For the ear question, it's basically a bit of extra masking when I do the red color on the mandibles.
As you've noticed, the left ear is already painted. I use the same color on it as I do on the dome/cheeks.
But before doing the weathering on the dome/cheeks, I masked off the left ear so the color remains "pure."
Just before I airbrush the mandible color, I'll mask everything off and apply the beige color on the RF ear.
On the ears-on helmets, I just find it's easier to mask off the ears than it is to mask around the ears.
The budget kit (same as the premium, only with ears-on) is a great helmet. It's larger than the GMH, but
most size differences between different helmets are relatively small. Unless you're comparing something
like an MSH2 with the GMH. Then the size difference is pretty large!
When I do my stencils, I adjust them based on whatever helmet I'm working on. Since some of the damage
areas on the ESB are stand-alone areas, if there are a few millimeters difference between the helmets, I
don't generally alter my stencils. However in other areas, the size difference certainly plays a part in the
proportion and position of the damage. One example is on the right mandible. I couldn't use my GMH stencil
for the Budget/Premium helmet, because the size difference would be pretty noticeable, and the positions
of the damage areas would be off.
Another example is the dent/streak. I have separate stencils for this area for the GMH and the Budget/Premium
kits. The streak stretches over such a large curve of the dome, this requires that the overall scale of the
stencil be increased to match the larger surface of the Budget/Premium helmet. Again, it's not a
huge
difference, but it would certainly be noticeable.
I have a few commissions lined up for the FPH2. I still haven't had one of these in hand, and whenever I
receive the first one, I'll do some measurements, compare them to my existing stencils, and see what needs
to be tweaked size-wise for that particular helmet.
But the smallest helmet that I've ever painted was a 1/4 scale replacement for the Sideshow Premium Format
Fett statue. Natty15d did an amazing sculpt that looks so much better than the helmet that came on the
figure! That was really fun to do, and I used my "standard" ESB color palette on it. Here it is.
No stencils for that little guy!