|
|
my helmet is now home
Aurora, IL
January 3, 2006
Had it Really Been a Whole Month?
I had been without my helmet for an entire month, and I was starting to
wonder when I would ever see it again. Luckily though, my phone rang and
it was Duffy saying he was going to be in the Oswego area on Monday to see
another one of the 501st members. He said he was going to bring my helmet
with him, and that we would hook up so that I could finally get it back
from him. I was so excited that I told him, “Yeah, lets get together so I
can get that helmet back from you!” I had a huge smile on my face when I
hung up the phone. It wouldn’t be for two hours before I was going to meet
up with him, but I knew that it would feel like eternity.
Duffy called, said he was in the area, so I hopped in my car and drove
off to Luis’ house (where Duffy was heading to). It only took me about ten
minutes to get there, and by looking in my rear view mirror I could tell I
was about to explode with anxiousness. Now, this wasn’t the first time I
had gone to Luis’ house before, as I had been there a couple times a few
years ago (after meeting him for the first time at a prop party in
Batavia). So, I felt comfortable going somewhere I had been before.
I rang the doorbell, walked inside, and sitting on the couch was Duffy
and two other 501st members from Michigan. I walked into their family
room, sat down, and behind me by the door was my helmet sitting on the
floor. It almost looked as if it weren’t even mine, as if I had forgotten
what it looked like. I stayed for about ten minutes, chatted with
everyone, and it was time for me to leave as I had other errands to run
that afternoon. As I picked up my helmet, it was almost as if there was
some kind of a connection that happened between the helmet and me. It felt
great holding it once again.
I walked out the door, hopped in my car, and set my helmet on my front
passenger seat. I started the car’s engine, let it warm up a bit, and just
stared at my helmet. It was finally in my possession again. Damn, it was
great to have it back again.
Much Work Still to Do
Got home and immediately took it downstairs to my basement, where I
could start working on it right away. There are several things that need
to be done before I can start wearing it:
- Trim out the cheek areas for the two new fans that have been
installed.
- Paint those trimmed out areas with shiny gray spray paint.
- Added 9-volt batteries that will bring power to the fans and
microphone/amplifier.
- Insert the green foam that Duffy provided where the lapel microphone
sits, and figure out where it fits best for my voice.
- Conceal the wiring with black tubing that I had purchased at Home
Depot.
Now, I was beginning to learn that this was going to be a lot more work
than I initially anticipated, but it was all stuff I knew I could do on my
own. First thing up on the agenda was to start trimming out eight slots on
each side of the helmet in the cheek area, and this is where the fans
would push out the heat from inside the helmet. Most people think you
would want to blow air onto your face, but instead you want to blow out
the hot air. So, the one side turned out perfectly, while the other side
wasn’t as perfect as it could have been. Nevertheless, it looked good
enough to me, so I painted those two areas with shiny gray spray paint,
and it would need at least 24 hours to completely dry.
During the process of trimming out those cheeks I had accidentally
knocked out one of the 9-volt battery holders. No big deal, as it meant
that I would have to simply hot-glue it back into place. Unfortunately, I
would have to first remove all the existing hot-glue from that clip, as it
remained on the clip and not inside the helmet. This shouldn’t have taken
longer than a couple of minutes, but this crap did not want to come off
without a fight. During the process I had stabbed one of my fingers on my
left hand with my X-Acto knife, and damn did it hurt like hell! That took
about ten minutes away from my work, as I had to clean the cut, put
anti-bacterial ointment and a band-aid on it. It was a deep cut, but it
wouldn’t stop me from working on my helmet. However, I wouldn’t be able to
do much work on my helmet until the paint dried completely, so it was the
end of me working on my helmet for a while. More to come!
Photo Gallery
To see the photo gallery containing 27 photos click
here. |
|
