Painting a helmet, tank and stuff with craquelure (now available at B&Q)

[Iron]

Remember the Bandit Alien helmet I found in the loft with the patented ‘crash card’ in it?

Not an inexpensive helmet at the time I remember. They are still around the £200 mark. Bandit helmet’s prices climb from there.

I had some very bloody fast streetfighter type bikes that seemed to upset the bandanna types at the Harley dealerships, so the helmet matched that sort of feel. I didn’t like it much as the chin is a bit long for looking over the shoulder so mirrors were essential. No mirrors on my bikes at that time.

I’ve got some secret paint stuff I want to try out, so this helmet is gonna be the guinea pig.

[Iron]

First off, take the thing apart. Jeez, I know things are cheaply made these days but blimey

After unsticking all the glued bits of edging, unclip and pull out all sorts of rubbish.

The slots that look to be covered in an expanded metal mesh are actually a plastic cloth…

The polystyrene cap thing has the venting roughly carved into it.

The push bit that opens and closes the vent in the forehead

is done by a few plastic bits

The visor is held by an allen bolt with the little lug on the visor slipping into the slots depending on how high it is wanted.

The clip bit is screwed into the helmet…

…with the sharp screws left protuding inside. These were covered by a piece of foam and pretend plastic leather type stuff.

“death seems to have been caused by three small incisions in each temple milord”

[Iron]

I’ll address the screws etc when putting back together (if it goes back together). First the boring sanding (what! in this heat?)

Filled all the stupid pretend vent that actually do nothing

and sanded and filled and sanded and filled and sanded, phew

and primed and sanded and primed and sanded and primed and sanded, another phew

[Iron]

Now draw on the design

Sort of lightning flashes along each side. Takes a bit of time trying to make sure each side looks the same but a rubber works well when realigning and measuring to get them right.

[Iron]

Then mask off the bits to stay white

mix up a nice blue (windsor, ultramarine and white), all water based acrylic and spray on

take off the masking and..

looks good with the visor

[Iron]

Although quite pleased, the flash on the chin guard didn’t look right - so changed that. (always mix a bit more paint than needed so amendments can be made without trying to recreate the colour)
and the flashes really needed an outline.

Now, if I had thought of this before I started painting, I would have painted the helmet black and just masked off the edge pinstripes and then painted on the white and the blue. But, no, I thought about brushing the edges on.

I remasked the edging, which took ages. Ended up applying three lots of edge masks instead of just one if I had thought of it before - numbnuts.

Spray on the black edging

and take off the masking

that’s better but took ages

[Iron]

Now the fun bit after applying an intercoat to protect the paint so it stays where it is. Just in case something goes wrong.
Lots of time spent aging the look of the design. I want this to look like it was found in one of the pyramids.
Then apply a brush coat the secret formula base

wait for that to dry and apply a brushed secret formula top coat

wait for that to dry and crack. This isn’t crackle paint, I wanted a paint that cracked like it was an old master oil painting or an old piece of crockery.
I wasn’t sure if the result was ok or just “meh”
Then I realised I had to spend lots of time working with washes and rubbing

working in small patches the results look really good

and am quite pleased with the overall look

Doesn’t look much in the photos (looks a bit of a mess) but in the hand is quite something. I think I’ll carry on and finish this if I can stick it all back together.

[Vulpes]

Brilliant work, @Iron

[Dave49]

Superb piece of work, @Iron, you are an absolute master at working materials. You’ve really made a ratty old helmet look … a very great deal rattier.

[Wessa]

Magic work @iron. You make it look so easy, which it clearly is not.

[DCS222]

Nice one dude… there’s gonna be a forum saying… “I’ve Iron’d it!” Which will mean to have done a cracking job upon summat we’ve been working…

[Tigcraft]

I like the cracked effect. It’ll be good to use on restored tanks, vintage pedal cars and household door panels.

A friend of mine did a large farm house with distressed marble look in the hallway and also he had a spectacular shower room in stone floor with greek pillars painted on the walls.

[Hubaxe]

That helmet could be in a star war movie. Amazing craftmanship.

[Iron]

Yep, winter projects to do. I’ve an alien tank, a T140 US tank sat on the shelf and a bread bin tank being held for me down in Trowbridge. The Triumph tanks will need some restoration.
There’s a few helmets to do as well. Don’t wanna be bored, you must be up to something?

[Iron]

Thanks Chaps. Hopefully allows you to think about doing some stuff yourself and at least something to read. Cheers All.

Carrying on. I was thinking that it needed something to sort of offset the leathery look and give it a bit of fun. So mask up and get some primer on it…

…spray on the primer and draw on the smiley emogi (?) design.

Colour it in

colour it in a bit more, add some details and make it look like it’s been stitched to the helmet

Used a can of old Halfords lacquer I’ve had hanging around. I really don’t like the Halfords stuff, it’s pretty useless and never use it anywhere near a petrol tank. Even if it says it’s petrol resistant, it isn’t.
Used it up anyway as this is a trial for other projects. I could’ve used matt lacquer but I would like to see what glossy is like on a design like this.

Just about made three coats out of the Halfords can. I’ll stop there but it’ll need sanding and a lot more to get the cracks to polish out. I wont bother on this but a good practice for future projects.
Now to figure out how to get it all back together. I’ll need some of that rubbery type glue and sort those stupid spikey screws.

[Wessa]

I love it

[MrsVisor]

Your work on everything you do is quite amazing!!

[Iron]

Thanks again all
I tried the sanding of the lacquer to get the level down to bury the cracking but went through to the paint in a few areas. So, will need a few more coats to get a proper polished finish.
Anyway done

What a fiddle trying to get it all back together. I took off about 4mm from the self tapping screws so they sit flat now. No idea why they wouldn’t use a flat ended screw - ah, of course, cheapness for maximum profit. I’ll have a few runs in it see how it is.

I heard the Everoak racemaster helmets were still being made (my favourite helmet that I broke and had to bin). Looked on line:

SHOP | Everoak Helmets

'kin 'ell! how much… should’ve fixed the old one. I’ll keep my eyes open for a 2nd hand one

[Iron]

A bit hot for air cooled bikes in a city so started a tank. Also gonna try the crackling effect on this.

Small but nicely proportioned Alien tank primed and laid out with tape.

Base done a sort of see through bone colour. A mix of titanium white, lemon yellow and burnt umber (for those who want to know these things)

and details getting hand painted on.

[Iron]

A bit more effort into the lettering

and then an intercoat