ESB Boba Fett helmet (lots of pics, sorry)

I recently finished painting this helmet for a fellow 501st member (I’ll let him speak up if he wants). It’s one of the FettPride “proto” castings. All in all it’s a great helmet with very little clean up. I’m always impressed with FP’s fiberglass work. The paint colors are loosely based on Lee’s list from years ago. The helmet didn’t turn out quite as accurate as I would have liked, but it’s one of if not the best Boba helmet I have painted to date.

This is how I received the helmet. It's cast by FettPride in fiberglass with a white gel-coat. Unfortunately, when I received it, there were three major cracks in the helmet (I marked them with red lines in the pic). Otherwise this casting was flawless and required very little clean-up.

Cracks repaired, visor and vent-slots trimmed. Primed, wet-sanded and ready to paint. Also magnets installed on the ear-cap.

Cracks repaired, primed, wet-sanded and ready to paint. Also you'll notice a couple of nicks and scratches I dremeled into the helmet to match the damage on the screen used helmet.

Dome and cheeks airbrushed on

Rear panel dark green painted. Also note the colors are a little splotchy looking, this was just the first coat and "evened out" with a couple more lite coats.


Masking off the mandibles.

Mandibles airbrushed and underside of the cheek hand painted (just like the original)

I created a vector file of the "kill stripes" and had our good friend Scott "Phinz" Kirkham cut a vinyl decal to use as a stencil.

Day-glow orange and yellow airbrushed on.

Kill-stripes turned out just a little "heavier" than I wanted, but still looks great. When the helmet gets the final wash/weathering it will tone-down the stripes. Also note, I painted the left "ear"

Masking off the right-ear.

Airbrushed the gold/tan on the right ear.

Started drawing out the chipped-damage on the rear-panel.

hand-painted the tannish color

On to the grey battle-damage

Than the silver paint. Also note I am painting the weathering in a "topical" fashion to *try* and get the accurate shaped detail


Started working on the grey damage on the cheeks


Than the silver details on the cheeks and started working on the mandible damage

Working my way around the helmet, filling in the "damage" on the red band


And that finishes up the chipped detail/damage on the red areas. At this point I was going cross-eyed

Now onto the dome... grey and silver

working the details around the kill-stripes. A little heavy-handed in some spots, but I think it's really starting to get the feel and look of the screen used helmet. So many layers, so much damage, scratches and chips.

"Cat-Scratch" detail... done

Drawing the dome damage

Grey and silver dome damage... I think I may have placed this a little bit too forward, it's really hard to tell from the reference pics though

DENT... painted

airbrushed the "scorched" burn around the edge of the dent

Silver on the right ear...

Decals applied to the right ear

Decals applied to the left ear... this one really fought me, for some reason

Chipped damage painted on the left ear

And there you go, outside of a little black-wash and light weathering, the paint work is DONE

Oh, I almost forgot my *favorite* part of the helmet, the "thumb-smug". This was actually on the original helmet. If you look closely, you can even see it in the screen-caps. Looks like somebody accidentally dripped some white paint on the helmet and said "oh nos" and tried to wipe it off LOL

Chipped weathering painted on the right ear

Looks awesome. I think someone should sell the kill stripes vinyl decals (the negative ones) of each version so it would be easier to paint them.

Range-finder.... this isn't the one that came with the helmet, but is more of a hybrid, put together from several different kits

Visor, trimmed and mounted...

Range-finder installed and weathered

And... DONE... Not shown, but the helmet was given a liberal black-wash and touched up in a couple of places and then given a light clear-coat. I usually do not not clear-coat these helmets, but I knew this one may be used for costuming purposes and wanted to be as durable as possible.

Back... all done...

The helmet is currently living in our dining room (per the wife's request). Will be delivered to its owner this weekend.

Jon, that is an absolutely incredible job! I love it! Well done. I am sure the owner is very pleased!

Well Done Well Done. I have yet to take the plunge in doing a topical paint up but after see your work here you have made me think twice.

It looks killer!!! Did you use the AOSW stencils for it?

Helmet looks great!

Superb! That's a great looking ESB bucket.

I'm curious whether you used the dome green on the left ear? Lots of differing opinions about that. I use a slightly different shade on my paint-ups.

Originally Posted by deadland

Well Done Well Done. I have yet to take the plunge in doing a topical paint up but after see your work here you have made me think twice.

Blasphemous you do your thing VERY well dont stop...
You did a great job on the topical paint, I think the green is a bit darker than Id like but the damage looks great very nice topical job

Originally Posted by superjedi

I'm curious whether you used the dome green on the left ear? Lots of differing opinions about that. I use a slightly different shade on my paint-ups.

I'll dig through my notes and post what color I used. But no, I didn't use the same color as the dome on the left year. I'm 95% sure they are different.

Originally Posted by Fett 4 Real

I think the green is a bit darker than Id like

I 100% agree... I use POG for the dome and cheeks. I think the color is good, but the overall tone is just a little dark.

Wow, great job! You sure have a great eye for all the detail. When you were drawing out the chipped damage, did you do that by looking at a reference picture and hand drawing it or was there a way to project an image onto the helmet and outline the chipped damage?

Originally Posted by SaxeCoburg

I'll dig through my notes and post what color I used. But no, I didn't use the same color as the dome on the left year. I'm 95% sure they are different.

definitely different colors, no doubt the ear is a olive color and the dome and cheeks are a minty color almost

I'll chime in with the others and say, Bravo! for an outstanding job. I'm trying to do my FP layered, but yours makes me reconsider that approach. Speaking of which, how long did it take you to complete the paint up, from start to finish?

Again, awesome work!

Originally Posted by Roninson

how long did it take you to complete the paint up, from start to finish?

If I had to guess, I say roughly... 50-60 hours? Probably more if I really tracked the time from start to finish.

If I'm not mistaken, this is the first painted helmet that used my ESB stencils from start to finish. An excellent paint job and attention to details! I love it!

Beautiful

REALLY REALLY nice. Its got a professional look to it, you should be proud!

Great paintjob Very nice !

Wow, this is really nice! You've done some very inspiring work, so please don't apologize for the photos!

Originally Posted by RafalFett

If I'm not mistaken, this is the first painted helmet that used my ESB stencils from start to finish. An excellent paint job and attention to details! I love it!

With this and Super jedi's PP2 , I think it proves your stencils are a real sucses ,


This helmet looks great good work SC, one thing that hit me was I think the grey may be to light , the visor area came out great , the purple really works well with the red

I'm sure the owner will be a very happy Fett indeed. BEAUTIFUL work!

Originally Posted by BGHunter

With this and Super jedi's PP2 , I think it proves your stencils are a real sucses ,


This helmet looks great good work SC, one thing that hit me was I think the grey may be to light , the visor area came out great , the purple really works well with the red

Thanks, James! I was thinking the same thing about the dark grey being too light, but still the helmet looks awesome. Very professional paint job!

Originally Posted by SaxeCoburg

I'll dig through my notes and post what color I used. But no, I didn't use the same color as the dome on the left year. I'm 95% sure they are different.

Thanks. I'm in the "left ear is a different color than the dome" camp, too. I've seen lots of ESBs done with the POG shade on the left ear, but when I look at the reference pics, I can never quite convince myself that it's the same color.
It's been some time since I painted an ESB, so I'd have to check my own color list, but I believe I've stuck with RLM 73. I know it's one of those RLM greens.

Awesome paint up Jon I realized you had serious skilz when I saw that
Barta Helmet. Or is that Spoba ? (Boba Spartan) lol I wondered what you'd
be able to do with a regular bucket, and my bucket is off to ya

That paint job is siiiiiick!!!!!!

Originally Posted by BGHunter

one thing that hit me was I think the grey may be to light

Actually I think the gray ("Reefer Gray") is spot-on, I think it's the green on the dome/cheeks that is a little dark that makes the gray seem light. I'd definitely like to hear more people's opinion on it though

Beautiful work! I do think the dome/lower cheek grey could be a shade darker. Is it the same shade as the grey on the mandibles/trim and the rear panels? It doesn't really detract from what is a great paint job though...

Amazing detail and great looking paint up on the bucket!! Great Job.

Truely one of the best Buckets I have ever seen. TRUE masterpiece.

Originally Posted by SaxeCoburg

Actually I think the gray ("Reefer Gray") is spot-on, I think it's the green on the dome/cheeks that is a little dark that makes the gray seem light. I'd definitely like to hear more people's opinion on it though

Yeah please dont take that as an insult to your work, and seeing things in pics is never the same as in the flesh. I just personally have thought reefer grey a bit light , and Iknow what you mean about the green but I think the green looks perfect

A fantastic paint up, you shoud be absolutely rapt with this one. Im in the camp of the greys being fractionally light, but of course pics dobt always truly represent the actual shades at times, and is certainly nothing ti detract from what is a superb paint up brother!

Incredible, incredible helmet. I'm in awe at the absolute precision in the application of the paint. These pics could easily be used as reference material. Congrats!

Don't apologize for the amount of photos, I'm sure I wasn't the only one drooling over them, if anything, you could take some more of the finished bucket! fantastic job, well done!!

Beautiful work on the paint!