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How to make a skirmishable "Heat" Hockey Mask


uscmCorps

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How to make a "Heat" Hockey Mask airsoft skirmishable


Heat is still to this day one of my favorite movies. Michael Mann made the movie in 1995, and after watching the movie again recently it occurred to me how well it holds up over a decade later. For me, there are two bad-*albatross* scenes in the movie which always comes to mind... the armor car hold up, and the bank robbery. For those of you who haven't seen the movie, during the armor car hold up the heist crew needed to add a new member to their team and Waingro (played by Kevin Gage) was recommended to them. Little did the crew know that Waingro was a trigger happy homicidal maniac and his actions led to the homicides of all the security guards in the armor car.

Anyway, his homicidal tendencies aside, I always thought that Waingro's outfit during the armored car heist was pretty bad-*albatross*. The most identifying feature of his outfit is the Hockey Mask. Tony, one of my friends/teammates uses the exact same mask occasionally for CQB games (with the upper portion of the mask cut off so he can use Bolle's with it). The mask is a Mylec Hockey Mask. They're not too common nowadays, but you can still find them here and there (here they are at Amazon.com link 1, & link 2) for about US$18-28. They come in two colors white and black. Waingro wore a white one, and Danny Trejo's character wore a black one. The rest of the crew wore another style of Hockey Mask.

• Here's some pics of Waingro's outfit:
Pic 1
Pic 2
Pic 3
Pretty bad-*albatross* in my opinion! :
waingroscreencap05od6.jpg

I bought a white Mylec Hockey Mask about a year ago, but never got around to do anything with it. My buddy Tony took aluminum wire mesh and epoxied it over some of the holes for his conversion. While it's been holding up fine for him and he's used it for a few years now, I wanted to leave the entire mask intact instead of only using the lower half like he did. Looking at the mesh used in my Japanese Masks and the mesh BitterEnd Goggles uses in his goggles/masks, I bought my supplies from McMaster-Carr. (BitterEnd makes some fantastic goggle modifications BTW. I bought a pair of Fast Strikes in Multicam from him (see my review here), and he also meshed my Sykes Mask and I was very satisfied in both cases).

What I needed from McMaster-Carr:
Item # 9255T251 Steel Perforated Sheet, 36" X 40", .0625" Hole Dia, 41% Open Area, 20 Gauge (This is the Wire Mesh)
Item # 3585A12 Standard Cut High-leverage Sheet Metal Snip, Up To 18 Ga Stl,cuts Straight & Curves, 9-3/4" L (Snips to cut up the 20 Gauge Steel Sheet).
Item # 8947A11 General Purpose Hss Screw Machine Drill Bit, 3/64" Size, 1-3/8" Overall Length, 1/2" Flute Length (Drill bit to create the holes for the screws to go through)
Item # 96710A116 18-8 Ss Pan Head Torx Machine Screw, 0-80 Thread, 1/4" Length (Torx screws (50 pieces per box))
Item # 90480A001 Zinc-plated Steel Machine Screw Nut, 0-80 Screw Size, 5/32" Width, 3/64" Height (nuts for the Torx screws (100 pieces per box))
Item # 52995A23 Miniature Precision Torx Driver, Size T5, 1-37/64" Blade Length, 4-45/64"l Overall (Torx Driver to screw in the Torx Screws)
Dremel with a collet capable of holding the 3/64" Sized drill bit, and also a regular collet with a metal grinding attachment of some sort.

The wire mesh / steel perforated sheet I used was chosen because it has good visibility, small holes, and high strength. Pieces of this wire mesh I tested, showed minimal deformation when shot at point blank range at 410 fps using 0.2gram Excel BBs. Testing was done to the same degree as the tests I performed on some spare pieces of perforated mesh supplied by BitterEnd as seen here.

The Torx head screws were chosen because I liked the look of the torx head over that of a regular philips, slotted or Hex socket. The screw size was determined to be the optimum for my application as it the shaft was slim enough to pass through the perforated holes of the wire mesh, and the head was too large to pass through those same holes.

The drill bit was chosen based on the Torx machine screws used (mentioned above).


Step One: Make a paper pattern for the sheet metal.
So the first step was to take some paper and make some stencils for the eyes, nostrils, mouth etc. This took a little trial and error. You have to always keep in mind that these stencils are going to be translated onto sheet metal and you'll be limited as to how much folding and curvature you can introduce into it. After a few revisions to my paper stencils I had something that I could pattern off.

• Pic of the Patterns I used:
waingrocustom01bkl2.jpg


* Important note: the original sculpt a lot of masks are based off are sometimes not 100% symmetrical. The original sculpt of a mask is often hand sculpted by a person, and while it appears symmetrical, very often small differences from left to right may be introduced. Unless those differences are caught during the sculpting phase, all the final production masks will also have that asymmetry introduced to it. Why is this important to us? Well sometimes when you make a left piece and a right piece, even if your patterns are 100% mirrored, those pieces may not fit the same when used on the mask as the mask itself may not be perfectly mirrored. So you'll just have to adjust as you work from one side to the other.


Step Two: Cutting out the metal pieces.
Using the paper stencils, trace out the patterns onto the wire mesh. Using the snips, I rough cut each piece first allowing about 1/4" (or 5mm) of excess around the periphery of the shape. Then I cut out the shape as accurately as possible. Be careful when doing this as the metal trim will have sharp rough edges and the metal tends to curl when cut. I'd recommend gloves and eye protection.

• Here's some of the metal pieces next to the stencils:
waingrocustom02yj4.jpg


Step Three: Shaping the metal pieces.
Being that the surface these pieces will be attached to is not 100% flat, you'll need to bend them slightly to help them conform to the inner surface of the mask. Remember that you always want to bend the metal less than needed and make adjustments until it fits nicely. Bending the metal too much may weaken the metal. So try and keep your adjustments to a mimimum. You may also have to cut off more of the sheet metal to get the right fit. The stencils were simply a good starting point. I did have to use a hammer and a rounded hard surface to shape the tighter curves of the eye pieces (around the bridge of the nose area). That gave me a nice rounded complex curve.


* Be weary of how much you've bent and deformed the wire mesh. If you've bent it back and forth too much or weakened the metal in some other way, you may have to start that piece over again. It's always better to be sure that your wire mesh is absolutely as strong as possible. Weakened metal may lead to the sheet get broken when shot at or allowing a BB to pass through.


Step Four: Attaching the wire mesh to the Mylec Hockey Mask.
Take the first wire mesh piece you want to mount and position it where its final placement is supposed to be.

Hold it there with something (I just used my hand).

Think carefully as to approximately where you want the mount points (i.e. where the screws will be installed) for that piece to be. You want to be relatively smart about the mount points, doing as few as needed but also strategically placed so that you have a very securely mounted piece (also remember that too many mount points may weaken the plastic too much). You also want to allow at least 3/16" to 1/4" from the edge of the hole for the mount point.

Take the Dremel or some kind of drill with the 3/64" Sized Drill Bit installed, and from the inside of the mask drill through a wire mesh hole that most closely matches the first mount point. You're not actually drilling a new hole in the metal, just in the mask, but using a pre-existing hole in the mesh to guide you ensures that a 0-80 screw will pass through both mask and mesh correctly. Watch your fingers! Before drilling any more of the mount points, you're going to want to bolt the wire mesh to the mask using this first mount point. Using the Torx Driver, screw in a Torx screw from the outside of the mask through the new hole and the wire mesh. Then bolt it down using a nut (you may need to use a pair of needle nose pliers to hold the nut in place). In most cases, the 1/4" length screw will be a little too long and there will be a fair bit protruding out of the nut. This is fine as we will dremel off the excess later on.

Once the mesh is securely held in place using this first mount point, drill the next mount point. Bolt the next mount point, and repeat till all the rest of your mounts points are finished. The reason why I do each mount point entirely before moving onto the next is because if you drill all the mount points in one go, there's a possibility that the mesh may have shifted just enough between drillings that the mount points fall out of alignment. By doing one at a time, you should never have alignment issues.

After the first metal piece is completely mounted (with multiple mount points) move onto the next until you've done the entire mask.

When all the pieces are mounted, you can use the dremel and a metal grinding attachment (you'll probably have to switch collets) and grind off the excess of the screw down to the nut. I'm not too worried about the nuts coming off, but for those who are worried, you can add some thread lock.

The way the mask is designed, the inner surface of the mask is always kept off my face. The only contact points between my face and the mask is at the cheek bones, chin and forehead. I can't feel the bolts or mesh on the inside of the mask, but in the future I'll probably take some foam padding or rubber draw liner and cover up some of the potential trouble spots.

• Here's the mask before I added the final piece at the top of the mask to cover the top holes:
waingrocustom03brx9.jpg

• Close up of the torx screws on the mask:
waingrocustom04baz2.jpg

• Pic of the inner mask:
waingrocustom05buh2.jpg


Step Five: Painting the Torx heads white *

* This is optional.


I was a little torn whether or not to paint the Torx heads. I was tempted to leave them silver as they did look pretty cool, but in the end I just painted over them using White-Out (aka Tip-Ex). They're still slightly visible, but from a distance, not noticable.

• Close up of the painted torx head screws:
waingrocustom06du8.jpg


And that's it!


• The Final Product:
waingrocustomsmallzm7.jpg

heatworn01alzu8.jpg




*** Disclaimer : Wire Mesh masks are not as safe as ANSI rated paintball lens masks. It is entirely possible that small fragments can pass through. Also, depending how you implemented this tutorial it is entirely possible that your mask may FAIL. This tutorial is simply how I did MY mask. If you choose to try this you do so at your own risk. These do NOT meet ANSI guidelines or requirements, and there's always the possibility of serious injury.


To get the whole outfit together, I identified Waingro's Coveralls as Dickies 4897 Fisher Stripe Coveralls. Relatively inexpensive, they can be found at Amazon.com as well as various other online stores. Give it a good wash and that'll soften them up a bit and hopefully fade them a little.
As for the Black Body armor, Pantac's SVS Personal Body Armor (Black) is a pretty close fit.

• Another angle of Waingro's outfit:
Pic

Gives you a pretty cool look in the end that closely resembles the look of the movie.


heatworn02allg4.jpg


Enjoy !!! ;)








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Good job, though. Love that film!

Thanks, Ben! I actually wrote this back in July of 2008 but due to an injury, I didn't get a chance to take the last couple pictures until this weekend. So I didn't publish the tutorial until today. Still, if you want to stand out from the crowd a bit, this is a relatively unique way to go about it. ;)

 

A couple things: currently the inside of the mesh is still unpainted. Often when wearing mesh goggles, the mesh is painted black and when looking through the mesh due to the fact that a certain percentage of the image is obscured from your vision, your eye reads it as a darker image than it actually is (kinda like wearing sunglasses with less clarity). The mesh in my mask is unpainted and has an interesting effect in that it tricks the eye to think that the image is brighter. The downside to this is that your eyes may have trouble with differentiating the mesh from the image beyond it. I may have to paint the insides of the mesh black.

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That's pretty cool!

 

I used to play goalie as a kid and wore two masks (Gary Bromley and Don Beaupre). Gary Bromley's mask was also featured in the movie Youngblood, used by the opposing team's goalie. Just like uscmCorps said, I wore those because it was intimating to shooters. Google some of these goalies for some neat designs...Gilles Gratton from the NY Rangers, Gilles Meloche from the Cleveland Barons, and Gary Simmons also from the Barons. There's a ton more, but just can't think of any now.

 

I think in the early 80's I was told I could no longer wear the Bromley mask for safety reasons...there was enough room in the eye holes for a but end of a hockey stick to pass through and kids were starting to shoot harder and if it impacted hard enough, I can get my face cut.

 

Real hockey masks can get a bit uncomfortable, but Mylec masks are for street hockey and designed to "breathe" a bit better. They're very light and probably good for airsoft. Both my hockey masks were custom fit...my newer Beaupre mask was kevlar while the Bromley was fiberglass. The kevlar hockey masks are much more lighter and much stronger. I think it cost me about $200 bucks to mold and paint...but I made mine in the 70's and 80's. I think they cost nearly a grand to make these days...I'm not too sure.

 

If you can't find a mylec mask, just ask for any street hockey goalie mask. Also, the other masks they use look like a Mike Liut or Bernie Parent. It's hard to tell unless I see it up close (the number and shape of the air holes).

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I did this a while back ,I just meshed the important bits though.

 

DSC00071.jpg

 

Ended up selling it though, as I have far too many masks for a man with only one head :D .

This is where I got mine ,cost about £25+pp :) .

 

http://www.sportwheels.ca/products/mylec-street-hockey-mask

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If you can't find a mylec mask, just ask for any street hockey goalie mask. Also, the other masks they use look like a Mike Liut or Bernie Parent. It's hard to tell unless I see it up close (the number and shape of the air holes).

 

I think Val Kilmer wears the bernie parent mask

 

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I tested that same 20 gauge perforated sheet metal from mcmaster-carr because a few people wanted me to make them some custom masks, and my 385 fps M14 ripped holes through it with ease over and over. It was definitely not safe for use as airsoft eye protection. I strongly encourage you to test it some more.

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I would imagine that 20gauge is plenty tough enough .Thats .09cm thick ,so almost a millimeter .If anybody is looking for mesh .The mesh in the door of a microwave (if you can salvage a broken one) Is fairly tough. It can vary ,so test it first. But on the whole its tougher than sensei mesh .The other option for people in the UK ,is this http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=17772 .Some think the holes are too big (3mm),but I've been using this mesh for 8 years among others, and all very pleased with its performance. You can see my tests I carried out on it, in the link on my sig.

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I currently own herosharks mylec mask and having skirmished it a few times i must say its a great peice of kit, and looks very intimidating!

 

Your mask now mate ;) .UscmCorps ,don't you find you can get glare from strong lights with the mesh left bare like that ? I would be inclined to paint it mate black ,or white.

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I would imagine that 20gauge is plenty tough enough .Thats .09cm thick ,so almost a millimeter .If anybody is looking for mesh .The mesh in the door of a microwave (if you can salvage a broken one) Is fairly tough. It can vary ,so test it first. But on the whole its tougher than sensei mesh .The other option for people in the UK ,is this http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=17772 .Some think the holes are too big (3mm),but I've been using this mesh for 8 years among others, and all very pleased with its performance. You can see my tests I carried out on it, in the link on my sig.

That's the impression I got too. I tested the stuff I bought pretty extensively when I first got it. To the same degree and beyond as what I tested the BitterEnd goggles when I did that review. My tests showed it held up just as well. The stuff Dobey describes sounded more like 20 gauge perforated sheet aluminum rather than 20 gauge perforated sheet steel. Not that I'm saying he's wrong, I just found the complete opposite and I tested with even higher FPS.

 

UscmCorps ,don't you find you can get glare from strong lights with the mesh left bare like that ? I would be inclined to paint it mate black ,or white.

Hadn't thought of white. I'm thinking of giving it a light dusting of black, or just use a sharpie. I also have a Brownells Blu'ing pen. That'll do the trick too. I'll leave the outer surface as is and just deal with the inside of the mesh.

 

Love that Black Mylec BTW! Nice and simple... very cool. ;)

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Indeed he does, now I just need to hunt down one, they seem to be rarer than rocking horse pooh, unless I'm looking for the wrong thing or in the wrong places :(

 

On closer inspection its a very bad copy of one http://flickr.com/photos/japaneseforms/410024501

This is what it should look like http://www.hockeymasks.com/order/28-Bernie-Parent-Mask.shtml

Or maybe a lindbergh ,who loved bernies mask and copied it http://www.hockeymasks.com/masks/Pelle-Lindbergh.shtml#14

This could be an affordable option http://www.framedmemories.ca/masks.htm

 

 

That's the impression I got too. I tested the stuff I bought pretty extensively when I first got it. To the same degree and beyond as what I tested the BitterEnd goggles when I did that review. My tests showed it held up just as well. The stuff Dobey describes sounded more like 20 gauge perforated sheet aluminum rather than 20 gauge perforated sheet steel. Not that I'm saying he's wrong, I just found the complete opposite and I tested with even higher FPS.

 

 

Hadn't thought of white. I'm thinking of giving it a light dusting of black, or just use a sharpie. I also have a Brownells Blu'ing pen. That'll do the trick too. I'll leave the outer surface as is and just deal with the inside of the mesh.

 

Love that Black Mylec BTW! Nice and simple... very cool. ;)

 

Cheers :) . The thing you have to cover mainly is the inside edge of the holes ,thats where the shine primairly comes from. I often paint the inside of my mesh with matt white ,because it fools the eye into thinking its lighter. I use a sponge to apply it in very thin layers building it up, so theres no chance of flaking. Also stops the rust setting in .If it were mine I would gloss white the outside to match , then matt white inside.

 

 

The other masks are indeed Bernie Parent masks. I've also converted a Mylec mask but never skirmished in it - I disliked the tremendous loss of peripheral vision I suffered.

 

thats why I started making my own :D

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The other masks are indeed Bernie Parent masks. I've also converted a Mylec mask but never skirmished in it - I disliked the tremendous loss of peripheral vision I suffered.

 

FYI...that's another reason why goalies ditched that design. Here's a quick shot of my Don Beaupre - this a rare original Badger model. The cage is called a "cat's eye" and allows for almost natural field of view (this mask originally was fitted with a "bird cage" which I didn't like). Almost all hockey goalies use still use this design (I think some pro Lacrosse players have picked it up). Its custom molded so my face is fairly close to the cage which helps improve field of vision.

 

Probably not a good idea to use this for airsoft as its not even safe for hockey.

 

DSCF0007.jpg

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Did this mod to another mask for a friend of mine. 3 quick things:

 

1) This tutorial is awesome! Much kudos!

2) I used goggle lenses on the eye section and they fog up so bad for the poor guy. If you are considering it, don't.

3) I used Plumber's ABS pipe weld to hold the appliances in place. The bare wire was painful to the guy I made it for. The ABS weld dried smooth and worked will, but will be a pain if he wants to remove them.

 

Thanks for posting this!

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*** Disclaimer : Wire Mesh masks are not as safe as ANSI rated paintball lens masks. It is entirely possible that small fragments can pass through. Also, depending how you implemented this tutorial it is entirely possible that your mask may FAIL. This tutorial is simply how I did MY mask. If you choose to try this you do so at your own risk. These do NOT meet ANSI guidelines or requirements, and there's always the possibility of serious injury.

 

That is the way to recognize the American product: the lengthy disclaimer from the country of "I will sue you!!!"

 

All fun and games but that looks great for CQB if you play the team "bad guys". Looks great. Also happy you kept it clean white and not tried to add some "scary" or "intimidating" paint-job. Job well done.

 

Small question: why do you not add some thin glass or plastic just behind the holes for the eyes? Plastic does not need to be high-grade due to the metal mash but is only needed to keep the smaller tiny pieces out of your eyes. It will alsno not diminish the looks of the mask.

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Speaking of this, how did the guys in HEAT hold their ammo?

They wore vest under their jackets (in the bank scene at least) with elastic straps holding multiple mags to their chests :) I'm planning a Val Kilmer style loadout, but only if I can find the right mask :) and the right colour suit for the bank scene.

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Small question: why do you not add some thin glass or plastic just behind the holes for the eyes? Plastic does not need to be high-grade due to the metal mash but is only needed to keep the smaller tiny pieces out of your eyes. It will alsno not diminish the looks of the mask.

The main reason people seem to use mesh is that it doesn't steam up and obscure your vision and unfortunately the added protection (not deemed necessary by most mesh mask wearing members) of the plastic would just bring this problem back around.

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They wore vest under their jackets (in the bank scene at least) with elastic straps holding multiple mags to their chests :) I'm planning a Val Kilmer style loadout, but only if I can find the right mask :) and the right colour suit for the bank scene.

 

If the masks I suddgested are not right I could make you a replica if your interested ;)

 

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If the masks I suddgested are not right I could make you a replica if your interested ;)

I would happily pay for a replica, but only if it was made of proper stuff and looked exactly right, I can't stand half-arsed copies like most of the ones you can find on eBay. :)

 

\/ The one I want is this one \/ so if it can be done, I'll be a very happy camper.

 

410024501_9a4b0d408c.jpg

 

I'm going for the whole look with the paramedic uniform etc with a WE M4 made to look like his AR (exept for the flat top reciever)

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