Football Helmets

[Keith Diamond]

These aren't aircraft obviously, but I thought I'd share since this is Christmas related.  I'm using those Pocket Pro helmets made by Riddell to make little Christmas ornaments.  I ordered these almost 4 wks ago, but only a few came in (talk about slow delivery ), and since I'll be leaving for a family trip this coming weekend, I doubt I'll be able to get these out as gifts before Christmas.  They'll be late, but I'll try to finish them as soon as I can.

Here's the helmet breakdown.

There are 4 kids in our family (I'm the youngest) and we're split on the Clemson/Carolina rivalry.  My sister Helen has a Masters Degree from USC and her husband has a Masters from Clemson.  My other sister Angela has a Bachelors Degree from USC and her bf has the same.  My brother Steven double majored while at Clemson, so he currently has 2 degrees from Clemson, and he's going back for his third in the spring.  His fiance has a Bachelors degree from Clemson as well.  I have a Bachelors Degree from Clemson as well.  So, I'll be making Clemson and USC helmets for everyone, and throw in a couple more for my parents.

I'm a fan of the SF 49ers and Carolina Panthers, so I'll make some ornaments out of those helmets as well.  My brother is a Broncos fan and my sister Angela's bf is a huge Packers fan, so I'll make helmets out of those too.  I'm currently taking classes at a satelitte campus of Troy, so I'll convert some other helmets into Troy helmets.  And I'll make some of mine and my gf's high school.

Kinda frustrated that I only have 4 helmets so far to work with.  So I'm not sure if I'll start work now, or just wait on the rest.  But here's a preview.

[Scooterman]

Hey where are the Steelers, Keith?

C'mon, BdB help me out!

HERE WE GO STEELERS, HERE WE GO!
 :dum:  

[SinUnNombre]

That's pretty cool, Keith. Slightly off topic, but do you remember the old Starting Lineup sports figures? Well, I repaint those pretty often myself. So far I've only done University of Oklahoma players, both past and present.

Jon

[Brian da Basher]

Hey where are the Steelers, Keith?

C'mon, BdB help me out!

HERE WE GO STEELERS, HERE WE GO!
 :dum:

With the season the Steelers are having my guess is they're in the Toilet Bowl.

Oh how the mighty have fallen...

Brian da Basher

[Keith Diamond]

That's pretty cool, Keith. Slightly off topic, but do you remember the old Starting Lineup sports figures? Well, I repaint those pretty often myself. So far I've only done University of Oklahoma players, both past and present. Also, GO DOLPHINS!

Jon

Yeah, I remember those.  That's pretty cool what you're doing with them.  Someone responded to my thread at ARC similarly.

[Keith Diamond]

With the season the Steelers are having my guess is they're in the Toilet Bowl.

Oh how the mighty have fallen...

Brian da Basher

Well, the Panthers are struggling, and how do you think I feel about my 'niners the past 5 years?   :dum:  Oh, and I'm making University of South Carolina (USuC) helmets into ornaments.  I went to Clemson.  Surprised my hands aren't burning by touching those god forsaken Gamecock helmets.

[retro_seventies]

Pish.

now the COWBOYS, there's a team - my one concession to the Lone Star State of Mind that is browbeaten into you once you move down here to TX, is to embrace the Cowboys as my team (although the Jets will still have a place in my heart - even if Chad Pennington throws like Helen Keller).  Go Romo!  Keep the Romo-mentum up! SUPERBOWL! SUPERBOWL! SUPERBOWL!  Be tough beating the Bears though...

Six seasons in and finally we look like a team again....

only been to 3 games this season, but its a killer $$$ for a zookeeper!


GREAT HELMETS KEITH!!            

great 46 yard feild goal by grammatica to win for us this weekend too - you guys used to call him "automatica" right?  and doesn't he look like Kilinger from M*A*S*H?

[B777LR]

Hey, you dont need helmets to play football!

[Keith Diamond]

Thanks for the compliments guys.  And I agree, the Cowboys certainly have turned around since Romo took over for Bledsoe.

Also, it was mentioned at ARC how there is more than one style of Riddell helmet.  The original style and the new Revolution style.  I've never really liked the Riddell "Revolution" style helmets.  The shape of the helmet and the facemask look just wrong.

I specifically ordered the regular style, but only 4 of the helmets I recieved were the style I wanted.  The rest were Revolution.  Since the website I ordered from had a choice of both, and I specifically asked for the original style, I sent an email about my order.  According to him, they had no more of the original style in stock and that Riddell has been sending him only the Revolution style lately.  Well, I looked at them, and they didn't look half bad, and because of time issues, so I wouldn't have to deal with the hassle of returning items, and because of questionable availability of the regular style (most other websites I checked were very limited in their selection), I decided to keep the Revolution helmets.  So that they would all be standardized, I also asked him to change my other order to all Revolution style.

Here's a good comparision of both styles



As you can see, they don't look bad in the pocket pro size.  The full size helmets are horrible looking though.

Here's some of the original style that I will not be converting to ornaments.  I ordered 7 Clemson helmets, but the other 6 are on back order, so I only have this one.  



These three, I will also not be converting.  As I mentioned before, I'm a 49ers and Panthers fan, and the gf is also a Panthers fan.

[SinUnNombre]

Also, it was mentioned at ARC how there is more than one style of Riddell helmet.  The original style and the new Revolution style.  I've never really liked the Riddell "Revolution" style helmets.  The shape of the helmet and the facemask look just wrong.

While I agree the Revolutions do look kinda funky, I like them. They're so oddly shaped because they're designed to reduce the risk of concussions. I've actually worn one in practice once, and they are really light and breathe better than the regular style. But, if I were still playing, I'd stick with the regular style.

Jon

[Keith Diamond]

While I agree the Revolutions do look kinda funky, I like them. They're so oddly shaped because they're designed to reduce the risk of concussions. I've actually worn one in practice once, and they are really light and breathe better than the regular style. But, if I were still playing, I'd stick with the regular style.

Jon

huh, well that's interesting information.  Thanks for sharing it with us.  Glad to know there's a reason behind the funky design.

Some pics to share

It maybe hard to see, but I've drilled a hole in each of the helmets



used some pliers to clip a paper clip.  One end is put in the hole, while the other end is used to mark a spot to drill the other hole



here's inside the helmet with the paper clip inserted in the holes



add a little super glue and then mount it to prevent the super glue from getting everywhere

[Keith Diamond]

back from travelling the past couple of weeks

the rest of the helmets arrived while I was gone, so here's more progress

super glue drying



after a bath in future.  I used the remainder of the paperclips for temporary hooks while they dry.  I also used q-tips to soak up build ups of future

[Keith Diamond]

Well, all the ornaments look great on the various Christmas trees.

Here's the breakdown of the gifts I gave

1 Clemson and 1 Carolina to my parents since they have children that went to both

1 Clemson and 1 Carolina to my sister and her husband.  She got her masters at USC and he got his at Clemson.  They both went to Winthrop for their undergrad, but Winthrop doesn't have a football team.  Hence the commonly heard phrase around Winthrop "Winthrop Football:  Still undefeated!"

1 Carolina and 1 Green Bay Packers to my sister and her bf.  They both went to USC for their undergrad, so I made a Packers ornament since her bf is a huge Packers fan.

1 Clemson and 1 Denver Broncos for my brother and his fiance.  They both went to Clemson for their undergrad, and my bro is a huge Broncos fan.

1 Clemson, 1 Carolina Panthers and 1 San Fran 49ers for me and my gf.  I went to Clemson, while she went to Winthrop, but is a big Clemson fan.  We both like the Panthers and the 49ers have been my fav since the days of Joe Montana.

I also have a couple of Indy Colts helmets that I will convert to my high school's helmets.  I'll sand off the markings and repaint the facemask for that.  I'll also get my hands on some Redskin helmets to make my current school's helmets.

I didn't have time to take many pics since one of my family members only stayed over for a night, so I had to rush some of these.

Here's the Tiger helmet



I put all of the helmets into small stockings like this.  I bought them at Wal-Mart and added small bows that I also bought at Wal-Mart.  I then hung the little stockings on the tree until it was time to give them away.



And on the tree with a Clemson ornament I bought





One of the best parts was when they asked me where I was able to find these helmets since they had never seen them in stores.

also, a couple of things my sister said:

"He's a little Martha Stewart"

"You know why he can make stuff like this?  Cuz he makes models all the time"