NikNak's SgtFang Progress Thread (PIC Intensive)

[NikNak_aka]

Hey guys and gals a few months back I purchased a SgtFang bucket as the start of my planned rotj/se Fett. I finally got some time to get started and I snapped a bunch of pictures with my new camera. I know this has been done a hundred times before but I know many of you, like me, love watching progress threads so here goes.

Here's my work space not exactly a workshop but it works:


Here's the tools that I used to start the clean up of my helmet:


This set of Hobby Files is one of the best things that I purchased. It comes with a 2 flat files 1 square file, 1 round file, 1 semi-elliptical, and 1 fully elliptical. You can find them at Home Depot in the tools section, I highly recommend them:


Remember kids always where your saftey gear:



I made my first cuts use my dremel with a carbon fiber reinforced cutting discs. I went really rough on my first cuts as I was terrified of screwing up. I think it was a good idea to do trimming of large areas and then cleaning up the closer details.


I then scored the thinner more brittle resin that was left over with my utility knife and was able to just snap it off with my hands:


I then moved to the top of the t-visor and again cut it out roughly:


Once the rough cuts where done I got a little bit bolder with my cutting wheel and started cutting some of the excess resin out of the visor:


I used a combination of the cutting wheel and a sanding drum to do more of the clean up.
I then decided to switch to a normal Dremel cutting bit to clean out the narrower parts of the top of the T. I figured it would give me more control and allow me to clean up the detail easier. It worked out ok but unfortunately it got away from me a few times and left me with some areas that needed to be fixed. After the area was mostly cleaned I went back with my hobby files and cleaned the narrower areas up.


Screw up 1:

Screw up 2:


After the Visor was cleaned out I decided to start putting filler on the bucket. Here's the raw filler after it being put on the bucket. It's squadron white.


I was also able to use the filler to fix the areas that I had screwed up:

After 2 coats of filler I am pretty pleased with how the raised areas are looking:




Here's the bucket almost done with the prep work. All that's left is the (gulp) ketslots. My plan for those is to do a rough cut with the dremel and then finish the clean up with the hobby files.


Aside from the ketslots I also need to even out the width of the visor opening from the inside of the bucket so that the tvisor will sit correctly.

I'll add more pics as I have time to update this. It may be a while due to the fact I have to move out of my apartment soon.

[Jimmy BufFETT]

Nice work so far. Just gotta question a little off subject because I really wanna know: what on Earth happened to your safety goggles in the second pic of yourself? Did ya spray yourself?

[NikNak_aka]

Haha thats resin dust its a before and after pic of making my first cuts with the dremel.

[evan4218]

Great work thus far bro!

[Spideyfett]

Looking good so far Rob!! ....love the "workshop"..

[Darth Fett]

great start!!

[AFettFullofDollars]

Yes, Great Start! You can never stress enough the importance of good prep work.

[zombierepellent]

Lookin good! Are you going to square up the corners on the cheeks like Justin did on ripcodes rotj bucket?

[NikNak_aka]

No I dont think that I will as this one is gonna be ESB style paintjob. I have an MS3 on the way that will be 100% RotJ so I probbaly will with that one.

[NikNak_aka]

Also, I have a pair of movie accurate ears coming in from Lee(RougeStudios) and Single Seat. So I will have to modify the RF ear to work with the new ear caps. I hope that I do a good job and people can use this as a guide for their mystery helmets.

[AFettFullofDollars]

No I dont think that I will as this one is gonna be ESB style paintjob. I have an MS3 on the way that will be 100% RotJ so I probbaly will with that one.

Actually the cheek corners are squared on the ESB also. I think the rounded corners were a hold over from the DP 95 that was used as a guide in the sculpting process.

[NikNak_aka]

Oh. Well I'll have to look at the ref pics closer and then figure out the best way to do that. Thanks for the info guys!

[Foxbatkllr]

I have that same hobby file set. Its a great set!

[goldenrod]

It is a bit nerving when doing cutting. But you did a nice job.
So hows the wife dealing with the kitchen being turned into the shop! LOL!

[superjedi]

Also, I have a pair of movie accurate ears coming in from Lee(RougeStudios) and Single Seat. So I will have to modify the RF ear to work with the new ear caps. I hope that I do a good job and people can use this as a guide for their mystery helmets.

Now that is something I'll be very interested to see!

Nice work so far.

[zombierepellent]

Oh. Well I'll have to look at the ref pics closer and then figure out the best way to do that. Thanks for the info guys!

Justin told me he did it with an exacto knive and some bondo. Ask him for advise, he's really helpful when it comes to this kind of stuff.

[NikNak_aka]

A disaster almost just happened. I was getting ready to go look at apartments and I had my bucket sitting on my bed. When I went to grab my jacket off the bed it knocked the bucket onto the ground right on to the mandible. It made a pretty nasty crack from the corner of the tvisor area to the rear of the bucket. Thank fully I was able to put some CA glue on it right away. I'll putty it up after the CA dries to cover the crack up.



Do you guys think I need to reinforce this any more than just the CA glue and putty?

[zombierepellent]

You can't reinforce too much, when in doubt, add more. It might even counter balance the wieght of the range finder.

[MandalorFett]

I broke the mandible off my Sgt. Fang too. Be sure to use shims on the inside of the bucket to reinforce the two pieces together. No one sees the inside but you so it doesn't have to be pretty, but it needs to be functional and support the two pieces.

[Devilstar2k2]

JB Weld on the inside, Bondo on the outside.

[goldenrod]

You could always get some fiberglass and cloth and brush in some fiberglass gel and lay the swatch of cloth in and then brush a little more fiberglass on top. This will give an excellent reiforcement inside. But do this process out doors. Its stinky but very strong.

[DL44 Blaster]

JB Weld on the inside, Bondo on the outside.

Couldn't agree more......there's no such thing as building something too strong.

Steve

[NikNak_aka]

I am pretty sure that I am gonna end up fiberglassing the inside of the bucket but I wont be able to until after I move. The mandible is stable now at least with the CA glue and filler on both sides. I have some really good industrial strength Expoy that I am gonna throw on the inside after I sand down the filler.

I also started squaring the "cheeks" with my exacto knife. You can see it a little bit in the pics with the broken mandible. I need to add some filler so that I can make the detail just a little bit sharper.

[zombierepellent]

Are you going to add missing details or just go straight onto paint? The corner you have shown looks good! I'm really looking forward to the rest of the progress.

[pennywise]

Man that sucks, I'm sorry that happend! That is the bad part about resin helmets VS. Fiberglass, it tends to be alittle less durable.

[terminal fettler]

Ouch! Fibre glass tissue would be an ideal re- inforcement, a very fine layer; this would make the area effected as good as new with minimum bulk, laminated inside....

[NikNak_aka]

Are you going to add missing details or just go straight onto paint? The corner you have shown looks good! I'm really looking forward to the rest of the progress.

I am still deciding weather or not to add more of the nicks and deeper scratches or not. Considering I am not 100% on what was there during filming and what has happened while the buckets were on tour. I dont think anyone can really have a 100% solid answer.

As far as the wavy brow goes I am not really sure how to go about doing that other than really carefully sanding and puttying. I do not know if I have the patience to do that.

After all its my first bucket and I am really excited to get paint on her. I am trying not to rush as I want it to be good but its hard to be patient all the time.

[Ripcode]

Nice progress so far!

That crack can be fixed! Fiberglasss it! You can buy fiberglass repair kits at Walmart in the automotive section for $10. Their is probably enough in one kit to do most of the inside of your helmet.

[evan4218]

A disaster almost just happened. I was getting ready to go look at apartments and I had my bucket sitting on my bed. When I went to grab my jacket off the bed it knocked the bucket onto the ground right on to the mandible. It made a pretty nasty crack from the corner of the tvisor area to the rear of the bucket. Thank fully I was able to put some CA glue on it right away. I'll putty it up after the CA dries to cover the crack up.



Do you guys think I need to reinforce this any more than just the CA glue and putty?

I fiberglassed Batninja SgFang and it seemed to fix the issue and made it a sturdy helmet. I have to say that I would not troop with that bucket without fiberglassing it simply due to how fragile the resin used to make it is. Its a great helmet but the resin used is one of the more brittle resins.

[evan4218]

You want to get a bondo fiberglass repair kit and buy the larger size one. Cut the strips in small 1.5" by 4" strips and take your time. The instructions say to use one big peice but that is for filling a hole on a car hood or boat! Use strips... it will work better.

[NikNak_aka]

UPDATE 2/28:

So I managed to squeeze out some time last weekend to work on my bucket a little bit. I've finished most of the prep work and now only few things remain before I can start to put paint on it.

First I fixed the crack:




I worked the cheek corners just a little bit with a sharp exacto knife and then filled them a little bit with putty. I plan on going back and adding a little bondo to sharpen the detail a bit.:



The I tackled the Key slots:

Here I put the bucket up to a light to see when I needed to cut through the inside of the bucket to get the long sections of the key holes I then marked off the areas with sharpie.


Then I trimmed out the longer sections just enough so I could fit in some of my slimmer files:


For the top parts of the key slots I used a very small cutting bit to get the general shape there. I then went back with my files to clean them up:


Here is where I left of the the Key slots. I added some putty to try to fix some of the areas that are just bad in the cast but its not an easy area to work. I am not 100% happy with this area and I will go back to it before I go to paint it.:


I then went back and added some of the signature dremel details that can be found on the ESB buckets:


This part was a little bit scary. I marked off areas on the rf ear where I planned to sand it off to:





I then took the plunge and started going to town with the dremel. I did get away from me a few times but it did not cause any major damage that wont be fixed with putty and bondo.



I got a little worried that I had taken too much off so I started to fill the area with a few layers of bondo.



After looking at my references again I am not not sure if I went far enough on the bottom part of the RF ear. I think this weekend I am going to grind some more off of it and see how the RS ear cap fits on it.

Once I figure out the proper height of the earcap base all that is left is to coat the inside with fiberglass using this kit:


After that I will install my Visor using Spideyfett's super cool removable visor method using t-nuts.

After that some priming, some sanding, possibly some filling(if needed) and some more priming.

and then... PAINT!

[NikNak_aka]

Update May 1st 2007:

I know its been a while since my last update but I have been working on my bucket among other things over the last few months.

This is kinda of a teaser for a more thorough update when I transfer the rest of the pics off of my camera.


Yes, those are rouge studios ears on a sgt fang bucket



Here's some teasers of the other things I've been working on, appropriate threads to follow in the future.







8)

[Sixxgunn13]

Very nice...can't wait to see more!

[mrgr8ness]

Looks awesome, can't wait to see more! And that gaunt looks perfect

[JangoUri]

wow is that cold cast?

[NikNak_aka]

The Jango? Yes, it is cold cast. It is in fact #5 of the Fettpride "Scratch and dent" ILM buckets that were on the cargo hold a few months ago. I actually just put a coat of primer on the mandibles and will paint the blue on tomorrow evening... but the rest is for another thread

[saint_nasty]

i gotta stop looking at helmet progress threads, it makes me want to go and order another fangs when i don't have the first one anywhere near finished. it's barely started.

[Spideyfett]

The Jango? Yes, it is cold cast. It is in fact #5 of the Fettpride "Scratch and dent" ILM buckets that were on the cargo hold a few months ago. I actually just put a coat of primer on the mandibles and with paint the blue on tomorrow evening... but the rest is for another thread

Looks good Rob....

[The_Sith_Hunter]

Do you guys think I need to reinforce this any more than just the CA glue and putty?

I've had a similar accident. I have a couple cracks in mine and want to reinforce mine too. This is my first bucket and I got a few questioins...

What is CA glue? What kind of putty did you use? Allso What do you use to do a fiberglass reinforcement of the inside of the helm? I saw a resin coating and was told to use fiberglass cloth with it? Would that work? If you got any name brands that you like can you list them?

Thanks for your help!

[NikNak_aka]

CA glue is a think clear glue that can be used to fill small gaps. The brand I used is "Zap a Gap" it can be found at any hobby shop.

The putty is white squadron, its available at almost any hobby shop as well.

As for fiber glassing I used the kit pictured at the bottom of post #31. The kit comes with the fiberglass resin and the cloth. Here's a pic of the kit:


I bought this kit at the Autozone down the street from me. It was really easy to use. Just mix small amounts of the fiberglass resin and the hardener at a time. I mistakenly mixed the whole bottle of resin and tube of hardener and ended up with it becoming solid in about 5 minutes. (I had to get a second kit )

[The_Sith_Hunter]

Thanks for the info! Do you by chance have a pic of your helm's interior with the fiber glass reinforcements? Did you do just one layer? and how thick? From what it sounds you put in some kind of goop then the fiber glass cloth?

I don't like being the noob, but I gotta start somewhere... That's why I'm not overly pissed about the cracks. I'm looking at them as learning experiences to improve my costuming ability!

Thanks!

[NikNak_aka]

Later today I will be putting up a major update to this thread which includes a pic of the inside of the bucket.

[The_Sith_Hunter]

Cool! I'll check it out later! thanks!

[Bubba Fett]

Dang, this is looking great! Congrats NikNak.

[evan4218]

UPDATES!!!!

[NikNak_aka]

Got a bit side traced this weekend sorry folks updates sometime this week.

[NikNak_aka]

Update 5/21/07

Sorry it took so long to get this up but I've been busy.

Ok first on the update I fiberglassed the inside finaly. It didnt come out a smooth as I had hopped as there are a few gators inside. Nothing too bad but still not as smooth as I had wanted.


I then moved on and drilled my holes for the screws that I was planning on useind to secure the ears to the bucket. After the holes were drilled I held the ears on and marked them with a marker through the hole. I made the holes slightly oval because I wanted to give my self a little play room so that I could line the ears up 100% perfect.




For my ears I decided to make them removeable like my visor. I used a fostner bit to sink some tenuts in the the ears them selves then glued them in with some 2 part epoxy.





Unfortunatly when I was useing the fostner bit to sink areas for my tnuts inside the bucket I went a little too far and actually ended up going all the way through the mandible. Nothing a little bondo won't fix though!


Heres the inside of the bucket with the tnuts installed I made kind of a mess of the insdie of the bucket with the epoxy but its not big deal because I am planning on painting the inside anyway.





After some more sanding I finally threw a coat of primer on the bucket. Its actually starting to look like a good bucket! I still need to do some more finish sanding and a little bit more filling here and there but it will soon, and finally, be ready for paint!


You can see here the hole repair went pretty well.


I have made quite a mess in my new apartment. It feels good to have that kind of freedom. My fiance probably wouldnt be too happy, but lucky for me she isnt moving in till next month



I have also been working on another bucket that I'll post over in the "appropriate forum" in a little while.

[zombierepellent]

Looking good, that hole you patched up turned out really well.
How you going to paint this? layered or topical?

[NikNak_aka]

Looking good, that hole you patched up turned out really well.
How you going to paint this? layered or topical?

I am planning on doing both. Masking for the silver and then topical for everything else. I may end up doing topical all over. I really have to see what works best for me.

[zombierepellent]

I can't do layered I seem to have failed at mastering the liquid masking fluid

I just had a thought. Do you think one would be able to paint over rub n buff? I think that'd look sweet having a rnb base.

[NikNak_aka]

I think as long as you sealed it with something first you might be able to paint over it but I am not 100% on that.

[Spideyfett]

HOW did I miss this update???? NICE WORK ROB!!!


Love the teenut on the RS ears, great Idea...AWESOME work bro!:thumbup

[Mojo-Fett]

Very nice work NikNak...

[NikNak_aka]

Yay! an update!

Ive been crazy busy with work the past few weeks(80+ hour weeks) So I have had zero time to work on anything Fett related. This update covers my first attempt at getting the base colors onto my bucket.

Fist I coated the whole thing down with a coat of bright silver. I let that dry for a good 24 hours and then I started to trace on damage and apply masking fluid:




After the liquid mask dried I put on 2 coats of POG green:



After the pog green was dry I then masked off the mandibles and painted on the caboose. When the caboose dried I hand painted the prr brunswick green on the checks.

Unfortunately the masking tape I used ended up pulling up a lot of the pog green. and didn’t do a great job on the cheek areas. Here is the results with the liquid mask removed:




I attempted to do some cleaning up of the areas that had paint pulled up but ended up screwing up the evenness of the pog coat. This weekend I plan to strip it all down to primer and start over. Its a learning process so I don’t mind. There are more buckets in my future so I want to make sure I do as much learning and make as many mistakes as possible on the first one.

[Ponte]

Just wanted to say that this post definately helped me out a lot as far as cutting the t-visor and getting the small details on the keyholes, both thanks to you and batninja's.

I do have a question though...I recently used that same fiberglass repair kit on the inside of my Sgt. Fang, and got done at about 2 am. Its now 5:30 PM and while most of it is hard, there are a few "gooey" areas that are raised and remain sticky. Does it take a full 24 hours to dry? Also, I put on about 2 coats of fiberglass material on (should I have put more)

Perhaps its the fact that I left this to dry in my ventilated kitchen and it was raining outside, thus it wasn't very warm out. Any help would be great. Thanks.

[Kwally89]

Just wanted to say that this post definately helped me out a lot as far as cutting the t-visor and getting the small details on the keyholes, both thanks to you and batninja's.

I do have a question though...I recently used that same fiberglass repair kit on the inside of my Sgt. Fang, and got done at about 2 am. Its now 5:30 PM and while most of it is hard, there are a few "gooey" areas that are raised and remain sticky. Does it take a full 24 hours to dry? Also, I put on about 2 coats of fiberglass material on (should I have put more)

Perhaps its the fact that I left this to dry in my ventilated kitchen and it was raining outside, thus it wasn't very warm out. Any help would be great. Thanks.

It doesn't take 24 hours for resin to dry because it doesn't "dry". It cures by a chemical reaction. It is REALLY temperature dependent so if it is cold outside I always set it in front of a space heater. That will generally get the resin to bite and cure. Don't get it too close though!!

[Ponte]

I notice that there are some parts that are truly hard and are a light khaki/brown color, and those strips are more towards the bottom (opening) of the helmet. But the strips that are on the dome part are a greenish/blue color and are sticky. Did I completely mess this up, or would it be alright to take a blowdryer and heat cure it?

[NikNak_aka]

I'm back people. After a long lay off a failed relationship and a cross country move I'm finally back and I plan on starting up this thread and my work on the fett again.

[carves]

Nice progress NikNak, very impressive.

Took sometime, and now getting closer to that Fett bucket.

[Sixxgunn13]

Great to see you bank bro! Just in time for the new FPH2 "proto"

[NikNak_aka]

With the power of Necromancy I bring this thread back from the dead... again(again)!

With a new commitment to get this thing done I took it out of storage tonight and sanded it down to primer:

[BGHunter]

Dude 3 YEARS TO PAINT IT UP only to strip it back and start again

[NikNak_aka]

Yes, sadly it needed to be done. I'm going to try an all layered method. I discovered that all my paint had dried out from may many moves so I need to pretty much buy everything all over again. then I can get started. I'll probably hit it with some grey primer tonight though.

[NikNak_aka]

UPDATE 10/10/2010:

Re-primmed and sanded ready for paint:


I decided to start with the rear panels this time around so I masked everything else with blue painters tape and a plastic bag.



I started with Poly Scale Light Gray L-5:


I broke out my Airbrush and layed down two thin coats:


I scaled up and printed out the templates from Rich D. then I grabbed some Graphite transfer paper and put it under the template print out. I then lined them up on the back of the helmet and taped them down:


The Graphite Transfer paper worked out really well.



I then used masking fluid to cover the stencil lines and sprayed on bright silver (not picutred)

I'm gonna allow this to dry overnight then I'll peel back the masking fluid.

Cheers!

[Sixxgunn13]

Hey Rob,
get her done, then sell her to get that new helmet by Chris and Art!!

lol

again welcome back

[NikNak_aka]

I'm on the list for one. This bucket was always more of a display piece / get my skills sharp test bed. I have a really old MarrowSun 3 Helmet that was going to be my RotJ Bucket but now it will probably be Art and Chris's new bucket.

[NikNak_aka]

UPDATE 10/12/10:

Here is the rear with the light grey masked sprayed with Bright Silver:


Here is where the mask is removed and the light grey is exposed:

I then repeated the process of tracing the silver damage backed with graphite transfer paper. The graphite transfer paper didn't quite work as well on the bright silver but it worked well enough to mask the damage with miskit.

Poly Scale Reefer Grey:

The Rear panels after two light coats of the Reefer Grey were spray over the masked silver and light grey damage.

[shortimer52]

I have oil spots every time I painted my Sgt Fang, tried different cleaners and primers but never could get the spots to go away. Have the same problem with my Sgt Fang Vader. Hope you didn’t have the same problems.

[NikNak_aka]

Nope. The bumps you see on there is the masking fluid.

[NikNak_aka]

Update coming tomorrow night. I've been distracted finishing my halloween costume (ANH Han Solo) Building the blaster has been a blast. After that it's back to work on this bucket.

[Rich D.]

This is great! It's always fun to see people come back to a project after taking a break.

[NikNak_aka]

Thanks Rich! Your templates have been most helpful!

[NikNak_aka]

Update 10/17/2010:

I peeled off the masking fluid:

I noticed that the masking fluid actually peeled off more of the Reefer Grey than I wanted so I ended up Re-masking a small area and doing a quick touch up with my airbrush:

I got a new masking fluid called Masque Pen. It's great especially the very fine supernib version. It's pretty much the new standard in masking for me.



Much Better:


That's all for tonight. Been working on my DL-44 for halloween so this is on temporary hold.

[NikNak_aka]

Update! 10/28/2010:

Finally squeezed out a few more hours to work on the bucket.

I did repeated the same trick as I've been using with graphite paper under a template.

This time I traced the Concrete damage on:

Here's the Concrete I used. It's PollyScale Acrylic.

I sprayed it on in about 3 very thin even coats. I usually water down my acrylics about 3 parts paint to 1 part distilled water(over even less) Just enough so it flows smooth through the air brush with no stopping or sputtering.


This evening I removed the liquid mask to layers beneath:



So far I'm really happy with how everything is going. I just wish I had more time AND that the painted dried and cured faster than 24 hours. Being patient is hard.

Next up is the final layer on the rear panels the RLM73 Green. Then it will be on to the Dome!

[BGHunter]

Nice work your thred inspierd me to redo my old fang

[kibosh]

This is truly nice work. Keep your patience with you! It makes all the difference in the world.

"There's never time to do the job right, but there's always time to do it twice."

[NikNak_aka]

Hopefully another update coming tonight. I sprayed on the RLM 73 over the weekend and I'm just waiting for the full 24 cure.

[TreppFett]

Hopefully another update coming tonight. I sprayed on the RLM 73 over the weekend and I'm just waiting for the full 24 cure.

Cant wait!
Looks great so far

[NikNak_aka]

Update! 10/1/2010:

I traced the concrete damage on to the helmet via the stencil/graphite paper method.


I used Polly Scale German RLM 73 Green for the rear panels main color.


Tonight I peeled off the masking fluid to revel the final rear panel.



There is a little sagging on the left side that I might sand down slightly and re-spray. After that I'll start doing the fine scratch detail with a needle and an exacto knife. After that I'll seal the back with Testors Semi gloss Lacquer. I'm planning on dull coating the whole bucket once the paint is done so I'm not worried about the slight shine.

[obi sean kenobi]

Just amazing work!

[deadland]

Br that is looking great keep up the good work. I am goofing to have to try that masking fluid that you are using on my next lid.

[NikNak_aka]

Update coming as soon as my battery charges for my camera. I added a bunch of exato scratches and hand painted a bunch of touch ups of various colors. It's a little to late to turn back now but the Polly Scale RLM 73 really seems too dark to me. Maybe back in the day rougestudios had a different batch but it doesn't seem light enough to me. It's too late at this point so I'll have to just deal with it.

[elusivesolution]

Update coming as soon as my battery charges for my camera. I added a bunch of exato scratches and hand painted a bunch of touch ups of various colors. It's a little to late to turn back now but the Polly Scale RLM 73 really seems too dark to me. Maybe back in the day rougestudios had a different batch but it doesn't seem light enough to me. It's too late at this point so I'll have to just deal with it.

It does seem to be perhaps a bit dark, but maybe once you lay down the other colors (like the red and everything) it will look better.

[NikNak_aka]

I added a bunch of the fine scratches as well as touched up a number of areas with topical application of many colors.
I also sanded down a small area that had some paint sagging.

then I masked the surrounding area with humbrol maskol. It works great for large blanket masks like this.

The Patch turned out pretty well:


Then I used model masters semi gloss to seal the back panels. That way I won't repeat my mistakes of having paint come up from the masking tape when painting other parts.

The finish is kind of like satin. Its not too glossy but really its only to protect the layers below. I'm going to wash and dullcote the whole helmet once all the paint is on.



Then I masked the rear panels so that I could spray Bright Silver on everything else.



I'm going to start with the upper cheeks then move onto the dome and lower cheeks and finish off with the mandibles.

[BGHunter]

Have you thort about making platforms for thears to go on ,
This is my fang with them added Bad pics but you get the point just seeing your putting so much efort in to it , it could make it that littl bit more acurate

[NikNak_aka]

I thought about doing the platforms but I'm too far along into painting at this point to go backward and do more prep type work. This isn't the last bucket I'm gonna do. I have an MS3 that was gonna be my RotJ but will probably be my ESB v2 as I'm also signed up to get a GMH bucket which will be my RotJ.

[NikNak_aka]

Update 11/28/2010:
Finally got some more time to paint. Holiday weekends are great for that.

I sprayed on Testors Chrome from a can after masking the mandibles.


Now there isn't any complete Stencil set for the dome. So i ended up using some of Rich D's Stencils as well as some hours starring and tracing ref pics via superjedi's stencil method. I got most of the silver damage traced on the helmet that way.





I once again used the Masque Pen masking fluid to mask all the traced damage:


Then I Sprayed Floquil Reefer Grey:


After a good 24 hour cure I peeled back the masking fluid to revel the chrome.






Then the process is repeated for the grey + Chrome:





The I sprayed on 3 good coats of Panzer Olive Green:


Now I just need to wait the 24 hours for a good cure and I'll peel back the masking fluid. After that I paint topically additional details and xacto the more fine scratches in. The a coat of semi gloss to protect it when I mask it and move onto the mandibles.

Looking forward to getting on to the mandibles.

[NikNak_aka]

I live on your feedback people! Let me know what you think.

[Mullreel]

well I am not qualified to comment on it, but it looks good to me. I have not used the templates for damage before but I think I will soon. You seem to be following the recipe.

[elusivesolution]

I can't wait to see what's under all of that green paint

[NikNak_aka]

Just pulled back the masking fluid. I have to say I'm a bit disappointed. Reefer grey does not seem to be the right shade of grey to me. Maybe it's because its the Polly Scale acrylic version as oppose to an enamel? In fact most of the RS colors seem to be off. Maybe it's because I've been staring at reference photos exposed with a flash and such but over all the colors don't feel right. The RLM Green on the rear panel seems too dark. The Reefer Grey seems too light. The Panzer Olive Green seems too dark.

At this point I feel I'm too far along to start over again but its really nagging me. I supposed that I could hand paint the Reefer Grey areas with something like SP Lark Dark Grey.




The Flash, I think. really shows how the reefer grey is too light.

[Canned Ham]

Looks just great from here. I'm amazed at your diligence and patience. It's really paying off. I really like the depth that having the various different colors on that back panel gives it. The panel jumps out at you like it's really been through hell. Nice work dude.

[NikNak_aka]

Anyone have opinions or advice on the grey?

[Mullreel]

With the flash that close it does look a bit light, however with some blackwash carbon over it I wouldn't really notice.

my 2cents

[Fett 4 Real]

Anyone have opinions or advice on the grey?

Honestly if you dont want to repaint brush it on a darker color...mix black with yuor reefer and go from there with some test strips?

[deadland]

Yeah i had the same issue with the first bucket I painted the reefer Gray is just to light and it does not matter if you use acrylic or enamel. I read in another thread to use SP Lark Dark Gray F110132 and have used it ever since. For the Dome and Cheeks I use Panzer Oliv Grun 1943 TES2097 and for the left ear cap i use Panzer Olive Green F505113

[Fett 4 Real]

when I did ESB i had to mix my own...if you have the reefer and black may as well mix you up some urself...and apply by brushing it on or start over? Testing the paint before is what Id reccomend for the next time...swatches or some spare parts I use a spare knee armor I have to test colors out

[NikNak_aka]

I should have tested the paint first but I really figured that the RS list was as close as it got. Now I'm not so sure. I have both reefer grey and sp lark dark grey. I think that I'll make a mix of the two of those and hand paint it on. Pain in the butt. Really disappointed about the RS list.

[Devilstar2k2]

I read in another thread to use SP Lark Dark Gray

Thats what I use... I think it was AFFO$'s suggestion in the 'airbrushed challenged' paint list. Comes out looking like a dark primer. Its perfect.