WIP: My ESB Armor re-paint up

I decided to repaint my armor since it was the same pajntjob from 2009...done with rattlecans (Rustoleum spruce green base) with a few upgrades here n there, but basically it was the first Fett armor i painted. Over the last year or so ive painted a few sets and have learned how to use the airbrush better painting helmets and other small things. So i decided i wanted to change up what ive been doing. I was using spruce green rattle can and although it looked very good, and i liked the color..it wasnt really "right" to me. I also wanted to use the airbrush to do this.

Trying to match colors from photographs 30+ years old is no easy task though, and likely no one will get it dead on as the ESB armor no longer exists so there's no way to see it in person. Plus in a lot of scenes the armor looks very different. In the promo shots it looks more washed out and almost greyish...outside the torture room on cloud city, in the red hallways, it looks very green other scenes on cloud city it looks somewhere in the middle. depending on the shots and lighting and multiple other variances, its a hard thing to match.

So..with that said, here are the colors i came up with, some were already mentioned in older color lists.
Krylon grey primer (rattlecan)
Model Masters silver chrome trim (this is for the base silver)
Testors Zinc Chromate ( the yellow on the armor, and the left shoulder)
Humbrol Cockpit Green #78+Uniform Green#76 (1:1...i added a TOUCH more 76 to the mix) (main armor green)
Humbrol #76 +Floquil CNW Green (Center diamond)
Humbrol Grey #106 (grey on collar and right chest plate)
Floquil Reefer yellow (base yellow on right shoulder & knees)
Humbrol #82 Orange(mising on the right shoulder and knees)
Floquil Weathered Black [or mix Floquil Dark Lark Grey with a touch of Humbrol #33 black](Darker spots of weathering on the armor)
Humbrol #79 grey(weathering on left shoulder)
Krylon Black Primer [rattlecan](overall weathering)

So right now im only working on the collar, chest and AB plates.

I sanded the armor down with a fine grit sand paper to get most of the old paint off. I then sanded with 400 and then 600 grit sandpaper to make it as smooth as possible. Even if your armor is new, i recommend the light sanding with the 400 and 600 grit paper.

So i got it to this:


Then i primed it with the krylon primer:


I then sprayed the silver, and masked the silver damage...i forgot to snap a pic of that, but its nothing out of the ordinary.

Ok..So at this pojnt even though the screen used suit it is belived that the yellow was added on by hand afterwards, i wanted to do this in the full layered method.

So the right chest plate now has Grey 106, and the left and ab plate has a layer of the zinc chromate.


Right now this is as far as i got, as im doing commissions as well today..this stuff gets done in between lol

I will update as soon as i get more done!

Ok i got lazy with the pics. I was doing my armor at the same time i was doing a set for a customer..so i didnt really take pics anymore to get more done.

But basically, i masked off the yellow and layed down the 76+78 mix. Its basically 1:1 mix, but i added a little bit more 76. Very happy with the color. It shifts in the light as you can see, just as the original does.Im sure this isnt dead on, but i like it way better than the rattlecan spruce green. I also tried to get the little dark spots on the left chest plate. I did them is grey 79, and then misted the green over it again to get that effect. The dark weathering is floquil dark lark grey mixed with a touch of Humbrol 33 (flat black) I still need to lighten up the dark weathering spots a tad, touch up some detail work, and stencil on the chest emblem..but these pieces are just about done





Here are a couple of the photos i used for reference



Here is the right Shoulder




Reference i used

Nice work dude.

Great job, Lou!! Keep it up!

ONLY thing I'd say...theres lighter grey weathering on the right chest plate you want to add...if you look close you can see what I mean...also the base green on that plate MAY or may not be the same as the ab and left plate...as its not from the same set of armor I dont think since it has no yellow added around the silver (the yellow isnt actually layered as you know, but for the viewers) So my thoughts are the painter did that purposely on the PP1-2-3-ESB/Promo...if you look at the Hi Rez 360 on the Blu Ray you can see the Right side on that armor is a different green its much more of a bright green like the back panels on ROTJ the hunter green and the other is closer to spruce... but thats just my thoughts...Its looking really good! ALOT better then with the rattle cans

Looks really good Lou. Did you paint the emblem on the chest?

Yes, looks great. I can tell you that Testors dull coat will dramatically improve gloss/semigloss Rustolium or Krylon paints. I have seen some shiny Fetts.

Looks awesome!

Thanks everyone. Yea i like this much better than my 2009 rattlercan job ive been sporting lol.

Dom..Thanks man, i agree, much better than the rattlecans. i do have the light grey on that right plate (im guessing you mean the right side towards the bottom above the silver up to where the armor curves outward) my camera isnt so great and is messing with the colors/tones. i also agree the right plate base color is different, but i wasnt sure which direction to go with it. the pics form the red hallway on cloudcity it almost looks to be the same color as the other plates, likely due to weathering.maybe? lol Now that ive slept on it, im thinking of maybe trying the dark euro grey enamel for that plate, or maybe that green like tha back of the ROTJ bucket...what do you think? Its an easy plate to re-do before i do the emblem. I wanna try to get the the best i can given the resources and knowledge we have here. The other plates are Humbrol 76 & 78, and im pretty happy with that mix. Im gonna do some tests and see what like best. I'll likely redo the right plate...that was the only thing that was bugging me lol

Syllander..i do plan to paint the emblem on yes. I was at the computer for 4hrs last night trying to re create every part of the emblem separately so i can use my vinyl cutter and make stencils to stencil it on.

Spy..i had a clear matt finish on all of my armor when it was rattlecanned. Also the black primer i use for sooty weathering also dulled the finish. Shiny Fetts are awful lol...All of these airbrush enamel paints are matt finish, but it will all get a finish coat of clear matt floquil once im done and happy with it.

Actually around the emblem and next to the diamond...down to the area you spoke about
http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/gallery/showfull.php?photo=10964

Really nice work Lou.......


Sent from my iPhone

Thanks Rob!

Oh Ok right Dom...yea i tried to do that but it wasnt lookin so great. I need to find a suitable grey. Its so hard to do because in those promo shots the armor barely looks green. You can see it in my first 2 pics, but then in the third one it looks like its gone lol.

Here are the knees..just need to add the dirt streak on the right knee and im calling these done!



reference

Impressive. Looks really nice. I like the colors you've chosen.

ShwEET joB!

Thanks guys! yea im really happy with the colors as well..thats why of course they are discontinued lol. i usually use Humbrols for the most part...but certain colors i always liked the Floquils better...the base knee color is an example of that. the Humbrol 154 is very close, but something about it didnt look quite right to me. These colors looked more right to my eye. Its floquil Reefer yellow misted with Humbrol orange#82. A tad less orange on the left knee. There is also a little humbrol brown that i cant remember the number right now, for a little burn/dirt look.

I still need to do the cod, butt/kidney, and left shoulder.

I love the colors! great work on these!

Thank you sir!

Looking great Lou! So weird that they painted the knees two different shades like that.

redkraytdragon said:

Looking great Lou! So weird that they painted the knees two different shades like that.

Click to expand...

Even though the chest plates are different colors and the shoulders? Just slightly different weathering of the same base color....