Not your average ROTJ scratch build

Okay a quick update on the process of putting the dent and arrows in.

I found this template online, I believe that it's rafalfett's but I'm not positive



I put it on my lid to see the arrow and dent placement, but I had it sized wrong!



So once I noticed this, I filled the arrows and dent and used this template instead, by just measuring it



This was what I came up with





The clamp is just to keep the t-visit area from deforming while I worked on the dent







I glued a small piece of cardboard to the inside of the lid and then shaped the dent out of bondo. It didn't come out screen accurate at all but I like it









Dent still seemed a little too deep so I went one more round of bondo



And this is the final product





I then hit the other pieces with some wood filler to smooth them out



And hit everything with a few thin coats of sealer (at least I hope it's sealer. Did I use the right stuff???)





Well that's it for this update. Yeah some parts are a little sketchy looking but all in all I'm excited that I've been able to put something like this together.
Unfortunately now the hard part begins: paint. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'll give it a shot! Next update later tonight on the first stage of primering etc.!

le1120 said:

Nice going! You're really plowing through this one. It's really important to document the mistakes as much as the actual progress for others to see and learn from. You're doing a good job! :cheers

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That means a lot thanks for the encouragement and the advice. I love the community of TDH. Very helpful and always positive

Invest is some hobby files, found a $4.00 12 piece set at harbor freight tools that helps get some detail work done.Needle File Set - 12 Piece

Not sure about the painting over water based polycrylic sealer, are you using acrylic or oil/enamel paint?
By the way, Baker's drive thru is awesome, you must live near me.

You're really moving fast, and doing a good job.

beetle said:

Invest is some hobby files, found a $4.00 12 piece set at harbor freight tools that helps get some detail work done.Needle File Set - 12 Piece

Not sure about the painting over water based polycrylic sealer, are you using acrylic or oil/enamel paint?
By the way, Baker's drive thru is awesome, you must live near me.

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Awesome advice! Thanks! I'm at harbor freight all the time anyway haha
Haha I love bakers
Yeah I'm in Southern California. Riverside to be specific

Gregory said:

You're really moving fast, and doing a good job.

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I wish I was able to do that. I actually got about halfway through before deciding to do this thread. Luckily I took plenty of pics before hand!
I currently have the bucket primered, a base coat of silver, and the upper cheek parts are liquid masked. So this thread is almost caught up with my actual progress

Thanks though!

beetle said:

Invest is some hobby files, found a $4.00 12 piece set at harbor freight tools that helps get some detail work done.Needle File Set - 12 Piece

Not sure about the painting over water based polycrylic sealer, are you using acrylic or oil/enamel paint?
By the way, Baker's drive thru is awesome, you must live near me.

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Oh... And idk the difference I'm very new when it comes to paint. I'm only using rattle cans. Rustoleum primer went on fine so I'm hoping I'll be ok. That update is next

Counterweight said:

I wish I was able to do that. I actually got about halfway through before deciding to do this thread. Luckily I took plenty of pics before hand!
I currently have the bucket primered, a base coat of silver, and the upper cheek parts are liquid masked. So this thread is almost caught up with my actual progress. Thanks though!

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Ah, I was so impressed. It's still pretty good.

Gregory said:

Ah, I was so impressed. It's still pretty good.

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I mean... Yeah I totally got this far in a day and a half...
I'm that good
Haha

Ugh... Paint time. Not looking forward to this. But I'm sure I'll learn a lot from it.
Let me preface this by saying I am in no way, shape, or form going for screen accuracy. My goal is to make this lid look roughly like the ROTJ helmet, with roughly the same color scheme, and roughly similar damage.
I'll try to learn as much as I can, and on the next bucket I'll try to use trace down paper and actually do it right

So I began by hitting it with some rustoleum primer



(Yes I'm aware the t-visor is slightly deformed. That's a fix I will have to worry about later)



Oh no! My damn dog got ahold of my rangefinder stalk! Ugh! No worries, it was lame anyway. That gives me an excuse to make a better one!




After the primer was dry I did an undercoat of krylon metallic silver. The game plan is to use liquid masking and layer the colors. We will see how that goes...



Better lighting.
I painted the rangefinder with metallic silver, masked a little damage along the edges and then gave it some krylon satin black





I don't know if there is some conventional wisdom as to what area to begin painting, but I began with the upper cheeks because they seemed to have the least amount of damage. Seemed like a good place to try my hand at masking.

I am using Windsor and Newton fluid. I added a couple drops of food coloring because I saw that tip somewhere on TDH



I masked the silver damage and then put on some grey.





After peeling off the masking fluid, I'm overall pretty pleased.

I then masked off the silver damage and the grey damage, and painted the upper cheeks black.
I know flat black is not accurate, but I prefer that look... And eh, this bucket is just for me anyway. Not trying to impress anyone





With masking fluid:





And the first layer of black



Quick question: I made a cardboard Borden connector but I haven't been able to find a ton of resources as to exactly where it goes, what direction its holes are oriented, what color, etc. all I know is roughly where it goes on the right cheek. Does anyone know of any good threads or references for this?




Alright gents! This thread has officially caught up to where I currently am in the build. This is now officially a WIP thread.
Once I get a couple coats of black on I'll be sure to update the epic reveal of the finalized upper cheek damage! I'm more nervous it's gonna suck than excited.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who has taken a moment to give me some helpful advice along the way, and in the future too hopefully. You guys rock.

I see the mistakes and I am like ohhhhhh then I see you back track and make it better and I am like ayyyyyyyyyy you are doing a good job on this for someone who has just jumped into it,

The paint can be a long process but brings it to life, check out these 26 videos from Lewis White FX https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9E5E85CFA8F72F56 it tells you all the paints to use in each video and how to paint it.... the first few videos are him putting the helmet together you can skip that and find the first paint video...

this is good for Empire Strikes Back (ESB) helmet or the Return Of The Jedi Second Edition helmet (ROTJ) SE <- I am sure that's correct

if you haven't already worked out there are a few different helmet paint schemes in the movies and they change slightly with color here and there the ears being the obvious one...

good work keep it up and keep the pics coming.

Silverstalker said:

I see the mistakes and I am like ohhhhhh then I see you back track and make it better and I am like ayyyyyyyyyy you are doing a good job on this for someone who has just jumped into it,

The paint can be a long process but brings it to life, check out these 26 videos from Lewis White FX https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9E5E85CFA8F72F56 it tells you all the paints to use in each video and how to paint it.... the first few videos are him putting the helmet together you can skip that and find the first paint video...

this is good for Empire Strikes Back (ESB) helmet or the Return Of The Jedi Second Edition helmet (ROTJ) SE <- I am sure that's correct

if you haven't already worked out there are a few different helmet paint schemes in the movies and they change slightly with color here and there the ears being the obvious one...

good work keep it up and keep the pics coming.

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Haha yeah like I said in the first post, there are going to PLENTY of mistakes, I'm just trying to highlight them so I don't repeat them.

Thanks I appreciate it

I'm not super familiar with all the intricate details of the paint, and I had no idea there were multiple ROTJ paint schemes. I'm just going for the one that is similar to this



I saw this on someone else thread on here (I apologize to whoever's it is for not knowing your name and not giving you credit. Feel free to let me know who so I can shout it out lol). I don't know if this resembles the first or second edition ROTJ bucket. Damn rookies.


By the way, I just wanted to let you know I've been following your ROTJ journal and I gotta say it blows my mind. Especially all the electronics going into the helmet and gauntlets. Amazing

For anyone who's been living under a rock, check it out

http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f20/my-rotj-journal-52933/

For measurements of the helmet here's my thread (at the end of the 1st post) ==> http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f23/rafal-works-helmet-rwh-v2-helmet-templates-build-45938/ and Post #32 (same thread) ==> http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f23/...h-v2-helmet-templates-build-45938/#post609236.

RafalFett said:

For measurements of the helmet here's my thread (at the end of the 1st post) ==> http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f23/rafal-works-helmet-rwh-v2-helmet-templates-build-45938/ and Post #32 (same thread) ==> http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f23/...h-v2-helmet-templates-build-45938/#post609236.

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Wow these are great thank you! Even though I used the WOF templates for my first build, the resources you've provided have been a huge help in me getting this far!

Wow you're really blasting through this build! Looking good considering!

le1120 said:

Wow you're really blasting through this build! Looking good considering!

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Thanks!

Very brief update.

After letting the last black coat dry for just under 24 hours I finally got to take the liquid mask off









My final verdict on how I think it turned out:
Eh... I don't really know. Sometimes I look at it and think that it doesn't look half bad and then I'll look again a minute later and think it's terrible.

Honestly it's probably somewhere in between those two

Well that's it for now.

I'll probably do the mandibles next since I'm missing one color I need to do the dome and cheeks, and I'm missing another color I need for the back.

I haven't had a ton of time lately unfortunately but last night I found an hour to work on the helmet so I thought I'd do a real short update

Like I said I don't have quite all the paint I need so I decided to do the mandibles.



I left the tape off of the key slots because that needs to be grey just like the first coat on the mandibles. I'm not sure if it's the right grey, so if I need to correct that later I will. I'm going to mask the key slots off for when I paint the red



I masked off the silver damage on the mandibles and around the back rim and put on the grey.

Once that's done I'm going to mask off the silver and grey damage and then go with the red. Hopefully will be done later today

No need to stress, it's a learning experience. Your first helmet is rarely the best you can do but it makes for fantastic education on the do's and don'ts. You're doing great nonetheless.

le1120 said:

No need to stress, it's a learning experience. Your first helmet is rarely the best you can do but it makes for fantastic education on the do's and don'ts. You're doing great nonetheless.

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Thanks for encouragement. I'll need to keep that in mind