17th December 2015
Greetings and salutations! With the Christmas break upon us, I am taking the opportunity to refurbish my second hand Obo Fibreglass helmet. I grabbed this lovely little bargain on Ebay at the beginning of the season and it has served me well.

It has a few chips around the edges, and where the lacquer has worn away revealing bare fibreglass edges. If water seeps in there it will reduce the life of the shell.

The foam is also a bit venerable so I will replace this too. I am also going to try and get creative with the old airbrush and personalise my lid.

Disassembling the helmet was more of a chore than I expected. Though the grille was new at the beginning of the season and can be re-used, a lot of the bolts and screws had rusted solid so needed to be drilled and cut out.

The pop stud collars had also deformed and will need replacing. I have found some nickel plated brass collars from a maritime store that will do the job nicely. The 'round post' nuts and screws are however proving more elusive. Finding suitable rust proof alternatives is difficult.

UPDATE: 20th December 2015
Forging onwards, I got the helmet is sanded, cleaned and rubbed down with methylated spirits and ready for painting.

And a few light coats of white primer later things are already looking a lot tidier.

A few coats of Vauxhall Mustard Yellow later, and the helmet has a basecoat.

UPDATE: 23rd December 2015
On goes a little masking tape.

Followed by matt black here and there and on the inside of the shell.

A few touch ups needed, but hazard stripes and interior black finish are now in place.

Now, let's talk glue. Once the new foam arrives, I was wondering about what to use to fix it to my helmet. I had been planning to use contact adhesive, but will keep looking for a better alternative that will give good, lasting hold and won't damage the foam.

Also, I am lucky enough to know a guy who does powder coating, so metal parts can be acid bathed and re-coated without issue. The cage was brand new at the start of the season, so I'm happy repainting and refitting it.

UPDATE: 31st December 2015
After discussions with other goalkeepers, I have decided to order replacement bolts from an ice hockey supplier, rather than purchasing a replacement set from OBO, as I can get much more for my money. Also, I am going to attempt to use double sided tape to secure the foam. I even have a load of double sided tape I can use to try. If it does not work, I can just invest in a hot glue gun in the sales.

In other news, I have now applied some vinyl decals. My initials and team number in Neuropolitical font.

Now to get applying many, many coats of lacquer.

UPDATE: 6th January 2016
On goes a little polyurethane black basecoat, a drybrush of tin, gunmetal, then aluminium. After that, a dusting of powdered weathering pigments. Add a drop of rubbing alcohol here and there and hey presto, rust patches.

UPDATE: 7th January 2016
A very pleasant evening spent cutting and grinding down the nuts and bolts that arrive from Puckstop. Now they are the right size for my helmet, I can get on with the final stage. Assembly!

UPDATE: 9th January 2016
Sadly the double sided tape did not hold the foam in place as I would like, so I ended up using a hot glue gun. It went in easily and with the minimum of cutting and jiggery-pokery.

And that marks the end of this refurbishment. The fibreglass is all sealed away from the elements once more and the new foam makes for a very comfy fit, just in time for the first game post Christmas break.

For a total £60 spend, I now have a completely refurbished helmet!