This helmet has taken me two years (largely because I have a wife 2 kids, a job, and a garage that is unheated in the winter). I don't trust my hand with a Dremel, so all of the details in this helmet were scored and filed by hand.
I have a friend who paints parts for Harley, and he was kind enough to get me paints they use on their bike parts (the gold for the mask is the same that Harley used for their 100th anniversary bikes). I am unhappy with the red, so I will probably cast this helmet, make a few more, and repaint.
For this helmet I used a paint spray gun, hooked up to a compressor, and sprayed each coat at a working pressure of 45psi (the gold I did at around 35-40). After each primer coat I sanded with 500 grit paper (and had to do the same when I found some drips in my initial red coat). After the red, I clear coated the whole thing. Since the gold was really thin, I masked the area I wanted to paint, and then wet sanded with 2000 grit paper until the clear coat was even (no visible valleys). Gold went on quick, then another clear coat. The details were hand painted with enamel paint (do not clear coat over enamel...it tends to pull up). And that is what I did...
