Steps on painting your helmet

Hello I was wondering alittle,and thought.When I get my helmet,how am I going to know where to start painting?So I thought,what a great question for the forum!So with that being said,how do you paint your helmet?Can someone explain the steps or what materials are needed.Like whats primer?Stuff like that.So if anyone out there can help just PM me or just talk to me here.


Thanks!


HERO

I just started painting today. I already finished sanding and priming (automotive sandable primer - Walmart) and laid down my first coat of "Aluminum" colored paint.

If you are using the layered method like I am then you have to start with the base coat and work your way to the top, masking off colors that you want to show through to the end.

Color question:
What is the correct ear piece color for an ROTJ helmet? Is it a crome or more of a bronze color? (I hope it isn't green)

Hero,
Don't know how much painting experience you have, but if you're asking questions like "what's primer?", it leads me to believe that your experience is pretty limited.
I would highly recommend searching for "tutorial" threads here on the forum to see how a lot of us have painted our armor and helmets.
The 2 basic methods are layered, and topical.
Layered means that you actually paint the helmet/armor in layers. Eg: put down a base coat of silver, then mask off the parts you want to remain silver, then paint gray (for the gray areas around the silver scratches), mask off again, and lay down a coat of green. When you remove the masks, you have a genuine "layered" effect.
Topical means working basically the opposite way. Your base coat would be green, and then you would add the other colors on top of that.

"Primer" is simply a generic word for an undercoating. Generally it's a neutral color (beige or gray, sometimes other colors), with a matte (flat) finish, and it's used to give the surface of an object some "tooth." In other words, it gives your overlying color something to stick to, as many molded helmets/armor are very slick when they first come out of their molds.

Another point to consider is washing the parts. A molded part will probably have some amount of mold-release agent on it. Just some type of substance that keeps the resin from sticking to the mold. Most people will wash their pieces before starting a paint job. I generally just use some liquid soap and a soft brush to scrub the parts down before I paint them. Seems to do the trick.

Most folks on TDH are really helpful, and like I said above, you can learn a lot just from looking over some other folks' tutorials.

Hope that helps!

yeah, i think you need to just spend a loooooooong time reading. many of us have posted threads about the progress of painting our helmets.

it's easy to offer advice on things like which masking fluids people like, but trying to start at the "what's primer" level is pretty tough.

Brian, I'm surprised you didn't refer him to your website ... that's what I would have done (hope that doesn't bother ya:o.) If he's lookin' to go ROTJ, then I gotta believe your site would be mightly helpful. Just my opinion.

What site!

Originally Posted by HERO

What site!

http://stormtrooperguy.com/bobafett/

is where you'll find the progress pics from my paint job.

i didn't just come out and suggest it because the exercise of searching the forums teaches a person a lot of stuff about the board, the people, who does what... more than just getting the information.

you know that old saying... you give someone a tutorial on painting a bucket, and he's got a painted bucket. teach a person to find the information they need, and they can paint anything!

ok, so i revised the old saying a bit...

but really, just about any question that could ever be asked about boba is here somewhere, you just have to search for it

good luck!

Originally Posted by tk7602

you know that old saying... you give someone a tutorial on painting a bucket, and he's got a painted bucket. teach a person to find the information they need, and they can paint anything!

Hmmm ... interesting ... never thought of that one. I just always though it would save the person some time if he/she was provided with a few links and then say "if these links don't help or if this is not what you are looking for, then trying looking up some progress threads in the 'Helmet' section."

Great site tk7602! I gotta ask though: is it my imagination or is one of those helmet stands pictured actually a paper towel holder?

Originally Posted by joshcube

Great site tk7602! I gotta ask though: is it my imagination or is one of those helmet stands pictured actually a paper towel holder?

they all are

all of my buckets live on paper towel holders. $7 at target, can't be beat

Originally Posted by tk7602

they all are

all of my buckets live on paper towel holders. $7 at target, can't be beat

That's awesome! I'm kicking myself now for throwing one out when I moved a couple months ago.