Words cannot express!!! DP95 in the flesh!!! (Updated)

[Jodo Kast 2749]

So, Jodo_Kast got himself a DP95 eh? Big hairy deal right? Wrongo my friends.

Harken back to yesteryear before you touched your first Fett helmet. Remember how that felt?

I walked 4 miles in freezing rain to get the Post Office to pick this baby up. I bought it on Ebay for $50 and the guy couldn't tell if it was a 96 or a 95. I took a gamble and it's a 95 green interior; the lettering was just very deep and hard to make out.

There was the warp in the back that I had read about but never seen. There was the cheesy half visor. there was the cheap paint job. Until this point, it was only theory. (Forgive for rambling but this makes my month) Best of all, it fit. Even with my glasses on. My first bucket was a nice DP95 recast but I had to turn my head 15 degrees to get it on and no chance for glasses.

The paints are ready to go. I bought a shade 5 green welding visor that's ready to go in. A little bondo and she'll be a Jodo Kast bucket before the weekend is out.

Can I get an amen? 9 months of reading this forum and now I can speak with a little experience.

p.s. the shirt I have on is a deep red; not pink. (Don;t get any ideas about me lol) Damn webcam...grrr....

 

[TBone]

Amen, brother! Good snag!

Shade 5 though...have you looked through it yet? Shade 5 is dark damnit. I bought one and then got a shade 4. You still cannot see into my bucket, but it is a little easier to see out of.

Regardless, good luck on it, and post us some progress pics!

 

[phantom viper]

Happy for ya.:cheers

Don't forget to post plenty of progress pics of your paint job

 

[Jodo Kast 2749]

Well, it was a long night but here's the done list:
- key slots cut out
- left ear piece groove cut out
- Copyright and dent have been filled in and sanded
- the warp is 99% gone

Next stop, remove t-visor, prime, sand, paint and install new t-visor. Too bad I have to freakin' work today. uke

 

[Darth Squeet]

Think of how much we could get done if we didn't have JOBS!! Always getting in the way.

 

[Sleezy]

Darth Squeet wrote:
Think of how much we could get done if we didn't have JOBS!!

Yeah, but think of how much we wouldn't get done if we didn't have jobs. If I wasn't employed, my costume would be made of paper-mache.

Nice helmet! Can't wait to see that mother finished!

 

[Jodo Kast 3]

Progress pics Jodo....

I`m dying over here...

 

[Jodo Kast 2749]

Well, here's the update.

The entire helmet has been prepped and the visor has been cut out. Then I had the great idea (some else had suggested earlier) of filling the face area with bondo to allow me something to screw the visor into. 2 hours of sanding, bondoing and sanding got me this:

The bondo popped out as one unit and all my work was down the pooper.

So, here I am again. The helmet has been sanded, primered, painted silver, sanded and then had to be reprimered cause the 800 grit sandpaper I used went right through the silver and down to the vinyl. ahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lord, give me strength.

p.s. I made a small crack on the ridge right above the visor while trimming the old visor out. :angry

 

[Gilmortar]

Jodo, same thing happend to my Green DP95 while I cut out the visor. Some JB weld from walmart will do the trick, I used 24hr cure, but if you get the 5-10 min cure JBweld, it will be wearable or be ready to paint again in no time. I just mixed some then opened the crack a tad, then put it in and put a generous amount on the inside of the helmet. Then I smoothed it out with my finger on the outside so it was flush. Let it cure, and if it has some excess you can sand it down.

 

[Lynn TXP 0369]

Jodo_Kast wrote:

The bondo popped out as one unit and all my work was down the pooper.

Not a big deal, just glue or epoxy the Bondo back in place and problem solved, easy enough. Unless you threw it out or bustd it up already.

Did you sand the viynl down inside first to give the Bondo some "Tooth" to stick to? It won't stick very well as you found out if you didn't.
Good luck.
Lynn

 

[Jodo Kast 2749]

Lynn, you sir are a steely eyed missile man! The epoxy worked like a charm and I'm back in biznit!

I did a slight variation of the 2-part paint scheme on the back. I used a light forest green, taped in some damage, then covered with my hunter green. After the tape was removed, I used a torn sponge to add silver scratches to the inside of the areas. This gave the appearance of a standard 3 layer paint job without having to do an entire layer of silver paint.

 

[phantom viper]

what. no silver layer

Sounding great. You have got to get your self a digital camera. I want to see some pics

I had that same problem with the bondo. I was almost finished sanding and just about to finish when the bondo snapped off the vinyl and fell off. Talk about disappointment. Oh well the second attempt came out better any ways. Good luck with the rest of your helmet.

 

[Baddblood]

Glad to see you're moving at that pace.
I had to re-start from scratch with my helmet, I did a silver layer of paint which did not behave itself with the primer that I had on the helmet, so now I'm trying to locate some Krylon Metallic Silver (blue can) that FP used on his helmet. Gonna try some of RS teqniques for weathering, hopefully it'll work well, if not i always have delicious mustard.