Keeping your Boba shiny!

The title is kind of an oxy moron isn't it?

This is kind of a general weathering/battle damage question, but it's in reference to my helmet so I thought I'd post it here.

The helmet I painted is here:
http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/showthread.php?t=21536

I did it layered and the weathering was done with a small spray can of Grimy Black from Testors. Obviously, it's a little too dark. The Boba Fett costume shouldn't shine of course, but I just don't like that the silver undercoat ended up looking like a dull gray when I was finished. I realize I went a bit too heavy on the weathering, but if I had done less, the overall colors of the helmet would not have been to my liking. As I prepare to paint another RotJ bucket using an airbrush, I thought I'd ask.

What do you guys do to ensure the underlying silver isn't darkened to gray once your weathering is done?

(I know many of you do washes, but I was never really comfortable with that whole thing.)

-I've considered misting the bucket with the grimy black in places BEFORE I remove the masking fluid, thus ensuring I have metal-looking color showing through while the overall color still looks dark enough.

-The other option I've thought about is doing the layered, removing the masking fluid, then using a weathering technique primarily of Micromark weathering pastels. Which would allow me much more control of the weathering.

I need your thoughts!
Thanks!

mixmastermace said:

-I've considered misting the bucket with the grimy black in places BEFORE I remove the masking fluid, thus ensuring I have metal-looking color showing through while the overall color still looks dark enough.

Click to expand...

that's what i do. well, i do a little of both...

i do a bit of weathering before the peel and a bit after. i don't want ALL of the silver being shiny and new... its not like he JUST scratched off that much paint!

but that gives a bit of balance to it in my opinion.

Excellent point, don't want the scratches to look too fresh. Good idea on some before and some after. didn't think of that.

I do the weathering all first, then come back and hit some silver areas with silver again. So some areas are fresh and some are not. Drybrushing is a great technique here for the larger areas. If you look at the reference pics, you will see that some silver areas are fresher looking than others.

tk7602 said:

that's what i do. well, i do a little of both...

i do a bit of weathering before the peel and a bit after. i don't want ALL of the silver being shiny and new... its not like he JUST scratched off that much paint!

but that gives a bit of balance to it in my opinion.

Click to expand...

Same here.