Tutorial: Make & Paint Your Own See-through Visor

[Jona]

Jona: Sorry to take so long. Cellophane can add the color, but it won't want to make the compound curves to cover the visor. That said, you could try shrinking it after you apply it by using a heat gun to shrink out the wrinkles, just like the RC airplane guys do with the plastic wing coatings (Monokote).

-Redshirt

thank you sssooo much!! This tutorial is really helpful. I was thinking about applying the cellophane with my vacformer, but it might be easier to use a heat gun. I am looking at doing this for my eva helmet so this will be a bit easier. awesome helmet btw!!

[Spartan 213]

Sweet man thats really good and its good to see how people are concerned with others' safety
Again great job

[Ghoster]

Nice, its diff from other methods, looks like it works nicly too!

[closetsquirrel]

This thread has turned out to be very helpful, but so far the visor techniques have been for standard visors. What if one were attempting to make an EVA helmet? I can't see a bike visor working for the fishbowl, so is there some sort of molding and plating technique?

[Redshirt]

You would need to get the visor vacuformed in clear plexiglass or Lexan first. Then this technique would work for coloring the visor. You might check around to see if anyone is selling EVA vacuum pulls, then size your Pepakura or molded helmet to fit the visor.

Redshirt

[hyundai2806]

very informative, thats a great tut, stay on your deployment over there, my brother in law is in jabudi africa i think thats how its spelled. anyways.stay safe. always eager to see how ppl use different painting techniques

[Drednought08]

First off I want to say absolutely great tutorial, I plan to implement it in many of my own visors to come. But to my question, first off I want to apologize if this was asked as I skimmed through this thread, but does the metalizer happen to reflect color at all? Maybe from a projector or lasers. Perhaps there are other metallic coatings that may be more likely to reflect certain wavelengths?

[Redshirt]

The misting of Metalizer paint is the key to reflectivity of these visors. I used the aluminum Metalizer, so it reflects back all colors, more or less equally. There are other Metalizer colors, like brass that will reflect gold, but not all Testors Metalizers are buffable to get the more even finish that is so key to the transparency. The clear color coat that goes over the Metalizer modifies the colors that are reflected back. Mine was a mix of red and amber, yours might be a combo including blue or green. This overcoat is probably where you should focus if you are looking to get a particular color of visor.

Redshirt

[Drednought08]

Im wondering about the reflectivity on the inside of the visor, like for possibly projecting a limited HUD.

[Redshirt]

Yes, it is just as reflective on the inside. You'd have to be very focused--any stray light on the inside makes it harder to see out clearly. I had to really be careful blocking the side lights from admitting any light inside the helmet or they were self-defeating. While not nearly as cheap as Testors Metalizer, there is an airbrushed chrome coating now available from Eastwood.com called Liquid Chrome ($59.99) that buffs and is see-through when sprayed thinly. I would use this product on my next visor due to being much more able to get a consistent thickness and reflectivity.

Redshirt