Rogue Studios' ESB Color list & Painting Techniques

OK, are all these paints brushable right out of the bottle onto the armor? I've never used an airbrush before, and none of the local costumers I know have one. Please advise.

Any paint is brush able, although you "may" go through a Little more paint then spraying it on because it will going on thicker.
I went through three 1/2 oz bottles of the US med. green for my armor and I didn't have much left to spare by thinning it to its needed consitancy and spraying it.

I do have an air brush, but I don't have it set up now.

You can by those aerosol spray adapter things at Walmart or a good hobby shop for about $10-$12 that allows you to attach bottle paint and spray it, that is what I did and it works great.

The kit comes with aerosol air can, adapter top to spray bottle paints, and funky car color paint.

Lynn

You can buy this at your local paint store right

Eagleskull wrote:
You can buy this at your local paint store right

If you are refuring to your local hobby shop, yes, if they stock the paints.

Not all shops do, I have three hobby shops in my area and only 1 has the paints. Train shops will also have these paints as well.

Also not all the paints listed are available at the hobby shops either, I still had to go on online to get some of them.

Lynn

If you want to save yourself alot of hassel, go through the Testors site or any other site that has them and order them all off of there. Save yourself alot of time and effort from running arount to all the hobby shops. Or at least it did for me. - Tim

IF you don't have an airbrush to work with this paints, you can buy the "Testors" set that includes the aerosol can, a plastic airbrush (really easy to use), two empty glass bottles, adapters and other stuff and of course the air hose.

Total cost for it...around $10-$12 available at both Walmarts or Hobby shops, and you don't need a compressor cause it comes with an aerosol can, that you could just detach the hose from the can when not in use and you're good to go. My 2 cents.

Robert

I have a question about painting the ESB Fett color scheme.Is the armor,jet pack,gauntelts all supposed to be "Panzer Green"? Sinc the AOSW armor,cod,butt are "US Med Green" I was wondering what others have done.I'm a little late to the paint scene,but I think I'm gonna tackle this baby myself.

Thanks a million

Steve

This is great info !!
I plan on doing an ESB soon I hope

Right now I do not have any ballpark or definitive colors for the gauntlets or the rocket pack. I have been so busy lately and once I complete current projects I will be back on the colors a little more vigilant.

Lee

Cool,thanks for the tip Lee My stuff currently has the Panzer green on it as a base and it looks great,but I was just thinking outloud and wanted to get some insight on whether or not it was "correct".Besides as diligently as you crank out paintjobs I'm sure I won't get ahead of you

Steve

I hope to able to help out very soon with those colors so hang in there...thinking outloud is not a bad thing so keep asking questions some day we'll get to the pot of gold.

Lee

Steve,

I can't wait for Lee's discovery on the JP colors as I too am waiting for what he finds so I can slap some paint on my JP.

I do think that the ESB JP main color is indeed the Panzer Olive Green. Below is a pic that shows that the color on the dome of the bucket is very close if not the same as it is on the JP. See what you think.



I know that this probably belongs in the JP forum, and the mods can move it if they wish, but I post this here only as a response. In fact, I will probably parallel this post over there anyway.

Shawn

From what I can tell between Production stills and Promo shots the ESB suit has EXTREME similarities with the dome of the helmet (Panzer green) and the jet pack and gauntlets.The chest,cod,shoulder,backplate have me wondering so I'll have to at least look some more.The UP Med green which is used for ROTJ seems "lighter" (PLEASE someone correct me if I'm wrong) so I'm not sure if the ESB suit could have that color for those peices as in ROTJ.

I only wish I had been more instrumental in the infant stages of the paint discoveries more but I had my feet kicked up back then. It looks like I'll get my chance to get my feet wet now.......maybe they should be Panzer Green

Steve

With regards to clear coating,are there two that are required to do the paintjobs...a clear coat and then a dulcoat??

What sheen should each of these be...ie. gloss,semi-gloss,satin,flat??

On a side note I did an experiment with my photoshop and some production stills and promo shots from ESB.Basically I took samples of color from the Panzer Green on Fetts helmet/ in comparison to the gauntlets,chest,cod,jet pack where similar lighting is seen to see if the green colors changed between the helmet and said peices while keeping light from flashes similar.The software made no change when I did this rather crude experiment and since the green out of the bottles change rather noticeably I thought maybe the Panzer on Fetts ESB costume throughout seems plausible........again,thinking outloud



Steve

Just wanted to bump this since I'm going to start repainting my helmet soon.

So, I understand the whole idea of using a toothpick to make the scratches, do I use the same method to make the bigger scratches like the dent and such? I just didn't see much about masking off the big scratches.

Thanks

The big scratches work with it as well just do the scratches as soon as possible after paint dries if you let it sit a week or so it'll be hard to get the scratches to work well.

Lee

Some stuff,....alot of stuff is topical.I'm no expert on what is or what is not topical,it really gives individual judgement some room to come into play.

I've done all my armor,gauntlets,and soon to be jet pack in a topical fashion and it looks awesome if I don't say so myself

I'll soon thereafter my jet pack is done move on to a complete repaint of my helmet.With this I will do some masking (liquid) mostly the back and some on the dome.

Steve

Awesome, thanks for the help

Do we have any FS (US Federal Standard FS 595) No. of the AOSW Version?

Sincerely,

Mike

There are FS conversions for most of the current made paints and Testors who now owns all of floquils color formulas and is now producing them has the FS number on their labels if it is an FS paint.. Floquil is usually not on that conversion since it's not made anymore if I can find a link I'll post it.


Lee

http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/colorch...orcharts_2.asp

Cha-ching!

There's a lot of info on this site.

I realy could use a better tutorial about that Blue Wash you talked about. Do I put acrylic paint in the blue wash and but that in the mister bottle. Or do I make another mixture with acrylic and water.

The wash is nothing more than dirty water you you can apply with a brush or mist on. I typically apply with a brush and mist it with water to disperse it better.

You make the mixture dirtty by adding acrylic paint not too much just enough to leave a residue on the helmet.

Lee

One colour I don't see is the back of the helmet, the yellow-ish grey scratches. Has that colour been IDed?

It should be up top in original post..I think I used a color called doped linen. But that could be wrong I haven't had time to dig into the colors much lately.

Lee

hope Lee doesnt mind me posting this in his thread, but heres what I used That yellowish color on the back of the bucket is a tricky one!!! It looks kinda mint green in some pics, and almost gold in others. I went with testors panzer dunkelgelb 1943. its a greenish yellow color. after I sprayed the dark blue/green on top, I removed my mask & used a scuff pad to blend the colors. Don't know if its the right color or not, but since we know the POG is correct, I figured maybe they used other german colors too

Heck I hope everyone posts there helmet here! That looks really **** nice and about as good as it can be done.

Lee

Yea that looks hot.

I had used Doped Linen originally, but I thought it looked too much like the yellow scratches on the ROTJ body armor. it was a little too green, almost neon at times IMHO.

Hey Lee,

thank you very much for your help.
You made my day colorfully ;-)

Thx

Mike

I think I added some other color to the doped linen but not sure I have been using the same bottle for like 12 helmets and have recently ran out I guess it's time research again.


Lee

I couldn't find the Doped Linen at my local hobby shop, but I got some of the Panzer Dunkelgelb 1943

I found almost all of the paints I need (still debating spending $12 on two paints for the verical stripes). Can't find RLM Green or F414248 Rock Island Maroon...can you suggest any substitutes or custom mixtures I could use?

Thanks Lee! I can't wait to start airbrushing

That green on the ears is a tough one lemme tell ya I'm still not happy with the color I've settled on. But since you can repaint the ear until it looks right go with what looks best to you. I know this is ****** advice but I don't have an alternative for that color. Appologies.


Lee

That's fine, no worries! Any replacement for the Rock Island Maroon though?

I also couldn't find Rock Island Maroon. Just as well as I painted my bucket with enamels and they only make RIM in acrylic. I used British Crimson for my ear scratches and I think they look pretty good.

Yep good call overall if it looks right no one will ever know.

Lee

Knees & shoulders....... I re-read the whole thread since I'm now on knees & shoulders. Lee,where you were going tell Lynn whether or not to seal his knees with semi or flat you asked for a number to give him a call............so I was just needing to know if they should be sealed with semi or flat? Looks like semi,but I'd rather ask for the last step.

Oh and my jet pack is done and I now believe the piano keys,red on missle,stripes on thrusters and the bottom right stripe on main fuselage are Boxcar Red.........this is all for the ESB jet pack of course

Thanks again

Steve

Hey seal them with Testors semi gloss. Then rough them up a little to reduce the sheen.

Lee

Sweet! Will do Lee.

The shoulders & knees.............man what a pain

I dove head first into what I thought might be the "easy" part of this project and found out otherwise. I threw down TWO one ounce bottles on the these four peices and it still didn't get the proper orange as in the ESB promo/still shots. The left shoulder (with decal) was perfect,but the other three were just,well,wrong............until I grabbed the bottle of "MILW Road Orange" and hit it with a light mist.......WHAMMO!! Now it looks like the movie shots. I've begun weathering them per Lee's instructions and they are turning out awesome. By the promo shots the ESB knees apear a LOT more dirty than ROTJ's which is making for a real challenge.

If anyone else is doing ESB and is having similar problems with the knees & shoulders I just thought I'd share my past two weeks experience and success

Once I get this part done I swear to post pics of everything thus far minus helmet

Steve

Glad to hear it's workign out for you. I get worried that some peoples results won't be as good as what I had but if you stay the course and stick with it and think a little out of the box you'll get there. Heck I could be wrong on all of the colors used but you can take it to the bank it was Floquil/polly-s paints.


Lee

I just finished painting my helmet with your colours, Lee, and they all worked out beautifully. I'll post some pics when I can borrow a better camera.

where can i aquire these colors? and how much will they cost? and is this an airbrush,brush, or spray type of paint?

than you for your time.

-matt

Further up on the page is a link to a couple of web sights and a list of the product numbers, just search the site with the product numbers and you should find everything you need.

Thanks for the handy information Rogue studios ... very cool indeed

Always good to have this for the NooB's

I couldnt find ATSF Catwhisker Yellow for the scratches around the chrome on the knees and shoulders, so I used Doped Linen which worked like a charm and looks alot like the reference pics..

Just an idea for those, like me, who couldnt find ATSF Catwhisker Yellow.

OSK

Everyone of the paints is available online at testors.com. If you really can't find any of them locally you should check the site.

I noticed in the color list that the yellow/grayish on the back of the helmet is not labeled any idea what color it is, or am i missing it?

I'm getting ready to order all my paints for the big project.. Just had a few questions about the list..

For the Rangefinder ear, RS has 'Earth' , but Lord Fett has 'Panzer dark yellow' .. was it originally yellow and RS later edited to the earth?

Did we ever discover what a good color to mix with the doped linen was? I've found the Panzer Dunkelgelb, but not in Acrylic..

and any other good 'unsure' color discoveries that anyone has made along the way would be real helpful..

I've read so many different stories on the Box car red, that I don't think I even wanna ask about that one..

Any help would be great..

Tension

Hey all!

Color question for suggestions: I'm combing through the Ref pics for detail, but I'm not sure what color to go with for the dull scratch color around the chrome chips on the tp of the dome and the cheeks. Is this a greyish color? a dark green-grey? It tends to look like a lot of different colors. Any help would be great!

Shinobi

IS there anyway we could stick this to the top of this forum ? Its the best reference we have !

Originally Posted by Got Maul

IS there anyway we could stick this to the top of this forum ? Its the best reference we have !

Once again I agree

woo hoo ! this thread is immortal ...god I have too much free time on my hands...:I

IT bubbles to the surface like fine wine hehe

hey, can you explain to me what RLM, PRR, MILW means?

also i was wondering what kind of paints are these? are they spray or brush on.....

thanks so much...

RLM's are german Air Force colors. MILW stands for Milwalkee(sp). PRR is Pacific railroad. All of these designations are on the particular bottle.



Lee

Sorry Lee.
Gotta correct you. It's Pennsylvania rail road. PRR.

Old model railroader here.

Lets discuss the yellow-ish / grey on the back of the helmet.

Originally Posted by Jango_Fett_Jr

One colour I don't see is the back of the helmet, the yellow-ish grey scratches. Has that colour been IDed?

After re-reading this entire thread, and searching the helmet forum, I still havn't found a generally accepted color for this part of the helmet.

Originally Posted by Baddblood

I had used Doped Linen originally ... it was a little too green, almost neon at times IMHO.

I agree 100% Baddblood. I went with the masking method on my helmet, Chrome, Doped Linen, then the Euro I Dark Green (mixed with RLM 24 blue), and the Doped Linen looks like a neon yellow/green.

I plan on going to the hobby shop to get a replacement color(s), but I wanted to toss out the options and see what the consensus may be. Here is what I could find:

- Doped Linen (RS post 125 in this thread)
- Panzer Dunkelgelb 1943 (Jango's Kid post 126 in this thread)
- Sand & Up Armor Yellow (Darth Miller in his thread)
- Khaki & Humbrols Egg Blue (Steve the Swede in his thread)
- ? (SpideyFett what did you use?)

I am leaning toward the Panzer Dunkelgelb 1943, but I would like to get some feedback from those that have finished their helmets. Also, a single color is easier to nail down, than a personal mixture of two colors.

Gator

P.S. The list in post #1 still does not contain a line item for this color on the helmet. Could that post be edited, to at least ID the need for a yellow-ish / grey color on the back of the helmet.

At least someone used the search function! Yeah!!
Yes add it to the top stickey! Please
Great point Maul!!

Originally Posted by crazy4BobaFett

At least someone used the search function! Yeah!!
Yes add it to the top stickey! Please
Great point Maul!!

This thread has been stuck at the top of the Helmet forum for the past month or so. But thanks for support.

Lee told me to mention that Doped Linen is (probably) wrong, he just hasnt had time to go back and research that particular colour lately. So I guess the way to go about that colour is to experiment. Let us know what you decide to use Gator

I bought the Panzer Dunkelgelb 1943, but its not right either. It is a little better than the Doped Linen, but it is too green, and does not match. I also picked up a bottle of Sand, to try Darth Millers mix, since I already have the Up Armor Yellow.

The Sand is very light, so I went 2 parts Sand to 3/4 parts Up Armor Yellow. It worked out to about the right tint of color but it was too bright. I added in a few drops of Black to tone it down a bit, and it looks pretty good.

While I was at the hobby shop I noticed a few collors in the "desert cammo" line that look real close. IIRC there was a color called Desert Sand that was darker than plain Sand and may be closer to what we are looking for. Next time I make it to the store I am going to pick up a bottle and give it a try.

Gator

I used a Tamiya paint called Sand.

I used Model master "Sand", mix in a little testors "panzer dark yellow" and also mixed in a little model masters "euro dark green." In the reference pics you can see that though it's light, there is a hint of green in there.

Originally Posted by webchief

I used a Tamiya paint called Sand.

I don't want to get too far off topic, but that was just the 2000th post for webchief.

Go webchief! Look out MiraxH.

Does anyone have any more tips on making the colors "deeper" as it says in the tutroial at www.starwarshelmets.com (esb)? Do I use the dullcote after I put the main colors on, then make the colors "deeper" then dullcote again if I am going topical???

Hurm.... in some shots, the dome looks the same color as the chest armour, pack and gauntlets. In some the chest pieces look like the brighter, medium green.... I wish there was an exhibit with the ESB used armor. (chest, gauntlets, cod, pack) That woould solve everything! Look:

Ohhh don't get me started on that ESB armour. I swear it changes colour in every shot...

OK, I'm sure this is common knowledge, but the ESB armour is not the same as ROTJ... Colour-wise tat is. The ROTJ armour is definately the Med Green, wereas the ESB armour matches the dome/cheek color closer. Some pieces do look different tints, but the same general range. The scarring is also different between styles. Look:

It's all in the weathering I promise. Although the armor is a different color than helmet it's going to be difficult to definitively say what color is correct for ESB armor. I would say whatever looks good to you but weathering it is key and finding out the color under the weathering.

Peace out

Lee

Question to any and all: I got a bottle of Boxcar Red from the Testors website, but it's kind of dull looking. Upon further inspection, the list in the first post recommends enamel, and looking at the bottle I got, it's acrylic. I haven't tested it out yet, but I was just wondering if anyone else had used acrylic Boxcar Red and what the results were.

The acrylic boxcar red is a little dull, even when dried. A lot of people have brightened it up with other reds. I'm not sure if the enamel is any brighter.

I had much better results with the enamel version. I think it turned out just about perfect, didn't have to add any red or anything special:
http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/showp...7&postcount=48

Is there anywhere online I can order some of the enamel? I didn't see it on the Testors website.

Sorry to double post, but instead of creating a whole new topic I thought I'd just ask here again. I tried out the Boxcar Red acrylic without altering the color, and it did come out a little dull, thought I'd ask for some expert opinion. I'm thinking I might try to come up with a batch of a slightly brighter red and try that out. Any thoughts?

I bought my helemet already painted, but i used box car red enamel "brushed on" on my jet pack. The green i used was wrong "testers US GREEN in a rattle can" but the red came out very nice. Somebody correct me if i'm wrong but i believe that the "polly scale" is acrylic and the "floquil" brand is enamal

Originally Posted by patiam69

Somebody correct me if i'm wrong but i believe that the "polly scale" is acrylic and the "floquil" brand is enamal

You are correct, sir. I mistakenly tried to mix a custom color one time using a Polly S. blue and a Floquil red. . . the results were unsuccessful.

After I had shaken the mixture up, the paints looked up at me and said, "Well that didn't work out like you thought, did it!"

COTM, I noticed the acrylic behaves exactly like that; it tends to come out a lot less saturated and even a little less red. If you are going to repaint, do it with the enamel version (Floquil) of Boxcard Red. You should have a lot better results.
If you're just looking to fix up what you have, you might want to try doing some red and black washes, and a semi-gloss clearcoat. I've never tried it, but it might make it a bit closer to what you want.

Thanks for the advice, JFJ. Another question I had, the list suggests RLM green for the left ear. On the Testors website, under Polly Scale Military acrylics, there's RLM 72 Green and RLM 73 Green. Will either one work, or is there a specific shade that's more accurate? Also, the list says Euro Dark Green for the back of the helmet, and I'm unable to find that on the Testors site. Anyone know where I could find some?

On the results of colors yes no doubt the difference between acrylic and enamel is way diffrent. The main reason to use acrylics over enamels is the real stuff is enamel and finding some of these colors in enamels is tough..so you have to work over the acrylics a little bit and trust me the raw color ain't on the original helmets either it's been worked over too. I know all of the colors used on the helmet but right now I got to keep my mouth shut due to non disclosure. But on the back an alternative that is extremely close is Navy Green (floquil) but finding it is almost impossible.

I will say this the ear on the non rf side is actually very close to Panzer Olive green and I actually used that on the first helmet for MR.

I bought the acrylic boxcar, then went to a craft store and bought some bright red acrylic in a bottle. Then I just stated adding and mixing bright red till it got where I wanted it.

Hi,
I found a german side, you can see the different colours there from Testor:

http://www.modellskipper.de/archive/...en_testors.htm

(also the euro dark green)

Hi,
I found a german side, you can see the different colours there from Testor:

http://www.modellskipper.de/archive/...en_testors.htm

(also the euro dark green)

good find Boba Die Wix

Yeah thats a great find on the color compare! I've been hunting for something like that for awhile now.

Lee, I am glad to hear you confirm the color on the green ear. I thought it looked a lot like the Panzer Olive and so I custom mixed many greens with that color providing the bulk and am very pleased with how it came out.

(When do we get to see your new helmet!)

Go see the updates in original post. I fessed up on a few updates. Not trying to be overly mysterious on this just waiting out MR on getting their stuff out. I used all of the recently discovered stuff on their prototype helmets and some of it was the last of that color I had (I saved some for my helmet). To be honest even knowing the color is no help since some of the colors I have recently discovered since thye have not been made for 20 years.

Lee

Thanks for the update... I noticed you put "standing by" for the back of helmet color. I ended up using Ger. RLM 73 Green as by base and adding the cheapo Apple Barrel brand Cobalt Blue and some white till I got it exactly how I wanted it. Giving it that green, with blue tint to it without being "BLUE" per say. More of a Ritch green actualy... but I feel it matches the look of all my color corrected ref pics fairly well, obviously with a light wash it will match even more.

Does applying an acrylic clear coat affect the overall color of certain aspects of the base paintjob?

For example. The Boxcar red acrylic goes on the mandible a bit light but when you apply the clear coat does it darken this up a bit or am I wrong? Obviously if that is not the case I'd imagine darkening up the mixture on the airbrush with a little black and or/darker red. If I used enamel it'd be a different story I'm sure but I already bought 3 1oz. bottles of floquil boxcar red

Thanks for any and all information regarding this

Originally Posted by MacRory

Does applying an acrylic clear coat affect the overall color of certain aspects of the base paintjob?

For example. The Boxcar red acrylic goes on the mandible a bit light but when you apply the clear coat does it darken this up a bit or am I wrong? Obviously if that is not the case I'd imagine darkening up the mixture on the airbrush with a little black and or/darker red. If I used enamel it'd be a different story I'm sure but I already bought 3 1oz. bottles of floquil boxcar red

Thanks for any and all information regarding this

It dose tone down the contrast of the colors a bit... My advice is to take the color you are testing and paint it on a 1x1in square peice of paper or bigger, smaller can cause an optical illusion that the color is darker or lighter then it realy is. Start adding lighter or darker colors drop by drop tweeking the color till you get it exactly how you want it. Then appy the clear coat to see what effect it has to the tone of the color. If you think it is still to light or dark, keep tweeking it.

Thank you Evan! Will give that a shot

Hey, I don't know if anyone has checked here but in the last few months Testors has updated their website substantially and now you can find all of RSB's colors from the previos page just by typing in the name in the search.

It includes all of the Floquil, and MM Military colors. No more running around to hobby stores trying to find everything.

Well I ordered a bunch of colors from my local hobby store, and I also ordered some floquil airbrush thinner. Well guess what the Floquil thinner has been discontinued indeffinatally, (how they could discontinue a thinner for a line of paint they sell I have no idea)!!Does anyone know can I use the Model Master Enamel airbrush thinner for the Floquil stuff?

Hey you should be ok floquil normally comes out of the bottle almost perfectly.

Lee

So I can airbrush it with out thinner at all? Really? Awesome!

Assuming you have what I call an old school airbrush (Paasche etc) the newer airbrush styles are real picky and to me not designed for production work like the old paasches (if you want to paint it like the ILMers did and get like results use a paasche). But floquil out of jar should be fine regardless assuming it's not a pasty old bottle of gunk that has dried over time. I rarely thin my paints to be honest.

Lee

Good to know. I am using one of the Iwata Eclipse siphon feed brushes.

Hey Rogue, I'm wondering about the dark scratches on the POG sections. I started using the reefer gray and it really doesn't look right (see picture). What should I be using instead?