Hi Guys,

I have bought this damaged VM02 Vader helmet from someone on the RPF and it has far more damage than I was led to believe and could do with a little help from the experts here......
The Dome has cracks all over it and if anyone here is familiar with the VM02 then they will know how thin and light these things are and I think it is the top gel coat that has cracked. They haven't gone all the way through but I have since been told by the seller that it is just the paint that is cracked? I don't think it is just the paint but I might be wrong?.........
How can I fix this?
I'll show the Dome first then the face which isn't so much of a problem with me as I think I can get away with some filler, sanding and a repaint.
On with the pix.....











The Face.......

Ya, either in the gel coat or does it have a clearcoat? The top of the mask looks like the worst...man I wonder what happened to that...did it fall down some stairs? I suppose if you strip it you'll see if it went all the way through or not. It could use a more screen-accurate paintjob anyway...

Yes it had a fall and was then ripped apart by a recaster who was supposed to repair it for the previous owner which is why the mounting sytem is not attached to the mask anymore.
Agree with the advice you should strip it back then you can see if the damage is just surface cracks or not.

what's the best way of stripping it back?
I read somewhere that Nitromors is good if you apply it in small areas and wipe it off fairly quickly and wash with water to stop it reacting with the gel coat any further?
Is that correct or is there a better way?
Thanks again for your suggestions.

Yeah that should work i'd test it on a small hidden area first though, just to make sure you don't get a bad reaction with the resin.
Do small areas at a time aswell don't try doing the whole thing in one hit, and don't leave it on too long.
The safest way is just to sand, takes forever but at least you have full control.

You could try hunting about for marine paint strippers that are designed for stripping back painted fibreglass boats that might be a safer bet too.

Thanks Gary !
I hadn't thought of that. I have a boat shop near me so I'll ask them in there....

OK this is how far I have got so far........

As you can see the cracks seem to go right through the gel coat







So I thought I should give it a quick coat of primer to se how bad they show.....

Look on the bright side. Now that the primer is on there you will have that much more work to do. Sorry, but you should have at least taken some of the damage out first. Now your going to be chasing down hidden cracks and re primming a few times. And then when the topcoat sinks into that nice thick layer of primer that small crack that you missed will raise it's ugly head.

Those cracks that you were able to see were impact cracks. Yes, I read that it fell down a staircase or something. But to get rid of them you will have to do some damage to the helmet first to fix them. Get your self a dremmel tool or something like it and widen out those cracks so that filler can get in there to meand the crack. And yea, you can use just bondo if you have to. If it is not a real high strength area that you are dealing with.

I did one up for a buddy of mine some years ago. It was a busted up worse than yours. But it is a good example of what needs to be done. This was a CT lid that did a back flip off from a motorcycle. You need to get in there and grind back the surface and "V" out the crack. If not the filler will not get into the damage and you will be chasing your tail. Some of the bigger cracks near the edges will need to be glassed as they are high stress areas and using bondo on thes will only be asking for a crack again latter on.

thanks Kent,
that gives me hope..... I know I've made a bit more work for myself but I'm not afraid of sanding. When I worked on "Sunshine" movie I was pretty much sanding for 9 hours a day!
you are right though I really should have just carried on but I thought I would look at just how bad the cracks are with paint on. I think I was being a bit hopeful that it was only minimal and would be ok!
Kent, When you glass the surface do you do just what I see in the pics and let it go off and sand smooth? I have not done a woule lot of glassing before and when I did it was from the inside not the out.
I have found a creeping crack filler that works in a capilary action and is flexible and paintable and for use on fiberglass. I might try that first on the suface cracks. Failing that get the old Dremel out a gouge away!

Basically the outside surface is ground out, and back filled with new material. And the back side of the damage would have been added to latter after the front had curred. Normally with a marine or automotive fiberglass piece, the back side would be doubled up in thickness during the repair to ensure that what ever stress that caused the damage will not be coming back. However in this case of the backside having some cosmetic appeal just the minimal one layer of cloth would suffice. Just be sure to break the surface of the damaged area with a grinder or of the like so that the new material will have something to 'bite' into.

Damn, good luck fixing the helmet. I know I'd be way to clumsy to do such repair

Well...... Sanded the dome right back to the gel coat. Now to seal the cracks............

WOW, you are working fast. What grit did you use and how much time to get it to look like that?

I used a 120 then a 180 grit stuck on a soft and hard Velcro style sanding block and applied light pressure. I tried to take care when I was near any features and creases etc......

I did spend quite a few hours on it throughout the day when I got the time in between family commitments.

Man, I must be a weak bastard, but I took about 3 hours to spot sand my SFS helmet... and what I mean with "spot sand" is that I only got through to the resin layer in spots... the primer still remains in spots and it's difficult to get rid of it. It's some yellowy orangy stuff. Very tough.