I've seen a lot of people have good luck making once-solid heads, such as Airtight's, into a removable helmet.

I'm making one right now out of Lift Ticket. The approach I'm using is to slowly whittle away the inside of the head using a dremel tool. It's v e r y s l o w going.

Does anyone know of a better way? I thought of trying a small drill.

Thanks!

Buy a dremel Seriously, the best possible option. A small drill could help if you have no other option.

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Yeah, definitely invest in a dremel. You will never regret it. I used to try hollowing things out with a small drill, Xacto knife and files, too. The results of the twenty minutes or so of work were never nearly as quality as the twenty seconds or so that using a dremel takes.

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Um, guys? He's already got a Dremel:





I've yet to give this a shot but I'd say for Lift-Ticket, maybe a chisel-style X-acto blade would help; you could push in along the insides of the helmet a bit to separate the face from the helmet, then use the Dremel to chip the face out. Don't know if it would be easier but would probably get smoother lines along those edges.

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You might also try a woodburner with a dovetail tip. Dremel is the king, but my woodburner works to gouge out plastic just fine too. Just open with windows when you do, due to the fumes of melted plastic.

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Jeez. Way to take all the fun out of it man.




And yes, Dremel is by far the way to go. Just be careful with some of the smaller heads, it can be tough to hollow them out enough to actually put on a head without accidentally breaking through the side while you hollow. Still need to do an Airtight helmet myself . . . guess I'm just waiting to find a decent unmasked head for him.

Cap's got a great idea with burning it away, but if you don't go that route, get some wire cutters. Some good strong ones that is comfortable to use. I do that a lot to eat away plastic until i get it at a certain level, then I finish up with the dremel. I also have some bits that cut better than average cutters. You have to watch out using them as a dremel will grab and pull even more with these type of bits. You can easily end up with a messed up item or your hand catching some cuts.

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A nice and easy pilot helmet to dremel/drill out is the one of the new Corps ones. The one with the reg head and the full helmet are both easy. They are the soft plastic and comes out real easy even with a X acto.

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Take your time when hollowing out a helmet. Instead of Dremeling the entire thing out in one go, start and stop, occasionally doing test fits on whatever head you'll be using for the custom and cleaning out the melted plastic.

Also, be sure to let the helmet cool down-- if you're holding the piece with your hand, that plastic gets super-hot in no time. I've lost a couple perfectly good helmets because I let go and they disappeared somewhere outside my house. Even if you're working with a vise or clamp, it's still easy for the helmet to slip out, so be careful.

Maybe investing in an Ove Glove would be a good idea