i am a verry pleased with my new helmet. this will be a fun project to work with. i would like to know more about the history of the CT.. the helmet is verry strong and verry light. some of my Vader helmets waigh twice as much than the CT. i will have to make the mounting ring inside the dome. it appears CT did a mock-up paint job on this mask and helmet. i will take the mask to an auto body restoration shop to have the paint and primer sandblasted useing good old bakeing soda.. to expose the fresh surface of the mask. i dont want to use acetone as i learnd from Darth Stone, acetone stays on the surface after being applied. i am still debateing if i should have the mask painted up by a pro..

here are some pictures of the CT.

i am trying to look for the fallowing peices for the mask. could you guys help me ID these?



this picture is from starwarshelmets.com i will delet it if asked.

are there some ways you can strip the paint safely without harming the FG?

Depending on what type of paint it is, I would probably suggest that you try brake fluid first - do not mistake it for brake cleaner, as I've heard some people do on other forums with devastating results.

Just brush it on, leave for an hour and wipe off - repeat this until the paint peels off by itself. Don't leave on for more than an hour at a time or it could soften the resin/fiberglass.

Always work in ventilated areas with the proper protection - you don't want to ruin your health.

Looking good... though, I'd probably try to source a better dome.

thanks NHM, i used a heat gun insted to strip the paint.. let me tell you, it was a SOB trying to take the paint off .. the details came out verry sharp!! i will do some minor filling useing Aquamend. i havent worked on the dome yet. still need to strip it and sharpen the dull center strip. here are some pics on my progress..

Wow, Your a brave SOB, using a heat gun on fiberglass..
I'm glad to see it worked without warping or melting it

Yea, no kidding Doug! But other than media blasting it is the next best way to remove paint from fiberglass.

I have had paint removed from fiberglass from pro strippers in the past. Some like using different medims for blasting. Everything from glass beads to crushed wallnut shells can be used. And all methods, even the heat gun, are better than chemical strippers on fiberglass and plastic parts.

One thing to note using a heat gun. Other than the danger of warping the piece, or delaminating the fiberglass from whatever the maker used as a layup materail. The plus side is that unlike blasting, there is no danger of loosing detail of the piece so long as you do a small area at a time. Letting the piece cool before moving on helps greatly. A rule I use is if the piece is to hot to hold with your bare hands, you have gotten it to hot. And allways before you begin, measure all openings to doulble check that you are not warping anything. If you do you can re heat and apply presure untill cool.

Stone