Superjedi's PP3 paintjob (TerminalFettler helmet)

Hi everyone!
It's been a long time since I've posted any progress on any personal projects, but I've recently started something that I wanted to share.
Some of you may have seen some of the threads I've done on ESB helmet paintjobs. The ESB scheme is my favorite, and I love painting up helmets in that pattern of damage. But a little while back, some AMAZING photos of the PP3 helmet were made available and I was just fascinated by how close yet subtly different the 2 paint schemes were. I thought it would be fun to see an ESB and PP3 side-by-side in 3D so to speak.
So recently I picked up a TF fiberglass helmet from Garrett, (which looks so great, by the way!! ) and decided to paint it up in the PP3 scheme.

I'm using the same base colors as I normally do on my ESB paint jobs, just the positioning of the detailing/damage is being changed to match the reference shots of the PP3 bucket. This is more of a 'long term' project for me. I'm only working on it in my [very rare] spare time, but I've made enough progress that I now have something to show. Well, that and the fact I wanted an excuse to use my new 10.1 MP digicam. My old one died recently.

Here are a couple of overall shots of the helmet.









You can probably already see some of the differences in patterns between this bucket and the screen-used ESB.
Here's a shot of the kill stripe side. Notice there are 15 stripes.



Here's a tighter view, showing some of the damage I've begun to paint in that area.



A couple shots of the back panels, showing the differences in the patterns. Lots more scratching and scraping on this helmet as well!





Here's what we normally refer to as the "cat scratch." Not sure what to call it on the PP3 helmet. But it's plain to see that MR used a hybrid of detailing from the PP3 and ESB paint jobs for their helmet.



I'll round off this post with a closer shot of the dent. The differences in detail are subtle, but they're there!



Thanks, Garrett, for producing a super nice helmet! I'll be proud to display this in my collection.
More to come as I have time!
Eric

I was wondering when someone was going to do this paint job...

it has the best ref. photos IMO.

great job so far..

Very cool, cant wait to see it finished

Awesome paintjob as always SJ! How it's going?

Thanks guys. I've had a little time here and there and I've managed to make some more progress.

Here's the dent/killstripe side of the dome. Pretty much finished the basic color application on the entire dome now. Weathering the whole helmet will come once all the painting is done.







Also got the cheeks done. Well, the right cheek and the lower left cheek anyway.





After I finish the upper left cheek, I'll begin on the red portions.
More to come!

Great work bruv... I really enjoy watching your projects come alive as the paint is applied!

Nice work

How is it right now?

Thanks guys.
And since you ask, KaanE, it's been going pretty slow lately. Not much time to work on my hobby projects.
I've made a little progress on the left side of the helmet. I finished the upper left cheek



Then started some of the damage on the red areas



And I've started working on the left ear. The white arch was marked, masked, and sprayed with flat white. The damage was pre-masked with W&N masking fluid first. The black markings are dry-transfer letters.



I'm thinking I'll just work my way around this way, saving the main part of the mandibles for last (like I usually do )

Awesome, you are doing a slow but really accurate paintjob. I love the threads like this one, with pics, and more pics, and more pics, and ...

Well, speaking of more pics. . .
Been making some headway lately. My algebra class is over now, so that frees up a bit more time for hobby stuff. Hooray!

I've finished the left ear, using Polly Scale Rock Island Maroon for the red damage. There are more fine scratches apparent on this ear than on the ESB helmet, and I used my compass tip to scratch those in. (Same technique as on the rest of the helmet.)
You can see I've also started working my way around the red band.



Here are a couple more shots, just moving around toward the RF side.





Last one shows where I've done the bottom portion of the red area behind the ear. I'll start working my way up from this point.



It's starting to look more finished now.

man that looks awesome!

wow, indeed, quite excellent paintjob you have going there.

Wow!! Amazing paintjob!!!

Yeah, that really is looking killer!!!!!! Keep it rolling!!!!

seriously, this is one heck of a paint job!!

keep up the good work!!

I love all the hairline scratches, i think its this eye to detail that really makes the damage seem real and compliments the painted damage. How did you achieve the white paint scuffs? If that's what they are...

Thanks, all. I'm enjoying this paint up.

Garrett, the scuffs are also scratched into the paint. I'm using an X-acto blade and scraping very lightly in multiple passes.
There are a lot more scuffs than the ones I've done so far, but most of them will be done with pastels once the rest of the paint work is complete.

I love these threads.... so fun to watch unfold! Keep it up man!

Originally Posted by terminal fettler

I love all the hairline scratches, i think its this eye to detail that really makes the damage seem real and compliments the painted damage. How did you achieve the white paint scuffs? If that's what they are...

I am going to guess they are actual scratches down to the gel coat? DOH didnt see your post there Eric ha ha, so I am actually quoting you

Headlesshunter, good guess! Yeah, it would be nearly impossible to paint all those tiny thin scratches on with any consistency, so I use my compass to scratch them on there.

OK, been getting some more done now that my algebra class is over. I've finished the rest of the red area behind the right ear, as well as the ear itself. I've also painted the removable portion, it's just not shown here. The silver portions won't be painted/detailed till the very end of my paint job, after the clear coats have been applied.



Here's an angle of the bottom wedge of the ear piece. Another slight variation from the 'standard' ESB paint job is that this one incorporates some black into the damage.



After the ear was painted, I began working on the red above the visor. I used several different reference pics to do this, tracing and stenciling a section at a time.





Another shot showing the completed left mandible. Again, the final scuffs aren't on there yet. They'll be done with pastels once I begin the final weathering.



On to the right mandible next!

You aren't a superjedi, you're a superpainter 8)

Very nicely done, as usual. Really interesting to see the differences between this and the ESB lids.

Thanks! Bubba, that was the primary reason I wanted to do this version. It's easy to see these 2 helmets were made to look like each other. But for what purpose? Final approval prior to filming? Was one meant to be a stunt helmet and the other a hero?
The details of both are so similar. It's really cool to see this one nearing completion and sitting it next to my ESB FPH helmet and comparing them.

Speaking of nearing completion. . .

Got almost all the basic paint work done! I finished the right mandible earlier (finally), so now Boba has a complete face. Man, that right mandible just kills my wrist and fingers! Here it is.





The above shot also shows the black arch on the RF ear. It was masked and sprayed with plain ol' flat black. Still need to do the white portion, and finish the fine scratches.

Here's a close up of the right mand.



And another front shot just for fun.



I anticipate having the right ear finished by tomorrow, then I can begin the final dirtying and pastel weathering! Almost there. . .

Wow, you captured the detail well!


Nice job bud.

Alright! It's finished. Lots of pics follow.
I finished the detail painting on the RF ear, then began weathering with pastels in several shades. I used everything from charcoal, to sandy brown, to medium brown. Once the pastels were applied, I went back with some pastel sticks and applied some of the larger scuffs. These are mostly white, with some black scattered here and there.
I sealed the pastels with a couple of light coats of Polly Scale Clear Flat, then did the exposed silver portions of the right ear. The very last step was to do the 'spatter' all over the helmet. I used Tamiya Khaki for the spatter, which is the same color I use on my ESB paint-ups. On this helmet there's just more of it! I think the rusty tone MR used on their helmet is just too vivid.
So here are the final pics! Several shots just moving all around the helmet.











On the dome and back panels I got the variations in tone by going back over it after the pastels/clear coat were applied with some wire wool and rubbing away some of the weathering in random patterns. (I did this all over the bucket, but it's most noticeable on the back and dome.)







Here are some closer shots of some of my favorite details.

The right ear. This shows the 15 small black stripes as opposed to 14 on the ESB helmet. These are dry transfer letters, which I scraped with an X-acto blade after application. (Yes, the small black "smudge" above the stripes is present on the reference pics!)



Front of the right ear with more dry transfer letters.



Here's the right mandible with the infamous "white line."



The left mandible, showing some subtle contrasting red.



As I mentioned at the beginning of this project, the main reason I decided to do this was to have a "3-D" representation of the differences between the ESB screen used helmet and the Pre-pro 3. So here's a side-by-side look at the 2 styles.
The completed helmet in the following pics is my FPH, and of course the one without a visor is my newly completed Terminal Fettler PP3 style helmet.



The below 2 pics show some of the detailing differences around the dent/killstripe area. The biggest difference is the number of stripes: 14 on ESB, 15 on PP3.





Here are a couple of shots of the back panels. More differences are visible here with regard to the overall shapes and placement of the damage. Interesting.







"Cat scratch" comparison. This is one of the most easily recognizable features of the ESB helmet, and you can see this detail is quite different between the 2 helmets.





So the helmets are fairly similar overall. Before I started this paint job I thought they were much more different than they are! So I've learned something from this project as well as got more practice painting.
Thanks to everyone for following along! Sorry if this last post slows anyone's computer down! I just had a lot of pics I wanted to share.

Eric

I dont see a difference between your helmet and the prepro 3. Thats amazing. Great job buddy!

Amazing paint work Eric!! I'm not familiar with pastels, is it this process that washes out the colours?

Wow Eric, you're just getting better and better.

Thanks a lot, guys!
Garrett, the pastels tend to "muddy up" the colors some and make them more uneven.
But surprisingly, the step that really faded them was airbrushing on the Polly Scale flat coat. I don't know why it's different than the Testors dull coat I usually use, but it really does add a more dusty/oxidized look to the surface. I like it!

you made some great progress throughout your thread that is awesome

Wau, you are the Super Paintingman, friend!!!!

droooool.....


Friggin awesome.

Really nice painting you did.... you guys wont stop surprising me ^_^

Thanks again. This was a lot of fun to paint.

I went back to tweak some of the scrapes/smudges as the final clear coat had absorbed some of the pastel. Used my white pastel, a bit of black pastel, and a black artist's pencil.
I also added a temp visor. It's just a thin smoked transparent "report cover" like you can get about anywhere. Since this helmet is just a display piece, I don't see myself adding a thick visor anytime soon.

Two overall angles of the front.





Closer view of the turn signal area.



Area surrounding the kill stripes. Lots of little dark/light scrapes.



Left ear section.



Finally, the back of the dome. Some more very subtle small scrapes/mars.



So that's REALLY it this time. . Now to figure out what to do for my next project. . . whenever I have time.

DDDDDDDDAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMM!!!!

Originally Posted by SEEKER

DDDDDDDDAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMM!!!!

Couldn't agree more!! :thumbup

AMAZING WORK !!!!

How many hours did this one take you?
I've finally started my paintjob.
custom mixed my colours using liquitex with the aid of the ref's you sent me all those months ago.
thanks again for the colour Ref's.

Jason