Welsh's ESB paint up WIP

Hey guys,
Im posting this WIP up primarily to update and document it for member Radar, who has commissioned me to paint this lid. But also I would like opinions, thoughts and criticism for the guys that know fett.
So I started this about a week ago, The helmet, a beautiful Bookmaker Lid, arrived and needed a little prep work.



I regrettably messed up the beige masking and green layer resulting in a finish that I was not happy about, so when you see the back panels in the pictures please note that this is now gone.
So some research and looking around at the stickies on the site, I downloaded the PDF template files. I then went onto probably my favourite thread, Garretts "wafer thin ESB paint up) and got to work trying to follow the master
I first wanted to start with the physical damage, looking at Pontes ESB thread, I really wanted these chips in the lid, so at it I went with a Dremel.





Like I said I started with the back panels only to later strip them down, so progress starts on the ears. I firstly primered them, and hit them with humbrol red 60. I take no credit for these colours, these are the exact ones use in Terminal Fettlers thread.



I then used the template to draw on the red damage (I'll explain how I did that later) And hit it with Grey 28+64.



Using the template for the grey area, I drew them on, I decided to leave the masking fluid on over the red encase a missed a spot, and hit it with the final custom green colour of 159+78



I then removed the masking fluid from the ear. I intend to use decals on the ears as I like the clean look you get from them. (Remember, ignore the back panels )





I also managed to finish the right ear, albeit the decals. I couldn't find a PDF template for this ear, so again using Garretts thread, I roughly followed his lines, adding my own artistic licence. Apologies for the poor lighting.

Looks good so far,cant wait to see it finished

So, the back panels looked okay I felt, especially since it was my first time painting a fett Lid. But I knew I could do better, especially with these templates.

So I got to work stripping the back panels down, then wetsanding them through endless grades of gritts, I got a nice smooth base in which to start.



I then went to work with the template. I basically kept scaling the PDF until it was the right size, I then slapped a piece of tracing paper on the screen and went to work



I then placed it on the helmet with some graphite paper and drew around it. After I was finished, I masked the spots up, and sprayed Humbrol 79



Then came a part I didnt like doing, removing the Fluid. I managed really well with the ears, but I wanted to get that nice crisp edging seen on TF paint up. So a quick PM to the man and it wasnt long until he told me his secret Masking tape placed over the fluid to pull it up





Seriously thank you TF for the tip, really got the definition and sharpness I wanted, without smudging or damaging the finish Ive left the fluid over some silver areas which dosent have the grey over. I currently have the grey areas masked out, I will be going out tomorrow to purchase more supplies so I cant get the beige layer down and masked up.
Any comments and Criticism will be highly welcomed,
Thanks,

Welsh

Hi there.. Tell you what i could really of done with you posting this about 3 months ago to assist me with mine LOL.. My biggest problem i had all the way through was creating and keeping the small crisp damage marks with the masking fluid, It was always hard
to not make the masking fluid lift off EVERYTHING!! I had to re-do a few sections to my frustration when a bit of masking tape could
of solved the problem.. Grrrr.. Looks great so far..I luv these WIP

Looking great there Lewis, shame you had to redo the back panels but if you weren't happy with them so be it....master at work. well i gave up on the lid after three goes plus the wife was getting a little annoyed with me by that point. Top work mate can't wait to see the end results and put it on.

Jinto yes it's from Daz.

Glad you like It radar, I know what you mean about the panels, but I really wasnt happy with them and its a great learning experience.

So, With the grey dry, I then went ahead and masked up all the areas I wanted to remain grey, as well as covering the exposed silver damage. I then mixed Humbrol 103 and a little bit of 94 to darken it a bit.



Once It was dry, I then went about using masking tape to pull of the fluid, giving me those crisp lines. I also used a rubber/eraser for certain parts where the tape would'nt pull up the fluid.







Now to put in the detail into the main ride side damage. Masking the area with tape, then using fluid to mark out where I wanted the damage, I then sprayed it with the Humbrol 79.





Once dry, remove the fluid to reveal the finished panel detailing.



Im in the process of painting the green tonight, so depending on if its dry I may put another update up tonight.

Welsh

Looking good my friend. Might not start painting mine at all. I know where to send it!

Thank you Goodus, I would love to paint up one of your lovely lids
Cheers Jinto, the JP is actually being worked on thats why it's their, painting on the last decals and finishing up the thruster lol.

Okay, so short and sweet update for you guys. Put on the final green layer about for hours ago, it was barely touch dry, but the masking fluid was comin off so nice that I did it all :S Really happy with how it came out, my ****** photographic skills dont do it justice.







I will be starting on the lower cheeks and dome now this week, although I still have to add the scratchs and other weathering to the panels but for now they are done.

Welsh

Looks great!
Once i get my bucket from jinto I plan on doin it up ESB so im following this thread for some tips

Nice paintup! The layers seem very "crisp".

Thanks again guys
Managed to get some good progress done on the lid over the weekend. After masking up all but the lower cheeks and dome. I firstly hit the lower left cheek with the custom colour green from the back panels. Then masked the damage.



I then hit the lid with Plasticote silver, I love this stuff. Gives a great metallic sheen and looks good when weathered.
I then went and masked the silver damage.



Once masked and dried, I then and went and applied the grey 78. Once that was dry, I then removed all of the masking fluid for the silver that didnt have grey around, then masked the silver and grey damaged areas.





I then went and airbrushed the final green layer. I was shocked at how bright it looks in the photo's. But It looks spot on in person and will also still need to be weathered.









Very happy with how it turned out. I changed masking fluid from the Windsor and Newton to the Humbrol maskol and its a massive difference. Its much easy to apply and is also coloured which helps alot.
Next up will be the upper cheeks then I'm on to the mandibles and face.

Welsh

Great paint job. The weathering turned out great.

Excellent work so far, looking really sharp with the detail... My only tip would be to keep an eye on the scale of the damage, I found because you are working from the inside out with the damage, the finished areas can sometimes become slightly enlarged...

dose the humbrol not run as much?

Originally Posted by terminal fettler

Excellent work so far, looking really sharp with the detail... My only tip would be to keep an eye on the scale of the damage, I found because you are working from the inside out with the damage, the finished areas can sometimes become slightly enlarged...

yes! Leave the line dont cover it up with masking fluid...thats a tip i got from ponte

Cheers guys, I'll take that into account on my next lid. This is my first helmet paint up and the person who commissioned me to do it new that it wouldn't be the greatest, But I am really happy with the way it has turned out. I kind of wished I used the Humbrol masking fluid from the start as the edging on the back panels could have been better, and also I feel the top dome scratch is a little to far forward but its hardly noticeable........ I think.
Once this is done, ive got a TK lid I want to put together, then I will be starting on my own helmet, hopefully improving my skills and methods from this lid.

F4R: The humbrol stuff is great, first off you can see where your putting it as its purple. Also I found that I could get those nice sharp and jaggard edges, which I couldnt manage with the Windsor. Dries alot faster as well and so far has been easier to remove with the paint on top.

Yeah the Humbrol maskol is amazing it leave the other masking fluids for dead goes on well stays were you want it and comes of realy easy ,
Looking good by the way

Can't wait to see this one done, awesome job

I use the liquid fricket its orange works pretty good but runs a little bit if you put to much on

Got some more work to show, actually managed to get this done in one night which I was surprised by. I didn't take progress pictures as I totally forgot. Basically mask off the cheek areas, silver, mask, grey 79, mask, black 33 lol.
And amazingly its a nice day here, so I took the opportunity to get the lid out side and take some well lit photos. The sun is playing havoc with the silver in the photos, it still has to be weathered but really does look fine in person. You can also see on the right back panel where the paint was lifted up from the masking tape, easy fix which I will do once all the colours are down.
Onto the pics:













Next up the mandibles, trim and back detail, then to add the fine scratches and finally weathering. I can almost see the finish line

Welsh

This is really comming along great!

Thank you CloneCollector

Another update for you all to scrutinize over, im also going to need some advice.

Okay on with the update, firstly having masked up the the mandibles, I hit them with the silver which was masked, then a custom grey mix, . I then started to mask off the grey and the silver damaged areas.



I then applied a custom mix of 73 and 104, masked up all the damage and once dry removed to leave me this.







I then masked up the silver, grey and purple damage and applied the final red layer of 73. Some outside and inside shots as the colour changes in different lights.













Now I need some advice, where I had masked up the back, removing the tape has removed a large portion of the green. Any ideas on how I can fix this and save the panel without repainting the entire piece. I was thinking of sanding around the edges with some wet + dry then masking the section off then spraying. Would that work?

Picture of the damage:



Any comments and criticism is welcomed

Welsh

Ok, you can masking tape around the silver area, leave approximately a 5mm gap. Then carefully paint the Maskol between the edge of the tape and the start of the silver, following the edge as close as you can. Now you want to replicate the original detail in this area using the colours you mixed (presuming you have some left over) starting with the base colours and applied in a similar thickness to your original paintwork. The final top coat of green can be over applied, maybe one or two coats more, and the join can be feathered with 0000 gauge wire wool and fine wet and dry to level the area... I used this technique on the mandible area on a paint job a while ago, it was a small repair on an area, and you could not distinguish it from the surrounding area...
Hope this helps...

Update time .
I started to repair the back of the helmet, the left side is now finished, while the right still has a seam that I need to remove. I also glued on the inner ear cap, ready for the RF stalk to be screwed in place. I received the visor off of Radar today and taped it in place to get an idea of what the finished helmet will look like.













Any thoughts or improvements you think need to be made, other than the seam line on the back panel. I'll be starting the kill stripes some time this week then the ear details. Hopefully this lid may be finished by next week.

Cheers,

Welsh

Have you given the paint a light buff with 0000 gauge wire wool? I find this gives the paint more 'depth' for want of a better word. It will slightly deepen the red and gives the surface an over all sheen that brings the colours together, any shine will be lost when you add your weathering though. Looking very good so far...

Again all the damage looks like it wasnt scaled looks like its 110-120% to large for the helmet notice around the scrape on the mandible, theres not supposed to be that much silver there, not sure if this will bother you but this was the mistake I made when trying to use the stencils the first time.

Cheers G, no I Havant buffed it over yet, I was waiting to get all the colours down on the helmet first, I know that you do it in-between every colour. Your thread has been like a bible to me the last month or so lol, thanks for that.

Thanks for the imput F4R, I can see what you mean on the mandibles, the damage comes over to the left a bit to much. Hopefully on my lid I can try and fix the scaling issues. To be fair its my first lid paint up, im very happy with what ive done, and most importantly the person who commissioned the lid is also very happy with it, so all good

Update time, I don't know if this is an actual method, but I basically just used what I had in the shed, and it came out really well.
So I wanted to attach the range finder to the lid using the bolt method as I think down the line the owner wants a RC set up. I took a allen bolt and nut, and using a dremel, cut away the head of the bolt.



I then went and enlarged the hole in the BM range finder arm to accomondate the larger bolt.



Then I used two part epoxy resin to secure the bolt into the ranger finder arm.



Once that was done, I then went ahead and drilled the hole in the helmet ( probably the most scariest part so far lol)



I then simply bolted the range finder in place with the use of a nut and washer on the other side.





One attached Range finder





The arm and RF top still need to be weathered. Ive already started to mark out the ear decals as well as the kill strips so they will be finished come the weekend.

Welsh

Looking good mate.. What method are you going to use in keeping the range finder up? Been a bit stumped on what to do
with mine..Ive read some one on here mention Magnets but just wait to see what you do LOL

Thanks mate.
Like I said the owner of the helmet plans to install a RC circuit to move the RF up and down. At the moment, with it screwed on it will stay in the up position quite well, you can also lower it down but it does eventually work lose. If you wanted it to permanently stay up I would say glue, if you screw it on like I did a little bit of blue tac would stop it moving (but is stays up fine just screwed on)

Cheers,

Welsh

Managed to get this done tonight which im quite pleased with. The kill stripes were a little bit daunting as they were being painted on top of 3 weeks of work. I first masked them out using Terminal Fettlers template, and used a mix of masking fluid and tape to mask them up.



Once dry, I then firstly painted them with yellow 154, then misted on orange 82, starting heavy then getting lighter towards the front of the helmet. While the paint was still tacky I removed the masking to give me the finished Kill stripe that im very pleased with.









Just the ear decals and fine scratching to do then onto the weathering

Cheers,

Welsh

looking good bud

Well done that is the same method that I use to do the kill stripes. Keep up the good work.

Outstanding Lewis, can't wait to get my hands on this work of art. Of course i'm now gonna have to send you another lid to do as this one will live in my display cabinet.............only jesting.

nice, keep up the good work.
By the time you finish this one, you'll have it sussed out and paint the next one perfect.

That one might be mine!!!! Sweet! Mind you, judging by this work I might have to join a queue.

Cheers Guys,

Radar - If you like it mate then im a happy fella lol. Thank you for the compliment, and thank you for letting me paint the lid for you, not long left on it now :P

Aero - I was a little apprehensive about taking on a lid, my first one and its different when it not your own. With you lid it dosent matter if you mess up, you can do what you want to it. But I still didnt want to hold back on the paint job as after all it is someone else piece.

Goodus - Hehehe you never know lol. I actually may have gotten another commission off of a member from the RPf, But he's still waiting for his BM lid so that wont be for about 2 months. I want to get my lid done, possibly another by the side before I actually start taking any more on. Plus I want to get this stencilling scaling worked out >_<

Welsh

Fantastic,Amazing!
Awsome paint job.

Cheers Treppfett

Well guys, been working my way at this lid all weekend and im finally finished.
Applied the black damages under the dent as well as in the kill stripes. Hand painted on the two ear details, and used a fine liner for the small black details. Using a toothbrush I applied the brown spatters to the right cheek and on top of the range finder. Then finished the helmet off with airbrushing black 33 over it and sealing with a satin clear coat.









Sorry about the poor lighting, I will get some nice out door shots when it stops raining lol. Im very pleased with the out come for my first lid, and hopefully radar will be to. Ive actually gotten another 2 commissions from posting up these WIP threads, but the next helmet I will be painting will be my own
Opinions would be appreciated, just got to put this thing safely away ready to be returned to Radar.
Cheers,

Welsh

That bucket looks like it's seen a lot of action! Great job

What a fine looking bucket. Nice one Lewis.

Thanks Goodus, means alot :P, ive just gone and ordered a stormrider interior for my lid, cant wait till all my helmet parts get here so i can start again.

Cool. That is going to be a high spec bucket. look forward to that.

Yeah pretty much, the next lid is going to be my trooping bucket, so I kinda want all the bells and whistles to wow the public. RC set up with RF led's, Mic system and the SR interior that I will mod to accommodate the other accessories lol. I wont do a wip thread but I will post up some pictures when its done to get some opinions on it. Just gotta start working on scaling the stencils down and I think im pretty much good to go

What i do is measure the parts vs the helmet cause the stencils are all different really IMHO some parts are right when at a certain % but others arent to the same scale....and its gonna depend on the helmet as well, if you get a GMH I'll be more than happy to lend any info I came across as Im painting one right now ESB

Ahh see thats what I did, I scaled the back down so that it was the same size as the helmet, and presumed all the other templates were at the same scale so I scaled them down the same as the panels Cheers for that.
I think some of the damage look good, the top scratch and cat scratch I think look spot on size wise, but I could see that the dent is a little over sized when I was painting the killstripes, but I dont think its that noticeable.
Cheers for the offer for the stencils mate, but the lid ive got is a MR cast thats had that bloody pinched visor fixed lol. I will end up getting a GMH when the queue goes down a bit, but whether I will actually paint it will be a different story