Airsoft proofing

[Jake117]

Well as you may or may not know I am making the smoothed recon helmet and I want to use it for airsofting. should I add extra layers of fibreglass and resin to ensure it doesn't get too damaged because Ives seen the bb's get lodged in fallen trees :$

Any and all replies are much appreciated

 

[Agent Arizona]

My advice is to never use a helmet for paintball or airsoft. It blocks your range of veiw a lot, putting you at a disadvantage. You probably have the worst view in a recon, of all helmets. Its like if you make binoculars with your hands, looking through that hole. Breathing is another issue. CO2 build up in the helmet, even with vents. Iv worn armor for over 4 hours straight. it gets hard to breath after just 10mins of just walking and standing.

A side from that its also dangerous. If it makes it though one layer it will just keep going. Even if it does not, Bondo and rondo will crack and break off. You dont want to have weeks of work to look cool for one round of air soft, not worth it. Heres a video, i didn't make this.

It is best to leave your armor at home when you do these activities.

 

[Jake117]

If were to make it in a different way would it be possible to make it stronger?

 

[Smiggly]

I don't think it's a good idea to make armor for airsofting. From everything I've seen, it's not very good protection and one game is going to ruin your armor. If you really want to do war games in your armor, stick to NERF.

 

[Jake117]

I was thinking or making a mould of the helmet when its done. That way I can just make a plastic version that wont (hopefully) break but will it damage the original? Also Airsoft BBs have a lot less kinetic energy that paint balling because they're so much smaller.

 

[Bishorzidi]

What Agent Arizona said. It's extremely cool, but not worth it. As far as airsoft goes, I've played airsoft with my cousin around my house a few times in Mando helmets, and because the helmets were plastic and the BB's are small and plastic, they don't do any damage. However, any costuming helmet is going to be extremely hot, provide poor visibility (for the most part) and probably break. Airsoft around the house in cheap plastic helmets you don't care about is one thing. Playing an actual game with fiberglass/bondo armor that you spent so much time working on is totally not worth it. The helmets we used were just the Hasbro Boba helmets you get from the store. I would never use my actual helmet for paintball and probably not airsoft. Before playing, we made sure that the helmets could stand up to AEG fire at 5 feet away. It was probably dumb of us, so I wouldn't even recommend this.

Also, there's a huge difference between a plastic BB and a paintball. Sure, paintballs tend to shoot slower, but even with a lower velocity, paintballs have a lot more mass and, if you've been shot by one (which I'm assuming you have), you know they hurt a LOT more than plastic BB's.

In short, costuming armor is not meant for playing like this in. Looks cool, but it's not practical or safe. Just don't do it, please. K?

 

[ventrue]

I was thinking or making a mould of the helmet when its done. That way I can just make a plastic version that wont (hopefully) break

Why would a regular casting resin hold where a fibre-reinforced resin would break? What you want to do here is pump additional money (and lots of it!) into a project that will most likely damage at least some of your stuff.

Also Airsoft BBs have a lot less kinetic energy that paint balling because they're so much smaller.

They also have a smaller impact surface and are less elastic. That negates the smaller amount of kinetic energy at least partly.

 

[Agent Arizona]

Why would a regular casting resin hold where a fibre-reinforced resin would break? What you want to do here is pump additional money (and lots of it!) into a project that will most likely damage at least some of your stuff.

That is very true. The cost of silicon, fiberglass and smooth cast would make the cost go though the roof. Its not even that much stronger. Smooth cast is not rated for impact. Cost aside. Even if this was an option, you still have breathing and sight problems that cant be avoided making things unsafe.

Im not trying to be a downer, but this is the best option.

 

[Echo 199]

I think its possible, but not using fiberglass and bondo. You would need to use strong, flexible plastic like paintball masks use, and probably even use an actual one as the base, plus you would seriously need to know what you were doing.

I honestly don't see sight as an issue, considering it wouldnt restrict it much more than your standard paintball mask. Ventilation on the other hand, would be pretty difficult. The last thing you need is to have your otherwise perfect helmet fog up on you and force you to play without eye protection (which you should never do btw)

tl;dr: It's possible if you're a guru at molding and reinforcing plastic. Otherwise, I'd forget it.

 

[Mensrea Prod]

Try making a helmet useing a reg air soft or paintball mask as your base, and build it up with eva foam mats. That way your eyes are safe. It's still may take some damage, but your eyes, and head will be safe from the bb's, and bondo coming off.

 

[DeathOfBlades]

Okay. When I was a noob I asked the same question except I don't recall on me planning on using the helmet for airsoft but asking just for curiosity purposes. People are saying "No" listen then. Even if you casted the helmet with smoothcast plastics it will still crack.

If you want to airsoft with it soo badly then I'd suggest you find a steelmill and ask for some steel. Then melt it and cast it.

 

[alecgates15]

There's a chance that EVA foam would hold up better to it, you might want to test with some spare firs and shoot at it from various distances and angles and see the penetrating power.

 

[Jake117]

Ok, well I think you have made it pretty clear that it is going to be very hard to make it and seeing as it my first build I'm going to give up on making it for airsoft for the moment So what would you suggest as the best way to make a detailed yet hard helmet? Like I said I was thinking of making a fibreglass mould of the final helmet and then just pouring liquid plastic into it and the obviously letting it set but I have no idea how to do this (or even if you can). Anyway Im going to also fibreglass and bondo a small part of my old failed helmet and see what the extent of the damaged would have been. Thanks for all the replies people, been very help full so far.

 

[Bishorzidi]

There's a ton of moulding and casting tutorials here on the forums. Check the stickies. In the Noob Forums there's literally a sticky for molding help, and another for casting help. Check those out, and look around. I've seen dozens of threads with step by step guides and recommendations. Just keep searching. Seek and ye shall find. If you still can't find the answer to your question after hours upon hours of reading, then ask more specific questions. It's kinda hard to answer such broad questions.

 

[ventrue]

If you want to airsoft with it soo badly then I'd suggest you find a steelmill and ask for some steel. Then melt it and cast it.

Just for future reference: The material itself isn't the problem. Modern combat helmets aren't so much different from what we do here (plastic and fibres, to cut it short), and apparently there's at least one model being developed that is entirely made from plastic (some sort of urethane, so it's at least a distant relative of SmoothCast) with no fibres at all and still outperforms current helmets. The problem isn't even that the helmet might break apart, combat helmets are actually designed to do that when hit with sufficient force (which is less than you might think, unfortunately).

The two big issues here are the homebrew-character of such a project (lack of expertise, planning and reliable testing etc. - for example making sure that a helmet that breaks for whatever reason has no sharp edges that will cut you) and, yes, aesthetics. He's trying to look cool, and one way or another the helmet would end up as an expensive wreck, like all (sports) equipment eventually does.

 

[strangeranger]

Great initiative, bad judgement. Like venture said, after all the work you will put into the mask chances are it will be destroyed in time putting your eyes at risk. From a safety perspective this is a bad idea. Your eyes are not worth the risk at the benefit of looking "cool". Your best bet is to build-up an existing mask that was designed, tested and manufactured for airsoft. Even if you build a great impact resistant mask will it be shockproof? Imagine tripping, breaking the helmet open at the same time your opponent is lighting you up with a full auto, .20 bee-bee at 400 fps gun. If it won't increase your performance, whats the point?

 

[Jake117]

I hear were your coming from. If you get lit up by someone with a 500fps gun it will break most things and that's why Ill always have my current protective goggles either around my neck or in my pocket just in case

 

[strangeranger]

We use airsoft to train the military and LE where I work. We set the guns to shoot at 300fps, the thought of 500fps just feels painful.

 

[thorn696]

This can be done....But not a good idea for a first build. Practice on a few helmet builds, Read up on everything you can on it, and practice some more. You'll know when you're ready to build it by then. Leave out bondo altogether

 

[Fackmo ORadula]

If you want BB-resistant plastic, try ABS, the same lightweight material used in LEGO pieces. Plastic rounds are useless against it, and the metallic .177 caliber pellets leave only dents at close range.