appreciated.
1-major warpage in the visor area it kinda looks like a wince at this point.
2- ear pieces need redone I used Testors aluminum and copper and they got a weird speckled look to them
3-visor no source of the popular welding masks around last time i tried testors spray on tint and liked it but the visor crakced in 2 (Not the tints fault)
4- IF it can get unwarp how to keep it that way.

Thanks in advance

Tom
 
My first Fett helmet was a DP 97. I was able to fix some of the problems it had, but not all. The dome was too flat so I used my heat gun (on low) to round it out some. I have tried the same technique on the cheeks with little success. They just won't stay flat, Vinyl sucks! Spray on tint should be saved for tiny model cockpits, I don't think it was meant to cover such a large area as the T visor. To fix the "wince" or "squint" you need to attach your visor. With nothing there to hold it in place, the visor area will start to do all sorts of funny things. Get a medium green welder's visor, and use screws to hold it into place. Go slow, heating the helmet up if needed. Make sure you have the corrrect width between the mandibles, and a screw or two at the top of the visor to lose that "wince". Some have said that lining a helm with fiber glass will fix the problem of warps, but I tried that on another old DP I'm trying to fix with not much success. If you need some flare added, go get a metal hoop from a craft store, bend it to the shape you want, and attach it inside with some liquid nails.

Good Luck!
Ryan
 
ok, if you can wait this long here is a good way to get the helmet nice and soft so that you can do a lot of shaping. Waint until summer and put it in the hot car. a good hour or 2 will make the helmet really nice and soft. as it cools it will hold the shape it cools in. Don't like it, warm it up again. Cold water cools it off nice and quickly once you get the shape you want.

Hope this helps a little.

Doug
 
thanks for all the help folks


Screw the visor in? Never thought of that before, should I put them on the edges like where the tops of the T end and at the base?

Medium green weilders mask? That something you can find in a lowes?
 
I understand your pain, Kento.
My first bucket was also a '97 and since I am not familiar with Vinyl, I had to mold the existing bucket in Fiberglass - get a product from that mold, fix the product up and re-mold a new.

Mardon
 
Eh casting its not something I really wanna try an do it'd be the first time out and rather try that on something smaller and easier *Cough* cheaper *cough* to replace if i were to goof.
 
I am having the same wince-factor on my DP vinyl helmet.

Mine had all the visor area removed, so it lost a lot of integrity. It's warped on the cheeks towards the inside and the bottom is not rounded at all.

I was thinking about the boiling water process, but I dunno if in that case, it'll be better whether to attach the visor first or not (I have a full t-visor, and the visor area on the helmet has been cutted away).

Suggestions?

Thanks! :)
 
First off, Welcome aboard Kento!

We have a DP 97 but haven't completely finished fixing it. To give it more flare, we put a wooden stick that was about the width of the helmet and put it from ear piece to ear piece while not in use.

There are several threads around here on how to install the visor different ways so you may want to look at some of them. If you can't find a good welder's mask then THIS is the site that we plan on getting one from and we know several other members got their's here as well.
Hope this helps and Good Luck. :)
 
You don't have to fix the entire helmet at a go. Fill up a tea kettle and pour the boiling water slowly over whichever section you want to fix at that moment.

It might help to make "templates" - that is to say a kind of frame that has the shape you want. Heat the helmet up and tape the helmet to the hard frame and let it cool. If the edge of the helmet is baddly warped, a nice steel strip bent to shape works well.

Just don't rush it. Take your time and try a low amount of heat and go higher as needed.

If you try to hurry the process (like me most times) then:
fuxxored.jpg


:lol:
 
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