“Quick Helmet Design” By Don Johnson
This is one of those designs that takes on a life of its own, it’s been a very good seller for me over the years and I think it could be for you as well. The design is a very ba- sic helmet design that requires very little masking and can be accomplished pretty quickly by custom painters at just about any skill level. Your basic metal plate, rivet design that can be accomplished in many different ways; this is one of the ways I’ve found that gives you pretty cool look- ing results. What you’ll need: solid color helmet, this was a new
Simpson racing helmet, white base color out of the fac- tory, fine line tape, 2 inch masking tape, tack rag, scotch brite pads, mini spray gun (Sata Mini Jet) for applying your base color and clear coat, airbrush just about any si- phon feed or gravity feed should work, air source (com- pressor), helmet stand to keep your helmet secure while you are working on it. Paint you can use your personal preference solvent based or water, I’ll be using House of Kolor products for this article.
First you want to remove all the helmet hardware possible like the shield and shield attachment screws, etc. Rubber trim is never easy to deal with, on helmets like this Simpson I remove the bottom rubber trim and tape off the rubber trim around the shield opening area. If you are uncomfortable removing the bottom trim this can also just be taped off. To remove the bottom trim I use a X Acto knife with a #11 blade to separate the trim from the helmet, care should be taken here as you do not want to cut the trim. Keep your blade angled in toward the helmet as you work your way around the helmet. Be sure to use tape to mask off the inside of any holes where screws must be reinstalled; you don’t want to load up with threads with paint and clear.
Be sure to mask off the inside of the hel- met and the open slot vents if the hel- met has them like this one does. In these open slot vents I’ve found using eighth inch fine line tape works well to cover the opening, just lay the fine line down inside the vent opening.
Once we’ve made sure we have scuffed every inch of the helmet surface and washed it off with pre cleaner it’s time to apply our base color, for me that’s House of Kolor FBC Orion Silver. You could easily use Auto Air base coat sealer than one of their 4101 Aluminum Base (fine), please follow the Auto Air tech sheet. Base coating a helmet like this is accomplished much easier with a small touch up gun or mini spray gun like the Sata Mini Jet rather than trying to use an airbrush.
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