mandalore697
Active Hunter
Well I've finally gotten around to making some progress on my Sgt Fang helmet. It's been lying around for so long just waiting to be worked on I thought it was about time I pulled my finger out!
After all the basic prep work I gave it a good coat of silver. I've always preferred the layered effect when it comes to painting, even though it does take a lot more time and effort.
After the base coat of silver had dried properly after a day or two I got out the old liquid mask. Using a wealth of reference material and the templates created by Count Dookie I started to mask off the silver areas. I found the templates really useful but couldn't get them to print out to the right size so just decided to use them as an additional point of reference.
After the mask had cured - and with a nice new airbrush in tow! - I sprayed on a couple of coats of humbrol 79 lightened with 64 enamels. I sprayed it all over the dome and cheeks and allowed to dry for a day or two.
Next step was to remove the mask and then reapply the next layer. After this I started applying the main green colour. (Humbrol 73) Again I left it to dry for a couple of days before coming back to remove the mask.
Disaster struck! As I picked up the helmet the texture of the paint didn't feel right and as I started to remove the mask my fears were confirmed. The green had gone on too thick and was lifting the grey as the mask was removed. I also realised that I had used a base coat of ACRYLIC silver and then had put enamel on top.
So I sanded down the dome and cheeks. Most of the green had come off and brought the grey with it already but I gave it a sand to remove any excess and went back down to the primer. I then re-primered the helmet and have now ordered some ENAMEL silver for the base instead. I've also re-ordered the grey and green but this time in acrylic to see if acrylic over enamel will work better than the other way round.
Fortunately I had already painted the rear of the helmet and that had come out fine so no need to go back to that, as it had already taken me ages! I'd also already got the ears pretty much done and dusted so only a bit of weathering required on those now.
So right now I'm waiting for the new paints to arrive before I can get back on track. Please post your comments and I'll keep you guys updated. I should hopefully have some more updates next weekend.
After all the basic prep work I gave it a good coat of silver. I've always preferred the layered effect when it comes to painting, even though it does take a lot more time and effort.
After the base coat of silver had dried properly after a day or two I got out the old liquid mask. Using a wealth of reference material and the templates created by Count Dookie I started to mask off the silver areas. I found the templates really useful but couldn't get them to print out to the right size so just decided to use them as an additional point of reference.
After the mask had cured - and with a nice new airbrush in tow! - I sprayed on a couple of coats of humbrol 79 lightened with 64 enamels. I sprayed it all over the dome and cheeks and allowed to dry for a day or two.
Next step was to remove the mask and then reapply the next layer. After this I started applying the main green colour. (Humbrol 73) Again I left it to dry for a couple of days before coming back to remove the mask.
Disaster struck! As I picked up the helmet the texture of the paint didn't feel right and as I started to remove the mask my fears were confirmed. The green had gone on too thick and was lifting the grey as the mask was removed. I also realised that I had used a base coat of ACRYLIC silver and then had put enamel on top.
So I sanded down the dome and cheeks. Most of the green had come off and brought the grey with it already but I gave it a sand to remove any excess and went back down to the primer. I then re-primered the helmet and have now ordered some ENAMEL silver for the base instead. I've also re-ordered the grey and green but this time in acrylic to see if acrylic over enamel will work better than the other way round.
Fortunately I had already painted the rear of the helmet and that had come out fine so no need to go back to that, as it had already taken me ages! I'd also already got the ears pretty much done and dusted so only a bit of weathering required on those now.
So right now I'm waiting for the new paints to arrive before I can get back on track. Please post your comments and I'll keep you guys updated. I should hopefully have some more updates next weekend.
Last edited by a moderator: