Oh man Very cool find. Has anyone painted one of these up grey yet?

Glued - although remember that the soda syphos have a hollow top so there's more purchase on the join than our replicas (unless youve bored out the tops).

The white spacers were odd things - sort of like something youd find on a washing machine. They were made of plastic and about 3/4" deep, half in the helmet half out, extending the tusks forward.

Have you found a good source for the tubing used above the syphons? - the stuff I have is ok but not brilliant

Cheers

Jez

DF - here's my WIP under some different lighting/exposures to show off the shade. Note that until I get this alongside the original its impossibly to know if the shade is correct. I doubt I'm 100% correct but probably 95% of the way there

outside - auto exposure


inside - underexposed (-4 clicks)


inside - underexposed (-2 clicks)


inside - auto exposure


Like I said before I need to do some more work on the glossy finish of the helmet, the rear bottles are too light (and too small), the decals are only temps, but you get the idea.

Cheers

Jez

Great job so far, Jez!

Nice looking helmet. What is the maker of that one?

Thanks Guys - its an SDS. However DL's sending me a new mohawk as the SDS one is way off

Cheers

Jez

Thomas........are you okay?......Talk to me, man..............

BTW: Are you going for the "screen used" look, Jez?

Yes - I want to make it look like the original I had my hands on, except in the same condition it was in when they took the promo pics of it in 1978/79 (i.e. with all the greeblies).

I've tried to replicate all the paint "errors", like on the eyes and the wonky red bits on the reverse. I'm trying to locate the same rear cannisters too and will finish them off in "screen-accurate 1970's dodgy masking tape"

Cheers

Jez
p.s. Thanks Thomas!

Thanks Jez. My repros have the depressions in the top like the originals. The tubing that Laws includes with his kits is not the right diameter. They were for the scratchbuilt ones, but they don't hold up with the original part. I've looked and have come up empty handed. The closest I could find was some metal stove hose. It is the right diameter, but the ribs are too close together.

Any news on the right colour?

Ive gone for "Carplan Colour match Grey 3" which was the lightest grey I could find (and I tried a lot of different shades). However unfortunately Ive not had a chance to compare this with the original so cant confirm whether its the same shade or not

I cant imagine there are many Automotive Grey's out there and another chap has used "Ford Grey" which also looks about right to me. However without getting them alongside an original (or at least some reference shades) its impossible to tell.

At the time I visited the helmet I was expecting white, hence like everyone was caught out a bit!

Cheers

Jez

Thanks a lot for sharing this info Jez

Honestly, Jez, of all the helmets in your impressive collection, this is definitely my favorite....just a work of art in how you put it all together...and because I know it was something you were working on for quite a while, to finally have this reference must be like a revelation...

Thanks Thomas!

This weekend I "upgraded" the mohawk after Dan (Laws) kindly sent me one of his to replace the incorrect one on the SDS.



As you rightly say, this is a project Ive been working on (at a very sloooooow pace) for a number of years, hence the call from the guy with the original has really put me back on track.

There's still some way to go upgrading the grey tubes, hoses, rear cannisters, greeblies behind the tusks, decals etc. but I dont mind taking my time.

Cheers

Jez