CovetedMask Z Combo & Acme Art Co Paint Review

[Telgip33]

So after seeing Ron post the pic's of his new Combo style mask I knew it would be my next mask. lucky for me things have worked out and I was able to start the process sooner than I though (don't really need the mask until end of Aug.) So a few emails later and the mask is already well on it's way, and I just need to nail down the paint. I will go more in depth with the complete process once I've got the mask......but just wanted to toss out some teaser pic's I got today from Ron

http://i66.servimg.com/u/f66/11/66/96/77/carls_10.jpg (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=253&u=11669677)

http://i66.servimg.com/u/f66/11/66/96/77/carls_11.jpg (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=254&u=11669677)

And this is an idea of what I'm looking at for with the Paint. This is rough, and needs to be fine tuned.......and of course it goes with out saying it will look much different after Ron does his magic, but I think it gets the idea across of a nice clear simple design.

http://i66.servimg.com/u/f66/11/66/96/77/carl_s11.jpg (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=256&u=11669677)

[Telgip33]

Well Ron has done it again, and has sent me a couple of teaser pics of my new mask and paint job. I will do a full review on both when I get the mask in a week or so. But I just had to share the pictures now :D

http://i66.servimg.com/u/f66/11/66/96/77/carls_12.jpg (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=329&u=11669677)

http://i66.servimg.com/u/f66/11/66/96/77/carls_13.jpg (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=330&u=11669677)

[Telgip33]

Well the mail man came on Monday and dropped off 2 boxes for me from Ron at CovetedMask / Acme Art Co. (one box was my new mask, the other was my re-foamed Olie)

Now I don't play hockey again until September, so the first part of this review will be on the paint and my "out of the box" thoughts on the new mask. I will add to the review after I've had some hours on the ice with the new mask on.

This process began a few months back when Ron posted pics of his new creation the "Coveted Z Combo".......it was love at first sight! My old mask is an Olie 7000, and at the time I bought it I had really wanted to get a Mage, but was not able to justify the almost $300 in extra cash to get one here in the Wild West. I've never had any problems with my Olie, so I didn't really have any reason to upgrade......but who REALLY needs a reason to buy goalie gear. I started emailing Ron about getting me a Z Combo made up for me in early March. At that time I had about 3 games left in my season and new I didn't need the mask until September, so I let Ron know that there was no rush at all. Once I decided I was going to do it I sent Ron some money to start the process, and got to work coming up with a paint job........it just seemed silly to buy a mask from an AWESOME painter, and not have him paint it at the same time!

The Mask:

After emailing back and forth with Ron a few times I settled on the “Z” model to be the base of my combo mask. I got the base model, which is Fibreglass reinforced with Kevlar in the high impact areas (I believe that means the forehead and chin areas). I was thinking about going with the Full Kevlar with reinforcing, but when Ron told me that he uses the Fibreglass model with no problems I figure it would be more than enough for my Beer league. Ron even sent me some pics of the shell as he was in the process of putting it all together before we had the paint figured out.

The Mods:

• I got the 2 extra vent holes on the top of the mask
• Different sized vent holes, so the rear vent holes are over sized compared to the front ones (got this idea from Ron’s personal combo)
• ½” of length taken off the chin compared to the standard “Z” mask (I believe this is now the standard for all Ron’s combo’s)
• Clean back plate design so more of the art work is visible, and not hidden under the harness.
• Clean chin cup design. This means the chin cup is fastened much the same as the harness so there is no large clip to snap on the front of the mask like the standard version.

The Fit:

First off I would like to say that as of right now this is only an “out of the box” review on the fit, I will revisit this review later in the fall after some ice time with this mask. The first thing I noticed right away when putting this mask on is there truly is a difference when a mask is fitted for your head, and not the masses. Just to be clear up front, as I know this sometimes causes confusion, my mask was CUSTOM FITTED not custom moulded. Basically this means the mask was cut down as per my spec from a stock shell, them the foam inside the mask was install to fit my head measurement. To get this custom fit, I sent Ron my head measurement (circumference) from just above my eyebrows (I believe a hat size if you had that would also work). In addition to the measurement I sent Ron several picture from different angles of my wearing my Olie mask so he could see the fit (this was also to help him re-foam my Olie which he was doing at the same time as he made my new mask). The sight lines in this mask are WAY better than the Olie. The shorter chin is also nice, works well with my short neck (reminds me of my old Rhino mask in that regard). The foam itself is different than any foam I’ve had in a mask before, in a good way. It seems to be made up of 2 parts, a base layer of white “memory type” foam that is soft to the touch yet firm. This is covered by a thin layer of a second foam that is coloured (mine is baby blue, my new Olie foam is black, and I’ve seen it in red too) and seems to have a bit of a textured feel to it that is much nicer next to the skin than the standard old hard foam I’m use to.

The Paint:

When I was thinking about getting a new mask, I started to think of what I would get painted on it. After surfing the web, and looking at tons of paint jobs I found I was drawn to the simple ones. So I told Ron what I wanted and sent him a few pics as examples (Fuhr’s full face Oiler mask, Leighton’s new Flyers mask) with the idea that I was looking for a simple paint job that would look good from far away, and close up. After a few more back and forth emails with Ron and I put the ideas together on a mock-up using my team colours and sent it to Ron to begin the paint work. After about a week to 10 days Ron sent me some pics of the process on the paint (was all done, just needed to put on the last few coats of clear) When I saw the pics of the paint everything looked great, the ghosted happy faces turned out awesome! Just like the last mask Ron painted for me the attention to detail is simply the best. Like carrying the paint design into the vent holes, painting the inside of the mask, and a smooth and clear finish to the clear coat. Ron also added a few of his own touches to the design, like putting 33 ghosted happy faces in the design, as 33 is my number. He also added the white stripe into the design to tie it in with the white cage (stainless steel not an option yet) and the white logos on my new Viper gear that’s on its way. So basically the paint job tuned out awesome, as expected………Ron’s got a customer for life!

Now the fun stuff, the pictures

The Left Side

http://i66.servimg.com/u/f66/11/66/96/77/finshe10.jpg (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=362&u=11669677)

The Front

http://i66.servimg.com/u/f66/11/66/96/77/finshe11.jpg (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=363&u=11669677)

The Right Side

http://i66.servimg.com/u/f66/11/66/96/77/finshe12.jpg (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=364&u=11669677)

Close up of the ghosted happy faces

http://i66.servimg.com/u/f66/11/66/96/77/finshe14.jpg (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=366&u=11669677)

Ron's signature

http://i66.servimg.com/u/f66/11/66/96/77/finshe15.jpg (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=367&u=11669677)

The back of the mask, showing the clean back plate

http://i66.servimg.com/u/f66/11/66/96/77/finshe16.jpg (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=368&u=11669677)

Close-up of the back plate......love it!

http://i66.servimg.com/u/f66/11/66/96/77/finshe19.jpg (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=371&u=11669677)

[Telgip33]

The foam in the mask

http://i66.servimg.com/u/f66/11/66/96/77/finshe20.jpg (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=372&u=11669677)

The foam from the left

http://i66.servimg.com/u/f66/11/66/96/77/finshe21.jpg (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=373&u=11669677)

The foam from the right

http://i66.servimg.com/u/f66/11/66/96/77/finshe22.jpg (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=374&u=11669677)

The top.....not sure why the silver looks blueish, but it's silver like in all the other pictures.

http://i66.servimg.com/u/f66/11/66/96/77/finshe23.jpg (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=375&u=11669677)

The Front form worms eye view

http://i66.servimg.com/u/f66/11/66/96/77/finshe24.jpg (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=376&u=11669677)

The right side, worm's eye view

http://i66.servimg.com/u/f66/11/66/96/77/finshe28.jpg (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=380&u=11669677)

The back, worm's eye view

http://i66.servimg.com/u/f66/11/66/96/77/finshe29.jpg (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=381&u=11669677)

The left side, worm's eye view

http://i66.servimg.com/u/f66/11/66/96/77/finshe30.jpg (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=382&u=11669677)

[SidCaeser]

I'm going to be honest, the combo mask is one of my favorites. This paint job awesome in simplicity. I really like the ghost happy faces. The thing that amazes me about Ron's work is he can rock out the details in a complex clown mask or make a racing stripe helmet look killer. Outstanding mask! Enjoy!

[Telgip33]

Yeah I'm a big fan of the Combo mask too.....the sight lines are just soooooo much better then a "regular" mask. Can't wait to get this bad boy out on the ice!