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Just collected a nice new carbon THE one for Joel's new paint job. I'm going to post the progress of the helmet as I go and show how it's done.

Awesome. I shall look forward to it taking shape.

I'm really looking forward to seeing this done. Will be epic. What's the design going to be again. Sheds and stars or something?

Cool, can't wait to see the final result,
What happened to the 661?

I left it behind at the last PORC race by mistake!!

Design basics were black and white with lots of sheds - time to see what Greg figures out from that concept

Here's the next stage. The helmet is masked up, all vents are covered and the entire inside too. I tape up the inside like this to ensure no paint gets in there and it's easier to move around when spraying.
Normally it would take about an hour and a half to do but because this helmet has convex mesh on all vents it took me an extra hour to ensure the tape covered the sides of the mesh which wasn't as easy as it sounds lol..
Tape is also screwed into the peak bolt holes to ensure no paint gets in. Cling film can also be used.

Nice stuff - does the masking tape stay on till the end or do you take it off then reapply during the paint jobs to check it out?

Jon the tape stays on throughout as it's protecting the bits that will not be painted. It's all about the preparation and if you do it right first time there shouldn't be any reason to remove the tape. If you take it off then you need to make sure it's put back in exactly the same position as you could end up with bits not painted or painted in the wrong place. The only reason to take the tape off is when clear coating as you may get a bit of build up around the trim but it's usually ok. It also adds to the time taken and means more money.

Cool,what's the random peice of masking tape in the first picture doing

Bradley it tells me how long I've been working on the helmet which is important for pricing. Also if it's stuck on I can't lose it lol.

Oh right
Can't wait too see what the final outcome looks like

The next stage after masking is to rub down the surface so that it has a matt appearance. It's important to make sure it's all been rubbed down so that the paint has a tooth to hold on to.
A first base coat of black is used to knock back the graphics so that the next base coat of white takes less coats to cover them.

The first stage of masking is now applied and then sprayed over with black. This also includes Joel's shed logos so that when removed will be white.

Black now sprayed over masking.

The first stage of masking is now removed. As you can see some of the parts of the sheds are missing but these will be added in reverse using black.