2. Im not sure whats going on with the clear eyes and side panels.... are we supposed to cut out the helmet inside that and sorta see thru the plastic??? can you see thru that???
3. if so, then how would you secure the clear part int here without showing some kind of glue marks on the inside?
I'm glad you asked. Here's the way it works...
First, you'll need to trim all of the edges and cut out the eye holes in the main body of the helmet:
Second, you'll glue the clear cast inserts in for the eyes. I used a CA adhesive called
Insta-Cure (essentially another brand of
Zap-a-Gap). They should fit flush with the rest of the surface, but if you get something a bit misaligned you can sand them down at this stage:
The clear cast pieces are only cast in clear so that you can get light to shine through them. Even the best cast clear lenses are going to cause significant distortions. Anybody who tells you they can do better is either an optical engineer of some sort or they're wrong. Here's a couple shots of mine with LEDs installed:
Visibility is possible by looking through the gaps around the lighted portion. This is the same way my MkIII helmet is set up. The main difference is that there are gaps above and below the lighted portions of the eyes, so visibility is actually quite a bit better:
I wouldn't recommend driving with this helmet on, but I can see plenty well enough to walk around in a crowd.
I've got the helmet in primer now:
I'll be painting the whole thing over the next couple of days.
Post here if you'd like one of your own.