lordvader74 Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 OK guys. Here's the deal. I recently bought a full TD from someone here on the MEPD boards. It ended up being a soft recast of FX armor but it had a great backpack, decent T-21, and an AP helmet. The armor probably wouldn't have been my first choice since it's a recast but I'm stuck with what I'm stuck with. Truthfully, the only thing I'm waiting on is thighs from RT-mod that I'll weather to match and I should be good to go. Overall, I'm very happy and got a good deal. Oh, and he's a helluva nice guy too! He's been VERY helpful. Anyhoo, about the helmet. He had already built the helmet and did a pretty decent job but there were some things that bothered me a bit so I decided to tear it apart and build it up the way I wanted. I took the lenses out because they had hot glue on them and didn't fit the contour of the eyes very well. I decided to replace them with ones from Smitty (great product btw...check 'em out if you haven't already). I was very unhappy with the neck trim. It looked like a very ill fitting piece of hard auto door trim. I think it probably used to fit, but the guy I bought it from is like me with a good sized gourd and had to open the neck up a little just to be able to put the helmet on (it's still a chore for me but I like it that way). Also, it didn't conform very well around the vocodor. The interior of the bucket was unpainted and only had what I assume was the padding that came with the kit. He had hot glued everything into place in the helmet and there were just gobs of the mess all over the interior. While they didn't hurt anything, they just bugged me (some things bug me that way...LOL). So, I set to work "correcting" the things I could. Nothing was wrong with it per se as it was...I just wanted it personalized if you will. I took the aerators out and made them more "wonky." Then I used rubberized undercoating all through the interior (after removing all the old hot glue of course). I padded it with some T-ball batting helmet padding that I cut to fit the way I needed it to. He had two CPU fans each wired straight to a 9v with no switch and just left the wires taped in the helmet. While functional, I decided to make it more functional by adding a 3rd 9v and making it all work off a switch and hiding the wires in some wire loom. I got some of the Webers S trim for te neck and cut it so that it met in the back. Then I re-weathered it to match my taste and it looks like the sand around here at the beaches and in spots of my back yard. After I broke it back down to add the new lenses, I decided to trim a little off the front of the cap to raise the brow slightly. You can see in the initial pics that the brow was very low. The final pic is one I took yesterday after installing the lenses, raising the brow, padding it up, and installing the Webers trim. Let me know what you think, but be warned: My wife will divorce me if I spend one more minute or cent tinkering with this helmet! It is the way it's going to be! (also note that for whatever reason, the flash makes my glue dribbles...E-6000 btw...look greenish. I don't know why). On to the pics: No lenses and re-weathered and wonkied up hovis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordvader74 Posted December 10, 2008 Author Share Posted December 10, 2008 Continued: Final shot of raised brow and installed lenses. Hope you like! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dutch Dirty Trooper Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 Looks **** pretty cool bro !! Great bucket !! Grtz RAY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FIVE Posted December 10, 2008 Share Posted December 10, 2008 Looks good to me man! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordvader74 Posted December 11, 2008 Author Share Posted December 11, 2008 Thanks a lot for the positive responses guys. This is my first (and only for quite a while) armor. I'm especially proud of my bucket! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bountyone Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 Looks awesome, I love the rubberized coating you did to it. I too had to trim the neck a little. My first troop I had, I put a nice gash on my nose from a badly cut off screw head that I forgot to file down. The buckets still a little tight but that's how I like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 weber's rubber are nice too! thats an AP? the frown looks sharper than mine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordvader74 Posted December 11, 2008 Author Share Posted December 11, 2008 Yep. It's an AP. I can't take credit for the initial build and painting. The guy I bought it from did all the details. I just re weathered and did the interior. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TK412 Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 Very nice! this is one of the best AP's I have seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dutchy Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 I love it!!! I got an AP too, but left it reasonably naked inside..But still appreciate all the work you did to make it that comfy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted December 13, 2008 Share Posted December 13, 2008 Oh and one thing!! What rubber did you use for the brow? Its not the standard AP brow is it? Thanks bro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordvader74 Posted December 13, 2008 Author Share Posted December 13, 2008 As for the brow rubber, as far as I know it's standard AP. I didn't build the helmet from the ground up so to speak. It's the rubber that was on it when I bought it so I can't say for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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