Prepro helmet v.2 project

This picture here gives a clearer view of the modifications i did.

that looks Superb!!!!!!! :thumbup

Nathan

Looking good, so you are going to paint this the pre-pro2 style?

Good to see you back on the boards Micke, it's been a while. I can't wait to see how you finnish this one. Post some pics of the "eyes" bucket you did way back when.

I Must mention that this project would not be possible without Natty and Braks buddy. To make a long story short i originally bought a MSH helmet from Lee about 2 years ago and decided to do the Prepro2 helmet. shortly after starting working a year later on it got badly damaged by accident and i was on the verge to give up. When Braks heard about it he and Natty sorted me out a new one. Hows that for helping a member out? Im so happy this project is on again! Thank you so much again, guys!

Predatormv:
Thank you Yes its been a while. Prepro2 it is. Im trying to find the best way to paint it. In the beginning i was thinking of doing it topical like my old ESB, but i see so many people doing it by painting it silver and then mask off the scratches with killer results, so i might try that. Just afraid to mess it up.
Im afraid that i dont have any pictures left of the eyes-helmet since my website disapeared. But im happy to say that the helmet is being re-worked. Ive been cleaning it up and sanded it down so soon i might post a few inprogress pics of it too.

By the way...What kind of visor did you use for your Prepro2 helmet? I have a green Visor, but think im gonna look for a dark tinted one. It looks black in the Chronicles photos.
-Micke

I used a really dark green one on mine. It looks black in photos but it is actually dark green. FP sent it to me with my helmet when I got it. I think it is a 5 darkness.

I really look forward to seeing your progress on this helmet. It is by far my favorite and I know you will do an amazing job. But try not to do too good of a job I don't want to have to paint mine again!

The ESB visor was green, no doubt about that..The ROTJ helmet is black or smoke-tinted. Hmm..I will have to look it up again. I have a green one lying around though
You already did a GREAT job on yours..ive been studying it alot

This evening i managed to get to the local paintstore before it closingtime.
I bought a can of silver and a few enamels. The red mandible-color looks very very promising and so did the color i found for the dark area under the mandibles. No luck for the green in the rear or orange for the killstripes. I might have to mix them myself. Btw, the green for the rear on the original prepro2 looks very close to the color in the same place on the ROTJ helmet. Im pretty certain that it could be the same color used.

I also tested out the mask and reveal-method with good results on a spare piece of fiberglass. My only worry is if the enamels sticks to the silver good enough. Time will tell i guess. well see in acouple of days. Its still tempting to go for the topical method..so much easier and FASTER, LOL.

Tonight i also widened the visor a little, filled a few tiny tiny pinholes and redid the dent some further. Its tough. i wish i could sculpted it on instead as i use fiberglass-filler with sandpaper and files! some more work left there. Its close to do some comparisons soon.

Tomorrow i will post some color tests from my work in progress palette
along with the 2 correct colors i found.

-Mikael

Can you get Floquil colors there? Lee sugested using the color C&O Enhancment Blue for the upper cheaks. That is what I used and it looks good in person and in pictures.

I dont think so..I've never seen any. I found one called "marineblue wich matched very well. It looks very similar to the color on yours.


I decided to do a color-mockup. I created this in Photoshop. It has one layer with the helmets, one with just plain color and one with the battledamage. If decide to change color on, say the mandibles i can quickly do that and see the result straight away. The color layer is set to multiply. The scratches is on the layer on top of the colors. I did them just to get a overall feel. The palette in the picture shows the colors i've chosen. The mandible and uppercheek color was picked from the paints i bought yesterday and updated in the palette.

The colors look really good! Your prep work is outstanding! I can't wait to see some color on that bad boy!

JFJ I know what you mean when you talk about the blue misting I thought about including them on my helmet, but I think it is actually a lighting trick or something. I have pictures that I got from Braks (I think) that don't seem to be washed out with colors and the helmet deffinatally doesn't have those blue mist spots. But my standup does have them as do many pics I have seen of the helmet.

No updates tonight im afraid..to tired. however i did some more color variations earlier today. i can post them tomorrow. It shows how some color can look totally different like in the chronicle pictures.

JFJ: Do it, man! I would personaly love to see more of these rarer helmets. You are a very skilled painter so i would love to see you do one.

I agree that this one is gonna be hard. Its like the ROTJ helmet. It was awfully hard to pull off and i dont think i managed to do it too good. I will plan this out really good this time.

I have some pictures of the rear that shows big complicated scratches with grey/black misted inside. The ROTJ had the same type of scratches and they were a pain to replicate. Fettpride did an awesome job on his. I would love to hear how he did his as the Prepro paintjob is very simillar to the ROTJ in many ways. One thing that really bugs me is the limited amount of reference. We have tons of ESB and ROTJ reference, but only a handful of the Prepro. Perhaps in a few years new pics will be found and i will find myself sanding the helmet down and start allover, LOL

I have however some other pics that i also work from that is not from the Chronicles that shows the colors ALOT clearer. And i tell you that they are quite different from the chronicle pics. Thats the reason i did the mockup so that i can use it and add the same blue/green tones like in the cronicles.
to see that the colors i have chosen works in that way too. I will post these tomorrow. Thank you for your comment on the red. I might have to mix a new one. Lee commented on the very same color too. Its some time left before i get to paint the helmet so i think we can continue to discuss these colors until we feel that we nail the right ones

-Micke

Here's a couple of tests just to show variations and comparing them to the chronicle pics. It shows pretty clear that the red isnt not quite good yet.

-Micke

Thank you for your warm welcome, Alex!

Yes, i used Gouache colors. A waterbased color that dries very quickly.
I used it as i had a set lying around and were on a extreme budget and could'nt afford experimenting too much. The good thing is that it dries very very quickly, the bad thing is that it turns darker once it dries and even darker when you apply the clearcoat.

This was some time before Lee posted his list and nobody knew what colors that was used on the original. I guess it worked out pretty good, but i really would recommend Lee's colors and paint if you wanna do it right! When i look at the helmet now i see it's too dark, but the weathering still works pretty good.

You can post them in the old helmet post if you want:
http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/showt...5507#post65507
All the pics was lost when my website disapeared.
I have one left that i'll add too.

Originally Posted by micke

Thank you for your warm welcome, Alex!

Yes, i used Gouache colors. A waterbased color that dries very quickly.
I used it as i had a set lying around and were on a extreme budget and could'nt afford experimenting too much. The good thing is that it dries very very quickly, the bad thing is that it turns darker once it dries and even darker when you apply the clearcoat.

This was some time before Lee posted his list and nobody knew what colors that was used on the original. I guess it worked out pretty good, but i really would recommend Lee's colors and paint if you wanna do it right! When i look at the helmet now i see it's too dark, but the weathering still works pretty good.

You can post them in the old helmet post if you want:
http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/showthread.php?p=65507#post65507
All the pics was lost when my website disapeared.
I have one left that i'll add too.

that would be great..
Again I think I still have all mock-up progress pics and swatches you did....
I will post what I can tonight.

Again great to see ya back.

Micke, great to see you back on TDH again! I can't wait to see your latest project take shape! Welcome back!

Here are the Swatches you did Micke for the ESB Fett...I think I may have added a color or two.....
I included a pic of your bucket using these colors.

Again Thanks Micke for getting me to this point

Awesome colors.

Yea Micke your Eyes helmet was one of the major reasons I want to do one of those helmets myself. Your paint jobs made me step mine up and try harder. I am really anxious to see your pre-pro2 helmet. Soon I might get to show off my eyes helmet on here and I hope it looks as good as yours did.

Ask and yee shall recieve (any excuse to show off my stuff). Here is my pre-pro2 helmet in all of it's glory. It is a MSH2. The first couple of pics don't have the visor installed only held in by tape the full costume pic is it completed. The first ones were taken indoors with a flash and some of the details are washed out and the colors look a little different in person. The last pic was taken indoors with a flash (I think) and under a bunch of different color lights which is why it looks so blue on top.

I love the full shot! The helmet looks awesome. Our colors are very alike.
How did you paint it? And the ever so famous question. How did you install teh visor? My Visor is taped in at the moment. Not the best method:/

-Mikael

I painted it using the mustard method, meaning I painted the silver base coat then masked off the scratches with mustard, let it dry, painted the colors over it, then scratched off the mustard, then did some washes. All the colors including the kill stripes were hand painted, that is why they look a little different then everyone else's helmets that are painted with the same colors but airbrushed. My visor is held in with hi-temp hot glue and plastic weld (a 2 part epoxy that makes plastic). The hot glue alone wouldn't hold the visor in on its own but a little bit of plastic weld goes a long way.

In real life my colors are somewhere in between the 2 pics, they aren't quite as dark as the full shot but no where near as bright as the helmet only pics. I think they are closer to the full shot.

Oh and the black smudges around some of the scratches were done by hand, and I mean with my hands. I put a little bit of a greyish black on my fingers and wiped most of it off on a towel and then smudged it on the helmet where I needed it.

Thanks for the tip, buddy.
Bought an airbrush and a compressor today My fingers are itching!

Looking good, I can't wait to see them go on the helmet.

What colors are those?

They are Hobby enamel paints. Or were you thinking of the names of the color types? I have to look when i get home.

I think thats what he meant If not then i would like the brands and colors you used

Originally Posted by micke

They are Hobby enamel paints. Or were you thinking of the names of the color types? I have to look when i get home.

thanks Micke

I found the orange for the killstripes and a additional color for the rear now. I updated the list above.

Originally Posted by micke

I found the orange for the killstripes and a additional color for the rear now. I updated the list above.

WOW Micke..looks Dead on!! nice find..

Thanks, Spidey
The helmet has been spraypainted silver and all the scratches are drawn on with a pencil. First coat of color soon Stay tuned!

Originally Posted by micke

Thanks, Spidey
The helmet has been spraypainted silver and all the scratches are drawn on with a pencil. First coat of color soon Stay tuned!

Sweet can't wait!!

We are waiting with baited breath to see some color

Ok here's a couple of pics with the first color on.
Yesterday i painted the red. I will post more pics tomorrow

2 more..

What are you using for the silver base coats?

It's a car spray color called Multona.

Pretty sweet Micke!! ...it's looking good so far.....Great Start!!

Yea a great start. Can't wait to see more.

Here is some progress. Please note that i will also mist the helmet and give it a wash in order to dirty it up some more. Finer scratches will also be added later. The color behave the way i wanted them to do in different light-settings. Sometimes green, other blue or grey.


Stay tuned for more

**** it Micke it looks like I am going to have to repaint my helmet, yours is making me jelous. It looks amazing and it isn't even done yet!

Thanks, man! I really like yours aswell. One of teh reasons i wanted to do this in the beginning I will be out of town for a couple of days as my vacation starts today. Will be back with more updates when i get back

Great work on this Micke!

Lee

I was able to obtain all the paints you had listed... minus the brick red (41)... sadly Rainbow is not sold at my local hobby shop and the only hobby shop I could find that sells them is out and will take 6-8 weeks to order it.

This is really coming out nice!
I just recieved a Mystery helmet and plan to use your colors:-)
Thanks a million!!
Can't wait to see more progress.
BTW are you doing the whole Prepro 2 suit for yourself?
-Goldenrod

Evan:
What i could do was to find Humbrols that match the rainbow ones. that way it would be easier for you guys outside Europe to find the colors.
Or simply just match my colors if you like them to the closest Humbrol color. im planning a trip to the paintshop tomorrow..

Goldenrod:
Thank you Nope, not the whole suit. Just the helmet and perhaps the sling-gun. Just recieved a resin-kit, but after reading the thread on RPF i really consider finding the real camera equipment-part that was used.

No real updates yet. I just came back from Sweden yesterday. I was happy to find 2 packages 1 with a RF top from BM and a black visor and the second with a sling-gun So right now its just to complete the paintjob and adjust a couple of smaller things

Been two days micke...you slackin'??.....

Can't wait to see more updates.....

I just havent been able to do as much as i´d like to. I had to paint the stairs at home instead, LOL

I painted the cheeks with the blue marina yesterday. Pics soon Looks cool.

Micke, your helmet is coming along freaking awesome!

Micke,
Sounds good man! For the time being I just did a mix of Insignia red and boxcar red enamels for a temp replacement.

My hobby shop has an excelent selection of humbrol paints. Insignia was the best I could find.

If you find a closer match let me know.

The rainbow dark blue for the cheeks is perfect!

As always looks great I can't wait to see the final, your progress is amazing fast.

That is just gorgeous! Absolutely stunning work so far

Looks great so far! I keep clicking 'save-image' over and over.....

Its coming out really nice Micke.
Can't wait to see the finished pics.
Great job.

Originally Posted by micke

Evan:Sorry about the delay. Will check the colors tomorrow

Here´s a little progress.
I painted the cheeks and added the brigther red and grey for the additional scratches. I look forward to give the helmet a wash as it is a tad to sharp at the moment. The wash will hopefully bring it all together

Next will be the rear..

WOW...that's looking amazing Micke....

Love your work.

Thanks for the update Micke,
Insignia red is what I used as a sub, mixed it with a ratio of 2/1 Insignia/Boxcar Red and it comes out great!!!

Helmet is looking GREAT micke!!!

Dam nice bucket...well done guys I love this version.

Sorry for the late reply, but Micke, that is just awesome! If I didn't know better, I would swear that was the real PP2 helmet in your pics!

Thanks, Dan I really appreciate it! Hope you like the finished result too
Whenever that will be

-Mikael

WOW again. Yea it is settled I am going to repaint mine now. It looks amazing Micke. I want to see bigger pics.

Thanks, man
Here's a little closer look at the rear. The best i can do for now. I have to snap some more pics

Micke, beautiful work!

WOW, just WOW!

Hey Micke, any Final pics on this...?????????

oh yeah,please show us:-)

Holy helmet batman! You did a great job!

...Great color matching Micke!!!
That looks fantastic...
Please post more pics when you're done....:thumbup

Thanks Micke

Originally Posted by micke

Much of my time has been spent on a small exhibition that will open next Friday, but i'm thinking of working on it this weekend.
It's pretty much just the RF stalk and ears that will need some work. A friend will photograph it when it's completed.

For now just a little thing i put together in PS:



The original is on the left and mine is on the right.
Please note that i altered the colors and contrast + added some noise just to get it to match the photo. The RF and rest of the suit is the original. I just added the helmet. The differences are quite big. Just look at the mainshape and the earpiece. Also the scratches do not line up properly:/
BUT...overall i'm pretty satisfied

Thanks, guys I think the colors i used are close, but please keep in mind that i altered the colors in Photoshop in the last picture just to make them match more..I was just playing around with it.

Holy Cow Micke!

That is fantastic!!!!

I was finally able to do some more work on the helmet yesterday. I misted it gently with some grey primer + i installed the cirquitboard behind the keyholes in the rear. I also completed the earcap and painted it. Not so sure if i need a acrylic wash or not afterall.

These are now the remaining things:

-Make the RF-stalk thinner
-Drill out the RF-top in order to fit the stalk
-Glue the earcap on
-Add padding inside the helmet.
-Weather the ear-pieces.

Shouldnt be too long now

Woo hoo! Cant wait to see it finished.

A new pic!

You can probably make out the misting i added. It really helps everything come together. You can also see the 2 stubs in the rear that i added to the cirquitboard. Soon i will weather the ears + cap and thinning out the RF-stalk

...........:thumbup :thumbup

Is that even real? Your doing excellent work, I cant wait for the next update.

Wow! Love that helmet. Fantastic work there. .

btw- I love the long vertical scratches across the back of the bucket.

Originally Posted by micke

A new pic!

You can probably make out the misting i added. It really helps everything come together. You can also see the 2 stubs in the rear that i added to the cirquitboard. Soon i will weather the ears + cap and thinning out the RF-stalk

You have no idea how close that is to the real deal... great detailing work and colormatching... and you got the attitude right on as well! Few attemt that paiint job but I cant get enough of it. You should do the EYES version next if you havnt allready! Top shelf man! :thumbup :thumbup :thumbup

Theres not alot I can offer this thread as far as folks interested in persuing there own Prepro paint job other then this since the photos I have, I dont have permission to post them. However I pulled color swatches from them. These are from the helmet being shot indoors with really good even colorless light. In my opinion these are THE colors. But Micke did such a good job matching them allready I almost dont see the pont in posting them other then to back up his color selections.

*swoons*

Hello, I have done a comparison of caps and have improved the previous one. If you do not want that it puts them you say it to me, no problem. A brilliant job Evan :

Micke,
Any more progress pics??
When i get my mystery helmet i plan to follow your lead on this Prepro v2.

Thanks for the complimets guys. I really appreciate it

Sorry..no new pis yet.

The remaining things are the stalk, RF, weather the ears and padding the inside. Should'nt take long. Lately my days have been filled up with
oher stuff..It should however be done before christmas

Thanks for the pm Micke:-) I'm definitely gonna order those paints asap!
I'm dying to more progress on yours. I check everyday.

Soon soon..
Tomorrow i will paint the ears and hopefully be able to start on the RF

I´m glad i could help out. Please post your progress when you start
There´s not many of us Prepro guys, so it´s cool seeing new people doing them

-Mikael

Will do Mikael on postin pics when i get it started. Havin this list of colors is a major help.