Fantastic video man. Thanks for putting it out. I purchased a 132b shell for under $70 about 6 months ago and it’s been sitting unmodified in my safe for a while. Time to get it done.
It depends if you have it in your hands or are just looking at pictures. If you have it in your hands, the weight is the dead giveaway. 2.5-3 lb shell weight means DH-132B. 2.25 ish means ACVC. 1.25 ish means DH-132A. If you are just looking at pictures, it gets a little harder. Basically you are just looking for the thickness of the shell, and the thickness of the rubber trim around the edge. On DH-132B and ACVC models, both of these dimensions are significantly thicker than on DH-132A and DH-132 models.
hey, great video! I live outside the US and also suffers from large dome syndrome, eventually i found a large DH132A8/V8 shell. (basically, this is a gentex 132A intended for leopard 2 use or something like that) comfort wise they make for great NV helmets when you dont want to ball out half a grand for an ops core or TW bump helmet (as thats what they usually cost over in EU) i personally opted for clones of the ops core maritime rails, for those i only needed to enlargen the bottom hole and use that for the setup, then of course drill out the rear holes from there. unfortunately for me, a large 132A is still almost too small for me though! but still fits with very thin pads
Really cool video. You looked like a Rebel Alliance B-wing pilot in that last helmet. Is there an accompanying video that deals with other facets of helmet building?
@Triangle 26 a friend of mine does a lot of reenactment and cosplay stuff. In watching the video, he mentioned there being a market for gear of this nature as used in movies and video games...not my thing, but I mentioned it after his comment. Personally, I see the value in your design and will be collecting the gear you mentioned so I can build my own helmet.
Awesome. It probably has the added benefit of being a psychological deterrent. I know my history well enough to know that guys in Yugo helmets aren't usually messing around!
Damnit.... I knew I should have taken the spare Husky helmets before I left country last time. Almost did it too... Had too much gear though. Who'd have thought it would have been high speed 12 years later? 🤣
Got it. Two tips: 1) In case you’ve never cut Kevlar before, make sure you have realistic expectations going in. Watch a video of someone doing an ACH high cut conversion. It’s totally doable, but the risk of failure is higher than anything I describe in this video. 2) If you are up to it, the right tool is a fresh, fine-toothed steel blade on a jigsaw. Slow and steady, measured cuts. Don’t try and sand, just seal in with epoxy. An epoxy putty like JB weld works great for sealing, and also replicating the feel and appearance of the original rubber trim.
@@Triangle26 dude your amazing. I’m still in the measuring phase lol I’m planning on doing a slight engrave of the outline with a diamond bit for a dremel (never cut Kevlar so lmk if that’s dumb) then do the full cut with a fine tooth blade on my sawzaw (again might be dumb) I saved the original rubber seal and I’m gonna attempt to still use it after I epoxy the Kevlar edges.
I can’t personally vouch for any (never tried), but I’ve heard from many secondhand reports that the “UR-Tactical Ops Core FAST cover” in size L/XL is good to go.
On the black helmet? Hate away lol, it's definitely not an ideal setup. That's my girlfriend's helmet which she only uses for night vision hikes, so I put a $15 amazon IR-only illuminator on there. I've got a Surefire M300V on mine ha.
Are there any benifits to running a 3hole shroud on a ACH that comes with the single hole and norotos titanium mount? Just wondering if it's even worth upgrading and drilling
Technically the three-hole is more stable, but I’ve personally never noticed a performance difference. Unless you are having stability issues, I wouldn’t consider it a worthwhile upgrade. My current “go to” helmet has a standard Norotos one-hole.
I can’t do a link, but I get them on eBay. Product name is “Tactical MSA ARC Helmet Side Rails MICH 2000 2001 2002 ACH S-XL Fast Shipping”, seller’s name is “tacticalgearstore”. I just bought a couple sets the other day as they are currently 15% off. Good stuff, US made.
Some definitely do, although I don’t have any personal experience with which. Secondhand, I’ve heard that the UR-Tactical Ops Core FAST cover in size L/XL is a good fit.
It’s an NIJ 3 A Certified high cut helmet that has been tested in actual combat for at most 400 dollars, that experience and an actual NIJ certification is better than any HHV, Longfri, or any other ballistic helmet sold for prices like that with the exception of MAYBE an ACH.
You’re absolutely right. The current price should make it irrelevant in the face of the ACH. I was lucky to get mine for $71 with some pads and an LWH chinstrap last year. I sold it a few months ago for about $176 with more pads, a new paint job, and a Chinese cam fit suspension system.
Thankyou for this information! Very well explained. Haha now just need find a cvc. Still debating on the A or B model, but at this drier market either would be a win in my book for sure if I can get my hands on one reasonably. May try to go a non drilling route similar to how armorsource does their helmet stuff.
Honestly, they are both great options. As I mentioned in the video, I was initially a little dismissive of the "A" until I actually tried it, but I fell in love when I did. It is the lightest and most comfortable helmet I've ever worn - and at this stage in my life I like to think my odds of actually needing that additional ballistic protection are essentially zero. I don't know much about the armorsource system, but I'd certainly be curious if you are successful doing a conversion with no drilling.
@Triangle 26 Haha such timing. I actually just bought a cvc dh132a for about 155 after taxes (not the best especially for its rough condition but couldnt stop myself), and a regular fiberglass one. Planning to go ahead and just make one for each model a/b/bump. Haha, figured id find a use for them all. The fiberglass one will be a cheaper first try for figuring out the process. Not sure how smart ill be but gonna try to just epoxy stuff to the helm and redo the connection points of the head harnesses to connct via velcro rather than by the bolts. Ill let you know how it goes in prob a month ahaha. If it fails ill just drill and follow your videos.
@@iPervy Awesome - honestly that’s not bad. It’s still much less than it’s worth, in my opinion. Best of luck with the conversion, let me know how it goes.
@@Triangle26 Second time making this comment as youtube deletes it when I link stuff haha. Now dont have the heart to rewrite all the details over again lol but still feel I should try again. I finally made the DH-132A helmet sohah and used epoxy and velcro to get the helmet attachments connected. The rails didn't fit the helmet but with the use of vice grips and the T88 epoxy it hardened into place and feels super solid. Not sure I like the T88 epoxy to much just yet since its really runny when freshly mixed and not as bad after say 30mins to 1hr which is a long wait to start gluing stuff lol. So i'm going to experiment with different epoxies later. I also just grabbed my amazon bump helmet and transfered that over to my cvc as a cheap all in one template and force everything to fit which worked pretty good haha. Sprayed the helmet with camo green rustoleom. Total weight is 2.4lbs which is pretty nice but even that weight hurts my neck over a good bit of time so I can imagine the weight of a B model. Still plan to make a DH-132B version as well anyways just for the heck of it to compare, but the A series really is a nice weight and I think decent enough protection for the day to day if it can atleast stop a 9mm handgun round.. hopefully. May try a ECH as well and cutting it down to a high cut. Happy with the build though it worked great and your video on it was very helpful. I'll try link to the gallery again via my next comment in code so it wont get deleted.
@@iPervy That's funny, I saw your original message, looked at the pictures, and when I went to post a reply it wouldn't let me, I guess your comment got deleted first. Honestly the helmet looks great - nice work. In my experience its normal for rails to not want to sit quite flat, it usually takes me torquing down the bolts to get it to flex into place perfectly. Sounds like you accomplished the same thing with a clamp and epoxy. A cut down ECH would be badass, that's pretty hard to beat in terms of ballistic protection. Probably still going to be pretty heavy though, the regular ECH is a beast. Thanks for keeping me in the loop man, I love seeing other people's projects.
