First Fett, MS3 #23 Underway!

How perfect did you wet sand it? That is a nice paint job right there. Would be perfect for Jango. No need for rub and buff. Looking good so far.

Pretty.....I like.

Bright and shiny!

That's an impressive start! I can't wait to see your progress!

Holy jesus man! That's out of a rattle can? Superb start!

Fantastic start man! Look forward to seeing your progress. Keep it up!

****! The paint is a lauquer based paint and it does not like the clear coats. I spoke with Krylon and hte only clear coat I can throw on it is the Low odor clear coat, but when I tried that it realy dulls the paint and gets a little milky (possibly a paint cure problem too).

I am going to wait a week before touching it again and I will see what happens, plus I have to head back to work for a week anyway and won't be home.

If anyone knows of a clear coat that works well with laquer's please let me know!

Try modelmasters clear coat Laquer that comes in spray cans! Thats what I use and it works with everything!!!!

If he gets that paint to work out he will have the Bling Bling Fett helmet. Real shiny clean chrome scratches.

One danger in some crome paints from cans... if they havnt cured completely they can still be "soft" meaning you can easily dent the paint or leave fingerprint impressions on your helmet. Its always good to do light coats and let each coat dry completely so that this wont happen.

Just for example, I airbrused the silver on my stuff, I just took 3 days to paint the silver on my armor peices... this is becase I wanted to do light coats and let them sit for 24 hours each... now I can handle the armor, and draw on it with out leaving marks, or indentions in it, goes the same with helmets.

Thanks for the tips!

Looking great so far, making me feel bad for not even starting my MS3 #2 yet

We will see how it does after the 8 day cure time I am forced to give it. I hope it will be fine then. I just hope the masking goes well.

ah lacquer, you gotta hate it as much as you love it.
Just remember that stuff is air drying, basially drys like mud. so when you throw down the clear the top of the silver is gonna do the same as spraying water on some dried mud, the clear also wont dry nice and shiny like an enamal, you will have to buff it out, on a better note though is that there isnt any other paint that will shine up like lacquer, you just have to buff it.
as far as curing, it shoulf be fully cured in a few days if you have some air flow around it, enamal on the other hand literally takes months to fully cure.

with a good clear on there you shouldnt have the peeling silver problem when tape is removed

Originally Posted by evan4218

One danger in some crome paints from cans... if they havnt cured completely they can still be "soft" meaning you can easily dent the paint or leave fingerprint impressions on your helmet. Its always good to do light coats and let each coat dry completely so that this wont happen.

Just for example, I airbrused the silver on my stuff, I just took 3 days to paint the silver on my armor peices... this is becase I wanted to do light coats and let them sit for 24 hours each... now I can handle the armor, and draw on it with out leaving marks, or indentions in it, goes the same with helmets.

I know that is so annoying...... After I chromed my helmet 5 days later I put a huge thumbprint in it still, I wasnt very happy but I realized it was Laquer based, and I redid it in Enamel and it didnt do that. I dont know why Laquer did not dry on that sandable primer.

Alclad II works great for any kind of Metallic paint and doesn't take weeks to dry,
you can also Polish it like real Metal and Clear Coat it without problems!

i remember there was a paint that the r/c car racers were using that was shiny like a mirror finish, that name sounds familiar. would be awesome on a 3PO suit.

Originally Posted by cal196

I know that is so annoying...... After I chromed my helmet 5 days later I put a huge thumbprint in it still, I wasnt very happy but I realized it was Laquer based, and I redid it in Enamel and it didnt do that. I dont know why Laquer did not dry on that sandable primer.

It happens, I find just light coats with the laquer dose the trick... and I mean light... its good to do that will all the paints becase they have to breath to cure correctly. You throw on a heavy coat and you end up with something that will take a year to dry... and that seems to go with anything.

there are otherways to get where you wanna be.

layered technique is extremely cool, because it creates the illusion of real damage.

but I think it is also very, very clear that the silver base is not exactly the best paint adhesing base there is.

if this doesn't work out, you'd be surprised at how well a a base coat of green and red goes and then attack your helmet with a pencil... and a small pot of enamel silver paint.

worked for me.

Fett is trying... I was ready to destroy my costume on more then 1 ocasion.

don't.

take a nap, come back tommorow and try again... fail again if that;s what happens...

then try again with a different approach.

you'll get there

ow and keep watching this forum.. it's loaded with info on what to do when you're stuck.

Don't get too discouraged you still have a GREAT helmet.

Many of the props I've made don't always turn out the way
I want them to on the first try.

RBF is right. If you fail the first time try a different approach. As frustrating as that sounds your second attempt is likely to be successful.

I always have to step back and remember that it won't be perfect the first time or the second time around. Fett's helmet is chaotic looking at first but once you've spent the time it begins to look more and more like it should. People can be their own worst critic so don't be so hard on yourself.

I've had plenty of trouble. Your masking woes are something I'm familiar with. The same thing happened to my upper cheeks when I masked them and removed the tape it pulled half the paint up. I went back and applied 3 coats of acrylic with the airbrush, allowed it to dry properly, and went back later to find that it worked out great. No paint pulling up.

If you were using a latex masking fluid like Windsor & Newton you could use a craft store eraser (a square faced rubber eraser) that you rub over the paint where the masking was and it will pull it up without tearing through the non-masked areas. Works like a charm. There are other brands of masking fluids around but that is the one I used based on Steve-the-Swede's tutorial.

Hope that helps and don't give up!

the tape-pulling-up issue is why i try to avoid using tape. i burn through a lot of of the liquid mask, but i just mask off everything with that.

if you put it on nice and thick, you can peel back the whole thing in 1 shot when you are done, and reveal all of your colors, damage, etc... makes for a neat looking presentation too

also, i wouldn't worry too much about the shine of the silver. the masking fluid will dull it down quite a bit, and imo, that's a good thing. i would imagine the metal underneath to be a dull stainless, not a chromey shiney thing. i found that the dulling effect of the latex ends up producing a really nice look.

I am going to try and salvave what I can, and just finish out the helmet. I will tyr that eraser trick and to alot of experiments on with the liquid mask, I should learn to use that stuff.

CMAnavy -

If I may be so bold. Please, don't get discouraged or be hard on yourself. You are doing a great job! Keep plugging away and I am sure you'll end up with a paint job that you'll be proud of!

I've had a lot of projects where I made a mistake, but was able to save it and ended up with a decent end product. I am certain this will be the same for you.

Please keep us informed of how it goes. I still think it's looking great so far!!!!

This helmet is going down. I painted the back of the helmet and the paint did this wonder running/thining (fixable but a pain in the a$$). The best part is the boxcar reds (what ever one) when I try to paint it on the mandibles it mixes with the POS silver paint I used and realy turns to $hit. *** did I do to deserve this!

Don't beat yourself up, dude. We all all run into obstacles and get frustrated. I myself at one point threw my paintbrush across the garage and screamed "I hate this!" But the next day I was right back in there painting my bucket. It just takes patience.

I know you can do it, just keep thinking positive. And if you need a break, then by all means take it. That's how we keep our sanity

seriously, you can do it!!

if you're that frustrated with your progres, sand it off.

try again!!

you know now what didn't work last time, what you can expect to happen with the materials you used this time.

it;s a learning proces, sometimes you hit the jackpot, sometimes you hit your head.

I'm a disaster when it comes to spray cans and masking and everythign that goes with it... so again... trust the old fashioned brush, when done right, you won't even see brush stripes

That is looking really, really good!
Keep up the excellent job and take your time with it!

Hey hey, look at that. Starting to look real good. Glad you stuck with it. I am sure you are starting to feel the reward now. Good job

looking good man!!!

**** son! that looks awsome

Well I have done a bit more work after taking a break for a bit. I instaled the visor (proper dark green welding shield), painted up one of the ear caps (the yellow used was a bit dark), applied some decals, did most of the trim and key slots and started removing the green paint for the back pannels and last put on the kill stripes. I did notice I pit the stripes to far back and to high but it still looks alright.











Now jsut need to finish up the back, add the big scrape on top and weather it and instal the range finder.

Good work Joe!

That helmet is looking good!

That is looking awesome Joe!!