Superjedi's GMH as ESB for Lucksy31

Wow, that was a long detour! I don't mind, I love seeing everyone's theories about
the different paint jobs.

I agree that certainly some portions of the PP3 and ESB helmets had to have been done
with a layered technique.
The thing that gets me is that those two helmets have very similar damage patterns, and
I've always thought that one was done to mimic the other. Which was done first? I'm not
sure if that's been nailed down yet or not.
With a topical or layered technique, we know that one helmet can be made to look nearly
identical to another. Hence all the awesome replicas of the helmets that members here on
TDH have completed over the years. Maybe the PP3/ESB helmets were painted to be
hero and stunt versions of each other? It's sometimes hard to tell in pictures, but I've
done both of these helmets for my own collection and when you see them right next
to each other, their details are so similar it's hard to imagine that they were painted
by different people using different techniques. *Shrug*

But in short, no, I won't be darkening that scorch mark any further.

Loving the thread SJ and the tangents.

I sense something......ears......ears!

Lucksy31 said:

I sense something......ears......ears!

Click to expand...

The Force is strong with you!
The ears are indeed here. Pics to follow shortly.

UPDATE: January 26, 2013

Ears! Wonderful ears!
I had a missed delivery notice in my mailbox yesterday that showed the tracking
number for the aluminum ears. I went and picked them up earlier at the post office.
They look amazing! There was about 15 minutes of clean-up required, just to remove
some small burrs on some edges. After that, I gave the parts a nice buffing with
some wire wool, then washed them with some Palmolive dish soap to remove any
residual oils.
There are 3 sets of ears pictured below: Scott's set, my set, and the GMH resin ears.



The deal I made with Scott is to paint up both the aluminum set and the resin set,
so both are being prepped. My personal set will be going on my GMH PP2 helmet, so
they won't be painted per se, just weathered quite a bit.



So far on Scott's metal set, I have masked and shot a coat of Duplicolor self-etching primer.
I like this primer a lot. It sprays on smooth, and it really gives some "bite" into the surface.
When the primer is dry (overnight), I'll airbrush the base coats on. Polly Scale Earth for the RF ear
parts, and my special blend of secret herbs and spices for the left ear. Mmmmm. . . smells great!

NICE i like the metal ears wonder if mine are here too? Should go look in the mail

Man, those look great!

Yeah, the ears are superb.

UPDATE: January 27, 2013

Having a relaxing morning before I run my Sunday errands (fill up the gas tank, go to
the grocery store, plot the demise of my enemies. . . you know, the usual) so I decided
to get some ear work done.

I had previously masked off the parts to remain raw metal when I primed the ears yesterday.
The primer was nice and dry this morning, so I shot the base coat of Polly Scale Earth onto
the RF ear parts.



Although the bare metal looks pretty bright in the photos from the early morning sun, they actually
have a nice stainless steel appearance since I had buffed them with wire wool prior to painting.
Here's another angle.



I still have to airbrush the left ear. I'll do that later today. For the RF ear parts, the next stage
will be to do the gray damage. The silver will of course be physically scraped down to the bare
metal, so I won't do that until after the black and white arcs are finished.

Some other accessories are now complete as well. Here's a shot of the RF stalk that also comes
with the metal ear set.



I did the rust spots, plus an overall rusty wash with Tamiya Red Brown acrylic and a Microbrush.
Some spots were left slightly darker, and some were blotted with paper towel immediately after
application to get a variance in saturation. There's also some silver applied that's hard to make
out in this image.

The Borden is also complete. It's not affixed in position yet because I have to do some
light dry-brushing around the socket first.



On the stock Borden connector, the 3-hole pattern is backwards, so earlier in the thread
I showed how I had cut off the end of the piece and sanded it smooth. Placing it in the
helmet inside-out gives the correct hole pattern.
The Borden is plated brass, so the cut end was raw brass. I applied a wash of a dirty
green/gray in a couple of light layers, letting some of the brass show thru. Then I used
my 000 brush to do some silver chipping on the surface.



I'm really digging how it came out.

I ran out of my Duplicolor self-etching primer, so I'll pick up more today and get the
resin ear set primed, too. More to come!

UPDATE: Feb 1, 2013

Hi all, it's been a few days since the last update. I've been trying to fight off a
cold this week, and it's been hit or miss. But I've managed to get some work
done on the ears.

The RF ear parts are finished now.



After the base coat of Earth was nice and dry, I did the dark gray details on the lower
ear part. I also masked and airbrushed the black and white arches on the upper ear cap.
This is a very slow, tedious process. It's very nerve wracking for me because if any
paint pulls up. . . I have to start the whole piece over again! *Gulp* Fortunately,
it worked out well.



After the black/white markings were applied, I finished up with the dark gray on the
upper ear cap. I gave the ear parts some light pastel weathering with some brown and gray, and
then I masked off the bare metal sections and hit all parts with some dull coat to seal the pastels.

The small markings came next. I use dry transfer lettering to do these details. I don't have
the actual font used (which is mentioned in a thread somewhere on the board. . .) but these
appear very close. I used a D and a V, as well as 2 tiny squares for the markings on the front
face of the lower ear piece.



The letters were then strategically scraped with the tip of a brand new X-acto blade.

For the marks on the ear cap, I used a line of 9 capital I's. Again, they were carefully
scraped after application.



Since this is being done as the screen used version, I also applied the black circle and T
that are seen beneath the black arch. (For those detail-obsessed nuts like me, I went back
with my 000 brush and applied the 2 little "overruns" at the base of the black arch's left leg. )

Scott had sent along a real micro-switch to be installed in the RF ear, and it's in there too,
even though it can't be seen in these photos. It's a really cool little detail!

Whew!

I have given the left ear its green base coat, and I've masked and airbrushed the
white arch. As long as I continue to feel semi-OK, I should be able to get the
details done on that ear this weekend.

MAN OH MAN, the metal ears set it off so nicely, I got two GMH's and only 1 set of metal ears, I dont know what to do now ESB has so little metal exposed but it makes a world of a difference...do I try and get another set of metal ears?

Um. . . yes. Yes you should.

superjedi said:

The small markings came next. I use dry transfer lettering to do these details. I don't have
the actual font used (which is mentioned in a thread somewhere on the board. . .)

Click to expand...

That would be the Folio Bold Condensed font and the thread about it is here ==> Letraset Dry Transfer Font - Folio Bold Condensed.



I really like what you did with the ears (too) and I'm already eager to see the left ear done. I think that you should increase a bit the circle and the T on the right ear's arch (I know you don't have the correct font), at least this is how it appears in the few shots of the original ESB era helmet (and the Pre-Pro #3 too). With your painting talent, this is an easy task...

The detail on this is blowing my mind. Will be sharing this with TDH Facebook community as soon as finished pics are up. Amazing work!

I have to admit I wondered how worthwhile it'd be to use these amazing ears on an ESB helmet since they would mostly be covered in paint, but it still makes all the difference. Looks just great! I'm aching to get my ears (and my GMH, for that matter!).

Thanks, fellas!

UPDATE: Feb 3, 2013

Whew! So close now. . .
All the exterior work is DONE! Got the left ear finished and attached. I also did the
silver dry brushing around the Borden, the tan spatter, and installed the keyslot MQ-1 part.
The only "construction" left is to put the visor in.

Here's a walkaround view.



The stalk and topper are not attached. The pieces fit so well together that it sits
very nicely without the big bolt threaded in. I won't attach this before shipping to Scott.
It will be much easier for him to attach it once he receives it. It will take about 30 seconds.



I have to say that this is the nicest RF topper I've seen. Very crisp, including the clear insert.
The Polaroid lens is actually cast in 2 parts: the black frame, and the clear lens (which is cast as
a convex piece, so it functions like a real lens!)



Working our way around the back now. From these photos, it's hard to see the MQ-1 piece,
but it's in there. I built a small styrene platform to extend it a little on the sides. So when
it's viewed from an angle, the gap isn't as visible.



Those thumbprints again. I really like this feature of the ESB helmet for some reason.



Above is a good overall shot from the dent side.
Now, just for fun, some close-ups.

Here's some left ear action.



Not close enough, you say? OK. . .



Here's the RF topper. I was hoping it would show up better, but the Polaroid frame has some tan
spatter applied. This is actually the first time I've incorporated this into one of my paint ups! Don't
know why I never noticed this detail before. Guess I'm getting old.



Here's the dent area. After my pastel weathering was finished, I went back and
did the cleaner looking green within the damage areas (just below the rim of the dent.)



The contrasting red on the left mandible can be seen here. It shows up slightly better
in person. Still not sure that I've corrected my camera settings. :facepalm



Here's the turn signal area. I used some slightly thinned Tamiya Khaki to grunge them up.
This is the same color that I use for the overall tan spatter all over the front of the helmet.



So that does it for the weekend! I'll definitely have the helmet completed by next weekend.
I have already cut my visor tabs from some aluminum bar stock, and I'll work on getting everything
positioned and epoxied in during the week.
I'm also working on the resin ears that came with the GMH. Next update will have finished pics!

How on earth is work this good even possible?, blown away!!

Just incredible. I really am blown away by how good this looks and the attention to detail!

a work of art, it should be in the Tate gallery

Oh no good sir, it belongs on my wall!

New here though I have been a lurker since like 2003 off and on. I'm a very private collector as I'm so busy with family stuff now days. I do a few projects a year and didn't want to start a fett bucket until I was 100 percent committed to studying details and doing it right. Builds like this help a ton as despite my project and spfx experience, I know you can't just wing it with this project. Have a asok cold cast kit coming this week so I'm very glad to be here to learn different approaches to starting this project. Will be watching this build thread closely!