Step 1: Bath time

Use a mild dish soap and warm water to clean the helmet, eye slot, and mouth to remove residual mold release and other unwanted grime. Allow to dry thoroughly.

Step 2: First rough trim

Trim the helmet’s neck opening to make accessing the interior easier for later steps.

Step 3: First primer coat

Prime helmet, eye slot, and mouth with sandable primer — preferably gray as that tint helps reveal areas that will require sanding and filling. Consider using Rust-Oleum 2-in-1 Filler & Sandable Primer for this initial coat.

Step 4: More rough trims

Using a rotary tool, cut openings for the eye slot and mouth — make certain to stop within 2 to 4 mm of opening boundaries revealed in the helmet casting.

Step 5: Revise eye slot

Using the supplied transparency template, mark extended cuts that slightly widen and extend the bottom curves of the eye slot.

Step 6: Fine trims

Take this process slow and use hand tools.

Surface: Sand opening edges until you achieve reasonably crisp lines. Metal files work well, but so do simple tools: coarse sandpaper glued to a paint stick forms a maneuverable sanding block and another piece of sandpaper wrapped around a pencil is ideal for gentle curves.

Interior: Note the adhesion areas necessary to mount eye slot and mouth to the helmet. Reduce the thickness of the helmet casting in the corresponding areas of the helmet interior.

Neck opening: Refine rough cut made in Step 2.

Step 7: Fill edge voids

Use mixture of resin shavings and CA glue to fill any voids along the freshly trimmed openings. You may also consider using Bob Smith Industries’ IC-2000 Tire Glue. It’s a flexible carbon and rubber filler that bonds with the strength of Super Glue, yet still sands smooth.

Step 8:  Fill. Sand. Prime. Repeat.

Study your parts and determine areas that require further sanding and/or filling with Bondo or modeling putty. Check your work with additional primer coats until each part obtains your desired level of smoothness. Switch to a finer quality rattle-can spray such as Tamiya Surface Primer (Gray) for these revision coats.

Pay particular attention to the smoothness of what will be the silver/chrome areas of the helmet as they are the least forgiving.

Step 9: Step Back

You’ve done a lot of fiddly stuff in Steps 1-8. Take a break. Let the primer and fillers dry overnight.

Step 10: Final inspection

You may find yourself wanting to return to Step 8. Don’t.

If you must, take a super fine grit sanding sponge and gently brush away any debris on your primed surfaces. Feel for any snags along the surfaces with your (clean) bare hands.

Marvel at your work thus far!