Category: Helmet v2

Looking Really Good

With all of the major reconstruction done, time to do a little cleanup with glazing putty to get it really smooth.

Right ear cap, after adding glazing putty and sanding it smooth.

Back side.

Filling In The Pits

Working with the fiberglass resin is nice. Only thing is, it requires a little more cleanup with glazing putty to get it really smooth.

Bottom of the right ear, after adding glazing putty and sanding it smooth.

Even though it’s slightly out of focus, it’s looking really quite sharp!

Did a bit of heavy grinding on the upper part of the right ear to try and get it more accurately sized. Also, drilled the hole bigger to accommodate the shank of the shaft horn.

Remove Some Here, Add Some There

Kind of ironic how the upper part was a bit too big, and the bottom part is a bit too short. So, I’ll need to add some to that area. I’ll try using the fiberglass resin for this, since it’s a pretty hefty chunk that needs to be added.

I hot glued the ear cap down to a piece of card stock. Then, made some forms out of thin cardboard to contain the fiberglass resin in the section I’m trying to build up.

Mixed up some resin and filled in the area. Also added some fiberglass cloth for added durability.

After the resign set, and the ear cap was removed from the card stock form. Some bubbles, but it looks pretty good, to me.

Different angle.

Cleaned up a bit and marked where it needs to be cut off. The amount I removed from the top is basically equal to the amount I’m having to add here.

Front portion removed, now to work on the back side.

Just need to maintain that same angle from the original part.

Angle ground down to the proper size.

View of the back side.

Getting Things A Bit More Accurate

Using helmet templates obtained from thedentedhelmet.com, I’m going to now work on refining the right ear cap.

Current state of the right ear cap, and the piece of the template I need to match.

Marked the area that’s a bit too big with my exacto knife. This will need to be removed.

Finally, Some Results

I’m really liking the sturdiness of the fiberglass resin…

Bottom of the right ear, after smoothing out the resin with my dremel. I then marked the area that needs to be removed.

Excess fiberglass resin completely removed using my dremel.

The fiberglass resin definitely enables me to create sharper lines and it seems like it will hold up a lot better without falling off.

Changing Gears

Switching processes on the major repair work on the keyhole area, as well:

Applied fiberglass resin to the more damaged areas of the keyhole section.

Rough cut out the keyholes once the resin was cured.

A Possible Success?

The fiberglass resin seems to be holding up much better than the glazing putty, so I’m going to go ahead and use it on the right ear, too.

Bottom of the right ear, prepped for the fiberglass resin.

Fiberglass resin added to the bottom of the right ear.

Excess fiberglass resin trimmed away.

Cleaning Them Up

A lot of bubbles, pits, and scratches around the keyholes. I applied glazing putty to try to repair them:

Failure Is Not An Option

As I’m building up more layers of glazing putty, I’m noticing that it tends to just fall off of the vinyl. It’s not adhering very well. This is not good. So, rather than take the chance of it failing after the entire helmet is completed, I’m going to attempt a different route. The fiberglass resin seems to held really well, and once cured, is very durable, so I’m going to try using that

Bottom of left ear, with fiberglass resin applied.

Better view of the bottom of the left ear.

Trimmed off all of the extra fiberglass cloth.

Attaching The Servo

Now that I have a fully functioning servo assembly, I need to figure out the best way to get it attached to the interior of the helmet.

The inside of the right ear has some indented areas that are just about the right size to seat the servo motor. I roughed up the vinyl with my dremel, so I can add some fiberglass resin to create a level surface for the mounting.

The fiberglass resin applied.

After the resin was dry, I used my dremel to grind down and smooth out the high points.

I then took a hacksaw and cut the shaft horn down to the size needed so that it would fit from the servo to the rangefinder stalk.

The shaft horn attached to the rangefinder stalk.

The cut off end.

Determining the amount of the screw that needs to be cut off.

The screw, after being cut with my dremel.

The plan is to use these plastic computer motherboard mounting pegs to hold the servo in position. They fit the holes in the servo, perfectly, and should provide a nice firm foundation if i can get them attached correctly.