Templates to a new level - waterslides "UPDATED"

im not sure im understanding your process here, are you applying decals instead of painting on the damage or using the decals as painting guides?

Originally Posted by TK-Fett

im not sure im understanding your process here, are you applying decals instead of painting on the damage or using the decals as painting guides?

wondering the same thing..

this looks pretty cool. Will save the time of painting and sanding repeatedly to get the right look. A one try deal

I've always thought about getting decals made to lay ontop of a helmet, but I'd rather have the real paint on it.

Originally Posted by CombatBaby

wondering the same thing..

Same here.

That's genius,not my style as a painter but sheer genius for anyone wanting to do a helmet accurate and quick. At the very least the decals could be an awesome at hand painting guide or a temptation if your painting goes bad. Good job

It's like paint by numbers!

This is sweet Mike!

Wow PGH, glad you're still here! Nice work, this is an amazing idea.

I still dont get it. But it looks friggin awesome!

Pretty darned clever!! It's like the Thomas Kinkade of TDH You could crank out some ebay buckets with this technique!

Steve

Very cool idea. Especially for cranking out a quick and dirty paint detail.

So just to make sure i got it:
1 Apply all "solid" base coats
2 Apply decals
3 Paint over decals
4 Any final touch up of base coats

And as for the type of helmet, I guess, do some paper printouts to adjust for sizes before printing the decals.

Finally, is your painting technique just with a brush?

Awesome
I wish your technique was around about six months ago.

-Tim-

OK I think I see. You use the lines on the decals as a guide and fill in using a brush or airbrush. Right?

WOW! I think I just heard the door slam on the Helmet Painting Business! That is just SUPER!!! It doesn't get any more accurate than that. Well Done! Well done indeed!!!!

I'm in.... I am going to try my next helmet with your decals for the fun of it. The end result is amazing.

AWESOME!! great idea. look nice!

Looks awesome dude but can you post a close up of where the decals end and the paint begins? I know you say you can't see any edge but from this far away its real hard to tell.

If this works as well as it seems to work I'm SO trying this!

would it be really lazy of me to just print out the decals and apply them and not even paint it? Other than the lack of shiny metal I'm not sure you'd be able to tell it's a decal.

Originally Posted by pghfett

Well, how close do you want me to take the pics ? The top pic was within 18" from the bucket. Do you want me to zoom in on the areas where the decal edges are ? LMK and I can take them tonight.


I must be doing an "o.k." job if you gotta ask LOL

You look like you're doing a great job! You can't even tell from here but what I want is a picture where all I see is helmet. You know, like an up close shot of where the decal ends to see if you can see a seam? PLEEEEASE?

That's what I was thinking Icedevil...I don't understand the painting over the decal part. I've worked with micro-sol and micro-set building stock car models and it is surprising how effective they are at making waterslides lay down and blend in. If the decals are opaque enough I don't see why painting over them would be necessary. Like webchief said some close-ups would be fabulous...I really don't see a difference between the painted and unpainted areas in the pics above, but at any rate its a great idea and you certainly can't argue with the results!

-rocky b

Thank you! That's exactly the type of photo I was hoping for. Looks like it's definitely worth trying out!

That's awesome...you can't even see the edges. One question tho...how are you blending the differences between the color on the bucket and the color around the damage on the decal? Especially on the dome and cheeks where I'm sure the green on the decal and the green on the bucket itself are noticeably different...make sense?

-rocky b

wow, this looks very cool, I've never seen this approach before, when perfected, this might be the only way to get the most accurate pa... color scheme on our buckets!!

keep going, it looks amazing!!

C'monnn updates UPDATES <scratching n twitching>

Anything new? I hate to see this thread die out...think I'll head over to BSN and check out your "other" project Don't forget about Boba!!

-rocky b

I think this is an amazing effort. Just a quick question.

When I open up the PDFs I notice they're bitmaps; they're not 300 dots per inch, so it looks like there is a loss of resolution like these were taken with a digital camera. The pixelation of the images will be very obvious up close, unless you used a hi-end 12 Megapixel camera, stood back 5 feet (to reduce perspective distortion) and zoomed in tight.

Also, it looks like they were taken with a flash with indoor photography, so if someone were to use this art, are they not replicating the same lighting as when you took these photo decals?

Finally, is this color calibrated? Each person's printer may interpret the bitmap differently and cause the images the be a different tone than what's intended.

Freakin insane!!!!!

I finally bought some of these decal sheets and plan on testing this out on a helmet I'm painting for a friend. I'll share my progress in a separate thread when the time comes. Thanks for all the tips pghfett!

Magnificent. Terrific resource for the newbs. Thankyou.

Sounds like a great plan to try. So, you're suggesting buy white decal paper instead of the clear paper to get the best result?

That's pretty awesome work there!