Tonight is exciting! I just put on the first coat of green humbrol 78, and while it is drying I thought I would post this progress from earlier today. I have really been taking my time trying to get the masking right. Off to put on the 2nd coat.
I have to say I am much happier with the dome so far than I was with the back plates. You live, you learn. Here are some progress pics. I am going to topically add the very fine details inside of the silver that exists on most of the damaged areas. I will probably just wait until the end to do all the little details at once. Let me know what you think. I am curious if this is good or crap.
I have been outlining the grey areas to mask on the mandibles tonight. I can already tell the detailing later on will be extensive and take a lot of time. It will be fun though. Here are some pics with the black added to the cheeks. It is starting to really look like a Fett!
I got the red on the mandibles and trim, and it is really starting to come to life. The next steps are all the fine details done topically, attach the viewfinder to the rangefinder, attach borden, redo the darker green on the back plates, kill stripes, and weathering.
The recent threads where people are changing the green on the back plates to be darker and more screen accurate has motivated me to do the same. It will require masking all the damage again, but will be worth it. I really do not like the green as it is today. There is not enough of a contrast from the rest of the dome.
Thanks man! It still has a ways to go. I put what feels like a thousand scratches on it last night. I also am scratching in some more detail where the masking process could not get those sharp jagged corners. That is very nice with these animefan coldcast helmets that you can scratch in real detail after it is painted. I see a lot of parts on the damage where it is not exactly screen accurate, but I think it is going to capture the spirit of the ESB helmet. It is my first one so I was not expecting perfection. I am trying to figure out the best way to do the kill stripes. I definitely do not want to botch those. Does anyone know the true dimensions of the kill stripes (height and width) on the ESB hero helmet? I do not want to resize the templates wrong.
I did not. It is pure Humbrol 78, but the light steel wool rubbing toned it down a lot. I did modify the back plates by adding in some dark blue and black to the typical humbrol mix to get a better color.
Got the kill stripes on. I am really happy with how they came out. My airbrushing control has really improved throughout this project. I need to keep on weathering, and permanently attach the visor. I am pretty confident I will be able to get all the blacks, and grays with airbrushing and washes. I would like some advice on the light brown splatter that is all over the helmet and what techniques have worked the best. I am worried about getting that right.
Been working on some of the little details tonight. I painted the lighter green under the kill stripes where the masking tape pulled off the paint and it was touched up on the original helmet. Just free handed that with a brush. I also attempted some of the white smear and finger print, but that will take a little knocking down for it to look better.
This is also in a helmet thread, but also got to have it here for the progress documentation. I cannot stop looking at it. On to the weathering of the jetpack!
So, due to everything being so disgusting I threw it all in the washer today thinking the paint would stay on. Well, most of it did. I may have to dust up the flight suit and pouches again, but I think the vest actually looks better now.
Weathering is looking good.
I generally like to dirty/wash/dirty/wash/dirty till I'm happy. I do each dirty in stages doing a slow build on colour. I feel it gives the weathering greater depth, but I'm a sucker for detail
Looks great. It never dawned on me ppl wouldnt get the way I made the sidearm. I like your idea.connecting the two with the screw. I did the connecting of main barrel diagonal.through the back of the grip. So I could take them apart. Yours is a great idea.