Superjedi's FPH Progress Thread

superjedi

Sr Hunter
UPDATE #1: November 11th

Yikes! Here goes. :)
First of all, I mentioned in the FPH thread how unbelievable this helmet looks. I've been doing props and costumes for 6 or 7 years now, and of all the FG and resin kits I've worked with, this is far and away the nicest, cleanest set of castings I've ever had on my workbench. The parts are just perfect.
It may be a little thing, but one thing that struck me the most is how smooth these parts are! The ear pieces and the RF feel like injection molded plastic. Fantastic work! (y)

To begin working on the helmet (after I washed off all my drool ;)), I chucked a very small drill bit into my Dremel and drilled many small holes in the keyslots. I left very little space between them. Then, I carefully dragged the bit sideways to connect the dots. This opened the keyslots up. I finished the rough openings with a couple of jewelers' files. Since the casting was so clean it was very easy to see where the outer edges were.

For the visor, I used a reinforced cutoff wheel in my Dremel, and carved out the majority of the visor with that. I finished the edges in the upper corners using that small drill bit again. After the opening was roughed out, I went back with some course sandpaper wrapped around a thin chunk of wood and sanded the edges smooth. Once that was done, I took some finer grade paper and finish sanded all the way around the opening.

I took a whole bunch of blue painter's tape and plastered the interior to keep the nice gelcoated interior clean, and hit the whole helmet with a few light coats of Tamiya gray primer. I've used Tamiya primer several times before, and it gives a great smooth finish. I've never had any problems with my topcoat adhering.
So here she sits on day one! (y)

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Much more to come! :D
Eric
 
I'm really looking forward to watching this one. Please take some pictures after masking scratches/before painting the layers.
 
Geeeeeez man !!!! You're quick !!!!

I'm definitely gonna watch this thread with great interest !!!

Thanks for the kind words man ... I don't think people up here truly
realize how much I appreciate it :) I'm glad you love your bucket !

FP
 
I'm really looking forward to watching this one. Please take some pictures after masking scratches/before painting the layers.

Count D, will do! (y) Although, the only layered sections I do are the rear panels with the pale/blue green colors. I do everything else topically.

Geeeeeez man !!!! You're quick !!!!

I'm definitely gonna watch this thread with great interest !!!

Thanks for the kind words man ... I don't think people up here truly
realize how much I appreciate it :) I'm glad you love your bucket !

FP

Well, I gotta say after doing so much research into Fett and seeing how much the quality of products can vary, this helmet just floored me right out of the box. Your hard work is definitely appreciated!! :cheers
 
You da man bro... fastest gun in the west. Keep it up bro... your off to a great start! You aint kidding about a clean cast. These castings set a new tone for what folks should look for these days.
 
Thanks guys! I'm enjoying this helmet immensely.
Scott, yes, I'm slowing down. . . but not too much! ;)

UPDATE: November 12th

The back panels. OK, this update shows several steps all together, but the work involved covers many hours.
I first masked and sprayed the back panels with Floquil Concrete. I suppose masking the entire bucket isn't really necessary, but I do it anyway. So there! :p
Once the Concrete was dry, I traced the damage areas and transferred them onto the helmet. I filled in the areas to remain Concrete with Winsor & Newton's liquid mask. I think it was Spideyfett that turned me on to this stuff, and it's just an amazing product. It's really easy to work with, and only a thin layer is needed. It's a bit expensive, but I've had 1 bottle that's lasted me through 5 or 6 helmets so far.
Here's what the masked areas look like.

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The fluid dries VERY quickly (less than half an hour) and once it was dry, I masked the helmet again and sprayed my custom blue-green color. Here it is after I removed the plastic from the rest of helmet, leaving the tape along the very edges until it dried.

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After a few hours, the blue green was dry, and I removed the liquid mask. I just use a small square of tracing paper to "roll" the dried fluid off the helmet. After removing the mask, I checked it against my reference pics, and using a small size 0 brush, corrected any edges that needed some tweaking.
The masking fluid is great, but it's hard to capture every tiny curve and dot.
Here's how it looks now, after all those steps! *Whew!*

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I haven't decided what to do next. I will either mask the helmet and paint the dome/lower cheeks, or detail the back panels. Depends on how I feel later. :D
 
(y)(y)......man, u start with one killer fett cast and put it in the hands of one killer paint master and there u have it folks! (y)


looking great eric (y) (y). at this rate u should have it done by saturday huh! :lol: ;)
 
Off to a good star bro... if your doing the other stuff topical or at least reverse masking... just get the base red and green on there so all of us can see it in its green an red glory!
 
Geez, I'm sorry I'm not as quick as I used to be!
It's these old eyes of mine. . . and these old fingers. . . and my back. . . *sigh*

:lol: :lol: :lol:

UPDATE #2: November 12th

OK, I decided which way I wanted to go. I figured I'd do the major color applications before I started with any of the detail painting. That way, if something goes horribly wrong, I won't have as much to do over!!! :facepalm
So anyway, I got the dome/lower cheeks painted with Testors Panzerolivgrun (which by the way, is German for "Panther Groin Oil". . . I think. . . my German's a little rusty ;)). Again, everything but the areas I was painting was carefully masked off.
Once the PO Green dried, I went back and did the upper cheeks using Floquil PRR Brunswick Green. Some people have had great results using weathered black, and to me, I can't really tell the difference. The PRR is so dark, it basically looks like a kind of oily black. The upper cheeks were hand painted. The Floquil paints are fantastic and they level quite nicely. After I got good coverage, I went back with my medium brush and gave a final "stipple" coat to mask any small remaining brush strokes. Once everything is weathered and clearcoated, the finish will be great.
Here's the helmet as it will stand for the rest of the evening. . . I've done enough for today! :eek:

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With sunset around 5:30 PM these days, I dunno how much I'll be able to get done during the week. I just can't airbrush in the dark! But hopefully I'll get to finish the mandibles/band/keyslots within the next couple of days.
 
Well you really don't waste any time at all do you ...

You know how much I love your progress threads.. I use them just as much as the real ref pics.. (For that one day out of each year that I decide to work on my helmet)

Looking forward to the progress.. You're work is always amazing.. (y)(y)
 
Matt!! What's up man? Well, I've seen from the pics you've sent me that you're working on a lot of other stuff the other 364 days out of the year, so it's forgivable. :)
 
Well, I couldn't leave it alone. . . so. . .

UPDATE #3: November 12th

Since I couldn't do any more airbrushing (I'm afraid of the dark :D) I started on the detailed damage on the back left panel. I used Floquil Bright Silver, and Polly Scale SP Lark Dark Gray to do all the damage areas. Each color is stenciled individually, and painted with my very good friend, the size 0 brush.

Here she be!!

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Here's a closer-upper shot. The setting on the camera makes the shape of the bucket a little odd.

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Once I get further along, I'll try to get some shots in natural light. This lamp in my hobby room doesn't do the colors justice. :facepalm
 
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