Review: TMC Airframe Helmet

[Drake]

I'd been following this thread with great disappointed as I waited for my helmet to be delivered (the rest of my order had shipped, but the helmet wasn't in stock); I'd been fully expecting to sell it immediately upon receiving it, expecting it to not fit me (I wear sz 7½ -- Large or XL for issue USMC boonies).

Finally, it arrived yesterday, all by itself in a paper envelope.


First Impressions
I opened it to see how bad it was in person and much to my surprise it kinda fit -- it actually fit better than a TC-2001 I have, which is just plainly too small. The same blemishes and injection molding artifacts were present than in Killcore's photos (it could literally have been his).

The pads are the worst I've seen on any repro helmet: the usual variety of closed cell foam wrapped in spandex-ish kinda material, except one is uselessly soft and fluffy making the helmet float stupidly an inch higher than it should over your cranium.



Of Pads And Stuff
It was clear the pads had to go and fortunately I had a new set of issue MICH/ACH pads I'd gotten for the aforementioned TC2001. They're Sz 6 (¾ inch) pads, which was the size I needed for my L/XL MICH (so clearly the TC2001 was smaller) -- this also made caused some concern that they'd be far too big for the AF clone.

However, much to my surprise, they were a massive improvement. It took a while adjusting the pads (if you've ever taken the time to fully adjust a MICH you know what I'm talking about) and I tried several combinations of pads based on pictures of the pads setup for a real Crye AirFrame, alternatively leaving out the crown pad or one of the trapezoidal pads; but after an evening of fiddling with it, I finally managed a pad configuration (using all pads) which made the helmet fit me correctly, securely and comfortably.

It should also be noted that once the helmet is sitting on your noggin correctly it sits a lot lower and I actually had to tighten up slack on the straps (no shit, the straps had slack. I know, I couldn't believe it either!)

So in my case (7½) it fits properly with Sz 6 / ¾ in. MICH/ACH pads.



AirFrame Rail
As others have noted, it seems a bit flimsy: repositioning it slightly and tightening down the screws helped a bit.

I'd also ordered the FMA Goggle Swivel Clips (which, btw, are closer to the Dark Earth color than the rails themselves) and they actually fit correctly on the rails. Unfortunately I have no other accessories to mount on them right now. But it does make me wonder if TMC revised the rail by the time they got to making my batch.



Conclusion
Given that it fits, I'm happy with it for the price. It needs paint, a mount, and some velcro... but considering I was planning on selling it before it even got here, I need to say I'm pleasantly surprised.

[oniwagamaru]

So drake, are you still thinking of selling it lol? I dont think this helmet was that bad... I mean if you now know what you are getting yourself into, you might be pleasantly surprised. I had also gotten a bunch of people to try out the helmet just to see if it fits and to my surprise, it fits most of the people here. Maybe here are a lot of people here with small heads? I dont know!

[Drake]

Haha no, I figured I'd have to sell it cuz it wouldn't fit (like the TC2001). I'm glad I could manage to fit into it.

Actually, Supply Captain has some ½ inch pads which may help that much more (not sure how well the current setup would fit with a Nomex hood on, for example).

But overall, for the price, I'm pretty happy with it.