I just ordered a New Olders blackbird v2 in matte black with a gold visor / logo.
What are your thoughts on helmet art and paintjobs? Of course, the really clean automotive-style paintjobs are always great, but I'm looking for some additional inspiration for my helmet art.
It's fun, but it definitely takes time, practice, and LOTS of patience for those especially great looking paint jobs. I've painted a few of my helmets, including a Blackbird V2. I'm currently working on a Risch Ape Love and attempting my most ambitious design yet, but I'm around halfway into it and I started at the end of July (but it required some restoration work too).
FYI on the Blackbird, it was a huge pain to sand down all the way to bare fiberglass. I'm not sure if it's just super durable paint or because the shoulder farings give it ~2x surface area compared to other helmets, but if I had to do it again I would probably just sand the top layer enough for the new paint to adhere properly. Sanding/wet sanding by hand probably is the "safest" option to not accidentally damage your shell, but after 3-4 other paint jobs I finally bought an orbital sander to speed things up on my current project. (And I'm so glad I did after finding nearly a dozen layers of paint on this thing!)
Max Dubler wrote a good How-To article on helment painting a few years ago too: How To Paint Your Full Face Helmet
For inspo, check out @aerolids_n_fullfaces_official on Instagram and some of the accounts they've tagged too.
