Helmet Paintup Broad Order of Steps

First time prepping and painting a helmet. I just wanted to get some opinions on broad order of operations. My understanding is that removing the eye cutouts will weaken the helmet. Am I best off removing the cutout after painting or doing that as the first step and just installing and taping off the visor? Or do I do the whole paintup and save the mandibles for the end, remove the cutout, paint the mandibles, and then install the visor?

My order should be either:
1. Clean helmet
2. Prime whole helmet
3. Layer up one section at a time: right rear, left rear, ears, dome, cheeks
4. Cut out eyes
5. Layer up mandibles
6. Install t-visor
7. Drill out and install Borden

OR

1. Clean helmet
2. Prime whole helmet
3. Cut out eyes
4. Tape and install visor
5. Layer up one section at a time: right rear, left rear, ears, dome, cheeks, mandibles
6. Uninstall t-visor, remove tape, and reinstall t-visor
7. Drill out and install Borden

Or is there a better way than this? Thanks!

B is the better idea....youll also need to possibly install the ears and such before painting....and drill the borden....I don't like to take a drill to a helmet that's been painted....once its painted if you accidently dremel something that doesn't need dremeling youre not gonna do it in that order again... I would also add fill any imperfections to the list. There will always be some to fill on any helmet. And Key slots to cut out is a thing to do also.... unless the MQ1 is cast into the helmet.

Thanks! It's an FPH2, so MQ-1 is cast in. Thanks for the tip on the Borden. I have been concerned about the vibrations caused by drilling and cutting on a finished helmet.

I mean if youre careful sure you can drill after but why risk it? Same with prepping the ear hardware holes and such... but for sure cut the visor and thin it out to the proper thickness first.

what might i ask is the proper thickness??

Agree with Fett4real. My personal preference is to do absolutely anything and everything and anything ​that you can prior to painting!! I learned this the hard way! Get everything cut, fitted, drilled, etc prior. Disassemble what you need to for painting, then when your​ paintwork is done put everything back together. Depending on how much time you want to put into painting, you don't want to ruin a considerable amount of work by one tiny slip of a Dremel/drill etc....it's easy to do!!

haujohn said:

what might i ask is the proper thickness??

Click to expand...

About 1/8' or so....

thanks! I had been wondering .. looks like i gotta shave my eye area down a bit.