Section 1: Helmet/Frame
Tool List
Electric Sander
Dremel
Dremel Sanding and stone bits
Small Files (optional)
Wood Burner/ Solder Iron (Optional)
Material List
Sand Paper (80-120)(220 Optional)
Wet Sanding Paper- 400
Bondo Filler Putty
Filler/Sandable Primer
Plastic Weld/Contact Cement (Optional)
Scotch-Brite Pad (Optional)
The tools or materials you will need will vary depending on the assembly method you choose and what kit parts you have
Sanding
Before we assemble the helmet lets sand the parts that will not be covered in fur or hidden. Sanding before you assemble your helmet will allow you to sand all angles of each part with ease.
Step 1:
Please grab the following kit parts:
-
Jaw Plate
-
Primary Fins
-
Overband
-
Cheek Hubs
-
Flair Fins (If applicable)
Step 2:
It’s time to put on your PPE and plug in your sander! You will start with 80 grit sandpaper first. This harsher sand paper will attack the heavier layer line look. You will want to do an even sanding job to have an easier time refining the surface later down leaving no spot of lines left.
NOTE: You do NOT need to sand the inside of the jaw plate, underside of the overband or cheek hubs if you do not wish to. You only need to sand what will be visible.
Step 3:
Once you have finished sanding all the parts evenly, please switch out the 80 grit sandpaper for 120 grit sandpaper. Repeat Step 2 sanding all the parts again for a refined sanding finish.
Step 4:
You are now done with the sander, but you'll find that small corners, pockets or edges were not reachable with your sander. You will now grab your Dremel to get into those smaller areas. A stone polish bit does wonders for getting into corners!
NOTE: Be gentle with the Dremel as it's a more aggressive tool and you may sand too much away or leave a divot in your part. If this happens you may use Bondo Filler putty to fill and level out the divot.
Step 5 (If applicable):
If needed use a small file to sand small sharp corners or pockets if you can not access it with your sander or dremel. Some kit parts have small areas that can be more difficult to post-process with a power tool such as the small pockets in the geared cheek hubs for example.
Step 6 (Optional):
With all your parts now sanded an optional step is to use a Scotch-Brite Pad by hand and do a polish round. This does little to the surface as far as material removal but does help clean the part of fuzzies from sanding and/or highlight areas that need more sanding.
If you have done all the sanding correctly you should have your parts looking similar to this cheek hub example below
"Why stop at 120 grit?"
-
You want your parts smoothed out but not so smooth your primer will struggle to stick to the surface. A thorough 120 grit pass will remove all the layer lines but leave the surface rough enough for further processes.
Assembly
With your main frame parts now all sanded up it's time to assemble the front frame and helmet backing. Three methods will be written in this section, you may choose whichever you feel more comfortable with.
Step 1:
Start with a dry fit of all your parts to make sure no final sanding is needed and everything fits in place as you want it. You only need to dry fit the main frame and not the backing. Once you have confirmed your fit, disassemble your frame.
"What does “Dry Fit” mean?"
-
This means you will assemble the frame together without any glue. This is just to confirm the pegs on the parts fit into its designated spot and you can see the frame together as a sort of mapping before you start to permanently assemble the frame.
Step 2:
Grab your 3 helmet backing pieces and your contact cement. The backing can merely be glued together and you can be a bit more careless with the clean up as it will not be seen being covered with fur on the outside and foam on the inside.
Run a bead of glue along the connecting edge of two backing pieces and then slide the pieces together. The Alignment pegs will keep the pieces in place as the glue dries. Repeat this for the last helmet back piece.
With all 3 pieces now glued together, set the backing aside to cure overnight.
Step 3:
It's now time to work on the main attraction, the front frame!
I recommend assembling in this order:
Primary Fins → Cheek Hubs → Overband → Jaw Plate → Flair Fins (if applicable)
3 Methods to bond your parts
Plastic Welding
JB Plastic Weld
Contact Cement
Plastic welding is the process of using your hot iron to melt the part together. This method is very strong and needs no cure time. However, mistakes can be harder to fix.
To do this method you will need your hot iron with a tip you will not use for other things (such as soldering) as plastic will be stuck to the tip and cleaning it is not really an option. You will also need some PETG filament to fill in the gaps made during your weld.
Start with melting your parts together at the seams pushing and pulling the material from the two parts into each other. You’ll want to push into the part a bit to use sufficient material and get a good bond.
Once you have gone around the entire seam you will now go back and melt some PETG material into the gap to fill and smooth it out as best as you can. YOU MUST USE PETG. Materials like PLA for example do not stick to PETG.
Once you have welded your frame together you can now go through with your sander/Dremel to blend the seams and parts together.
If you see small pin holes or have a large divot do not worry. Those will/can be corrected in the next step.
JB Plastic Weld is a 2-part compound that bonds materials much like contact cement with the added benefit of being rock hard and sandable!
You can get JB Plastic Weld at most hardware or automotive stores. Options like amazon are there as well.
Follow the instructions on the package ensuring you mix the compound well before applying it to your part. You want to apply a moderate amount to the connection edge of your part so when you connect your parts there is some squeeze out on all sides.
You can smooth out the squeeze out a bit or leave it till cured.
ONCE CURED
You can now use your sander to level, smooth, and blend the JB Plastic Weld.
If you see small pin holes or have a large divot do not worry. Those will/can be corrected in the next step.
Contact Cement is a very versatile and easy to use glue. This method is the easiest to work with as there are no needed tools or mixing to achieve the bonding.
Apply your contact cement to the connection edge of your prints and press into place. With contact cement you will want to clean up any squeeze out before it sets as contact cement ( most anyway) are not sandable. Clean it up as best you can or feather it out flat along the part.
If needed/wanted do small sections of the frame at a time, for example attach the primary fins to the cheeks and let it cure overnight before attaching the next part.
Whether you do your glueing in small sessions or all at once it is important that you ensure all your parts are secure in the correct position before leaving it to set overnight.
If there are any raised areas from the contact cement don’t worry! We're gonna fix that in the next step!
Plastic Welded Frame Example
Polishing
We're getting closer to that paint stage now! But before we can paint, we need to do just a bit of polishing work to complete our surface prep.
Step 1:
Seam Clean up- Bondo Filler Putty.
Bondo filler putty is fantastic stuff to use to fill your seam imperfections or any other issues in the 3D prints. It’s easy to apply, dries quickly, and is easy to sand. It's easily picked up at your local automotive store or available on Amazon.
!!PPE NEEDED HERE!!
Bondo needs a mask and well-ventilated area
Begin by covering all your seams and other needed areas with Bondo Filler Putty. You do not need super thick layers as the thicker it is applied the longer it will take to set. Do multiple coats if needed. Once fully dry you can sand, with 400 grit, until smooth and blended. If you are gentle you may use 220 grit sandpaper to make it a bit faster.
Once you are finished with this step you may rinse off your frame in cold water, brush it off by hand, or use a blower to clean off all the dust to your frame. If you are washing your frame you must let it fully dry before moving on to step 2.
Once completed your frame should look similar to this example
NOTE: At this time if you would like to put your 6mm x 2mm magnets into the frame to be hidden under the paint you may do so. Hiding the magnets under the paint or not is entirely your preference in the final look. The magnets can be locked in with a little super glue.
Step 2:
Filler Primer- Final surface prep
Grab your front frame and move to a spray paint friendly area with ventilation. Be sure to wear your PPE as well! You will now spray your first layer of filler primer. Filler primer is a thicker paint and dries in under an hour. Do not be alarmed if your filler primer is a little chunky or looks a bit fuzzy on your frame.
Once your first coat is dry, Grab your 400 grit wet sandpaper and wet sand the filler primer with cool water. Wet sand till things are level and smoothing out. You may see a lot of the PETG come through in some areas and that is okay and is common on the first round. Let your frame fully dry and then repeat the cycle again of filler primer and wet sanding until the surface is smooth to your liking. Again, on the final round you may still have some PETG peeking through especially on sharper edges or corners and that is okay!
Your frame should now look similar to this example
Painting
The time is here! We have reached the final stage of your helmet frame, the painting! When painting your frame you can use everything from hand brushes and acrylic paints to spray cans and airbrushing. There isn't a wrong way to paint, however some methods do produce better results than others when done correctly.
Materials/tools you will need:
-
Masking tape (various sized might be needed depending on your design)
-
Newspaper or masking paper of some kind
-
Razor/ Exacto Knife/ scissors
-
Primer paint
-
Black Paint
-
Main helmet color paint(s)
-
Clear coat paint
I do recommend using automotive grade paints if the colors wanted are available. At the very least using automotive grade 1k clear coat, as it is far superior to average paint like RUST-OLEUM or other brands.
Please follow the instructions of your chosen paint choice for application, dry times and multicoat applications as each brand has its own way of working with their product and I cannot cover all of them in this guide.
The steps below are for those spray painting. If you are painting by hand or with an airbrush large masking is not needed if you do not wish to do so as it's a more controlled painting.
PLEASE BE SURE YOU ARE PAINTING IN A WELL-VENTILATED AREA AND HAVE PROPER PPE
Step 1:
Make sure your frame is clean and apply your coat of primer. Let it dry.
Step 2:
Mask off so only the jaw plate and overband magnet lip are exposed. Use newspaper to cover large areas and then use tape for the edges. These areas will be painted black. This is to help blend in with the visor. This also helps if your visor is a little under tinted, colors won't come through then and break the illusion.
Step 3:
Once fully dry and no additional coat is needed remove your masking. Black is a dense color and multiple coats may not be needed but doing more then one is fine if wanted. Let it dry.
Step 4:
You will now mask off the parts we just painted in black, the jaw plate and overband magnet lip. The rest of the frame is now exposed ready for the main color to be applied. You will want to do at least two coats of your main color.
Step 5 (if applicable):
From here you will mask off more to apply your second color, again doing two coats. You will repeat this until all your colors are applied.
Step 6:
Once you have all your colors on your helmet you may now remove all your masking. If you find some areas have bled a little through your masking you will now do any needed touch up to the paint. Grab a small paint brush and disposable cup or similar item and spray your needed color into it. Then paint your touch up by hand. ONLY spray a little at a time as spray paint is thin and starts to set relatively quickly.
Step 7:
Once you are happy with all of your paint the final step is to clear coat and seal everything! Again here I heavily encourage automotive grade clear coat. Matte or glossy is entirely up to you. You will want to do 2 layers of this. Automotive clear coat is much thicker than your average clear coat so there is not a need to do more than 2 coats unless wanted.
Example of a painted and gloss clear coated frame
NOTE: Painting the interior of the overband and cheek hubs is entirely optional and up to your preference. Such areas will not be seen. At this time put your 6mm x 2mm magnets into the frame . The magnets can be locked in with a little super glue. If you have waited until now to put your magnets in the holes may need to be cleaned out a bit as the paint and clear coat likely will have shrunken the hole, preventing the magnet from fitting.
With your front frame finished and your helmet back cured you may now use contact cement to glue on your helmet back to your front frame. Before applying the glue do a dry fit to ensure everything lines up. IF you struggle to get 1 or more pegs to line up, sand a peg(s) down a little till you can fit the backing into place.
Once you have confirmed your dry fit, line the connecting edge of the helmet backing with contact cement and attach the backing to your front frame. You can use a roll of tape to balance the helmet on the helmet backing to dry. This is not required, just something I do to prevent anything from slipping loose while curing.
Section 1
Completed
We will begin as if you are starting off with a raw helmet kit. Please be sure to have proper PPE (personal protection equipment) while working.
Let us first get your helmet sanded and assembled! Here is what you will need to get your helmet to the pre-paint stage