FPH #15 Progress Thread

ShocKNurse

Active Hunter
I'm certain that this thread won't be as good as some...say those by Superjedi, Spidey, etc., but here goes.

I was lucky to find a FPH on sale in the Cargo Hold. (y) Thanks to CMAnavy! :cheers

The attached pics (at the bottom of the post) are just a few pics of the bucket and one of the FPH in comparison to the bucket I have now...it's tiny!

Here is what I have done so far:

I painted the inside flat black. I'm not sure why I did this first because after all of my fooling around on the inside mounting screw posts and what not, I'm going to have to touch up some spots.

I started by masking the helmet. I don't take any chances. :lol:
pc050643ib0.jpg

Then I sprayed the flat black and it looked like this:
pc070647sr8.jpg


I got the keyslots cut out. Boy let me tell you, I'm glad there aren't 7 of them because if there were...I would be blind. Getting those things looking pretty with the Dremel and hobby files makes you go cross-eyed. Granted, it is a lot easier with the FPH because the lines are so delineated.

Here is the helmet "out of the box":
pb260644fu6.jpg


I started by drilling two small holes to get a foothold on the slot.
pc150646be7.jpg


Here is the final. Again, using the Dremel and a drill bit to do the majority of the work. Finished up with hobby files and some fine grip sandpaper wrapped on a popscicle stick. I am repainting the back of this bucket anyway, so I'm not worried about the paint chipping.
pc150647hk3.jpg


I also go the gorgeous alluminum ears mounted using Evan4218's template. I made the holes slightly larger than needed (thank Eric! (y)) so I could do some adjusting.
pc160640wh8.jpg

pc160641ue6.jpg


I also mounted the screw posts for the MQ-1 board and visor using JB Kwik. This stuff is great. Highly recommended...just have everything ready to go because, like the name implies, this stuff sets quick!! :eek:
pc140644ys8.jpg


I'm waiting on the visor, but have a nice template ready to go. The fun starts tomorrow with sanding smooth the old paint smooth on the back, masking, and putting down some primer on the back panels and keyslot areas. Hopefully, I'll get to it early so I can get the concrete down too. Then I have to test some concoctions of blue-green. 8)

PB260641.JPG


PB260642.JPG


PB260643.JPG


PB260644.JPG


PB260645.JPG


PB250640.JPG


PC050641.JPG
 
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Looking great so far Mike...
I too dislike taking out those key slots! :wacko

Gotta love those Ali ears mounted bruv? nice poster in the background! ;)
 
UPDATE 12/17

So far today I've been able to get the visor mounted. I got an shade 5 visor from weldingsupply.com. I just temporarily mounted it so I could see how it looked and snap a pic.
pc170641iu4.jpg


I also placed the Borden connector. I started by drilling two small holes in the existing cast (much like the keyslots) and then proceeded to CAREFULLY expand the hole with a Dremel bit. Prior to this I had used a Dremel cutting wheel to cut the Borden in order to expose the brass and flip it. I anchored it with plumber's Goop.
pc170642an8.jpg


There were a few 'slips' where the bit chiped some paint. I'm not super worried about that as much of the chipping will be covered by weathering. The downfall of the helmet having paint on it upon arrival. But, in the end, it will save me some work! :D

I hope to get the back sanded and primed today, but I have to do some X-Mas shopping! :eek:
 
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Real Borden! Nice. You're right, most of those 'slips' will be covered by the weathering.
Are you planning to only repaint the back panels? The rest of it looks good right now.
 
Real Borden! Nice. You're right, most of those 'slips' will be covered by the weathering.
Are you planning to only repaint the back panels? The rest of it looks good right now.

Right. Only redoing the back panels and keyslot area. The rest is looking good thanks to CMAnavy...he painted the dome, brow, and upper/lower cheeks.
 
UPDATE 12/19

Wow! After some airbrush difficulties, I'm back on track. Not to bore you, but my Badger airbrush decided to stop on me. Rather than stress about finding the right parts and whatnot (given that the hobby shop guy said that there was no guarantee that replacing the parts would fix it) I just decided to buy a new one. I got a Paasche. To quote Ferris Bueller, "It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up." (y)

SO... I got the ears and the back of the helmet primed using Reefer Grey.
pc190642cb0.jpg

pc190643id7.jpg


I'm amazed at how fast the PS paints dry. It is great for keeping up a quick work pace. After the primer dried I put down the PS Concrete on the back panels.
pc190644de2.jpg


While that was drying, I got the RLM 83 down on the left ear.
pc190647ns2.jpg


And then the Floquil Earth on the RF ear.
pc190649ew9.jpg


Tomorrow I hope to test some colors for the back panel. I'm going to post them up and get some feedback. If all else fails, I'll resort to the RLM 73, but I'd like to find something a bit better.
 
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UPDATE 12/20

Ok. I used Floquil Caboose to get the keyslots painted. Boy was it a pain to get paint onto all the sides of the slots! :wacko
pc200640xg0.jpg


Then I set about mixing some paints for the back panels. In these pics it's hard to see the color differentiation, but the RLM mix is definitely more blue than the straight up RLM 73. I used one 1/2 oz bottle of RLM 73 and mixed it with 55 drops of RLM 24 (dunkelblau).
pc200642copypk4.jpg

pc200644copyhk1.jpg



I'm getting ready to transfer the damage to the back panels using some graphite paper. I'll have pics up later! :cheers
 
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UPDATE 12/21

I got more done on the ears today. I stated with the left ear and used Count Dookies templates to carefully cut out a scaled duplicate of the left ear "decal". I masked it and shot it with Tamiya flat white. Then I used some Woodland Scenics dry transfer letters for the symbols. I didn't have any question marks for the dots, so I just cannabalized some "I"s. :D
pc220646pp0.jpg


Next up was the RF ear. For this one, I scaled a couple of the C4 reference pics to the known dims of the ear I was working on. Then I took some tracing paper and outlined the "decal". This was especially exciting because now the "decal" on my RF ear is actually based on the the screen used bucket! (y) Then I masked the ear and shot the "decal" with PS Engine Black. Then I used some a combination of Lucksy31 decals and the dry transfers for the symbols. The white portion of the arch is part of Lucksy's set. I just didn't know how to mask that without causing problems. I like the way it turned out!
pc220647qg6.jpg
 
:eek: That 'decal-ing' looks downright awesome! It looks like a computer-generated template! I wish the lines on my bucket looked that good. . .
 
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UPDATE 12/29

I hope everyone had a happy holiday. The festivities delayed some progress, but I suppose I'm not in a hurry.

In the past couple of days I've been able to stencil the back panel damage using a technique that Madmartigan suggested back in the thread that Superjedi started for Madmartigan's FPH paint-up. I used graphite paper. I used Elmer's Craft Bond to secure the template to the graphite paper. Using this method keeps me from having to do mirror images and transfering the image more than once.
pc200641lu6.jpg


To summarize, I used Count Dookie's AOSW templates as a starting point. The first thing I did was go into Photoshop and black out any damage that isn't in the ESB screen used helmet. The next part was certainly more tedious...scaling the templates to fit. As Superjedi pointed out to me, not only do the templates need to be re-sized for the individual helmet you are working on, but even once you scale them close to the right size, certain portions within each template need to be scaled, i.e. say the Back Right Panel bottom right. :eek:

As I went, I was able to save these scaled templates for the FPH. If anyone would like these, just PM me and I'll email them to you. After I applied the stencils, here is what I had.
pc270640rz7.jpg

pc270642ts4.jpg


I then went about masking the areas using Windsor and Newton masking fluid and shooting the custom blue-green on the back panels.
pc280642vl0.jpg


Now, I'm not sure what I did wrong, but peeling this masking fluid off was a serious PIA. I either applied it too lightly or allowed it to sit for too long. :confused
Here is what we have at this point. Now the fun really starts!! :wacko
pc290645xr6.jpg

pc290646pd5.jpg
 
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