painting helmets

[JKerns]

I have a red fiberglass carins 1010 i bought probally 4 years ago and was wanting it painted a different color from factory specs. also looking for custom tetrahedrons with the USC football gamecock in the center. Any suggestions on where i can find someone to do this and find the tets?

[NY911Bowhunter]

For display only?

[JKerns]

i was planning on still using as a back up and for show i have recently bought a natural leather new yorker

[NY911Bowhunter]

Lightly scuff the surface and use the Krylon paint for plastic specific applications. I think that would give you the best results.

Obviously a composite wont hold the paint as well as a leather in regards to scratches, etc.

The tets.. check with the Fire Store?

[fireemtp]

According to the NFPA the helmet cannot be changed in any way without approval of the manufacturer, this would void the NFPA certification.

[Jonnee]

I have a red fiberglass carins 1010 i bought probally 4 years ago and was wanting it painted a different color from factory specs. also looking for custom tetrahedrons with the USC football gamecock in the center. Any suggestions on where i can find someone to do this and find the tets?

If it is your helmet you can do whatever you want to do with it. You can paint it dog$hit brown and put skull and crossbones on it.

You do not need their approval.


The nfpa isn't a law, it is a orgazanation and writes and suggest standards. They will not come and take you away for changing the color of the helmet!

[Brick3633]

I recently just did this with a Black Bullard NST I had laying around..scuffed it up, using 3 different levels of sand paper and rattle canned it and it turned out pretty damn good for a can

[CaptOldTimer]

i recently just did this with a black bullard nst i had laying around..scuffed it up, using 3 different levels of sand paper and rattle canned it and it turned out pretty damn good for a can

Nice looking lid.

[jbrescue]

Cairns/MSA has manufacturer recommended repainting instructions for comp[osite helmets on their site.

[Jonnee]

Brick, the finished product looks great!!

[Brick3633]

Thanks guys! I just wish the photos would allow me to upload a bigger picture

[kntryfolk]

If you paint it I wouldnt recomend using it in a fire but just for show even with heat resistant paint you and I well know the temperatures of some fires will just make the paint look like crap

[aromania]

http://www.msafire.com/cairns_repainting.html

[EBHFD68]

"custom tetrahedrons with the USC football gamecock in the center"........why don't you just buy a football helmet...thats totally embarrassing.

[NY911Bowhunter]

"custom tetrahedrons with the USC football gamecock in the center"........why don't you just buy a football helmet...thats totally embarrassing.

Sports fire hlemts are gaining popularity thanks to that nut at the Jets games.LOL

[Creeper]

http://www.msafire.com/cairns_repainting.html

Sorry to bring up an older thread but I have a question directly related to this topic, and about the intructions at the link. Specifically, this part:

Cairns recommends the use of Sherwin Williams Super Acrylic Spray Enamel. Be sure to ask the Sherwin Williams representative what type of primer to use.

One member (kntryfolk) mentioned earlier that even heat-resistant paint would look like crap after exposure to high heat. I don't know if the SW paint recommended by MSA is supposed to be "heat-resistant" paint or not but it's what they recommend. But I do wonder what the longevity and durability of the paint job will be. I wonder if this kind of SW paint is what MSA uses themselves, if that's why they recommend it.

[FWDbuff]

See my post in the other thread you started. Cairns and Brother (back before they sold out to MSA) recommended the SW paint. My understanding is because something in their formulation makes it adhere well to treated leather, however it has to be prepped properly (all foreign contaminates removed, sanded smoothe, etc.....)

As I stated in the other thread- have had the same leather 20+ years. Always used the SW paint, and have only painted the helmet maybe 4-6 times over that 20+ year period. And have never had a problem with flaking, as I prepped it right every time. And high-heat paint (like barbeQ or engine block paint) looks like schit every time no matter what you do, not to mention it is a flatte finish.

[Creeper]

See my post in the other thread you started. Cairns and Brother (back before they sold out to MSA) recommended the SW paint. My understanding is because something in their formulation makes it adhere well to treated leather, however it has to be prepped properly (all foreign contaminates removed, sanded smoothe, etc.....)

As I stated in the other thread- have had the same leather 20+ years. Always used the SW paint, and have only painted the helmet maybe 4-6 times over that 20+ year period. And have never had a problem with flaking, as I prepped it right every time. And high-heat paint (like barbeQ or engine block paint) looks like schit every time no matter what you do, not to mention it is a flatte finish.

Thank you, I appreciate all the advice and tips. However in this case I was asking specifically about plastic helmets, as per the original post. You see I currently have a plastic helmet and am debating whether to paint it, or get a leather. Either way there's going to be painting because what I'm doing is painting some of the segments a different color (on a clock, think 12-3 and 6-9). I would prefer to go leather but was always scared it would eventually look like crap, like all the other ones I've seen in my station. But now, thanks to you and the others in my other thread, I know that doesn't have to be the case. Thanks again!

[FWDbuff]

Either way there's going to be painting because what I'm doing is painting some of the segments a different color (on a clock, think 12-3 and 6-9)

Like San Francisco's truck companies?

[Creeper]

Like San Francisco's truck companies?

I'm assuming you mean the older helmets with two red quadrants, two white quadrants, and a black brim. Yeah, kind of like that, except the brim won't be a third color. The entire helmet will be one color except four of the segments of the crown (in two opposing pairs) will be painted a different color.

What I'm doing is based on (in fact, a replica of) what some of the other firefighters at my station have done in the past, although to my knowledge, there is no helmet like that currently in service. I don't know where they got the idea, if it came from SFFD or somewhere else or if they happened to coincidentally come up with the idea on their own or what.