Sorry guys, but I'm bored out of my whits. Too cold to ride and time is moving slow, so please bear with me.
I didn't find a vintage helmet I liked, they were either too expensive or too fake, and all non-DOT.
So I thought, if I have to fake it anyway, I'll take a helmet I already have and make it look old.
I bought a Fulmer AF-81 two years ago and wore it only a few times because it made me look like a mushroom.
If the project fails, all I would loose is a little time, a few dollars for supplies, and a helmet I didn't like anyway. So what the heck!
I ordered a bunch of helmet stickers last week, got a piece of old looking cowhide yesterday at a leather store in town, had some spray paint and steel wool left from my bobber built in the fall, and went at it.
I carefully removed the fabric liner, then cut with a utility knife a 1 1/2 strip of the styrofoam liner around the inside rim.
I removed that part also and was able to create some glue surface on the inside for the leather neck cover.
After making a paper template to be able to work around the straps, I cut the leather and glued it around the inside with some 3M spray glue.
I glued the piece of styrofoam liner back in place and covered everything with the fabric liner. I looks like it was always made that way.
It was a lot of fun to put all the stickers on to the helmet and I felt that was the most creative part of the whole project.
The utility knife was a helpful tool to scratch up the stickers and create a worn appearance.
Using the spray paint and steel wool with a little "magic rub" added some patina and sense of age.
An added benefit of the leather neck cover is, that I can attach my SCALA G9 to it. I love the vintage look, but also modern technology.
The dreaded "mushroom look" is gone and I'm very happy with the result.
Here are some mugshots:
Your thoughts and comments are greatly appreciated!
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