@Thorn: Thanks man, I was surprised at how easy they were to shape. A lot of credit goes to Sutekhian for his folding advice. And I'm glad you are enjoying the thread, it makes the updates worth posting.
@Jubjub1231: Thanks for the compliments. And if you would like to use more than one quote in the same reply you just need to click the multi-quote button at the bottom right corner of each post you are quoting. (it looks like a quote box with a '+' next to it.) Check each post you want to qoute and then press reply with quote on the last post. That will prevent you from double (or triple) posting. Double posts in a thread that is not yours is against forum rules. Hope that helps.
@Mstruvmgc: Thanks for helping out.
Now for a Milestone update! The helmet is... FINISHED!!! I know the experienced builders will understand how I feel when I say that I didn't expect completing a piece to get me this excited. I am really pleased with the results. But before we get to that here are some progress pics:
I shaped up the areas I patched earlier and installed the tubes on the cheeks. Then put a good coat of primer over the whole piece. Then buffed the surface with some 350 grit sand paper and sprayed a final coat of primer.
I also cut in the vent holes for airflow and LED holes to prep for instalation later.
The next step was to mask off all areas that will be black in the final paint job. (this pick doesn't show every area masked)
I sprayed the hole piece with a base coat of Krylon "stainless steel" paint. It gives a nice natural metal look that will even give the final paint a very slight metalic sheen.
Next step was to touch prep areas for the weathering effect. I used small amounts of Petroleum Jelly (Vasaline) on edges, corners or anywhere that might take more abuse during normal wear-and-tear. I'll wipe it off later to reveal the metal finish as though the paint has chipped or scratched away. Then I sprayed several even coats of red Krylon.
You can see the petrolum jelly under the red in this pic:
Next I wiped away the jelly to reveal the metalic undercoat.
And removed the the tape masking the black areas.
The next step is a labor intesive one but it is the key to getting a realistic look and life like weathering. All credit goes to NickNackPattyWack for posting a great video on this technique. Head over to his thread to see some great work and get the vid.
This is the black wash phase. I watered down some black paint in a cup. Then I took small amounts of pure black acrylic paint and used my finger to smudge it into all the creases and crevases. Then I dipped an old rag in the watery black and wiped away the excess black from around the creases. Be sure to work in small areas when you do this. If you don't the paint will dry before you can wipe it away. The combination of the pure black and the watery black will get down into all the little nooks and crannies just like dirt would over years of real life use. The end reslut is a wonderfully weathered look. You can also see how the flash brings out the metalic look in some areas. It only looks like that when direct light hits it but I like the effect.
Next up was installing the fans and LEDs inside the helmet. There are so many ways to do this but I found this to be the easiest for me. I was able to find four small LED cliplights for less than it would have cost to build them from scratch.
I cut off the clips and hot glued them into the holes I drilled earlier. I made sure to only glue the caps so that I can unscrew them later to change batteries. Then I rigged up a small PC fan on either side to flow air. I simply bought the fans and two nine volt battery connectors, spliced the wires together and taped them up. Then I hot glued them in front of the lights. I made sure I could still get to the lights to replace batteries. It is a simple set up but very effective.
Then it was just a matter of reinstalling the visor and all I have left is to install some padding and it will be complete.
And just because you waited so patiently.....
Let me know what you guys think.