The 'UK' BSG Viper Helmet, what is it?
- Thread starter Jawafive
- Start date
The UK maker was Steve Arnold and he's only done 2 runs of 5 as far as I know of. I owned helmet #8 and I currently own a predictamike helmet. Notice I said, I "owned" one of the helmets from the UK. Believe me, when I opened that box and took it out, words cannot express how dissappointed I was with it. My wife (who puts up with my prop collecting but has no interest in it) took one look at the helmet and asked me why did I buy such a "crappy thing".
I never even displayed the helmet... I just put it right back into the box with the packing peanuts and just ebayed it, at a loss. The helmet looked great in the sample pictures and on forums but in person, it was a complete and utter failure. There were a number of problems with the helmet, I will list a few off the top of my head:
1) When the helmet was pulled from the mold, not enough time was allowed for the fibreglass to cure. My helmet must have been pulled, then painted immediately, then thrown into a box for shipping. It arrived deformed from the shipping and the fumes coming out of the box were incredibly strong. If you walked into the room with the box open and helmet out with your eyes closed, you would have thought I was fibreglassing a boat in the room, it was that strong.
2) The lower mandible pulled out roughly 1/2", that's it. And the mechanism used was incredibly delicate to the point, I was afraid to pull it in and out after the initial try with it. Also, he used screws to hold the mechanism in place and when you tried to pull the mandible out, the screw interfered and "jammed" the mandible, preventing it from opening.
3) It used a "pressure switch" so, if you put the helmet on, it would automatically light up. Problem was the switch sounds great in theory but in actual real-world use it just didn't work... period.
4) The inside padding was simple condensed yellow foam (the type used in cheap furniture) that was wrapped with tan colored cloth and held in place over the foam with pins and/or hot glue. You read that right... pins.
5) The helmet was NOT symmetrical at all. The master must have been formed out of clay and then just molded right over. The helmet did not have a straight smooth line on it anywhere. It was entirely wavy, bumpy and soft... exactly what one would expect if they tried to sculpt a helmet out of clay with their bare hands. It looked plain AWFUL.
That's what I can remember right off the top of my head. I honestly, in good conscience, CANNOT recommend that helmet to anyone. Save yourself time, grief, dissappoint, heartache and above all... money, and just stick with trying to get a predictamike helmet, they were both offered at roughly the same price. If you were looking for a "beater" helmet to bang around and the UK helmet was sold for $125 or less, then MAYBE it would be worth it. But it's not worth anywhere near what the maker was selling it for.
Predictamike's helmet is absolutely amazing... after I received the UK helmet I refused to purchase another helmet without seeing it in person. I'm glad I went to Wonderfest this past year... and I'm glad predictamike was there with a table displaying his helmet. It is simply a work of art. I have absolutely nothing to gain with touting predictamike's craftsmanship, I simply don't want other collectors/members of this forum to get sucked into something as expensive as that BSG helmet from the UK and walk away from the experience with a bad taste in their mouth. It's akin to waiting for that brand new car, haggling with the salesmen for days, finally getting to drive it home, only to find out she's a complete lemon under the hood... and no, I'm NOT exagerrating.
I really, really hope you read this post and stop your search for the UK helmet maker. Once again, predictamike is ABSOLUTELY the way to go.
- J.
<div class='quotetop'>(The Batman @ Oct 17 2006, 09:16 PM) [snapback]1340153[/snapback]</div>
I never even displayed the helmet... I just put it right back into the box with the packing peanuts and just ebayed it, at a loss. The helmet looked great in the sample pictures and on forums but in person, it was a complete and utter failure. There were a number of problems with the helmet, I will list a few off the top of my head:
1) When the helmet was pulled from the mold, not enough time was allowed for the fibreglass to cure. My helmet must have been pulled, then painted immediately, then thrown into a box for shipping. It arrived deformed from the shipping and the fumes coming out of the box were incredibly strong. If you walked into the room with the box open and helmet out with your eyes closed, you would have thought I was fibreglassing a boat in the room, it was that strong.
2) The lower mandible pulled out roughly 1/2", that's it. And the mechanism used was incredibly delicate to the point, I was afraid to pull it in and out after the initial try with it. Also, he used screws to hold the mechanism in place and when you tried to pull the mandible out, the screw interfered and "jammed" the mandible, preventing it from opening.
3) It used a "pressure switch" so, if you put the helmet on, it would automatically light up. Problem was the switch sounds great in theory but in actual real-world use it just didn't work... period.
4) The inside padding was simple condensed yellow foam (the type used in cheap furniture) that was wrapped with tan colored cloth and held in place over the foam with pins and/or hot glue. You read that right... pins.
5) The helmet was NOT symmetrical at all. The master must have been formed out of clay and then just molded right over. The helmet did not have a straight smooth line on it anywhere. It was entirely wavy, bumpy and soft... exactly what one would expect if they tried to sculpt a helmet out of clay with their bare hands. It looked plain AWFUL.
That's what I can remember right off the top of my head. I honestly, in good conscience, CANNOT recommend that helmet to anyone. Save yourself time, grief, dissappoint, heartache and above all... money, and just stick with trying to get a predictamike helmet, they were both offered at roughly the same price. If you were looking for a "beater" helmet to bang around and the UK helmet was sold for $125 or less, then MAYBE it would be worth it. But it's not worth anywhere near what the maker was selling it for.
Predictamike's helmet is absolutely amazing... after I received the UK helmet I refused to purchase another helmet without seeing it in person. I'm glad I went to Wonderfest this past year... and I'm glad predictamike was there with a table displaying his helmet. It is simply a work of art. I have absolutely nothing to gain with touting predictamike's craftsmanship, I simply don't want other collectors/members of this forum to get sucked into something as expensive as that BSG helmet from the UK and walk away from the experience with a bad taste in their mouth. It's akin to waiting for that brand new car, haggling with the salesmen for days, finally getting to drive it home, only to find out she's a complete lemon under the hood... and no, I'm NOT exagerrating.
I really, really hope you read this post and stop your search for the UK helmet maker. Once again, predictamike is ABSOLUTELY the way to go.
- J.
<div class='quotetop'>(The Batman @ Oct 17 2006, 09:16 PM) [snapback]1340153[/snapback]</div>
Jawafive
Sr Member
Thanks for the reply. I heard tales of a $200 viper helmet and was thinking maybe that was it, but my source could have been wrong and I assume was.
If you want to donate some $$$ to the me getting a predicta helmet fund, let me know :lol :lol
Thanks for the response it was very informative and I can tell just how disappointed you were when you got that helmet.
-Matt
If you want to donate some $$$ to the me getting a predicta helmet fund, let me know :lol :lol
Thanks for the response it was very informative and I can tell just how disappointed you were when you got that helmet.
-Matt
