Superjedi's FP Premium ESB for Nighthawk5296

superjedi

Sr Hunter
Hi all!
Started a new ESB helmet a couple of days ago. This one is an FP-Premium kit for
Nighthawk5296. I haven't worked on one of these kits before, and it's really nice!
Animefan has done a great job with putting together a great helmet package. Here
are a couple shots of the kit.

IMG_1078_zpsdffee07e.jpg


The lid is fiberglass and feels very rugged. Even after I cut out the visor, there's barely
any flex in it at all. The accessories can be seen better in the shot below.

IMG_1079_zps60b21e99.jpg


The separate Borden piece is a nice touch. Makes painting a bit easier. The ears as I received
them already had some holes dished into the backs, and since I use small bolts epoxied into the ears,
it saved me a step. :) Not sure if Nighthawk did this or if the kit is supplied this way.
The RF assembly is 4 parts: a white resin shell, clear block, and a 2-piece Polaroid lens, also molded
in clear. Again, this will make painting that much easier. There's also a nice aluminum RF stalk, and
Nighthawk sent me a welding visor to install.

No pics of the boring prep, but at this point I have airbrushed on the Concrete on the back panels
as seen in the next couple of pics. The shiny areas are where I've applied the masking fluid in preparation
to spray the darker green shade.

IMG_1080_zps16fdb409.jpg


IMG_1081_zpse0d93b8b.jpg


Finally, here's mid-stage shot of the back with the darker green airbrushed on.

IMG_1082_zps7b6e21fb.jpg


After a few hours, I'll unmask the panels and start getting things stenciled for the detail painting. (y)
 
You make me sick. You remind me of the guy on PBS that used to paint the happy trees. You just slap some tape on and drop this fluid here and voila! Throw paint on it and you got yourself this happy little Fett helmet!
Awesome work, as always bro.
 
You make me sick. You remind me of the guy on PBS that used to paint the happy trees. You just slap some tape on and drop this fluid here and voila! Throw paint on it and you got yourself this happy little Fett helmet!
Awesome work, as always bro.

:lol: :lol: Maybe I should do some kind of time lapse thing that shows how long all of the prep takes!
It's incredibly boring doing the masking fluid, but it's necessary so I just grit my teeth, put on some
music, and eventually, it's finished.

F4R, it's a cold cast helmet, but I'm not using that as the silver on the final product. The silver will
be painted on just like my normal topical paint jobs.

UPDATE: April 6, 2014

OK, got the panels unmasked and did a bit of touch up. I usually tweak the edges of the beige portions
with a fine detail brush. The templates get me 90% of the way there, but I always go back and check
reference photos to get the shapes just right.

IMG_1083_zps4ecd2ff6.jpg


I also took some of the base dark green and added the little patches that appear here and there. It's
the same color but applying it with a brush makes it more "dense" than when it's applied with
an airbrush, so it appears just slightly richer.

IMG_1084_zps76385d54.jpg


Next, I'll begin detailing the left panel with gray and silver. The detail painting is my favorite part
of doing these helmets. (y)
 
Ahhh it looked like you had started with the silver....I had glanced to quickly lol...Keep posting more pics lol ;) I gotta add to my WIP thread as well when I get out of work tonight.

Ive actually been following these same steps, debating on going full layered like TF on my personal bucket still undecided.
 
Egads, another lovely Superjedi paint up! Looking beaut as always my good man..

F4R - it's definitely a tough choice, and particularly as you have painted many lids, sometimes it can come down to wanting to try different methods. I, like Garrett, go for the full layered paint up, but it's obvious from Eric here, that the topical - or in his words 'layer-opical' approach (yep, I put $2 in the layer-opical trademark jar Eric ;-)), works really well. So it's likely down to personal preference, and I guess what you feel most comfortable with to garner the best results..

Probably not telling a guy with your painting experience anything you don't know already, but it's a good way for me to comment on another awesome Superjedi thread regardless.. ;-)
 
TOTALLY agree...and I love a SJ paintup thread...speaking of Ima go upload the finished back panels to my own WIP thread while I have nothing else to do here at work ;)
 
Thanks, guys! F4R, your latest ESB is looking great so far. (y)

UPDATE: April 9, 2014


As usual, my work slows down during the week. But the extra hours of sun in the evening
give me more painting time with natural light, which is much better for my eyes than a harsh
lamp.

I've been working on the left panel the past couple of nights, and here's how it came out.

IMG_1086_zps68704009.jpg


My 000 and 5/0 brushes get a good workout when I'm doing Fett helmets. Here's a slightly
higher res shot. I scratch those fine scratches through the paint layers with a sharp tool.

IMG_1089_zps6840e7b6.jpg


I'll begin the right panel tomorrow, including that huge silver area. . . *shudder* ;)
 
Cross eyed time for sure!

UPDATE: April 10, 2014

Quick update today. Not much time for Fetting this afternoon.
Just wanted to show the beginning of the process for the big silver area. I stencil on the
entire outline of the silver, and include some of the small internal gray chips. I paint these
on first, because they provide landmarks when I go back to do the silver.

IMG_1090_zps72ba4890.jpg


After I get the silver on, I'll go back and do a final tweak of the gray shapes, as well as
add the remainder of the really tiny gray flecks.
 
You're a machine. You literally are a one man factory. You're an organic water transfer system.

Not the first time someone has accused me of being a machine. But of course
that's just ridi c u -- 10 0110101 011 11100101011 010110101001010 10010
0010101 101001001010 10100101 -- CRITICAL ERROR ----------------------

Uh oh. . . :lol:

SJ you use carbon paper to transfer the image?

I do my stencils on plain tracing paper then just rub the pencil lines onto the helmet.
Pretty much the same thing I guess.
 
I trace out the major shapes from Rafal's templates and transfer those to the helmet.
Then I use my reference pics to tweak the edges and details.

UPDATE: April 12, 2014

Whew! After several sessions on that big damage area I've gotten it done. This is many
hours of work split up into 30 or 45 minute chunks.

IMG_1092_zpsa808f6c5.jpg


The contrasting pale gray will be applied after the rest of the helmet is painted.
Next up will be to complete the other damage areas in the upper right and lower right
corners of the panel.
 
Hi 22,
No not really. The colors I use are Floquil/Polly Scale paints adapted from the old Rogue Studios
color list. I think that list is still on the forum.
The colors I've used so far have been Polly Scale Concrete, Floquil Bright Silver, Polly Scale
SP Lark Dark Gray, and a custom blue-green mix using Testors Model Master Acryl Euro I Dk Green
with some Polly Scale BAR Blue mixed in.
Some people say that RLM 73 green is good for the back panels, but I prefer my mix. I don't feel
that the RLM 73 tips over quite far enough into the blue range.

In most of my paint up threads, I wind up listing pretty much all the colors I use.
 
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