ESB Helmet for Make-A-Wish

Major

Active Hunter
Well, I've painted just about everything else on my ESB Fett costume, but not a helmet...........


As it turns out, I was approached to paint an ESB Fett helmet for the Make-A-Wish auction at Denver Comic Con......


As it will be good learning experience for me and a prelude of things to come......


Anyway, the helmet was a heavily modified Don Post that had no dent. The first steps I've done is to put the physical damage on the helmet, add the wave to the brow and get the rough of the dent shape....


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Next was work the dent a little more and get some primer on it to see how it's looking.....


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The dent is better, but I feel it needs some more work......


Feel free to comment, and let me know what you see......
 
Okay...... finally some progress......

The more I looked at the dent, the less I was happy with it..... so I filled it in and resculpted it.....

So it looks like this......

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Hard to tell from the pics, but has a better overall shape to it, not perfect, but I think it will do......

Next up was getting the base grey on it, after some lack of cooperation from my airbrushes, it is finally on.....
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So, tonight, start masking off the grey, then it's the silver......

And I need to temporarily place the visor to help keep the shape....
 
Thanks for the kind words Jayvee and SuperJedi, you are reference for me when it comes to paint methods........

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- - - Updated - - -

Okay...... I've been busy on this, just haven't made time to post any updates..........


So, once the grey was on, it was time to mask off and lay down the silver.....


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Then it was time for the dark grey............


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Once that was done, it was onto the concrete color....... and yeah, you do go cross-eyed doing this...........
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Got the masking fluid off and that's how it was as of Sun......


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It's close but I know I have refining to do of the shapes.......... trying to match it up so everything lines up was a challenge, but I will get better at it........
 
Okay........ so the blue/green mixture was put on the back....


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The back panels are done...... will just need to do fine detail work, refine the shapes, etc.....


Next up, the dome............ got the base grey and silver on, then added the dark grey....


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As I've learned, the dimensions of the bucket are a little wonky, so I'm adjusting on the fly for the damage placement........ I have it about 60% masked off for the base green next.....
 
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Sorry for the lack of updates...... been trying to get this done.....

Next up was figuring out dark grey damage and getting ready for the green.....

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Then it was time for the lovely kill stripes.......

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From there, it was straight into the cheeks......

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Once that was done, it was the lower cheeks, which I don't seem to have any photos of, then the mandibles....

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At this point, all the major colors are done....... I just finished up the ears two nights ago......

Right now, it's down to detailing.......... my struggle is I have to turn this over next Friday for Jeremy to sign......... and me being who I am, see all the issues I want to correct, and having to prioritze them........ I won't be able to do everything I want to, Jayvee, TF and SuperJedi are the benchmarks I go by..........

I'm learning a lot about this, and will use it to get better, particualrtly my small detail painting..... it's not where I want it to be, but time/experience are the things that will help...... luckily I have at least two more of the ESB versions to do....... hopefully more.......... getting better is a goal........
 
Okay....... believe it or not, I pulled it off......


Here's the work on the ears.....


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Then it was time to start doing the clean-up and detail work....


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At the 501st/RL/Mando Mercs Denver Comic Con dinner, Jeremy agreed to sign it..... and decided to try it on first.....


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The helmet was auctioned off at the Make-A-Wish on Sat night.....


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I am both relieved and humbled to say that the helmet went for $1900, out of the $11,000 we raised for Make-A-Wish that night......


If you've met Jeremy, you already know how much of a true gentlemen he is....... he made a point to tell me several times that he thought I nailed the look of the ESB helmet, which meant a lot.....


Considering this is the first helmet I've painted from start to finish, I was honored and a little overwhelmed to hear that.......


Being how I'm wired, I'm about 90% happy with how the helmet turned out. It's also helped in me getting some future commissions, which is something I will enjoy doing......


Thanks to all of you that have read and given me feedback and support, I truly appreciate it...... now it's onto the next helmet.......

Jayvee, Terminal Fettler and Fett 4 Real, you guys in particular have been benchmarks that I strive for...... I did my best in the time I had to capture all the little details (the yellow spots around the kill stripes, paint splatters, the white paint smudge, the tar stains, the etc......) In fact, I was detailing this until 1 hour before I had to hand it over.......
 
I saw the helmet in person. I loved it, now I just need to get Major to repaint my mystery helmet. I talked to you at the Fett dinner. I will have to get in touch with you in a few month. It is such a great helmet!
 
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