My MS3 progress pics

I got my MS3 kit today, and in true hyperactive monkey style have already started working on it.

So as to avoid posting everything in 5 different places, I'm just going to throw a link to my progress page up here, and bump the thread as I move along.

Tonight saw me cutting out the visor, sanding the earcaps, and painting the silver base coat.





For side by side comparisons between an MSH2 and an MS3, go here:
http://tk7602.com/bobafett/ms3.php

I'm going to start masking off the damage areas tonight, and probably continue through tomorrow with that. More as it comes...

Yaay, Canada makes a cameo in the last photo!
I look forward to seeing the progress bud, how are those cold cast ears?

Brian you sick bastard!

Originally Posted by webchief

Brian you sick bastard!

I second that.

looking smooth :-) mine goes out friday... can't wait!!! first bucket

Originally Posted by Jango_Fett_Jr

Yaay, Canada makes a cameo in the last photo!
I look forward to seeing the progress bud, how are those cold cast ears?

yep, rotj again. gotta keep the balance in the neg... too many ESB helmets around here already!

though i might repaint the msh2 once i'm all done with this one. i'm not really interested in wearing the esb one, but it would be neat to try my hand at painting it.

i need to take a pic of the ears. they pretty much look just like my paint job on the other helmet

i just spent the last 2 hours making off damage on the left mandible. which is about how long i spent on my entire first helmet, so i think that says something. i'm not sure what exactly, but something.

Sweet helmet! Don't rush it now

sweet man

super sweet!

lookin forward to seeing this being finished!!

I'm going to steal it Friday night.

Originally Posted by kbrosseau

Sweet helmet! Don't rush it now

i'm already taking this one slow... given my past history, i should have been up until 5am doing ALL of the masking!

Don't listen to them! Hurry up and get this done! You've had it for all of 2 days now what's the hold up! J/K

i painted on all of the masking fluid for the exposed silver layer. i was all set to spray the dark grey on over it... then i pulled the cap off of the dark grey paint only to find that it was not dark grey at all.

bummer.

so tomorrow i buy some dark grey, *then* paint it. which sucks, since it sets me back a bit on getting some color down on it.

ah well... it will... um... leave the latex some time to cure. yeah, yeah that's it.

Took some photos of the masked areas...





And got my grey paint. Onward to victory! Or at least, onward to layer 2.

Will you paint the entire helmet grey or just the areas around your masking fluid?

Originally Posted by propcicle

Will you paint the entire helmet grey or just the areas around your masking fluid?

i did the whole thing. it was easier to blast all of it than keep track of what spots needed it.

pics will come later on of this part of it. i'm taking them, just not uploading yet

while paint dries, so i figured i'd post up more pics! on a side note... what a PERFECT day to be painting! it's about 60 degrees, sunny, and a nice warm breeze is blowing!

for details on what i'm doing, see the web page:
http://tk7602.com/bobafett/ms3.php

in short, i use the masking fluid for everything, because while you need to let paint *really* dry to put tape down, the latex has proven safe after only about 30 minutes of drying time.

as is my little tradition, i am using all spray cans, rather than airbrushing the exact paints on. while it may not be 100% authentic, it's darned close, and helps to show people a different view on the painting that might be a *little* less intimidating.

i put a grey coat over the silver, and used the masking fluid to mark off the areas that stay grey in the end... i used duplicolor grey primer for this from an auto parts store.



cheeks and back painted. cheeks are rustoleum sage green, back is rustoleum america's finest green.



lots of latex...



mandibles. rustoleum hunt club green, misted with rustoleum blue and rustoleum black. i went back and forth with multiple layers of the 3 until i got it where i liked it. this pic is actually in the middle of the mixing, so it's not the final color...



mandibles masked, visor painted and more masking. visor with rustoleum claret wine.



dome painted, more sage green.



on to the peeling. i'm planning to peel some of the latex this afternoon, and leave some for the presentation webchief and i are doing tonight.

Looking sweet so far!

And a bonus tutorial and with spray cans! Awesome!

It's lookin really neato so far dude.

Bucket looks great! The spraypaint technique looks good, keep the pics comin'.

It was cool to see this bucket in person last night at the costuming panel in Boston. Brian actually pulled away the masking fluid off the right front cheek in the demo and it worked great!

Originally Posted by webchief

It was cool to see this bucket in person last night at the costuming panel in Boston. Brian actually pulled away the masking fluid off the right front cheek in the demo and it worked great!

Yeah, it's looking pretty awesome. I went to the exhibit last night and it was great. A lot of people came.

The helmet looks great. If you dont mind my asking, where did you guys find the masking fluid? The stores I went to around here didnt have any.

two....days....no ...update.....losing conciousness...

Dying to see how the mask comes off.

I found masking fluid at Michael's. Its with the watercolors.

Originally Posted by fettswatcop

two....days....no ...update.....losing conciousness...

Dying to see how the mask comes off.

i've got the photos, i just haven't put 'em up yet... it was a bit nervewracking stripping the stuff off in front of a room full of people. i was so afraid that it wasn't going to work right

Looks great already! Waitng for my MS3 to come in and I plan on following your technique. Glad to hear it went well this weekend

Latest updates:
http://tk7602.com/bobafett/ms3-3.php

My live demonstration of peeling off the masking fluid!


Before:


After:


Closeup of the visor area:


Quick shot of the back:

Dang!
Looking good!

Unbelievable!!! And only in a couple of days. The masking technique sure beats out taping! Thank you for sharing.

Originally Posted by fettswatcop

Unbelievable!!! And only in a couple of days. The masking technique sure beats out taping! Thank you for sharing.

that's what i love about the latex... it cuts so much drying time out.

i messed up a little bit - i didn't put it on thick enough in some places, which makes it REALLY hard to get off.

if you try it, make sure to put a few layers of the latex down, and it will go really nicely.

Thanks for sharing Brian, I'm working with the latex for the first time and this helps.

tonight was acrylic wash night! and paint the earcaps night. and install the borden connector night.











and if you scroll back up, you'll see this angle pre-paint and pre-washes:

That looks FANTASTIC Brian! I have to ask...how did you like the way the earcaps fit in? Did you like the fact they were pre-aligned or would you have rathered lined them up your self? I'm curious about these mods since your the first guy to get/paint up the new helmet.

Keep up the great work!

The helmet looks great, I was a little worried about the red on the mandibles looking too bright, but then it turned out great. Keep up the good work.

Originally Posted by MARROW SUN

That looks FANTASTIC Brian! I have to ask...how did you like the way the earcaps fit in? Did you like the fact they were pre-aligned or would you have rathered lined them up your self? I'm curious about these mods since your the first guy to get/paint up the new helmet.

Keep up the great work!

i found it really helpful to have the guides. one of the issues i had putting the caps on the msh2 helmet i have is that there wasn't really a good way to hold them in place while the glue set, particularly on the left cap.

the cap kept sliding down on me, so i ended up putting on one side and leaving the helmet on its side until set, then flipped it over and did the same on the other side.

Originally Posted by Predatormv

The helmet looks great, I was a little worried about the red on the mandibles looking too bright, but then it turned out great. Keep up the good work.

the colors in the photos from my basement are all messed up due to the strange lighting. it's all flourescent, but some of the tubes are warm, some are cool, and some are "natural".

the ones taken upstairs are far more realistic

great work.......BRAVO.....

8 days, very little sleep, assorted colors of paint in places that don't really need to be painted, and my MS3 is now wearable!

Like all things Fett, I'm sure I'll tweak it a little, but it's Done For Now.



For a bigger picture:
http://tk7602.com/bobafett/ms3-5.php

*Golf claps

Bravo! Bravo!

Can't wait to get my MS3 (I too went for the earcaps) and begin painting it. Just hope I can pull something half as good as this example off.. even if it takes me eight years instead of eight days, hehe.

Edit: Which / who's T visor did you use?

Very nice work as always Brian! Makes me want to do an ROTJ helmet for myself.

Awsome!! My MS3 #8 came in yesterday and I'll be visiting this thread often!

Originally Posted by tk7602

that's what i love about the latex... it cuts so much drying time out.

i messed up a little bit - i didn't put it on thick enough in some places, which makes it REALLY hard to get off.

if you try it, make sure to put a few layers of the latex down, and it will go really nicely.

Thanks for the tips. Love the bucket.

Excellent JOB!

You did a beautiful job on your bucket! Thank you as well for inspiration when my helmet arrives!

Originally Posted by Lythas Vex

Edit: Which / who's T visor did you use?

i got one from the ebay guy, rembrandt-enterprises. he sells them in rubies size, but i asked him to cut one larger. he sells the rubies ones for 10, and i think he charged me 14 for the bigger.

in the thread from marrow sun about the helmet, he mentions the dimensions. that's what i sent to rembrandt-enterprises and it fit perfectly.

Excellent work, very nice...

I know this is in other threads, but any chance that you could get a picture on how you added the range finder onto the post (Did you use one of the BKBT Alumiun posts?), just for future reference when I do it...

Thanks...

Originally Posted by Caomhanach

Excellent work, very nice...

I know this is in other threads, but any chance that you could get a picture on how you added the range finder onto the post (Did you use one of the BKBT Alumiun posts?), just for future reference when I do it...

Thanks...

i can try

it's just Gooped on, so there isn't much to see... i didn't put any screws or anything in there. the way this rangfinder is sculpted didn't seem very friendly to drilling and screwing.

Amazing work!!!!! I looked through your site and that is going to be a great guide when it comes time for me to paint!

THANKS!

WOW.
I really wish I could have made it up there to see the unmasking.
Beautiful work!!

Josh

ecellent!!!

Originally Posted by Ripcode

TK6702 PAINT LIST

Base layer- Silver?
Gray second layer - Duplicolor Grey Primer
Dome and Lower Cheeks- Rustoleum Sage Green
Upper Cheeks- Rustoleum Hunt Club Green, misted with Rustoleum Blue and Rustoleum black
Visor, Mandibles, Red Trim- Rustoleum Claret Wine
Helmet Back- Rustoleum America's Finest Green
Scratches- Fine point silver paint marker (Berol Prismacolor)

What did you use for the kill stripes?

Anything to add?

What brand of masking fluid did you use?

kill stripes i used an orange acrylic paint, daubed on with a brush. i went to the crafts store with a printed photo from the mom exhibit and found a shade that matched pretty well.

for the fine scratches, it was a mix of the marker and a razor. the tiny dots are the marker, along with the minor damage on the rangefinder. the hairline scratches are xacto.

the masking fluid was windsor & newton tinted - the clear was a bit hard to find once it dried

mmmmm helmet

nice

-=QuinN!

TK, looks great! I read through your site but since there are no pictures of the "masking removal" I've got a question. When a section was painted, say the cheeks, the way I see it is you basicly just painted over that entirely with the masking fluid. Then painted another area not worrying about the over-spray. I don't see any taping technique anywhere so am I understanding the correct?

Well done! Could you go into a little more detail about the acrylic wash technique? Do you have pics of that process?

Came out great! I still like your MS2 though...

That helmet just instantly blows me away.

Originally Posted by Rat_Fett

TK, looks great! I read through your site but since there are no pictures of the "masking removal" I've got a question. When a section was painted, say the cheeks, the way I see it is you basicly just painted over that entirely with the masking fluid. Then painted another area not worrying about the over-spray. I don't see any taping technique anywhere so am I understanding the correct?

exactly. the masking fluid serves the same function as using tape would have. i planned out which colors to do when based on masking things off with the fluid (hence why the dome was last, since by that point i wanted most everything covered.

Originally Posted by Count Dookie

Well done! Could you go into a little more detail about the acrylic wash technique? Do you have pics of that process?

i don't have any photos of that really. if you search this forum for acrylic wash you'll see a ton of different approaches to it.

this is the way i did mine:
http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f23/black-wash-11081/

i figured i wouldn't reinvent the wheel and go over that stuff again, but it probably would be good to add that to my web page for people that aren't here.