01Hawk

Looks good! Nice idea on the screw on caps too

I have an SC helmet and would recommend it for the money. With patience it is a great piece to build and learn on. It does come with instructions, but read all the various build threads here ahead of time to pick up some tips on other methods that work. If you have the $ I would suggest a fiberglass one but for a more conservative budget it is great! Good luck!

The problem with the SC helmet is is there isn't really a recess or indent for them. To get them flush you almost have to heat and push in on the visor which I am not willing to experiment with cause I don't want to mess it up. Of you do get the indent correct it just means it will force that piece out from the the faceplate . I figured they would fit flusher on the MLC but if it is the norm than I'm not gonna worry about it

I think the ears decals are upside down. I would have to compare against my pics . I used them as templates as well and Dremeled them out . I drilled a ton of little holes and popped the piece out and then ground it out and sanded it. Paint the inside of the helmet black

Not being critical but none of them seem to sit flush and recessed ( which is an issue for me on my SC as well). Is that ok? Based on some of the conversations around screen accuracy I would think that would be an issue.

It is $200 extra on top of the helmet for assembly. If you are going to have to spend over $400 for an SC helmet assembled you may want to look into some of the other makes. The SC isn't hard to just get together but if you want it to look perfect it will require a lot of finishing work- I still can't all the lines to line up on mine and will be buying a different on in spring

I have an SC and did not paint it. The only reason I could see painting it would be if you filled the seam around the top and back piece. I was going to fill mine but didn't bother. Colorwise the white it is molded in looks fine.

I have to trim some off so yea, I could wrap some around a PVC pipe or tube to see. The color is definitely off as it is cream but I am sure it comes in different colors depending on brand. I will get some cut up for this weekend just to see how it looks. Thoughts on the diameter of the piece it is wrapped around?

My speaker wire is square and looks to be 3mm

I used E6000 to glue all the helmet pieces ( SC kit) and for the tank and detenator trim. To do the straps I got the industrial strength Velcro for the armor side. Stuff is on pretty tight. Rest got sewn on.

Well that kinda kills all my suggestions lol. I will send a pic to my dad who was an electrician at the time an see of he knows of any commonly used wires with those dimensions .

If he didn't give the cross section view I would totally agree with that Griffin.. But from the cross section it doesn't appear to have any actual wire in it and is just a channel. I still think a nice piece of pool vacuum hose would look nice and close -- used to be able to get a light gray and black type at the swimming pool store I worked at

After going through a bunch of rubber websites you can order custom dimensions for the u channel. Still looking through pics for off the shelf stuff.

It is safe to say based on the cross section it is not wire correct? It looks like solid rubber to me - no copper inside.

Yea I noticed that... I am trying to figure the dimensions out... Similar style though - the pic I posted was from a boat vendor but they make the molding a ton of sizes. I am going to run it by a restoration place soon

Looking at the cross section pic, it kinda looks like door edge guard for cars. I am trying to find some with those dimensions. Or maybe some other type of trim molding you would put on the edge of metal/plastic.

Here are some pics... The ones in my helmet are the ones that came with the SC kit. I used them because I couldn't get the others to work/fit any better. The ones not in the helmet are the ones from lowes ( 1") and the correct 3M ones I got from a vendor here. The pic with the pliers is the 3M on vs the SC one

I'm sure it is just my inexperience but if you picture the Velcro pointing straight away from you and feeding it in , it kind of moves over to the left a bit and ends up going in at an angle. I pinned it on the straps and stuff but don't want to put pins thru the vinyl. One tip I got on my 501st build page was to hand stitch a couple stitches first

In regards to heat guns... I just had to remove a full vinyl wrap from my work car. I bought a Wagner HT1000 Heat Gun from Lowes for $18 and used it for about 4 hrs straight and it worked just fine with 2 heat settings. I figured being so cheap it would surely die from being on non stop but it was just fine.

When I was machine sewing the Velcro on various pieces it had a tendency to push the Velcro inwards when I ran it thru. I really don't want to mess up the uppers I have done so does anyone have any tips before I run it thru? I was thinking of gluing the pieces down ( in the center not the edges where the needle goes). This is my first time sewing stuff..

I would watch the back - you are going to have to have the Velcro in there to latch it shut so when sizing it up you may want to pull it tighter to account for them material overlapping 1 inch. I sized my dog bone up by blowing up the reference photos- I think yours needs to come down more. I haven't finished mine yet so you may want to wait for others to offer opinions. Also keep in mind you will have the flight suit on so you may want to have long pants on while sizing it too

Since you mention SC - it does come with instructions but there are some issues with them. I used various build threads here to get it together. General assembly isn't hard at all but it does require some trial and error and patience to get all the pieces to line up correctly etc but that is part of the fun of the whole hobby

Some of the elevator bolts , like the ones you get at Lowes, are really long. I think the pinstripe he was asking about was to outline the snout? In that case maybe a role of cheap pinstripe from the auto parts store would work. If you know someone at a body shop they will have the fine line tape to use as well.

Thanks!!!