My First Build/ Paint Up

GoldPhive

New Hunter

• Sep 3, 2013

• #1

hello everyone,

long time lurker here, ive just received my FP helmet from animefan and am looking towards starting the paintup as soon as i can (today was my first day at college) so its going to be hard to find the time.
my original goal was to have a complete suit by halloween but i dont see that as a possibility at this time, so my goal is march (Comic Con in Toronto) and if not by then, than i shall aim for august of 2014 (FanExpo Toronto).
i will post pictures of the helmet when i have more time to do so.

GoldPhive

 

GoldPhive

New Hunter

• Sep 3, 2013

• #2

Here are some pics of the helmet. im concerned about where the ears mount, are they supposed to go flush at the sides like that?

 

GoldPhive

New Hunter

• Sep 5, 2013

• #3

...bump?

 

syllander

Active Hunter

• Oct 4, 2013

• #4

Was it a kit? Several parts are missing. The left earpiece, the right earpiece, stalk/rangefinder, and the stalk cover plate.....

 

GoldPhive

New Hunter

• Aug 20, 2017

• #5

WOW! i started this build a long time ago! september 3 2013?? almost 4 years and still havent started painting. College obviously took over my life before i could start working on this helmet. however, i am determined to complete this helmet and then move onto making a full suit. I have spent the past few weeks getting the helmet ready for paint, (cutting out the visor and attaching the ears). I remember back when i had started working on the helmet, that i thought i had screwed up the ears really bad. but with the new skills i have acquired as a machinist, i have overcome that obstacle and now the helmet is almost ready for paint. I have ordered all the humbrol paints and an airbrush that were suggested in the "paint by numbers" thread. So here we are, 4 years after initally buying my helmet kit from Animefan. It's about time i completed this helmet. wish me luck!

 

GoldPhive

New Hunter

• Aug 22, 2017

• #6

paints and face shield came in today!! now just waiting on the airbrush to show up. going to get to work on cutting the welders face shield and mounting it as the visor. are chicago screws the best method for mounting the visor? would home depot have them? also, my helmet is a cold aluminum so im wondering if i can just polish it up until it looks like raw metal and use that as the silver layer for painting? mask off the silver layer and spray the rest with primer so that the rest of the layers stick? or is it recommended to still use a silver rattle can base coat on top of primer?

 

Ghost_Fett

Hunter

• Aug 22, 2017

• #7

Some of the painters would be great commentary here. Sadly I only admire. Hopefully this thread will catch one of their eyes though! BUMP.

 

GoldPhive

New Hunter

• Aug 26, 2017

• #8

thanks for the bump. i believe ive got everything that i need to get started painting, im going to go ahead and sand the helmet down to the raw metal with a high grit wet sand and then once im happy with that i will mask off all of the silver and than primer the helmet for the rest of the colors

 

Artakha

Active Hunter

• Aug 26, 2017

• #9

I'd use fine grit steel wool for the coldcast. Are you doing a Return of the Jedi or Empire Strikes Back style paint job?

 

GoldPhive

New Hunter

• Aug 26, 2017

• #10

ESB, though i just printed out the RafalFett ESB stencils but they dont seem to match up with my bucket. the back plates are both too wide and too short in height. how can i make this work?

 

ShortFuse

Well-Known Hunter

• Aug 26, 2017

• #11

They need to be resized in some sort of photo editing program to match up to what you have.

 

GoldPhive

New Hunter

• Aug 26, 2017

• #12

ok, i might have a method of doing that. thanks

 

ShortFuse

Well-Known Hunter

• Aug 27, 2017

• #13

GoldPhive said:

ok, i might have a method of doing that. thanks

Click to expand...

Here's a tutorial that superjedi made that might help.

Template Sizing Tutorial

 

GoldPhive

New Hunter

• Aug 27, 2017

• #14

ShortFuse said:

Here's a tutorial that superjedi made that might help.

Template Sizing Tutorial

Click to expand...

That helps! thanks similar to what i was thinking of doing. i was going to trace the panel of the helmet and cut it out, than scan that piece and bring it into photoshop and modify it to fit rafal fetts templates. I will try both methods and post how it turns out. i was hoping to get started painting this weekend but it seems ive got a bit more work to do. i havent added any physical damage yet

 

GoldPhive

New Hunter

• Aug 27, 2017

• #15

ok so this is what i tried, and im struggling with how i can modify ALL of the stencils the same way so that they all match up...
i taped over the rear panels (they will be the first panels i paint) and cut out the shapes left on the tape, than scanned those pieces and compared them to the templates by overlaying them. im not sure how to modify the templates so that they fit my panels

 

ShortFuse

Well-Known Hunter

• Aug 27, 2017

• #16

Are you using photoshop?
If so, you could use the free transform function. (ctrl+t)

 

GoldPhive

New Hunter

• Aug 27, 2017

• #17

i tried that in photoshop but cant seem to get it to work

 

GoldPhive

New Hunter

• Aug 28, 2017

• #18

not sure what to do at this point

 

ShortFuse

Well-Known Hunter

• Aug 28, 2017

• #19

GoldPhive said:

i tried that in photoshop but cant seem to get it to work

Click to expand...

Is it not letting you manipulate the size of the image? Is the scan and stencil on separate layers? What specifically is the issue? Perhaps I can help.

 

GoldPhive

New Hunter

• Aug 29, 2017

• #20

the scan and the stencil are on seperate layers, and i can manipulate the stencil to fit my scan but the shapes are so different that no matter how i manipulate it i cant get them to line up