Second ROTJ helmet, FP from Asok!

travsall

Hunter
Finally was able to replace a HUGE hole in my collection a little bit ago thanks to Asok! Sold my original Fett helmet and have missed it since, but meant I got the fun of starting the paint and build work over! Wanted to share this here as again the site has been an invaluable help during the process, especially Evan4218's paint list, and RafalFett's helmet template. I've been going pretty hard at it for about a week now, and progress is shaping up nicely, still a ways to go but the paint is nearing completion.
I have to say too, Asok was more then a pleasure to deal with, and the kit I received was literally flawless. I've been in the hobby for over a decade and I can't think of too many castings of this high quality and caliber!
My build and paint is pretty standard so I won't waste your time with the details you all already know, save for one, this is the second time I've used toothpaste as a masking agent, and it works as effective as anything else out there, plus leaves your helmet smelling minty fresh ;) On with the picture progression up until today
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Well, I think you may want to look at the scaling of the template before you call it done. Some parts look right but others seem to big like the left rear panel upper right side...The damage is much to large...as are the stripes theyre much to wide, there should be 6 stripes from the dent to the ear alone. Would really like to see more people utilize the Cold Cast for the base silver...the silver u chose is coming up very metal flake looking...not sure if its just lighting or not really. Take a look at reference pics on top of using the templates to get things just right...you can manipulate the template to the helmet...not all helmets are the same...and the template isnt perfect to any one helmet really
 
Well, I think you are doing a great job Travsall. Damage looking nice, and the colours look great. The only possible bit of feedback I would add, is that I think you have actually used the Empire Strikes Back template for the Killstripes. The ESB has 14, and fades from yellow to orange, while the ROTJ version has 18 stripes, and are all the one orange colour. Yours seems to have the 14, and only because i'm currently in the middle of an ESB paint up myself, the stencills from what I can remember look the same as that version. However, this is only an issue if you want to be spot on accurate, where I know many of us on these boards (myself included big time) tend to get a little pedantic about - of course, the casual onlooker wouldnt know the difference. That being said, I think the helmet looks great, and will make a top addittion to your collection. Good work my friend, peace :)
 
I am glad I didn't wait till the helmet was finished to post, you guys saved me starting from scratch basically LOL
Fett 4 Real, thank you, I neglected to go back to my reference cache once I had the one big template printed out, I used it as a map for the damage and spotted the various marks using helmet landmarks as a guide, never once did it occur to me the scale from that template could be different then the helmet I have. I'm going back now and seeing exactly what you mean, some does look pretty close, just minor touches to correct, but some, those two blotches back left are off by a good 100% in size, I'm going over it all now section by section with a pencil and drawing in how the damage should be. Just glad I was on the larger side then smaller, a much more difficult fix ;) The stripes I saw my problem, after posting last night, Jayvee caught it as well, ESB stripes. That's what you get when you're working late at night to print a stencil and don't have screen or accuracy reference at hand when you paint. I think I can salvage them since ROTJ has more, and less damage overall, and I can hand paint in where these have improper damage, they are too thick, but I might just leave that as it is, otherwise it's wet sanding the area down, and then trying to match things which is rare to have work out. I'd rather be slightly annoyed at looking at kill stripes that are a tad wide, then really annoyed looking at that whole side of the dome being off and not looking right at all LOL gotta pick these battles ;)
The silver does look flaky in the shots, it's part lighting for sure, it looks okay in person, and will look a LOT better when I apply a black acrylic paint wash to dull and darken the tone slightly, with that, it won't be far off at all from the cold cast look. I was unsure how to get that kind of a shine from the cold cast, and unaware that it did look that great. A tad late now sadly, but for future reference, how do you achieve that shine?
Thanks again for the critiques guys, I greatly appreciate hearing them, pedantic is good, I can be as anal about detail as anyone, and thought I was with the template I had printed for reference. My fault completely for not having movie still reference also, which is usually how I do work. The criticisms are FAR more valuable then niceties, I can now go back and try to fix a lot of these issues and come out with a much better helmet for it, rather then thinking I've got a very accurate piece when in fact I do not. So again, my thanks! :)
 
Travsall,
just use steel wool/wire wool and gently rub over the surface of the helmet. The dull grey layer will disappear and a nice and shiny silver looking cold cast will come through.
Just rub it until you´re satisfied with the result.

:)
 
Hey Trav- Great work buddy...Yes it does get tedious as im sure you know as a bit of a vetran yourself :). There are some nice little goudges on the left mandible (the maroon section) as well you may want to add when you have it the way you want it. For these I would just use the edge of a file as this works well and provides some accuracy. Have fun.
B
 
I love the idea with the toothpaste! It turned out great! Now this is just me, but I think adding a slight gradient of blue on the green and green on the blue cheek bones. do this along with black and brown or whatever you would use for adding grit to the helmet will bounce the colors more like it does in the movie! If you don't want to do that it's cool. Just something to take into consideration. Good luck man!
 
The problem with the stencils (as Fett4Real pointed out) is that doesn't fit to every helmet. This is why you (and everybody else using the stencils) should print out one of the color separation pages (to save the printer color) needed for the painted helmet area, ex: the right back plate. Then cut out the stencil along the back plate contour and fix it on your helmet. If the stencil is bigger, then use the print settings to reduce the stencil with -X% then print the page again. If the dimensions are OK, you are good to go. Do this with every part of the helmet to avoid scratch missplacements and wrong dimensions.

Cut Out Stencil.jpg Stencil Fit.jpg Stencil Perfect Fit.jpg

I hope these images helps you.
 
Just out of interest if anyone needs an idea, the way I scale rafs templates, is to actually use microsoft publisher. Im sure there are other drawing programs, but I find publisher easy. I then take a section (lets use the back plates as an example), and measure all the top, side and bottom areas of each on my actual helmet. Once I have those dimensions, I use the line tool on publisher to create the correct measurements for each side creating a correct size 'skeleton'. Then I import the picture (in this case the back panel template), and increase or decrease the size to correctly fit into the skeleton. I then find once printed, it gets pretty spot on to your specific helmet. Sometimes larger sections have to be cropped to do a bit at a time, and do bear in mind most helmets dont have perfect symmetry, so often one side is differrent measurements than the other, but if that makes any sense, then I find it works out accurate and well. Peace :)
 
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As Jayvee said, it's easier to work with image editors, because you can manipulate the image as you want, but not everybody knows how to extract images from PDF files... It's all up to you.
 
The other thing is raf, instead of saving the file, you can just view the images you provide on the template page and simply save the image as a jpeg - which are alot easier to work with :)
 
The other thing is raf, instead of saving the file, you can just view the images you provide on the template page and simply save the image as a jpeg - which are alot easier to work with :)

Good idea! I might attach the images archived in ZIP or RAR format for an easy access.
 
Well, since the template images contain so few colors (hundreds at the most, not millions) and the way the colors are distributed you will get a lot better end result if you save them as gif or png than with jpeg because of the algorithms the formats are using. Just a little reminder. ;)
 
Ponte did a great write up on how to apply stencils to armor using graphite paper...theres another out there for scaling the stencil to fit the helmet...I use the computer screen to scale it to the exact size and shape of the panel and then I trace it like you would with a light board...then I transfer it
 
Ponte did a great write up on how to apply stencils to armor using graphite paper...theres another out there for scaling the stencil to fit the helmet...I use the computer screen to scale it to the exact size and shape of the panel and then I trace it like you would with a light board...then I transfer it

I basically do this when using templates, too. I've always gotten close to a perfect size match that way. (y)
 
Thanks again for the pointers guys! Glad you reminded me about the gouges man, totally forgot those, another problem just using templates for reference, hard to get depth out. It's been a great learning process, and anytime you can better yourself or your work, it's a good thing! One quick note I don't think I made clear, I didn't actually use the templates as stencils, just a guide of sorts, all the damage on my helmet I free hand painted with toothpaste, I wanted to have the helmet accurate, but also my own work as well, which kind of kills the accuracy, but that's the artistic side speaking over the accuracy nut LOL So the scale of the stencils was never an issue, only the scale of the template to my helmet I was looking at for reference as I painted in the toothpaste portrait of sorts. Fantastic info about the sizing of the stencils though, glad my thread could shed a little more light on that area, one I hadn't thought of at all myself!
I have done some more work on my helmet, just by brush and hand with reference pictures to hone the damage a little closer to what it should be. I decided to keep what I have as is (other then touching up spots that were a lot off) since my goal for the project was a free hand attempt at the ROTJ version, and the only way to get it perfect at this point would be stencils, which would defeat the personal challenge I was after. The advice has DEFINITELY left me with a better piece that is closer to accurate without straying from my goals, best of both worlds! :) I did order a set of kill stripes from Lucky31, going to wet sand the ESB ones off, and that'll also let me make that area more accurate, as it's off quite a lot.
Snowaure, thanks so much! And your helmet is looking great too, very cool photo pages! That looks like one hell of a nice Jango! You took nice advantage of the cold cast helmet and it looks like, really looks fantastic!
Arch, I like that idea, that will bump the colors up some, and the inner cheek pieces will have a touch more green to them, which would help a fair bit. I definitely planned to do some good misting for weathering, give it that gritty look you mentioned, so I'll add those two colors in the mix, thanks for the tip!
 
No problem bud! I'm hoping to build a pure ROTJ outfit myself one day (got the jetpack kit, vest, ammo belt, and an old Don Post I got waaaaaay back when that I'm gonna do a lot of work on) too! I actually go to an art school and I learned a lot about color theory and things of that nature so, for what it's worth, it should make a significant difference. Good luck to you man!
 
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