ASOK CC ESB build

Just started one of these. Will be needing lots of help for this one, as it's my first time!

Main issue now is getting the right thickness along the T Visor opening.

Good work so far! I might say that the thickness around the t-visor is just fine, there's no need to alter it. Before preparing the helmet to paint, don't forget to add all the physical damages presented in my ESB Stencils thread (the end of the first post). The best way is to use the stencils as a guide (along with reference images from the Gallery) and after a quick size matching between the helmet and the stencil, you can trace the position of the physical damage, then using a dremel or a triangular file, you can add each damage to your helmet.

Originally Posted by RafalFett

Good work so far! I might say that the thickness around the t-visor is just fine, there's no need to alter it. Before preparing the helmet to paint, don't forget to add all the physical damages presented in my ESB Stencils thread (the end of the first post). The best way is to use the stencils as a guide (along with reference images from the Gallery) and after a quick size matching between the helmet and the stencil, you can trace the position of the physical damage, then using a dremel or a triangular file, you can add each damage to your helmet.

thanks...
Yes, I think the thickness is ok, but the tricky part is getting the thickness consistent throught the whole T visor section. especially at the lateral corners. I guess the originals had some variation to the thickness at different points right?

I'm also a little anxious about getting a good fit between the T visor and the helmet. Did the original have gaps, or did they sit quite flush to the helmet. I've studied the gallery pics and I think at points they had 0.5-1mm gaps?

Yes, it is!

I'm gonna have to add a bit more details in terms of all the speckled reefer gray bits.... this is hard!

how did you affix the bolts and what size threaded bolt did you use?

Originally Posted by SarlaccBait

how did you affix the bolts and what size threaded bolt did you use?

the bolts are M3 12mm. ie. 3mm diameter - flat head countersunk. I drilled a very shallow hole in the helmet and epoxy glued them in.

more progress. Is it really necessary to remove each layer of masking fluid before doing the next layer? I find myself remasking the previous bits anyway!

the way i do it... is remove it. I do this because Although you can use a stencil...it may not be perfectly aligned to the helmet. and you may have paint that doesnt stick...so you may end up painting 5 layers on the back of the helmet, only to start unmasking and a whole patch comes off. Or you need to redo a panel because you overlapped something you missed. Thats just me though Ive seen people leave it. For ROTJ which is primarily what I paint for people, I will mask and leave it and then mask again but only because its a mist layer that I can see the fluid pretty well. But ESB the layers build up and up and up...the fluid would be pretty thick.

thanks, that makes sense. I wonder how it was originally done?

Yes, masking & remasking. Multiple layers of paint make it really hard to determine where the previous masking was and remove (from experience!). It's a pain for sure, but ultimately is easier in the end (and you'll find that masking works for the larger areas, and you can go back and add finer details topically).

Yours is coming along really well -- look forward to seeing more progress!

some progress after a bit of break. Anyone know how to remove the white transfer paper lines?

all good things take time, and it looks like yours is coming along nice!

That dome looks awesome! The only way to remove the white line it to apply paint with a small, fine brush. Keep up the great work!

Looking good, Dink! YMMV, but I've had some success in removing the transfer paper lines by tapping the surface with a kneadable eraser. For the stubborn ones, you'll need to paint over, like Raf said.

thanks guys, for the tips.
I'm starting to think my dome green is too green. I did match my tamiya paints to the recommended humbrol colour and it was spot on after I mixed it. I'm hoping it was a result of my yellow tungsten lights, otherwise, I'll have to remask and spray

I've decided to repaint the green on the dome and lower cheeks. Going to go with Humbrol 78 enamel over the existing Tamiya Acrylic. Done Enamel over acrylic before and no problems in the past. Just not happy with the paint mix.

repainted with Humbrol 78- better now I think.

It looks much better with the new base color. Keep up the great work!

some more progress, slow.
I've decided to switch over to using humbrols for the final layers of this bucket. Save myself some time and hassle trying to mix up the tamiya's. Besides the humbrols seem to work better with the liquid mask. The masks tend to peel off better, leaving a more accurate result.
I've had no problems using the humbrol enamel over the tamiya acrylic base... so far...

more stuff done today... back panel final colour as per Terminal Fettler's suggestions.

Wow! Looks fantastic dinkydarth! I hope mine comes out this nice! Keep up the great work!!

minor hitch- mixed up humbrol enamels for the left ear and it doesn't seem to be drying too quickly, even after 48 hours... must have not stirred the paint well enough.... will have to wait a little longer for it to completely dry out.
Anyone had the same issue with humbrol enamels?

Others with more experience may chime in, but for me, when the enamels take a while to dry it was usually due to heat/humidity and/or applying too much paint at once (which could also be the case with paint that isn't thinned well enough).

Here in the States (in Austin, TX), painting during our summer months was killer, as I didn't have a temperature controlled environment to work in and had to paint at the whim of whatever the weather was on a given day. Given the heat here, there were a number of days where the heat kept me from painting altogether.

I know you're creeping into your summer there, but is it anywhere near the 30s yet?

Was it the tan color which was taking longer? For some reason that color took a little longer to dry for me as well.

It was the olive green on the left ear. After 48 hours, it was still tacky, so I have decided to strip the paint and redo it. The weather here has been quite dry and temps of about 25deg C. I think I made 2 mistakes:

1) I didn't have the right light gray, so I mixed up some tamiya ENAMEL black and white, and sprayed on the middle layer - this might have reacted to the final olive green Humbrol Enamel.
2) I might not have mixed the final coat enough.

so, I'll be doing this again, this time with all Humbrol paints and lots of Mixing!

The tamiya paint is a possibility - its quite differrent in consistency to humbrol, floquil etc, and even has quite a differrent odour. I dont actually think the tamiya enamel is as quality a paint type as the others mentioned, and noticed this in the application - but having said that, it also worked fine on the upper cheeks on my jedi lid, and reacted fine with other makes. However, as I say, there definately is a noticeable decline in quality of the tamiya enamel range.

With mixing, the ol double 'shake and stir' is the way I do it! :-)

some more progress.

That looks very good! Very inspiring

This paint up looks better and better with each new post! Can't wait to see this helmet finished! Keep up the great work!

I agree with Raf, but I don't think I would ever disagree with him! But seriously, it is looking really good now! You have done an awesome job.... I am starting to understand how hard this is man! Keep it up my friend!

thanks a lot of the kind words guys. Working on the helmet has been fun, and has given me a new appreciation for the effort involved.
I checked my helmet this morning and noticed the mandibles are starting to bend outwards, despite the splint I made in place of the visor. I have bent it back with some heat, but am going to keep it on a stand for now.

slowly coming along.... The tungsten lighting makes the humbrol 73 look redder than it really is.

I've made a little mistake in the placement of the silver scratch on the left hand side of midline on the mandible. Is it obvious? Should I fix it?

Your helmet is coming along nicely.

If you are talking about the big silver scratch near the right arrow (as you look at the image) on the red brow, then I say fix it, and I say this because you will need to squeeze the rest of the colors as you get closer to the temple area:

Apart from that small mistake the overall look of the helmet is looking fantastic! I think you are really doing a great job mate!

Thanks for the kind words, but I couldn't put up with the mistake anymore, so bit the bullet and sanded back, and remasked....

Originally Posted by dinkydarth

Thanks for the kind words, but I couldn't put up with the mistake anymore, so bit the bullet and sanded back, and remasked....

Now is perfect!

That red looks great to! Is that Humbrol wine (73)?

the "purple" is 73 plus 104 1:1 (as per terminal fettler's sticky) the Red is straight 73.

Yeah thanks, I might need to check on that! So do you mean purple 73 + 104.....then the wine 73?

yep that's right. all Humbrol enaemls. I was a little hesitant with using the wine 73 at first, as I thought it was too dark, but it came out ok.

Yea, the wine 73 is a really good colour for esb. Floquil caboose is the other choice, but the wine 73 is nice. The thing that really got me, was how much the wine 73 and the caboose change when put together with the greens of the helmet in particular. You would swear they are too dark to begin with, but once laid down next to everything else, they look just right. As the wine 73 is a fraction redder than the caboose, this colour really looks great when layered over the 73 + 104 purple mix. As the top colour can change considerbly depending on what colours are underneath it, those two layers just seem to really work well together, as DinkyDarth has displayed here beautifully..

Really enjoying this paint up bud, think you are doing a sensational job! :-)

Here we go, more progress....

Love it! Are you fretting over the kill stripes?

yeah, not really sure yet how to approach the kill stripes. I was thinking of making up a clear template like Terminal Fettler... I understand the stripes are about 1 inch tall, right? any suggestions which is the best way?

Raf's stencils will be a great place to start, but as every helmet may be different in size, these may have to be adjusted slightly. Look really closely at the reference pics for where they start, end, and interact with the damage already laid down. In addittion, look at the width of not only the stripe itself, but the width of the gap between the stripes also. A template like Garret made up is a great idea, and you can lightly draw them on using this stencil with a white watercolour pencil (which wipes off when dabbed with a damp cloth. I use a faber castell brand). Once you have lightly stencilled everything on and looks good, mask it all out with blue painters tape - I use Scotch brand with minimum adhesion, designed for delicate surfaces.

Once you mask everything out with the tape, use your stencils and carbon paper to stencil in the fine details on each killstripe. when happy, use your masking fluid to fill these small areas in. Once all masking is completed and you are ready to paint, I always take Eric's (Superjedi's) tip, and lightly spray down a layer of Testors Dullcote to limit any paint bleeding. Once dry, you can apply your yellow, and orange misting. Once fully dried, peel that sucker off very carefully and bazinga! ESB Killstripes laid down!

wow, thanks for the tips.... now I feel more ready to tackle them! Another question, for later, how do you apply the paint splatter weathering? and what colour is the paint. Surely you don't dap each and every one with a brush right?

Haha, no, no, nothing that insane . Okay, the splatters are something you will really want to practice and get confident at before you add them to your lid. Firstly, the main colour I used, was Humbrol Leather (62). I also put in some light splatters using Humrol Rust (113), Humbrol Desert Yellow (93) and Humbrol light grey (147).

Now the trick to this, is have the paint a little thicker than normal, so thin it down a tad less. I am right handed, so with the airbrush in my right hand, I take the air hose in my left hand, and crimp the air hose - at the same time, i pulse the trigger on the airbrush. Here, you can pulse the air hose crimping too. This tends to make the paint splatter. I find more pressure on your regulator creates finer splatter, less pressure bigger splatter. And you can stand further back too for the finer stuff. It sounds complicated, but after some good practice, you should get a feel for what works best for your technique..

Killstripes, left ear white decal and right ear silver done. I also added the yellow overspray as per Jayvee's thread.

Originally Posted by Jayvee

Haha, no, no, nothing that insane . Okay, the splatters are something you will really want to practice and get confident at before you add them to your lid. Firstly, the main colour I used, was Humbrol Leather (62). I also put in some light splatters using Humrol Rust (113), Humbrol Desert Yellow (93) and Humbrol light grey (147).

Now the trick to this, is have the paint a little thicker than normal, so thin it down a tad less. I am right handed, so with the airbrush in my right hand, I take the air hose in my left hand, and crimp the air hose - at the same time, i pulse the trigger on the airbrush. Here, you can pulse the air hose crimping too. This tends to make the paint splatter. I find more pressure on your regulator creates finer splatter, less pressure bigger splatter. And you can stand further back too for the finer stuff. It sounds complicated, but after some good practice, you should get a feel for what works best for your technique..

Wow, thats going to be hard to master. did you use the same technique for the rf stalk?

Awesome! I really love the killstripes... and the left ear with the white 'horseshoe'... and the right ear... and... so far everything looks excellent! Just keep up your great work!

thats a helmet to proud to own and say i painted that, looking awsome!

Splendid work brother - consider those killstripes nailed! :-)

With the question on the splatters, the splatterring technique sounds tougher than it is - pretty much just crimping and trigger pulsing. Try it on some scrap, and with your great skills, it wont take long at all to master. Now the RF stalk was actually done with a brush and some thinned down paints creating a wash. I tried to follow the ref pics, and dabbed and wiped the wash, and dry brushed some areas. It all worked out better than I expected actually..

Awesome work bro, you are very talented my friend!

Good job sir, coming along nicely.

Almost there....

Beautiful looking lid my friend!

Originally Posted by Jayvee

Beautiful looking lid my friend!

thanks! I'm up to the stenciling/decals at the moment. Having a lot of problems with the D and V on the right ear and the double E s on the left ear. any ideas? I'm using some decadry no 8 dry transfers 6mm. They look a little small though....

Originally Posted by dinkydarth

Almost there....

Now that's a very purty helmet! Well done my friend!

As far as the 'D' and the 'V' - exactly what Raf (a.k.a. Captain Precision ) said. If you cant get the right font in transfers, you could always paint them on exact...

Originally Posted by Jayvee

As far as the 'D' and the 'V' - exactly what Raf (a.k.a. Captain Precision ) said. If you cant get the right font in transfers, you could always paint them on exact...

Captain Precision...

Originally Posted by RafalFett

Captain Precision...

I sense a new avatar for you Captain...

Bahaha! You two!

Great job! All your hard work has really paid off.

Originally Posted by RafalFett

The original decals were made with Letraset Dry Transfer and the font name is Folio Bold Condensed around 7.6mm (28pt font size in any text editor). Read more here ==> Letraset Dry Transfer Font - Folio Bold Condensed; at the end of the first post you can find a letraset replica file in PNG format (set to transparency) and if you can print this out on transparent, sticky sheets, then you will have your own 'letraset' decals. You can check out this thread too ==> All Boba Fett Helmet Decals

By the way, that helmet looks better and better!

Man! you are incredible! I always thought the dry transfers were woodland scenics, but I think you are spot on with the Letraset! Anyway, I decided to use your templates as a guide, and used my existing dry transfers on some clear decals to make up the shapes. I then cut the decal out and placed them in position. Not perfect, but good enough for me...

here they are...

It looks good, just do some fine weathering by scratching the letters with a sharp object (needle, knife or whatever tool you have) and you're good to go with those ear. Excellent job so far!

Visor on, more details on the ears, splattering done... now begins the slow process of detailing....

Very nice my friend! At least all the hard the work is behind you. And a beautiful helmet you have there my friend!

weathering, very tedious....

Looking good! Keep it coming!

OK, I'm calling this finished. Here is my interpretation of the Screen Used ESB helmet!

Thanks to all on the forum for the support, encouragement and advice!

Wow Dinky! You have done an incredible job mate! Your first paint up is amazing! Few could say there first helmet is this good! I have really enjoyed watching this thread and it has been a great inspiration for me. Well done bro! And... whats next?!

Bravo mate, beautiful job, what a superb result for your first lid!

Originally Posted by hobbit057

Wow Dinky! You have done an incredible job mate! Your first paint up is amazing! Few could say there first helmet is this good! I have really enjoyed watching this thread and it has been a great inspiration for me. Well done bro! And... whats next?!

Thanks! It's been fun. I'm not sure about what's next. I've done a Vader and a Stormtrooper already... I might think about a SuperTrooper, but for now I'm gonna take a little break. I look forward to seeing your's finished!

You did an amazing paint job! Now is perfect!

Fantastic work!! I received my asok cc recently and am starting the deep breaths before diving in.

Quick question to you experts: after buffing out the CC helmet, do you in any way primer the silver layer? Or go straight to the colors?

Thanks in advance!

I masked off my silver, then applied a layer of primer. I then applied the base "reefer"gray over the primer.

Awesome job mate!!! This is fantastic!

Originally Posted by dinkydarth

I masked off my silver, then applied a layer of primer. I then applied the base "reefer"gray over the primer.

This is also how I approached it.

Great job!!

Hey Dinky Darth,
Awesome build and paint up.
I have embarked on my first ESB Fett Helmet and Im building one of Asoks CCC lids. Im all prepped up and ready to paint but I have hit a wall.
I have read everything I can find on the site about templates and I have tried to scale every type thats been posted on here and I cant get any of them to line up on the back. The dimensions are tricky since the cast seems to be wider in the back plates so simple scaling of the image doesn't work. Ive tried stretching and tweaking and scalling by size and % and no luck getting them to line up.
Ive been at this for a week and I cant make it work. Did you find a solution to getting the templates to match or do you perhaps have templates already scaled for the shape of Asoks awesome helmet.
Many thanks
Cameron

Thanks for the tips on the primer.

(Sorry if I'm dense here...)

Before priming, did you prep the CC in any way, or just buffed it with the steel wool? Does this allow a good bond for the primer?

Thanks for putting up with my dumb questions!

Originally Posted by Cameron

Hey Dinky Darth,
Awesome build and paint up.
I have embarked on my first ESB Fett Helmet and Im building one of Asoks CCC lids. Im all prepped up and ready to paint but I have hit a wall.
I have read everything I can find on the site about templates and I have tried to scale every type thats been posted on here and I cant get any of them to line up on the back. The dimensions are tricky since the cast seems to be wider in the back plates so simple scaling of the image doesn't work. Ive tried stretching and tweaking and scalling by size and % and no luck getting them to line up.
Ive been at this for a week and I cant make it work. Did you find a solution to getting the templates to match or do you perhaps have templates already scaled for the shape of Asoks awesome helmet.
Many thanks
Cameron

sory for the late reply... i haven't been checking these threads lately. i used a program called GIMP. i then scaled the horizontal and vertical aspects seperately- that gave me the best approximate fit. for some parts this is all that was needed - like the back rectangular bit. for most other parts, i needed to cut the stencils into smaller parts to fit them.... i would use certain parts of the helmet as landmarks then position the appropriate scratch/chip in relation to that landmark. so.... my tamplates were not perfect....

[COLOR="silver"]- - - Updated - - -[/COLOR]

Originally Posted by ZacMuleer

Thanks for the tips on the primer.

(Sorry if I'm dense here...)

Before priming, did you prep the CC in any way, or just buffed it with the steel wool? Does this allow a good bond for the primer?

Thanks for putting up with my dumb questions!

Just buffed with steel wool.... the bond is very strong.... all the other paint goes on top of primer, so every thing sticks pretty well.

Thanks DD. Thats exactly what Im doing. Great minds etc....I hope mine comes out half as nice as yours.

amazing work Dinky, thanks for the awesome wips. I just keep going back over it again and again

Love the rust and weathering. The decals just mesh right in with the paint job. Sweet lid. Really really nice work.

Dinky you did an amazing job on your bucket. I just finished my helmet a few days ago, well almost finished, LOL, but it was a lot of work and very time consuming. Not complaining though as it was a labor of love. I've always wanted a accurately sized Fett helmet painted ESB style, and although mine isn't perfect, I am very happy with it. I'm kinda ready to do another one, LOL.

Again, great job, and thanks for sharing your progress with everyone.

Take care,
David

thats so great

You did a great job.