Helmet Questions

[mbrethour]

I am making my first set of armor. (Yes, I'm a Noob.) I have the helmet ready for resin and fiberglass, but have a couple of questions.

1. Do I fiberglass the inside of the bill of the helmet or should I use something else?

2. How and when do I attach the visor?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[drgon47]

Attach the visor now, just dont resin it. Leave it paper for support. The bill is kid of a toughie. I too some strips of mat and dipped it in my resin cup and then manually layed it into the bill. Worked out okay.

 

[mbrethour]

Thank you very much. I'm kind of a perfectionist and want this to look great. Do you have any other tips?

 

[dwoo]

My bill idea might be a little after the fact, but .... I cut out a piece of regular corrugated cardboard to shape based on the pep pattern and glued that to the inside cardstock bill before folding and gluing the tabs together. I found that the cardboard significantly stiffened the bill and stopped the flex and warping.

-dwoo

 

[Boomer]

I ended up using the expanding foam in my bill - but it was touch and go there for awhile. You have to:

1. resin the outside first. Skip this step at your own peril.
2. make sure you don't put in too much.
3. are present to pierce the ever-expanding dome of foam in the event that you do.
4. and carve off the excess once it's dry.

 

[feigned echo]

good question, i completely forgot about the bill, the expanding foam is a great idea, i have a question about it though, should it be done while fiberglassing, or before? and will it just stick to the fiberglass, or are additional steps needed?

 

[Boomer]

I used the expanding foam after the initial resin coat cured, before fiberglassing. However, I used too much and had to go at it with pliers to tear off the extra blob in chunks, after one too-hard push with a knife pierced the top of my helmet (oops). Also, it bulged the bill on the underside a bit, so there will be some extra sanding involved to smooth that out.

 

[feigned echo]

I used the expanding foam after the initial resin coat cured, before fiberglassing. However, I used too much and had to go at it with pliers to tear off the extra blob in chunks, after one too-hard push with a knife pierced the top of my helmet (oops). Also, it bulged the bill on the underside a bit, so there will be some extra sanding involved to smooth that out.

in that case i think i'll stick with fiberglass

 

[Silverzippo93]

You don't need anything in the bill, once it's fiberglassed and the visor's in it it wont be flexible like it is now.

And use black silicone to attach the final visor.

 

[feigned echo]

You don't need anything in the bill, once it's fiberglassed and the visor's in it it wont be flexible like it is now.

And use black silicone to attach the final visor.

no, we're talking about how to fiberglass the bill.