Okay, I don't have any actual pics of the helmet (I know, what was I thinking! or better question
should be... WAS I thinking at all?) So you'll have to bear with me.

I got to mess around with Wilco Dan's Prototype SAAB helmet at the con, as well as check
out a couple raw cast parts kits.

Frankly I was disappointed... THAT DAN'S NOT CHARGING MORE! Well, not disappointed,
but DAmN glad!

The helmet flat out rocks! There are a couple small issues (the slight visual distortion of the
face shield for instance) but adding a 100% optically clear shield will increase the cost by
like another $100.

The way it's padded really does assist airflow quite a bit and helps keep you cooler.
There's space in the back for a 3.5" fan which should also help keep heat at bay.

The surface detain is superb. Smooth with good detailing. The visor cover is thin material
but holds ALL the surface detail of the original item, which is very rare for a vaccuformed piece.

The locking latches work fine and have nice detail in them. You will likely want to use some
sort of lock nut on the mount screws though, as the piece with the wire loop wants to spin
freely in place or end up backwards if you're not careful.

And the overall weight of the helmet is less than a standard motorcycle helmet! And at
most only 1/4 the weight of a BSG Viper Pilot helmet! Take THAT Viper Jocks!

The kit in the raw looks like it won't take too much work to get cleaned up. The flashing
Isn't terribly excessive and is very thin so removing it should be fast. The resin and plastic
that's being used already has a greenish color to it, so if you scratch your paintjob you won't
see blaze white shining through which is always a problem with hard props such as guns
and non-stormtrooper helmets.

There's minimal sprues. and near as I can tell, all the screw/bolt mount points will need
only a minor amount of drilling to be opened.

There's plenty of room in the chin bar area for a lighting rig.

Overall, I'm very impressed with the finished prototype, and eagerly await my kits. I'd
have taken one home with me, but I already had too much luggage.

Maybe if we talk reeeeeally nice to Dan he'll post some pics of one of the raw kits.

Russ

Having also played around with it.. I can't agree more! We're serioulsy in for a real treat and it looks DAmN awesome! It's honestly one of the lightest helms I've ever worn and the detail is amazing. I can't wait to see us all troppin' with them, you will NOT be disappointed at all...... Except.. well..when you don't take any pictures bwahahaha!! (D'oh!)

No pictures? You tease!

Sorry. Truth be told I only shot maybe a dozen pics all con. Sure... I shot like 6 hours of video, but few actual pictures. Doh!

I'll get my pics (such as they are) up soon. I need a clone of myself to do all the work. But then, if it's a clone of myself,
he wouldn't want to just work either. Sigh.

I asked Dan K. and he'll try to get us some pics of the raw cast kit parts when he has time.

Russ

I must admit, it’s really tempting to get in on this. I have a row of US helmets across the top of my book case (including my issued Kevlar helmet when I was active duty) and this would really look cool at the far end of that. I would avoid the whole face plate issue and go with the flight helmet. That way, there’s no clear plastic in the way, minimal heating issues, and people are unlikely to mistake you for Aliens Marines. I already have a paint scheme picked out for the day I wind up with one. Exactly how thin is it? I’m not big on items I have to treat with kid gloves unless it’s a display item that wasn’t meant to be worn or handled.

OOHHH

You realy know how to tease us on this one

but from the write up the helmet sounds fantastic

cant wait to sea any pics of it or better still get the baby in my hands

Darn computer ate my last response, so lets try this again...



Well, "technically" ALL the helmets (except the Kevlar) are flight helmets. The series used flight helmets DID have the face shield,
it was just never used (and can actually be seen retracted in the visor cover).

The Hazardous Environment helmets are exactly the same, just green in color and they used them with the face shield down.

Jathoris wore the helmet most of the time at Dragoncon with the shield in the up position.



Heh. It will still happen. You could be carrying a big neon sign saying "I'm from Space: Above and Beyond, Fox Network, 1995"
and people would still get it wrong.



The visor cover is thin material, but is semi-flexible to withstand minor impacts. We dropped one raw shield with no harm.
Unless you try and to the DOT/Snell drop test onto concrete with a 40 lb weight inside, your helmet should be just fine
for wearing and handling. I know I'll be doing both with mine.

Russ

Happens all the time w/Stargate & BSG costuming, especially if you're wearing black, you'll be confused with some sort of generic soldier or be called SWAT.

P51, the helmets are real nice. I'm not even a big fan of the show and I want one just to have on, of course that's largely because I just love flight helmets in general.

You guys had a finished one there? I only got to see the unfinished one in the box. I did like what I got to see. It is on the "Want" list. As of now I still owe Rook & Dan some cash so I need to pay them first.

Jathoris was wearing the finished one on Sunday and then we had it up in Dan's room.

No hurries on getting money to me. I'm not planning on going anywhere.

Russ

Hey, I hear you on the “Who ARE you supposed to be?” thing. Next time I ever go to a Con with my 58th flight suit on, I’ll have handouts or cards saying what it is. At the Seattle Comic Con, I got really tired of explaining it. I too collect flight gear and have a formidable collection of WW2 AAF flying gear, all of which fits me. I used to collect jet pilot stuff from the 70s and 80s and for years had a complete fighter pilot setup, helmets and all. I got rid of most of it when I decided to focus on WW2. I still miss those helmets, especially the one I used to use when flying on high-performance aircraft.
Russ, thanks for the heads up on the durability. I recently have seen some extremely flimsy items for costuming (nothing from Dan, all his stuff is good) which makes me now doubt how other items will stand up to even basic wear until I see them. As a life-long historical re-enactor, everything I use has to have a durability or some manner of practicality to me. Even Wilco’s fine pistol makes me feel all icky because it doesn’t actually work. I’m seriously looking into making a fully-functional one if I can find the right scope mounts.

I was really impressed with the helm. It was light weight, but durable, and for it's size, actually NOT that bulky.. And it didn't even fit me right because it's not mine and what little padding inside, wasn't meant for my head. we took some shoulder pad inserts and duct taped them to the inside and that seemed to work. So, techinically, for something that wasn't even shaped to my melon, seemed to do just fine. I did walk around with the visor up for the most part.. But.. if you're wearing it to a con.. It's SO con-friendly! I never did get "hot" with the visor up and if someone wanted a picture, it was a serioulsy quick.. 1 second/flip of the visor down. Now, there was a fan built into the back section, but it was not connected, so if you want to stay in it with the shiled down, no problem there. There was a little distortion in the clearity of visory, but not too bad. Wouldn't want to disarm a chig mine though haha. They helm can take a beating and it's built pretty solid. What REALLY sold me, was the weight, or lack their of. I have plenty of helms, and this by far was among the lighter ones. people dug the funtioning aspects of it too. They like the look of it, then get tripped out by when you drop the visor down. The only down side I think i had to the whole thing, other than 'perfect' clarity looking out, was the adjustment nut that Rook talked about earlier, the longer I wore it, it didn't hold the visor up as well, so you may want to swap out that adjustment nut. other than that, it's very spacious inside, but doesnt feel like a massive fishbowl. Oh yeah, very user friendly too. You can put it on/take it off by yourself pretty easily.

Actually I WAS going to do this for Dragoncon, but forgot due to time restraints in the prep department (re: I was slow).



I hear that. "most" of my prop weapons have some sort of functionality to them. My Wilco M70
stunt and a couple anime pistols are the only ones that don't.



My airsoft pistol conversion has stalled because I'm stuck on the barrel mods. I figured out
how to mod the airsoft mag base with the extension and retain functionality. Just need to
work on remastering the front shroud from the moulds I have already.

Russ