COMPLETED: DIY - Helmet Paint and Pinstripe

MxKing809
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Edited Date/Time 4/20/2020 2:12am
So.... gonna start this now and show the progress of the project.

I received an all white Fly Formula today, and have decided to do a Von Dutch inspired paint job.

I have never painted a helmet, so this is new to me and a learning experience.

I started out by finding a helmet design, or part of it that I liked:



I wanted an eye on each jaw, with the wings sweeping back - so I pencil drew one side on the fresh lid.



Once I had this how I wanted it, I used tissue paper for wrapping presents (all I had) to trace the design I hand drew in the first side. I taped it on the other side, and used a sharpie to dot the outline. The sharpie bled through the tissue paper and allowed me to ‘connect the dots’ on the second side.

Pro tip: isopropyl alcohol will take off the sharpie dots and leave the pencil. Pam spray on a towel will take off the pencil.

Now I have 2 completed sides, and I wait on my pin-striping kit from amazon to arrive!



Stay tuned, I’ll update more photos as I go.

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SKIDLID
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4/3/2020 4:18pm
Did you sand it first, it looks kind of shiny?
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MxKing809
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4/3/2020 4:39pm
SKIDLID wrote:
Did you sand it first, it looks kind of shiny?
Did I mention I’m new? I watched a bunch of YouTube videos and it looked like they did not sand.

Especially for pin-stripping.

Should I hit it with something to rough it up?
Moto88
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4/3/2020 4:55pm
Someone correct me if wrong but I think you are supposed to wet sand w fine sandpaper to get the clear coat off and gives new paint a surface to stick to! Fun project keep us posted!
1
SKIDLID
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4/3/2020 7:23pm Edited Date/Time 4/3/2020 7:25pm
Moto88 wrote:
Someone correct me if wrong but I think you are supposed to wet sand w fine sandpaper to get the clear coat off and gives new...
Someone correct me if wrong but I think you are supposed to wet sand w fine sandpaper to get the clear coat off and gives new paint a surface to stick to! Fun project keep us posted!
Yes you need to scuff pad it at least to provide a mechanical adhesion. I use a red scuff pad (400 grit) or gray ( 800) and wet sand areas with same kind of grit. You need to make it all dull or peeling will occur. I have not stayed at a Holliday Inn Express in at least 3 weeks but I do own a body shop and have painted many helmets in my life.



You have the right ideas otherwise. Just sand it and start over. Lots of work and product would be wasted without sanding.

Keep us posted looks like a cool project. You can always fix any mistake. It’s a cool feeling once it’s done.
5

The Shop

Kelz87
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4/3/2020 11:37pm


Kinda reminds me of Mike Metzger’s helmet. Are you going for a matte look or shiny?

Very cool tho, my dad’s friend had a teenage son that raced karts when I was a kid. He was in their shop taping/spray painting a helmet one day and I thought that was the coolest thing lol
2
Markee
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4/3/2020 11:52pm
Traditional pin striping using the classic One Shot can be applied to gloss. If you intend on clearing the helmet anyway, then scuffing would need to be done.

If you stripe with the traditional brushes, I would suggest practicing on a sheet of glass. Loading the brush and unloading before the stripe is extremely important.
MxKing809
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4/4/2020 5:44am Edited Date/Time 4/4/2020 5:46am
Markee wrote:
Traditional pin striping using the classic One Shot can be applied to gloss. If you intend on clearing the helmet anyway, then scuffing would need to...
Traditional pin striping using the classic One Shot can be applied to gloss. If you intend on clearing the helmet anyway, then scuffing would need to be done.

If you stripe with the traditional brushes, I would suggest practicing on a sheet of glass. Loading the brush and unloading before the stripe is extremely important.
Appreciate that and the advice above Skid.

It will be done with 1-Shot and Kafka brushes. I planned on doing an old helmet for practice before hitting the new one - but the glass is a great idea. I’ll swing by the hobby lobby and grab some plexiglass to practice on
1
MxKing809
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4/7/2020 8:07pm
Little update:

I hit the areas of interest with a grey Scotch Brite to help the paint bond. Then I spent about 5 hours paining both sides as a first step. I’ll get more colors and layers on tomorrow and update as it comes along.



Here is a rendering I did to decide on color scheme. Still haven’t settled on the accent color outline


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Markee
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4/9/2020 6:09am
Markee wrote:
Traditional pin striping using the classic One Shot can be applied to gloss. If you intend on clearing the helmet anyway, then scuffing would need to...
Traditional pin striping using the classic One Shot can be applied to gloss. If you intend on clearing the helmet anyway, then scuffing would need to be done.

If you stripe with the traditional brushes, I would suggest practicing on a sheet of glass. Loading the brush and unloading before the stripe is extremely important.
MxKing809 wrote:
Appreciate that and the advice above Skid. It will be done with 1-Shot and Kafka brushes. I planned on doing an old helmet for practice before...
Appreciate that and the advice above Skid.

It will be done with 1-Shot and Kafka brushes. I planned on doing an old helmet for practice before hitting the new one - but the glass is a great idea. I’ll swing by the hobby lobby and grab some plexiglass to practice on
I use to do old hot rod murals for fun and relax. I used a big picture frame and painted one side of the glass black.
brocster
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4/9/2020 7:14am
I’ve never hand painted one. Always sprayed with a detail gun and an airbrush. Scuffed the entire helmet. Masked the whole thing. Drew design on tape. Cut out masking per color, sprayed, then then re masked, tape, paint, tape paint. Used a brush for small details only. Tedious work, but fun and satisfying once complete. Have’t done a full lid in many years. Can’t wait to see yours when its done. Looking good!
dl117
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4/9/2020 10:00am
Very cool, just took on stripping and painting my Harley, something new is always fun. Bought an airbrush and some stencils and gave it hell
14
TooOld4WFO
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4/9/2020 11:10am
You are doing a fantastic job dl. Looks excellent for a first timer.
Those big areas with the airbrushing look good. The two other smaller areas may detract from the overall scheme.
My advice is if you cannot confidently do freehand symmetry try to avoid it in layouts.
Outside that I would use a stencil for those two.

But keep in mind all this coming from a guy who custom painted for years. It is absolutely an excellent effort for any person with limited experience in custom painting.

2
4/9/2020 11:46am
brocster wrote:
I’ve never hand painted one. Always sprayed with a detail gun and an airbrush. Scuffed the entire helmet. Masked the whole thing. Drew design on tape...
I’ve never hand painted one. Always sprayed with a detail gun and an airbrush. Scuffed the entire helmet. Masked the whole thing. Drew design on tape. Cut out masking per color, sprayed, then then re masked, tape, paint, tape paint. Used a brush for small details only. Tedious work, but fun and satisfying once complete. Have’t done a full lid in many years. Can’t wait to see yours when its done. Looking good!
How do you cut through the tape without cutting the paint below?
Kdunkin
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4/9/2020 12:40pm
dl117 wrote:
Very cool, just took on stripping and painting my Harley, something new is always fun. Bought an airbrush and some stencils and gave it hell [img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2020/04/09/418487/s1200_20200328_151032.jpg[/img]
Very cool, just took on stripping and painting my Harley, something new is always fun. Bought an airbrush and some stencils and gave it hell
looks awesome. What air brush did you go with?
mister2dt
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Canton, MS US
4/11/2020 2:47pm
brocster wrote:
I’ve never hand painted one. Always sprayed with a detail gun and an airbrush. Scuffed the entire helmet. Masked the whole thing. Drew design on tape...
I’ve never hand painted one. Always sprayed with a detail gun and an airbrush. Scuffed the entire helmet. Masked the whole thing. Drew design on tape. Cut out masking per color, sprayed, then then re masked, tape, paint, tape paint. Used a brush for small details only. Tedious work, but fun and satisfying once complete. Have’t done a full lid in many years. Can’t wait to see yours when its done. Looking good!
How do you cut through the tape without cutting the paint below?
Practice on something plastic with tape over it. Its all about feel. A slight indent in the paint is going to happen regardless. But you can minimize with learning the feel of depth needed. A light wet sand and buff will make the knifing marks disappear
4/11/2020 4:13pm
Good stuff. I've been toying with painting helmets for a couple years now. I did an eye ball on this one. A couple of you guys might be able to guess the rider that originally had this design.
5
olds cool
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4/11/2020 4:39pm
Good stuff. I've been toying with painting helmets for a couple years now. I did an eye ball on this one. A couple of you guys...
Good stuff. I've been toying with painting helmets for a couple years now. I did an eye ball on this one. A couple of you guys might be able to guess the rider that originally had this design.
Alex, I’ll take the Beast form the East for $500. Cool
1
Wade221
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4/11/2020 4:44pm
olds cool wrote:
Alex, I’ll take the Beast form the East for $500. Cool
Judges? I’m sorry, we were looking “from the East”. From. Pick again
2
olds cool
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4/11/2020 6:14pm
olds cool wrote:
Alex, I’ll take the Beast form the East for $500. Cool
Wade221 wrote:
Judges? I’m sorry, we were looking “from the East”. From. Pick again
Sorry, no need to pick again. Got it right the first time.
brocster
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4/11/2020 6:28pm
olds cool wrote:
Alex, I’ll take the Beast form the East for $500. Cool
Wade221 wrote:
Judges? I’m sorry, we were looking “from the East”. From. Pick again
olds cool wrote:
Sorry, no need to pick again. Got it right the first time.
#form
3
brocster
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4/11/2020 6:31pm
brocster wrote:
I’ve never hand painted one. Always sprayed with a detail gun and an airbrush. Scuffed the entire helmet. Masked the whole thing. Drew design on tape...
I’ve never hand painted one. Always sprayed with a detail gun and an airbrush. Scuffed the entire helmet. Masked the whole thing. Drew design on tape. Cut out masking per color, sprayed, then then re masked, tape, paint, tape paint. Used a brush for small details only. Tedious work, but fun and satisfying once complete. Have’t done a full lid in many years. Can’t wait to see yours when its done. Looking good!
How do you cut through the tape without cutting the paint below?
mister2dt wrote:
Practice on something plastic with tape over it. Its all about feel. A slight indent in the paint is going to happen regardless. But you can...
Practice on something plastic with tape over it. Its all about feel. A slight indent in the paint is going to happen regardless. But you can minimize with learning the feel of depth needed. A light wet sand and buff will make the knifing marks disappear
^^^^^this. It’s a feel and you’ll see what we mean when you put a new exacto blade to it. It doesn’t take much pressure at all and you can feel when the blade hits the shell.
MxKing809
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4/16/2020 5:13pm
Alright boys..... wrapped it up tonight (for the most part). I still have a little touch up to do here and there.






29
DA498
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4/16/2020 5:30pm
MxKing809 wrote:
Alright boys..... wrapped it up tonight (for the most part). I still have a little touch up to do here and there. [img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2020/04/16/420703/s1200_8522B54B_A848_4E4E_8674_CC04590A4BF7.jpg[/img] [img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2020/04/16/420704/s1200_260A2BAC_7D61_43EB_8884_DC9D145E06CE.jpg[/img] [img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2020/04/16/420705/s1200_FF15FC9F_6C87_4B4E_8660_17C894BC1174.jpg[/img] [img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2020/04/16/420702/s1200_9FB592EC_181E_4B11_B47A_DAE9035B8240.jpg[/img]...
Alright boys..... wrapped it up tonight (for the most part). I still have a little touch up to do here and there.






That’s legit man! Great job.
Crush
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4/16/2020 5:57pm
Looks cool mate!
Wycked31
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4/16/2020 6:06pm
MxKing809 wrote:
Alright boys..... wrapped it up tonight (for the most part). I still have a little touch up to do here and there. [img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2020/04/16/420703/s1200_8522B54B_A848_4E4E_8674_CC04590A4BF7.jpg[/img] [img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2020/04/16/420704/s1200_260A2BAC_7D61_43EB_8884_DC9D145E06CE.jpg[/img] [img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2020/04/16/420705/s1200_FF15FC9F_6C87_4B4E_8660_17C894BC1174.jpg[/img] [img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2020/04/16/420702/s1200_9FB592EC_181E_4B11_B47A_DAE9035B8240.jpg[/img]...
Alright boys..... wrapped it up tonight (for the most part). I still have a little touch up to do here and there.






Great job!
yak651
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4/17/2020 4:42am
Looks good, especially for first try. When you said you were going to try a first time paint job on a $600 helmet I thought you were a little nuts, but it all worked out in the end!

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