Howlrunner
New Hunter
I bought this helmet as a raw cast from Sgt. Fang when he was selling them on the RPF (that alone dates this build!) and base painted it and started the weathering. I bought myself a BM pre-cut visor and calculator back plate, but just could not figure out how I was going to mount it successfully. As I wanted the paint pretty accurate I was fairly quickly put off by the amount of work that was involved! lol So I stopped, set it aside and it ended up sitting at the back of a bottom shelf for NINE YEARS!
Fast forward to a few months ago.....Determine to finally get this helmet finished and in my new display room I dusted it off (literally!) and set about researching mounting the visor. In the end I went with Chicago screws and Milliput which is holding pretty well. With that done, I busted out the paintbrushes....Due to living in a flat, I do not have the space or ventilation for using spray cans, and I don't own an airbrush. So I painted EVERYTHING by hand with paintbrushes (including the "decals").
I had started the weathering details 9 years ago based on exhibition photos, but now I finished the rest with the help of the fantastic stencils on this site (they did not exist when I started my paint-up!). I printed off the stencils, used a pencil to scribble heavily all over the back of each sheet, and then used that as carbon transfer paper by laying the stencil in the correct place and hand drawing around the edge of each chip pattern, transferring the pencil from the back of the paper directly onto the helmet. I then used a small paintbrush and a mixture of Tamiya and Humbrol enamels to paint everything. It took a long time, but I'm pleased with the results.
(Yes, my helmet features some of the weathering found on the display helmet that wasn't actually present on the helmet when it was seen on screen. And no, I deliberately did not include the white fingerprint marks - I just don't like them. And I also realise that there is a section of weathering that is about an inch out of place, and a bit that does not slope at the correct angle, but unfortunately I painted those sections 9 years ago based on the best reference at the time, and they don't quite match up with the better quality stencils, but I don't remember what base colour I used in order to paint over them and redo them!)
Anyway, I'm pleased that it's finally finished. It's been too long!
(Though I will be upgrading the stalk and RF with metal and transparent BM ones when they arrive)
Fast forward to a few months ago.....Determine to finally get this helmet finished and in my new display room I dusted it off (literally!) and set about researching mounting the visor. In the end I went with Chicago screws and Milliput which is holding pretty well. With that done, I busted out the paintbrushes....Due to living in a flat, I do not have the space or ventilation for using spray cans, and I don't own an airbrush. So I painted EVERYTHING by hand with paintbrushes (including the "decals").
I had started the weathering details 9 years ago based on exhibition photos, but now I finished the rest with the help of the fantastic stencils on this site (they did not exist when I started my paint-up!). I printed off the stencils, used a pencil to scribble heavily all over the back of each sheet, and then used that as carbon transfer paper by laying the stencil in the correct place and hand drawing around the edge of each chip pattern, transferring the pencil from the back of the paper directly onto the helmet. I then used a small paintbrush and a mixture of Tamiya and Humbrol enamels to paint everything. It took a long time, but I'm pleased with the results.
(Yes, my helmet features some of the weathering found on the display helmet that wasn't actually present on the helmet when it was seen on screen. And no, I deliberately did not include the white fingerprint marks - I just don't like them. And I also realise that there is a section of weathering that is about an inch out of place, and a bit that does not slope at the correct angle, but unfortunately I painted those sections 9 years ago based on the best reference at the time, and they don't quite match up with the better quality stencils, but I don't remember what base colour I used in order to paint over them and redo them!)
Anyway, I'm pleased that it's finally finished. It's been too long!
(Though I will be upgrading the stalk and RF with metal and transparent BM ones when they arrive)
