My Last Fett Helmet painting progress pics

Hello there all. I guess I've been gone for a long time. Some of you guys might remember me, but I'm sure a lot of you won't recognize who I am.

Anyways, I wanted to post progress pics of my latest, and probably last ESB-esque Fett bucket I'm painting. It's got a paint scheme "close" to ESB, but it's not exact...there are a few details that I've overlooked either due to lack or refererence material, or just because I wasn't able to replicate the patterns closely enough.

The base coat colors were done by Rogue Studios a year ago (thanks Lee!) and I've been siting on the helmet for quite some time now. I've just recently gotten around to getting this done, and I figured that the Dented Helmet would be a good place to show some progress pics.

Also, I had a few tips to share with other ESB painters as well, in case anyone wanted to hear what I had to say on the matter; I don't really consider myself an authority on Fett painting, as I've seen some of you guys go above and beyond what I started a few years back in the old RPF, but I do have a few tricks I've come up with over the years to help emulate an accurate ESB bucket look.

One thing that I think 90% of the ESB Fett painters overlook is the need to dirty up, or give a "sandblast" effect to the "T" area and all other "red" areas to the ESB Fett buckett. Too many times I see some fantastic weathering techniques on some of these helmets, but in many cases, they don't seem to be "quite" finished. If you look closely at the reference material provided in the Fett CD (I assume that these are common knowledge nowadays, yes?) espeicaly with Dustin' Crops Boy's excellent photo reference, you'll notice that the red areas are always specked with a tan coloration all over. The way that I've achieved this look is thus:

1: Take some ordinary tan colored acrylic paint, and mix a small amount at about a 20 / 80 ratio (20% paint, 80% water)



2: Take a toothbrush and dip the end into the paint solution



3: using your thumb, press and hold the bristles down and back



4: hold the toothbrush over the area to be covered, and draw your thumb back, allowing the bristles to "flick" the paint forward in a controlled spray



5: allow to dry, and there you have it, cheap sandblast effect




In any case, here's how the current helmet is looking thus far. (sorry for the lousy picture quality, my camera isn't so good)

Awesome job so far! and thaks for the tip im going to need that.

Excellent work !

Sweet Jesus Motorfish!!! That is one sweet, and highly accurate, helmet you have there my friend. Even though you have been sitting on it a while...it was worth it. Keep up the great work and I'm sure we'd all love to see an over all finished product soon.

Hey Motor...
Great Looking Helmet........and I use the same technique....

As someone who has been around for a while some of your original painted Fett pieces are what inspired me to join and get into this crazy hobby.....I Have a ton of your old costume pics and still use them today.....
So thanks...and hope to see you post more around these parts, we still need the "seasoned members" to show us a trick or two ......:thumbup :thumbup :thumbup

Cheers

Alex

Wow! A toothbrush! I gotta try that! Nice job.

Incredible work and nice detailing.
Nice tip on the toothbrush 'weathering'.
Thanks !

Looks awesome!

Welcome back Motorfish, its been a long time since you posted your amazing work here!

Wow, awesome bucket. Thanks for the toothbrush tip, I used it last night and it worked excellent