Alright, we've got some updates!
So I've been spending the past few weeks in research mode with not just getting the colors to where I want them, but figuring out the best way to attack the physical defects that need to be replicated on the helmet. With obvious differences between when the ESB was filmed and it's current Special Edition state, I decided good ol' Bondo and Milput were going to be my best bets instead of trying to heat and crack the helmet.
To get an idea of where the physical damage was going to be placed, I traced the areas off of re-sized images of the screen-used helmet. After that was transferred to the bucket, it was time to shape the imperfections using Bondo.
I used some self-adhesive foam as a physical template for the Bondo. This would help mask and guide the shape directly from the stencil...no guesswork here:
Now that the stencil has been applied, the Bondo was set onto the surface. I used a little less Bondo on another helmet as it is a PAIN to sand down (we already know that, don't we?
):
After a week of sanding, re-applying Bondo, and more sanding, we're finally getting closer to the desired "bulge" for both the mandible, and the vertical hairline crack:
Just about done. It should also be known that the crack on the bulge is REALLY bad. Looking back and forth between ESB stills and Special Edition references, I now feel the crack that underlines the bulge may have gotten more pronounced as the years went on. I'll most likely soften this up since this is a hero ESB paint-up:
Two ESB's, fully primed, ready for paint-up: