Mods to my MR "CE" Stormie helmet

Well, glad some others are getting a good deal on this helmet, too! :)

I tried using mineral spirits to scrub off the tube stripes, but only succeeded in smearing the blue paint around. :facepalm I was wearing latex gloves and working out on my balcony, and the fumes were still killing me after only about 10 minutes or so. :p So I resorted to wet sanding with a very fine sanding sponge and that took them right off. I used some Novus to polish it back up to the original shine, and now I'm just waiting for the new stripes to arrive. I'm hoping that once they're in place, it'll look better than new!
 
Oh, when oh when will I learn. :lol:
I decided I just wasn't satisfied with the way the helmet was looking. The mold parting lines were bothering me too much. So rather than apply my new tube stripes and call it good, I decided to go for a more complete "overhaul."

Using an X-acto blade and an old dental tool, I carefully separated the neck and brow trim from the helmet. There's a little of the glue which remained, but once the trim is reattached, it will all be covered.

IMG_3467.jpg


Then, using my Dremel from inside the helmet, I very carefully ground away at the base of the Hovi mic tips. I just left a small thin rim to reattach them once the repaint is complete. The mic tip parts are really well done. They have the 4 little open slots around the circumference, and the 4 little raised strips running perpendicular. :thumbsup:

IMG_3468.jpg


I used a couple of different fine and extra fine sandpapers and worked on all the mold parting lines all over the helmet. These ran around all the trapezoids on the dome, and from outside the corners of the frown, up along the "tears" and along the outside of each eye. Whew! What a chore. . . I should hopefully have some feeling back in my fingers tomorrow. :p
In the two pics below, you might be able to see the holes I drilled in the ears to install screws. Just something else to make it look like a more "authentic" stunt helmet.

IMG_3471.jpg


IMG_3469.jpg


I rinsed the helmet really well with water to get all the sanding dust off. It's drying right now, and once I'm sure there's no water hiding in any crevices, I'll hit it with some new white paint! I'm going with Duplicolor DSGM 153, "Classic White." It was the whitest white I could find. :)

Once it's painted, I'll have to go back and repaint the trapezoids, tears, frown, and vocoder. But after painting a few Boba ESB helmets, I don't see this as being too terribly difficult.
Any TKs out there know a good gray color to use? I've heard the originals were painted with Humbrol paints, but haven't seen any mention of a specific color name.
More to come!
 
superjedi said:
Oh, when oh when will I learn. :lol:
I decided I just wasn't satisfied with the way the helmet was looking. The mold parting lines were bothering me too much. So rather than apply my new tube stripes and call it good, I decided to go for a more complete "overhaul."

Using an X-acto blade and an old dental tool, I carefully separated the neck and brow trim from the helmet. There's a little of the glue which remained, but once the trim is reattached, it will all be covered.

IMG_3467.jpg


Then, using my Dremel from inside the helmet, I very carefully ground away at the base of the Hovi mic tips. I just left a small thin rim to reattach them once the repaint is complete. The mic tip parts are really well done. They have the 4 little open slots around the circumference, and the 4 little raised strips running perpendicular. :thumbsup:

IMG_3468.jpg


I used a couple of different fine and extra fine sandpapers and worked on all the mold parting lines all over the helmet. These ran around all the trapezoids on the dome, and from outside the corners of the frown, up along the "tears" and along the outside of each eye. Whew! What a chore. . . I should hopefully have some feeling back in my fingers tomorrow. :p
In the two pics below, you might be able to see the holes I drilled in the ears to install screws. Just something else to make it look like a more "authentic" stunt helmet.

IMG_3471.jpg


IMG_3469.jpg


I rinsed the helmet really well with water to get all the sanding dust off. It's drying right now, and once I'm sure there's no water hiding in any crevices, I'll hit it with some new white paint! I'm going with Duplicolor DSGM 153, "Classic White." It was the whitest white I could find. :)

Once it's painted, I'll have to go back and repaint the trapezoids, tears, frown, and vocoder. But after painting a few Boba ESB helmets, I don't see this as being too terribly difficult.
Any TKs out there know a good gray color to use? I've heard the originals were painted with Humbrol paints, but haven't seen any mention of a specific color name.
More to come!
Click to expand...

LOL Why am I not surprised that you decided to redo the whole helmet? :lol:

Anyways, I dont think its a perfect match, but for the gray, the "painter's touch Dark grey" Ive been using seems like a similar color match, but pictures are decieving when it comes to colors..
 
Thanks Tuba and Count D!
I was actually just doing some searching and I saw a couple of people on some Stormie boards recommending Humbrol #5. That's probably what I'll go with.

The helmet is now painted white. I put on about 4 "medium" coats of the Duplicolor and now I'm going to follow the instructions on the can and let it dry for 48 hours. Then if it needs it, I'll use some mild rubbing compound (3M #3900) to make sure the surface is nice and smooth. Once I'm sure I won't have to respray anything, I'll pick up some of the Humbrol gray and some gloss black and repaint the details. :)
 
Well, maybe I'll get one of each of the Humbrol #5 and the Testors 1138 and see how they look.
I just checked on the helmet and I'll definitely have to polish it a bit, the finish could stand to be smoother.
But I'm gonna have to be patient and wait till Tuesday!
I hate waiting. :lol:
 
Not sure why anyone would completely redo this pristine bucket, but to each his own I guess.I think the bucket looks fabulous as is.So shiny and assembled very nicely.I would be scared to death that I would ruin it.You are a brave soul superjedi.lol
however I do think I would like to do up a sandtrooper bucket with my next one.No redo, just dirtied up.
If anyone else gets one, I recommend a seller who goes by funstuff on the bay.Very good packing, fast shipping and the buy it now is only $99 usually.
 
I'm so tempted to get hold of one of these. Found a spot in the U.K. that does these for 60 Quid and free postage. Now all I have to do is sneak the cash past the Mrs without her noticing. You guys think this is possible?
 
No, it is not possible to sneak cash by any Mrs without her noticing. They have built in detectors and safeguards that can't be rerouted or hacked. I've tried.
 
Humbrol number 5 AD Grey is indeed correct :thumbsup: Nice work Eric, its great to see all these threads of people destroying......err I mean correcting their MR products :lol: :thumbsup:
 
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