Flesh Tone Facemasks.

Cutting the nose off isn't something I would do. I think it would weaken the integrity of the mask too much and because the head band attaches to the sides, pressure would possibly pull the mask outwards. Unless you made it a really close fit the edge of the mask would also look a bit odd where it meats your real nose. A bit like a scar or something. Finally if you fell over ( worst case scenario here ) any upward push on the mask could possibly slice into or break your nose.

This is all purely speculative on my part but you did ask.

When I need serious teeth protection and wear my neoprene mask I wear it under my nose rather than over it to avoid fogging. The curse of shooting glasses with prescription inserts.

This does mean the end of my nose gets rather shot up sometimes (as at Kolner).

Cheers
Martin

Well Martin, seriously mate, as I said right at the beginning, with one of these flesh tone masks your entire face is protected including your nose and there are no issues with misting like your describe with your neoprene mask. In addition, in my own humble but honest opinion, with a neoprene mask pulled up over your face you are ruining your otherwise excellent WW2 impression, looking rather like a winter olympian in fancy dress. You know I'm only joking.

Actually if you bought a mask I could provide you with excellent personal service re the custom finish due to our living so close together. It's worth thinking about. Remember I have been standing right next to you on many occasions and heard you go OUCH!!! as beastly BB's have hit you in the mush.

Right I've done another search and found these:
http://www.cromwell.co.uk/PUL9602090W
These are the exact pair that I have got. These also have anti fog as well as anti scratch and this seems to be the best price around.

Check out your local branch and save on the shipping charge.

1 problem with these safety specs as they are rated for impact at 45m/sec which is what about 150fps??

Clone Army....how very German

These are a great addition to the field and certainly get my vote as the best option on the market at the mo

Well Martin, seriously mate, as I said right at the beginning, with one of these flesh tone masks your entire face is protected including your nose and there are no issues with misting like your describe with your neoprene mask.

Well that sounds good. I think the painted masks work really well and look fine for events where you need them, the first painted ones I saw were back at Il Gigio Pass (a couple of the guys had made them for their kids).

Put me down for one of these to add to my enormous pile of eye and face protection

Cheers
Martin

Cadaceus said:

1 problem with these safety specs as they are rated for impact at 45m/sec which is what about 150fps??

Well spotted that man. The glasses are rated as EN166-F. I always thought that this was the correct rating for airsoft specs. In fact I if you look on airsoft websites such as Wolf Armouries or Action Hobbies etc. they all sell eye protection that meets this standard. After a quick search I discovered that there are three ratings EN166-F = 45m/s. EN166-B = 120m/s. and EN166-A = 195m/s.

195m/s = 585f/s. So I would say that EN166-A is the required standard. Am I correct in my assumption or have I missed something? Why are so many Airsoft retailers selling eye protection rated at EN166-F ???

Having said all that my glasses are EN166-F and I have received several direct hits on them over my time in airsoft. They have always saved me and are not damaged or marked in any way. Obviously a BB that has travelled any distance will not be moving at the same velocity that it was at when it left the barrel. Still I for one would like to get this right.

Any input would be welcome.

Just found these on evilbay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Stylish-Safet ... 27c74f9d9f

Look the same and I think slightly cheaper

Thanks for that Death Warrant.

I'm still hoping that someone will shed some more light on the question of the F, B and A ratings.

If I understand it correctly, the F rating isn't good enough for 500fps. or 350fps. and yet they seem to be universally sold by airsoft retailers.

The 120m/s of class B is almost 400fps. I'd not go much below that as a rating for eye protection.
The F rating is only 150fps.
The A rating is around 624fps.
This has some handy tables,
http://www.airsoftnews.fr/wp-content/up ... yewear.pdf

Didn't realise till I posted about the a,b,f ratings, only way to be 100% sure would be to buy a pair and test them with a worst case scenario.

say 500fps sniper round point blank to one lense and then maybe 350fps full auto to the other, an expensive way of doing it though!

Didn't realise till I posted about the a,b,f ratings, only way to be 100% sure would be to buy a pair and test them with a worst case scenario.

say 500fps sniper round point blank to one lense and then maybe 350fps full auto to the other, an expensive way of doing it though!

cheep compared to new eyes though, and an accidental point blank 500fps is as likely as a 350fps

cheep compared to new eyes though, and an accidental point blank 500fps is as likely as a 350fps

It is indeed, might give this a try at some point.

an accidental point blank 500fps is as likely as a 350fps

I have been shot twice at close range by high fps rifles, both friendly fire and both caused by 'sniper tunnel vision' as they peer through their scopes and can't see other people moving around in the vicinity.

Very painful it was too, fortunately neither was in the face.

Cheers
Martin

OK, so working from the definitions supplied by this website for "F" rated lenses, it states they must withstand an impact from a 0.86g 6mm BB travelling at least 45 m/s.
This means:

KE=0.5*M*(V^2)=0.5*0.00086*(45^2)=0.87075 Joules.

Rearranging this formula for 0.2g BB's gives:

V=sqrt((2*KE)/M)=sqrt((2*0.87075)/0.0002)=93.314 m/s

Which is 309.429 FPS. There will be some safety margin in the lens design, but even so they're probably not up to scratch vs snipers or AEG's at close range.

Received it last week and tried it this Saturday at an open day. Fairly intense CQB, not camping and plinking, so quite a good test. My impressions:

I was surprised by the size of the mask. It is substantially bigger than the face. It does actually make sense as the protection afforded by it is better than a standard mesh stuff, but the effect is a bit cartoonish Once you have it on, up close you will look a bit like a Team Fortress character. Which is not a bad thing really.

The plastic is solid, it will easy take an impact of any BB. The covered area is the entire front of the face up to the eye sockets and partially the side of the face, mostly below the ears. I've had a bit of a problem with the top edge. It rested quite hard against my face and was pinching the nose a bit. I managed to solve this problem by first carefully bending the mask (it's fairly rigid so you have to be cautious not to break it) and then lining the top edge with window insulation foam. This also creates a pretty tight air seal.

After I put it on the first time (testing at home) my glasses fogged up instantly but this was because I put it on wrong. You need to be careful not to let the upper edge overlap the glasses, this will make them fog up like mad. Either have a clear space of 1-2mm or have the glasses overlap the mask. The best sequence to put it on is first glasses, then mask (With the strap at 45deg angle, over the top of the head, not the back of it), then wiggle the mask and glasses until they fit snugly, then put on the helmet. You have to make sure that the mask fits snugly over your face, the nostrils aligned with the air holes, the lips fitting into the mask's lips. The helmet strap when done on the mask's chin (not yours - it's better to do it on the mask, not on the flesh) helps to keep the mask firmly in place.

I played with this mask on on for some 6h with a 40min lunch break, not taking it off for 2h and more in a row. In this time the mask performed very well. I only had a single instance of glasses fogging up, probably due to them and the mask shifting a bit. Normally the fog problem that occurred all the time with the mesh mask just disappeared. And that's fairly awesome. I rate the face mask way higher then mesh, I'm switching to it completely and will be getting rid of the mesh (or possibly just keeping it as a loan item for friends).

The only problem you may have which will not happen with mesh is perspiration condensing on the inside of the face mask and running freely down. At times you can just taste the water on the inner side of the mask's lips. This will happen with any snug rigid mask though. Not a problem for me, don't know about others. If you don't like this, stick with the mesh.

All in all one of the best airsoft purchases I've made thus far.

SPECIAL OFFER FOR 2014.

By way of celebrating the new year my hand crafted type 2 masks currently selling for £40 will be on offer for the remainder of this month and until the end of Feb.

Yes while the offer lasts you can have two masks for £80.

Terms and conditions apply.

Jolly good they are too, and if you follow Nurglitich's advice about how to position your goggles, fogging isn't an issue.

Cheers
Martin