Space 1999 Helmet

[TazMan2000]

I still need a couple of more coats on the Visor Frame.

TazMan2000

 

[nivektunk]

Good morning Tazman,
Looking good. How fairs the bubble shield?
Cheers,
Kevin

 

[TazMan2000]

Good morning Tazman,
Looking good. How fairs the bubble shield?
Cheers,
Kevin

I haven't printed out the buck yet. Hopefully I'll get to it this weekend.

TazMan2000

 

[DMP]

Thanks Kevin. I tried it on and it seems to be the right size. I'm excited to get this thing sanded and painted. I still have to print the buck and need to find some transparent yellow vacuformable plastic. I could use clear PETG sheet, but I don't want to screw up painting the visor with transparent paint, since I have no experience with that. So if anyone has any suggestions...

TazMan2000

Just a couple of suggestions, I design and make helmet visors. If you build a plywood mold box with a fiberglass face of the free blow area in your design, you can free form with vacuum, if you set up a solenoid valve and foot pedal switch you can "bleed" the box to control the depth of the bubble. Using Rit dye in hot water really works ! I did this about 20 years ago for a graduated tint, works great, and is permanent.
Alternatively, you can find bubbles on Aliexpress...see pic. The trim for the old Bell helmets is available at Pegasusautoracing.com. part # 4336-201.This is a project I want to tackle some day, I already have the vintage bell helmet they started with.

 

[TazMan2000]

Just a couple of suggestions, I design and make helmet visors. If you build a plywood mold box with a fiberglass face of the free blow area in your design, you can free form with vacuum, if you set up a solenoid valve and foot pedal switch you can "bleed" the box to control the depth of the bubble. Using Rit dye in hot water really works ! I did this about 20 years ago for a graduated tint, works great, and is permanent.
Alternatively, you can find bubbles on Aliexpress...see pic. The trim for the old Bell helmets is available at Pegasusautoracing.com. part # 4336-201.This is a project I want to tackle some day, I already have the vintage bell helmet they started with.

Thanks for the suggestions. Can you post a Youtube link to a video that I can see how the helmet visors are made? One of the problems of creating a design of a 3D replica of the helmet, is that I don't have the original to verify. I just had some rough measurements, so the real bubble visor probably wouldn't fit properly in my re-creation. The original trim most likely won't fit on my model, as my shell is considerably thicker, so I'll have to use something that will accommodate that. I do plan on using Rit dye as well. I will follow the instructions in the video that BonesAreDollars posted. I'm going to do this outside as I'm sure that I would ruin something in the kitchen due to clumsiness.

TazMan2000

 

[TazMan2000]

Ok, so I managed to finally print out the visor buck. 17.5 hours using a 0.8 mm nozzle. I'll coat it with photo resin and sand it to smooth. Odd that I used the same Anycubic filament for the first part to when I switched rolls at about 1/3 the way through, the sheen, texture and colour was different. I guess they must have changed their recipe. The darker part is much more matte and must have a different shrinkage factor, because I could definitely notice the underlying support on the lighter part where the darker part was almost undetectable.

I still have to find a plastic supplier that is willing to deal retail for a 4x8' sheet of PETG. Some places in my city sell the stuff, but unless you're buying a pallet full, they don't think it's worth the money to have one of their associates to write up an invoice, and go to the warehouse and pick one sheet off of the pile to sell. Amazon sells some, but only in a couple of thicknesses and the price seems high.

TazMan2000

 

[joberg]

Looking good Taz