what is the best way

[HighRisk]

Im going to paint my helmet. But I have a problem, what is the best way to get that fome lining insert out of the helmet intact? It looks glued in.


Thx.....Todd

[Norm]

Todd, why do you want to remove the foam insert? Are you looking to replace it? I mask them off with paper and tape. Those liners are press fit and glued in some cases and removing it might render the helmet worthless for any further use... unless it is just a display piece. Just my two cents.

[HighRisk]

Well i guess there is really no need to take it out. Thx Norm....

[Norm]

What are you looking to paint on the helmet? Going to match the bike paint? Anxious to see where you go with this...

[HighRisk]

What about the plastic lining around the bottom of the helmet should that be taken off? What the easy way? So sort of solvent to eat the glue away?

[HighRisk]

What are you looking to paint on the helmet? Going to match the bike paint? Anxious to see where you go with this...

The bike is orange and yes some orange will be in the painting. To tell you the truth ive got 2 plans and im not 100% on either one.

[Norm]

I just tape to the edge of the rubber... never had any issues going that way... the strip is glued down with a pretty tight glue, and I've seen them get torn trying to remove them. I just make sure I scuff all the shine off right up to the edge of the rubber. Been painting them that way for 30+ years and not had any problems. Just be very detail oriented with your tape job.

One thing I've gotten in the habit of doing is to remove the tape after the clear tacks up. The edge melts in better that way.

[HighRisk]

WoW great advice.....Thanks again Norm.

[ABD]

I do like Norm...Also sometimes the bottom trim isn't glued to well and you can get under the edge a bit.....Sometimes you can stuff a piece of rope/wire, something like that in there, it lifts the rubber up and lets the new paint kinda overspray down in there......When ya clear it, ya pull the rope/wire, the rubber lays back down in the fresh clear and glues itself.

[HighRisk]

I do like Norm...Also sometimes the bottom trim isn't glued to well and you can get under the edge a bit.....Sometimes you can stuff a piece of rope/wire, something like that in there, it lifts the rubber up and lets the new paint kinda overspray down in there......When ya clear it, ya pull the rope/wire, the rubber lays back down in the fresh clear and glues itself.

Sounds tricky Dell.....You old pro. Did MOB or Sped or Norm Or Cowboy or Ron or Jimmy teach you that trick? lol......

[ABD]

thank god for the internet, they even taught me to wipe my own ass haha

[Red-Mud]

Im going to paint my helmet. But I have a problem, what is the best way to get that fome lining insert out of the helmet intact? It looks glued in.


Thx.....Todd

With a torch.

[sped17]

Hahaha!! No, it wasn't me that came up with that trick--I've only done a couple of helmets so this thread is something for me to learn from as well. My main "expertise" is working on leather jackets. Like Dell, I gotta credit the 'net and forums for picking up all kinds of tricks and techniques--there's always something new to learn. In my case I have to sometimes "translate" techniques used with solvent based paints to the water based paints I use exclusively.

[HighRisk]

When are you going to learn that water based paints Suck! TeeHee.................uros till death or at least untill the next t-shirt.

[sped17]

Actually t-shirts are no big deal really--I can get all the detail I want on them by first spraying them with clear base/top binder and then ironing thoroughly. It keeps down all the fuzzies that catch overspray like a magnet and gives me a smooth surface to paint on--almost as nice as leather. I've been spraying water based paints for over 30 years so I know them inside and out--hell, I got to where I could do pretty much anything I wanted with ordinary Createx for 15 years or so....and then applied that knowledge to Auto Air and used it on leather--this is one I did almost 5 years ago. All AA, 98% airbrush (including the radio antenna running from the tail to the cockpit) with some fine details done with a paintbrush.

[Carlos]

thank god for the internet, they even taught me to wipe my own ass hahathank god for 'they' as well, coz 'they' seem to know everything. Without them, I wouldn't know a lot LOL

[Carlos]

Actually t-shirts are no big deal really--I can get all the detail I want on them by first spraying them with clear base/top binder and then ironing thoroughly. It keeps down all the fuzzies that catch overspray like a magnet and gives me a smooth surface to paint on--almost as nice as leather. I've been spraying water based paints for over 30 years so I know them inside and out--hell, I got to where I could do pretty much anything I wanted with ordinary Createx for 15 years or so....and then applied that knowledge to Auto Air and used it on leather--this is one I did almost 5 years ago. All AA, 98% airbrush (including the radio antenna running from the tail to the cockpit) with some fine details done with a paintbrush.that is superb! Nice piece of work, but I'd be frightened to wear it. When you think of the hours went into that piece.. man...

[sped17]

Thanks, Carlos. AA is extremely durable on leather despite Createx telling me that AA isn't made for it--but on every bottle of AA it says you can use it on vinyl. What's the difference? At any rate.....I wear that jacket more than any other painted leather jacket I've got. The only problem I have with it is that the main zipper is broken now so I can zip the jacket shut....but the painting looks like I did it just yesterday. The only spot where paint has come off you can see in the close-up of the cockpit area--on that small section of the raised rib of the center seam. It's virtually unnoticeable so I never fixed it.

[ABD]

Yeah that kicks arse Sped! Have fought with loosing details on textiles, but ya get the hang of it eventually..I've only done a few.

Far as waterbase and Uros..lol....I like to AB with waterbase, who wants to clearcoat everyday to deal with Uro windows.....Gets expensive and time consuming..lol......Nice to AB, walk away and come back the next day without having to do anything else..haha

[ABD]

thank god for 'they' as well, coz 'they' seem to know everything. Without them, I wouldn't know a lot LOL

Got it easy these days........ (aint that right Todd)..HAHAA

I started Airbrushing when I was 12, got the internet in my late 20's....Sure woulda come in handy when i 1st started....1st airbrush art i ever saw was in magazines a book store gave me when i was 16 or so..lol

[HighRisk]

You are my guiding light Del...............Your an angel from the clouds sent down to enlighten me. ......How's that......lol

[ABD]

You are my guiding light Del...............Your an angel from the clouds sent down to enlighten me. ......How's that......lol

Thank the interwebz..I'm just a by product of the fun...hahaha

[Carlos]

Got it easy these days........ (aint that right Todd)..HAHAA

I started Airbrushing when I was 12, got the internet in my late 20's....Sure woulda come in handy when i 1st started....1st airbrush art i ever saw was in magazines a book store gave me when i was 16 or so..lolya, similar here.. first AB picked up in about 1985 when I was 17. Painted models with it then I spotted illustration books in the art school library. Then I started spotting the AB work in magazine ads etc. I have a collection of japanese illustrator books from t he 80s.. cost me a shed load of student cash back then, but that's where I got my inspiration from, and I guess that's what got me to where I am today, all these years later!

[shadow82]

Never used anything but water based paints AA mostly but only been ABing a little over three years and have painted a lot on vinyl. The leather jacket painting by sped17 is great looking just ont thing about it a JU52 ? but a great bit of work and me I think I will stick with the water based stuff.

[sped17]

No, that's JG 52, as in Jagdgeschwader or Fighter Wing 52. They were the fighter unit that scored the most victories on the eastern front in WW2. The specific Messerschmitt 109 that I painted there is a 109K model flown by Erich Hartmann on the final day of the war when he got the last one of his 352 aerial victories. Hartmann is/was the number one fighter ace of the world--I say was because he passed away in 1993.....and is because nobody will ever come close to the total number of victories he amassed in just over 2 and a half years of flying combat missions. Almost all of his victims were Russian fighter pilots but he also shot down a handful of Americans flying P-51 Mustangs over the oil refineries of Ploesti, Romania--despite even the latest model Messerschmitts being universally considered quite inferior and hopelessly outclassed by the Mustang. The man had mad skills as a fighter pilot.

[sped17]

Oooooh, forgot to add.....Hartmann spent some 10 years in Russian POW camps after the war (he was captured by the Americans who then turned him over to the Russians) and was released in 1955 in the little border town of Herleshausen, which is about a 20 minute drive from where I was born in Germany. Hartmann also served for a number of years in the West German Air Force and retired in 1970 with the rank of colonel.