bpoodoo

I picked up this kit about a month ago. It's a sharp clean pull with nice shape and features. Since it's white HDPE not a khaki HDPE I can't emulate the paint flaking weathering of some of the original stunt helmets. So I'm going to try for a more idealized look. If the paint does flake it will be down to white HDPE and not so noticeable. I want to hand paint all the details (no decals). This is my first helmet build, and I know it will be fun and challenging. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have two of the Humbrol gray Gloss 5 with the same UPC and SKU stamped on the bottom. The labels wrapped around the tinlet are different. The lighter one is marked M5000 with the word Enamel in tan. The darker one is marked M5518 with the word Enamel in blue. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Right. In my kit he included HDPE ears plus ABS ears. Dan told me to use the ABS ears for the helmet and the HDPE ears for practice. And as my first helmet build I needed the practice as they did come in handy to get a good ear trim line. But yes the HDPE ears are too flimsy to hold up to much pressure from the screws. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Great job so far. Assembly and your trimming of the ears eyes and frown look great. Looking forward to seeing more pics of your helmet as you progress! I have the same kit and yes the sharp details are very impressive. Some very minute texturing seems to be characteristic of HDPE. You see it in the HDPE ears but not the ABS ears also provided. I notice similar texturing also in any plastic bottle marked HDPE on the bottom. I find trimming HDPE fairly easy but sanding down a burr well ... impossible. Just have to trim and snip precisely to clean up edges. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ah thanks and this could also explain why the characteristic faceplate tilt is present if this was the prototype for the SDS line. Having this tilt is the least resistance way to mate the two halves of the battle spec helmet. As shown in the image below, the pieces do not match up well after repositioning so that the faceplate is more vertical. Without proper trimming there can be excessive forces required to secure the two halves, risking cracking during reassembly or after. ---------------

Google drive may not be the best thing to use for sharing images, but I thought I'd give it a try. I have the share settings for these images appropriate such that anyone with the link can view the image without needing to sign into google, etc. But it appears to be buggy. Try this please - click on the link and then under the File menu is a down arrow - that should allow you to download and view the image.

And I'm one of those newbies who read through the forums to figure out what I needed to do. It took me longer than a couple of hours - but I learned a lot along the way. Here's a couple of before and after pics of the modified battle spec: ------------------ After comparing my helmet to reference pictures and watching my favorite movie again and again with freeze frame, I've come to the conclusion that if my battle spec is derived from something Original, it is from a Hero, not from a Stunt. This has been speculated by others that this is the case for all the SDS trooper helmet line and I'm inclined to agree. The contours and angles of the face between the tear and the frown as well as the shape of the tubes are different between Hero and Stunt. You can't start with a mold derived from one and change details like number of teeth in the frown and flat or bubble lenses and convert one into another. But I think that's what SDS has tried to do, and I think that's what I have - a Hero-derived helmet but with Stunt finishing features (4 teeth per side and flat lenses). I'll call it a "Stero". SDS doesn't claim the battle spec to be molded from original, but it is said to be derived from the SDS Stunt (which from appearances I think was also derived from a Hero). And while it can be made to look a bit better, no amount of reassembly will make it into a purely Stunt-looking helmet. In the RS you can definitely see that it inherently has the right look for a Stunt helmet. For fun I took this same battle spec helmet and replaced the flat lenses with bubble lenses, and I applied white tape to the frown to make it appear to have 3 teeth per side, and here was the result... very hero-looking! -------------

I own a SDS battle spec helmet and I can say that the main complaint I and others have about it is the lean of the faceplate making the chin jut outwards. This is almost entirely due to bad assembly. Why SDS hasn't corrected their assembly technique in all these years I haven't a clue. If you look in the profile view at the angle of the line of the top eye compared to the centerline of the cap and back, you'll see that it's a rather significant angle. It should be closer to parallel. This can be corrected but typically requires removing the screws and rivets from the helmet, locating and drilling new holes, possibly some trimming, and reassembly. After about a month of looking at my battle spec with an underbite, I made this modification and it looks much better. Still not as good as an RS, but better than it came out of the box.

I've got a late-model SDS Battle Spec from 2013, and it does look different than the 200X versions. On mine the ears are much smaller. The eyes are also cut a bit differently (better, but I still filed mine down a bit more on the right side, as you look at the helmet). And on mine the ABS is not as glossy, especially the cap and back. It still has that signature SDS faceplate lean which I corrected after disassembling, locating and drilling new holes, and reassembling (multiple times!).