Recieved a fiberglass helmet with odd snow flakes

[darth_manu]

i recently got a fiberglass vader helmet, not a MR, a fan made from randy aka sithplanet, there are patterns like snow flakes on the paint surface of the dome?
what the heck are they? i can't seem to get rid of them? :angry
its like all over the dome....

is this caused by how the dome was shipped? it was not wrapped, and in a cardboard box filled with plastic bubble nuts.

 

[Jedirick]

Sounds plausible. I got an Indy idol with several well applied coats of clear finish shipped in styro noodles and there were little bleeps all over the smooth portions of idol. I just hit it with another coat of clear and it was OK. I imagine that is not an option with the helmet.

 

[falken108]

That could be from one of things that I can think of.
1. If the item had been painted and not left to fully cure for a few days...any kind of
foam or bubble wrap will leave marks on the surface. It is always smart to wrap with a thin paper first.

2. It could be what is called fish eyes. Fish eyes come from the paint when the surface
that is to be painted is not washed properly first . It is usually a reaction with a mould release or something left on the surface of the item.

Theres my 2cents
Scott

 

[JRX]

Maybe you can post a good pic of it so we all can have a look at it -

... long time ago I spray painted a Vader Helmet in a room that was full
of dust. My black paint ended up with millions of small white/grey dust-dots
all over it because the dust had settled on the wet paint while it cured - :cry

 

[ImprisonedFett]

Yes pics would be great. I know my friend and I (neither of which are professional painters) painted up his Royal Guard helmet. It looked amazing, glistening in all it's glory. So we clearcoated it. In about a week or so we started seeing what looked like large snow flakes or spider webs emminating from locations all over the helmet and radiating out from those locations. We attributed it to the clearcoat, but again I'm not a professional painter and don't know for sure the problem. Just relating that I had the same experience.

 

[Clutch]

Probably caused by some type of packing material preventing gas from escaping as it cures. You could try sitting it out in the sun or carefully run over it with a hot air gun.

 

[voice in the crowd]

Originally posted by clutch@Jan 29 2006, 01:51 AM
Probably caused by some type of packing material preventing gas from escaping as it cures.  You could try sitting it out in the sun or carefully run over it with a hot air gun.

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Hi Clutch,

I believe there was a thread about this before refering to JB's poor painting and packing of helmets.

I think the problem was that some types of bubble wrap or plastic packing chips chemically react with the paint on the helmet leaving marks if the paint isn't properly dried.

I think that in some cases the marks went away with time when the paint fully cured and in others guys maybe used a heat gun and this helped remove the marks.

I can't seem to find the thread but there was a lot of advice.

Hopefully you can find it or somebody who suffered from this problem with JB can help you.

Cheers Chris.

 

[darth_manu]

thank you for all the advice, i tried using a blow dryer, didn't seem to do anything =(