Painting Complete! **Phase IV: FlatClearCoat - 3/13**!!!

Well - the helmet is finally in my posession. I have all the armor pieces (save the metal gauntlets to be acquired soon) so I figured since the costume is in the helmet --- its finally time to start painting.

Phase 1 - the "cheekbones" - COMPLETE!

http://www.jamesvance.com/fett/Helem...aintPhase1.jpg

Phase 2 - primary helmet color on the dome, back, sides, and cheekplate areas --- TBC during the course of this week.

Finished Phase 2 today (Saturday 2/21):
This is just before I took off the tape. I was actually nervous to see how it came out:
http://www.jamesvance.com/fett/Helem..._graphite1.jpg

When I took the tape off I was both elated and disappointed:
http://www.jamesvance.com/fett/Helem..._graphite2.jpg

Elated at how the graphite looks PERFECT to what I imagined it would on the bucket... but... here's my #1 problem. Obviously I'm going to continue on to Phase 3 --- but --- I'm really disappointed at the color variance between the cheekbones and the primary color. There's almost none. You can tell - but it's not as differentiating as it seems to be in the bottles. Is that because I put the Graphite (the primary shell color) on top of a layer of the Black Chrome (the cheekbone color)??? Or is it that they really aren't that far apart and I'll have to live with it unless I go to a gloss or totally flat black for the cheekbones?

Here's a closeup of that area:
http://www.jamesvance.com/fett/Helem..._graphite3.jpg

What do you all think?
Looking for advice/input at this phase before I move to Phase 3 with the Tvisor area, sides, and back band in the selected Burgundy.

Its looking pretty cool so far. Yeah, if you spray a secondary color over the top of a previously applied color which is darker, it can definately make the second color appear darker if you don't get an even coat of paint, (at least thats been my experience!) Its also been my experience that judging paint colors from the bottle before they are applied can be misleading. There are always variances between how a color looks in the bottle & how it looks when applied...ther can even be differences between colors depending on how you apply them. a brushed on paint may look a certain way, but if you use the same paint in an airbrush, there may be subtle differences in how the final color looks, ie. a tad darker or lighter. You might try hitting your bottom cheek color w/ a very fine sandpaper, this will dull it down some & make the darker color stand out a bit. Also consider how your paint job looks when you take a pic. This has been a huge problem for me while working on my suit. I would compare how my actuall props compared to pics... I would get to the point where my stuff looked good in person, but when I took a pic it was totally the wrong color!!! Lighting, angle, perspective, and camera flash are all things to consider. Hope that may give you a bit of help, or at least a few things to think about:) look forward to more pics,
damian

Wow - that's starting to come together nicely! Man, where on earth did you get such a bad a$$ bucket ;)

Agreed with above post. Perhaps some secco (post painting) touches to the cheeks with a wash or glaze of color to beef it up or tone it down will help differentiate the colors.

Sometimes putting a pin stripe of gray that is very close to the cheek color to 'outline' the border will help. This should be done with great discretion because it is really to trick the eye versus be seen as part of the paint scheme.

I think if you look at the one image I sent you with my Jango helmet paint scheme you can see this suggestion I'm talking about.

I probably confussed you more there...

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Hand-Schaub wrote:
Wow - that's starting to come together nicely! Man, where on earth did you get such a bad a$$ bucket ;)

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You know - I just happened upon this guy who just happen to have foundry experience... and WHAMMO! One badmotherf*cker of a bucket (ooh - that'd look cute on the side of the bucket in Arabesh - "BadMotherF*cker")!!! Funny that isn't it?

Thanks Hand-Schaub. It is starting to come together other than that little issue I'm having. I think what I'll try to do is a very gentle spounging of a gloss black on top of the cheek area --- then a 600 grit sanding like I did to the entire bucket to dull it ever so slightly (not evident in these pics since I did it a couple hours after I posted these) - leaving just a hint of gloss (well - until I put the flat overcoat on) with the hint of "wear".

That'll be next. I just put the first coat of burgundy on... and as soon as that dries - I'll go for #2. From there - maybe #3.

Once that black issue is taken care of --- it's on to detailed hand brush work of the colors in problem or detail spots I'm being probably far too anal about for most people to even notice.

Then... a little (very little) weathering around the helmet, a couple flat clearcoats, then it's finally on to the visor and the interior!! ! ! ! ! ! !

Oh - and BTW/FYI Hand --- I'll have a deposit for you in just a couple of days on our prediscussed deal!

Thanks again!

Well - here it is - Phase 3: Burgundy!

http://www.jamesvance.com/fett/Helem..._burgundy1.jpg

and

http://www.jamesvance.com/fett/Helem..._burgundy2.jpg

The next phases are high detail touch ups - which there won't be many from what I can tell... some detail color "striping" and such with some gold or bronze maybe, some "weathering" sanding (some already visible there)... and the flat sealant coats.

After that --- from the shell coloration and such - I think she's done on the outside. As it looks now with the burgundy on it - it seems you can see the black vs. the graphite much better. Though I'll probably still add some touches as you two have suggested above to help out.

So... what do you think so far???

Nice:D:thumbsup I like it. It is going to look great when it is finished.

Thanks Viper. I forgot how similar our paint schemes are likely going to look.

All of your colors look really good. Are you going to add battle damage to it?

TK0907/Chris

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tk0907 wrote:
All of your colors look really good. Are you going to add battle damage to it?

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Battle damage like Boba? No - not exactly. I'm going to put some "wear" on it... but not damage. Specific light fine grain sanding here and there to give a little "wearpoint" feel to it. You can see some of it in the cheekbone areas already. And you'll notice the graphite went from really glossy in phase 2 to sort of dulled with hints of glossy remaining by phase 3. That sort of thing is what I'll be toying with.

I guess I've always been one that believes in keeping your armor looking good. I know - I know - chicks dig scars and all that ... but... chicks also dig well dressed hunters too! :D

It's not WHO you disintegrate... its how you look doing it! LOL!

If your armor is your life - treat your armor well. Keep it sharp. You CAN be the best dressed, most malicious, tenacious, and ruthless hunter in the intergalactic guild... or die trying!

Very cool custom!

Thanks Rimshot.

I just added a little "wear" to the burgundy areas - but it needs a little more... put some depth to the wear spots I think... and I "Jango" striped the top of the helmet too with a dual pinstripe! GOLD! With the graphite and the burgundy it looks ******! It's almost got a sort of "regal" feel to the helmet. A menacing regal feel.

Anyway... It's starting to come together nicely... though... now I'm really torn if I want to use a flat clear coat or a regular/gloss. I mean - a flat will take something away from the sort of worn metallic look it has... but a gloss might remove the "wear" I've given it. Grrr. Decisions Decisions Decisions.

If you're doing a CUSTOM Mandalore...it's getting really nice, and again, I haven't seen anything like it before.

Good job, and keep the updates coming.

Robert :fettrotj

Thanks DV1,
I am trying to take my time (despite my deadline and growing excitement) to make sure this looks EXACTLY how I want it as a custom. I'm going to reshape the armor slightly to fit my frame better - then comes primer and primary painting... so I'll post those as soon as I make some progress.

I'm still torn on the helmet though --- Clear (glossy) or clear matte (flat) coat?

Well - I went with the matte/flat clearcoat for the finish after adding just a little more "wear" to the helmet. I figure how Mandalorian would it be to be wearing a glossy set of armor. Really? I mean even Jango's metal silver was dulled down for the most part.

So - here it is...

http://www.jamesvance.com/fett/Helme...arcoated_1.jpg

http://www.jamesvance.com/fett/Helme...arcoated_2.jpg

http://www.jamesvance.com/fett/Helme...arcoated_1.jpg

So - what do you think so far?

While that was drying I also finally started primering my armor! YAY AT LAST!!!!

I tried to put the **** visor in today too - but the SOB broke after I heated it at 350 for about 2 minutes -- cracked clean in half. Maybe I didn't leave it in long enough to be shaping it... I don't know. All I know now is that as I start the interior build for wearing it --- I need a new T-visor! :(

Grendel Prime

That looks great! Nice work, love the color scheme.

Bryan

Looking good! I like the yellow pinstripes.

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Forced Trekker wrote:
Looking good! I like the yellow pinstripes.

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Actually - they're gold... and Thanks.