Once again, thanks so much! I hope Nemesis enjoys it in person.
To answer a couple of your questions:
Heller, I do use flat acrylics. I use a couple of different brands, Polly Scale, Testors Model Master, and Tamiya, and
they don't all have the same degree of flatness, but at the end of the project I apply a couple of misted coats of
Testors dullcoat, so that tends to even things out without killing the shine of the silver.
Jayvee. . . ah the grease stains! I've tried several different methods to get that "greasy" look. I've tried various paints,
pastel powders, different shades of inks, and none of them quite gave me the effect I was after. Not sure if I've really
addressed this before in other paint-up threads, but since you asked so nicely I'll tell you my "secret recipe."
This is only for Jayvee, so everyone else cover your eyes!!!
I use crayons. Plain ol' Crayola crayons. I begin by LIGHTLY scribbling on some yellow, Dandelion Yellow to be precise,
in the area I want to stain. I can't stress enough how lightly I apply this. I'm using next to no pressure at all so the color
builds up very slowly until I can just see the yellow. Then, I go back LIGHTLY over the same area with a brown crayon.
The official name of this one is, wait for it. . . Brown. I scribble it on until I can see that it's turned a nice oily brown shade,
then I use my finger to rub over it, blending it in.
If I want the area to be darker (more stained) I repeat the process. For some of the extra dark stains, I apply the brown
with a bit more pressure, always rubbing over it afterwards to smooth it out.
This method may sound a little bizarre, but after clearcoating, the stains really look like oily splotches. Pretty high-tech, eh?
Finally, just to show how different things can look under various lighting conditions, here are a few more pics. The set I took
yesterday was under pretty dim indirect light through my windows. It was a stormy day yesterday. Today, the sun is shining
and I got some brighter light in my living room.
The back again:
So there you have it! I'll disassemble the range finder for shipping, and the helmet will depart on Monday.
I'll be sad to see it go, but if Nemesis gets it signed by J. B. that will be an awesome addition to his collection!