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Post by urbanmadness on Nov 7, 2015 18:21:41 GMT -5
I recently bought a new helmet on clearance. I paid 40 bucks for a half helmet with built in, drop down visor. Not a bad deal, but the paint was awful. It was flat black, and the finish felt gummy. Like they didn't let it flash properly at the factory. I really liked the helmet but the finish drove me nuts. It looked like a helmet I found at the bottom of the river, just terrible. So I broke out the sand paper and striped it down, repainted white, did my airbrush stuff on it and then did a top coat. The biggest mistake was, the top coat. I thought it was a candy but it turned out to be just a regular base coat so it really covered more then I thought it would. This has made the air brush work on the helmet, very subtile. After shooting the clear on it, I really decided I like it. The helmet still needs to be color sanded and buffed, but so far it, I think it looks pretty good. What do you guys think?    (I fixed the images, they were all upside down) |
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Post by tvnacman on Nov 7, 2015 18:42:55 GMT -5
nice work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Post by cyborg on Nov 8, 2015 0:05:13 GMT -5
Nice!!!!!
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Post by JerryScript on Nov 8, 2015 0:16:10 GMT -5
Very nice! Love the ghost skulls!
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Post by bandito2 on Nov 8, 2015 13:33:37 GMT -5
Very nice! Love the ghost skulls! I agree. It has depth... like ghost skulls rising out of a mist. Pretty cool paint job. |
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Post by oldchopperguy on Nov 15, 2015 19:25:07 GMT -5
Yup, ya lucked-out!Very cool... And SKULLS are SO appropriate for a HELMET... LOL!  Like a good fightin' gun, I hope you ENJOY it and never, ever NEED it! Leo in Texas
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Post by wheelbender6 on Nov 15, 2015 20:48:16 GMT -5
Great paint job. I would have probably used Looney Tunes characters instead of skulls, as I never really grew up.
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Post by urbanmadness on Nov 16, 2015 20:03:49 GMT -5
Looney tunes characters would be very cool. I need to look for some stencils.
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Post by urbanmadness on Nov 24, 2015 23:46:36 GMT -5
I had to "re-imagine" my helmet. I had a paint lift problem but I think it came out even cooler..... I added some ghost flames and I really like the result. The helmet is actually more of an orange then you see in the pictures. Base coat was white, air brush work was in black, and then top color is Ford Grabber Orange. Followed by about 5 coats of clear. I have a bout 5 hours invested.   |
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Post by oldchopperguy on Nov 25, 2015 12:48:56 GMT -5
I had to "re-imagine" my helmet. I had a paint lift problem but I think it came out even cooler..... I added some ghost flames and I really like the result. The helmet is actually more of an orange then you see in the pictures. Base coat was white, air brush work was in black, and then top color is Ford Grabber Orange. Followed by about 5 coats of clear. I have a bout 5 hours invested.
Heck, it would take me 5 hours just to draw the skulls and cut some stencils... LOL! And I'm an artist to boot! Cheesh, getting SLOW in my old age!
Neat skid-lid for sure! Remember: the IMPORTANT skull is the one INSIDE the helmet... 
Ride safe, watch out for Smokey, and keep the shiny side up and the greasy side down...
Leo (digressing back to my 1970's CB "fox hunt" days) in Texas
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Post by rockynv on Nov 27, 2015 11:07:19 GMT -5
Beautiful work however helmets can get very brittle from paint solvents and loose their ability to do their jobs especially the bargain varieties. We see this especially with folks who paint construction hard hats to make them custom only to have then shatter in a light incident. The metallic paints some have used also present an issue being conductive.
Note that some helmets get gummy not because of the finish but because of the leaching out of the plasticizers inside them while the shell becomes brittle. You may have bought a helmet that sat on a shelve past its useful lifespan and was bleeding out. The foam inside will also be deteriorating more rapidly from this which can be further accelerated by the fumes from the paint solvents used to prep and refinish them.
Remember that helmets are only good for 2 to 5 years with the bargain helmets only good for 2. A helmet that has already been sitting on a shelf for a few years especially out of the box and having been tried on by a number of folks is really just a decoration and no longer going to protect you like an new unused helmet fresh off the assembly line.
A Shoei top of the line model for example expires 7 years from date of manufacture or 5 years after first use however if its been sitting on a shelf and only been tried on a few times over that period of 5 years its already past its useful lifespan. A bargain helmet that's been sitting on a store shelf over a year even if it was only tried on a few times can already be past its useful lifespan.
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Post by urbanmadness on Dec 19, 2015 21:45:38 GMT -5
I have been thinking about retiring this helmet any way. While I like wearing it on hot days and I love the flip down sunshade, I have never felt really safe wearing it. I just prefer my full face modular. So my plans now are for it to become a piece of wall art. I have another bike to paint, but I haven't figured out color schemes yet. I kind of like this, but not with the skulls. I have a cool indian warrior and an indian chief stencil I just purchased, and I have a really cool dream catcher stencil I'm thinking about using as well. I wanted to use a yellow, but something with a little more brown in it then this helmet has or I might use blue. I haven't decided yet. |
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Post by rockynv on Dec 20, 2015 8:07:43 GMT -5
I have been thinking about retiring this helmet any way. While I like wearing it on hot days and I love the flip down sunshade, I have never felt really safe wearing it. I just prefer my full face modular. So my plans now are for it to become a piece of wall art. I have another bike to paint, but I haven't figured out color schemes yet. I kind of like this, but not with the skulls. I have a cool indian warrior and an indian chief stencil I just purchased, and I have a really cool dream catcher stencil I'm thinking about using as well. I wanted to use a yellow, but something with a little more brown in it then this helmet has or I might use blue. I haven't decided yet. I understand. I have a Fuel Open Face that is really great on a hot day but in reality isn't even going to protect you in a bicycle crash. The Sport City is an Interstate Maxi Scooter despite being a 250 and at 75+ mph a open face helmet is just not going to cut it if its not really safe at even 5 or 10 mph. Safety aside look at how many bikers have some form of Bells Palsy (disfiguring and at times painful paralysis of one side of the face) from wearing only Skull Caps or going without. Most folks just think that the old timer had a stroke but still manages to ride when they see them. |
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