Superjedi's FPH Progress Thread

[Jangos kid]

Just keeps getting better & better. I have a question on those super fine sctaches: did you actually scratch those in with a razor or something similar, or did ya paint em??? Again, SUPER!!!
D

 

[superjedi]

For the fine scratches, I use a sharp compass point.
It doesn't take much pressure at all to scratch thru the paint, and I can guide it pretty easily.

 

[webchief]

Amazing job! This is gorgeous!

 

[mrgr8ness]

I love this thread. Great tutorial on the stripes, may use that on the next one. I am digging the fine scratches as well. So, you scratch them right down to the gelcoat, then they stay that way or you paint them in silver? Oh, and I noticed that your gray looks darker on the dome than on the mandables. That's how I perceive it and paint as well. Are you just darkening down your SP lark dark grey a little for the dome? I seem to find that using that grey, the color changes dramatically depending on how well you mix/stir it up. Seems the better you stir, the lighter it comes out. The enamel boxcar red does the same to me. It can be a pain if you paint part one day, then part the next, or do touchups.

 

[Jluck]

eric,

all i can say is that u have painted ur helmet w/ such great skill! and how u have captured all that tiny detail is amazing!


~ glad the MQ-1 bracket worked out for ya. great job on that
i agree. the boston screws work alot cleaner than the Tee-Nuts. if i had some i woulda prefered those

 

[superjedi]

Thanks all! It's certainly been a busy few weeks painting this helmet up. Still more work to do, but the brunt of it is behind me.

I love this thread. Great tutorial on the stripes, may use that on the next one. I am digging the fine scratches as well. So, you scratch them right down to the gelcoat, then they stay that way or you paint them in silver? Oh, and I noticed that your gray looks darker on the dome than on the mandables. That's how I perceive it and paint as well. Are you just darkening down your SP lark dark grey a little for the dome? I seem to find that using that grey, the color changes dramatically depending on how well you mix/stir it up. Seems the better you stir, the lighter it comes out. The enamel boxcar red does the same to me. It can be a pain if you paint part one day, then part the next, or do touchups.

mrgr8ness,
When I do the fine scratches, I go down to the gelcoat layer and just leave 'em like that. No silver added.
And yes, the gray on the dome/lower cheeks is a slightly darker shade than on the mandible areas. You're exactly right that I darken my SP Lark Dk Gray with a few drops of PRR Brunswick Green until the contrast against the PO Green is more evident.
I have had good results with both enamels (Floquil) and acrylics (Polly Scale) on my helmets. With the exception of the Boxcar Red. . . the enamel just looks so much better (to me.)
The Floquil paints are very 'pigment heavy.' So if they sit on your bench for a while, they can settle quite a bit. I always give my paints a good stir before using them. Not just shaking them, stirring them.

 

[Mojo Fett]

Ahh... Stirred not Shaken Mr SJ... *strokes white cap on lap*

This is one awesome Paint up bro.. I've been following from the start.. which by the way only seems a few days ago!
Love the Kill-Stripe tutorial... deffo gonna give that a go! I was going to airbrush, but I like the fact it would leave a fine texture from the sponge (Nips up stairs to raid wifes make-up case).

With soooo little ESB reference material have you taken 'best guess' from screen caps and used a reduction on say.. C4 reference material?

 

[superjedi]

With soooo little ESB reference material have you taken 'best guess' from screen caps and used a reduction on say.. C4 reference material?

Well, that's pretty much it. There are TONS of pics from the exhibits over the past few years. It's easy to see some of the stuff that happened after filiming, such as the famous 'crack repair' in the corner of the left eye.
By comparing the exhibit pics to the screen caps, I sort of weed out the stuff that isn't in the screen caps.
Here's an example:

If you look where the arrows are pointing, there's lots of scratches and stuff on the exhibit helmet that aren't on the screen cap. Also, all those little black scuffs between the dent and the killstripes.

 

[Spideyfett]

I'm getting excited to see you finish this Eric...

great stuff..:cheers

 

[superjedi]

I'm getting excited to finish, too!

UPDATE: November 27th

Weathering Stage 1 complete. I did some weathering with pigment powders in several shades. I used an ash gray, a tan 'dust' shade, weathered brown, and sooty black for some of the darker shading.
Most of this stage of the weathering is for the dome and lower cheeks, although the upper cheeks received a bit of a gray/brown mix. Here are a few shots after today's progress.

First, the lower cheeks. They received a random mix of ash and dusty brown, very subtly altering the pure PO Green color. A darker brown was applied along the line between the lower cheeks and upper cheeks and then feathered into the center. The very bottom got a blend of dark brown and black, fading up into the base color.

Note: This part of the weathering is pretty subtle. Not sure how well the shading will show up in these pics.

The dome received the same mix of ash and dusty brown, breaking up the evenness of the dome. I used the darker shades to make the blast residue around the dent. It may not show up well, but it streaks back above the gray/silver chipping.

In several places on the dome, I kind of scrubbed in some of the darker brown with a small stiff-bristled brush to lay the foundation of those greasy looking brownish stains. I'll go back over these areas with some Citadel inks to darken them a bit.

On the back panels I used mostly black, dusting the powder on with a soft brush and letting the color build up slowly. Like the dome, it helps to break up the darker blue-green color and give some variance.

Haven't really touched the mandibles at all yet. Those will come later!

 

[Halo 1]

Hello ESB!....Nice bro...love the attention to detail!

Stay safe,

Tim.

 

[HeadlessHunter]

Outstanding work, this is really going to help me with my FPH, I was going to get 'someone' to paint it, but I really want to have a go at it myself, thanks for the inspiration

 

[superjedi]

Thanks! It's getting down to the nitty gritty now.

UPDATE: November 28th

Weathering stage 2 complete. For this step, I took some lightened versions of each color, and an old toothbrush, and did a whole lot of flicking.
For each color break, I remasked the rest of the helmet to confine the weathering to the area I was working on.
For the dome and lower cheeks, I mixed some Concrete into some Panzer Olive Green and thinned it way down till it was very watery. With the toothbrush, I flicked tiny droplets all over the place. On the cheeks, I concentrated on the center portions, and on the dome, I did it more on top, then kind of faded it down toward the red band.
It kind of gives the effect of the paint being more faded on the top of the dome, and breaks up the overall evenness of the green.
It's kind of hard to make out in these pics. Maybe I need to upgrade my camera. . . again! :facepalm

I used the same technique on the 'red' areas, using Polly Scale Rock Island Maroon. This gave some variance to the Boxcar Red. (In all these pics, the final tan spatter has been added as well, so the red spatter is probably not even visible.)

The same was done to the darker blue green panels on the back of the helmet. But the effect is so subtle, the camera couldn't even get the different tones.

As I mentioned above, the helmet received a tan spatter as well. This is mostly concentrated on the front portions.

The next stage will be to rework some of the silver areas. The dullcoat obviously dulls down the silver, and also gives it a very slightly mottled, oxidized appearance. I'll go back with my 3-0 brush and stare at the reference pics again until my eyeballs finally go on strike , and repaint a lot of the silver to bring out some of the shine again. I'll also rescratch some of the very fine scratches that were dulled down due to the pastel and other weathering.
Whew!

Oh yeah! I almost forgot. My little girl Falula loves to hang around while I'm doing hobby stuff. She just chills out in her little bed.

She always does wacky stuff with that pillow. Sometimes she hides her treats under it to save them for later. Kooky dog!

 

[kalkamel]

As always, Eric, beautiful work. Your build up threads are what helped me through the weathering process of my lid!

 

[DarthMiller]

love your dog!!!

 

[Foxbatkllr]

Looking great. I can't wait to see it with the ears on and the visor installed!

 

[GCNgamer128]

First FPH painted, ESB ESB, no messing around

 

[superjedi]

Oh man. . . you guys would not BELIEVE the scare I just had. I thought I lost all my pictures that I had on my computer!!!! Not just my personal pics, but all my pics. . . :facepalm
Geez, I think my heart has finally started beating again.

I think there must have been some kind of power surge earlier, cuz my computer flipped out a little bit. My monitor went black for a few minutes, and the lights on my external hard drive went out. Everything came back on, but then the computer wouldn't recognize the external drive. I panicked a little bit, cuz that's where ALL of my pics are stored. But then for some reason, the computer had decided to rename the drive. Up until tonight, it's always labeled the external drive as the K: drive. Now all of a sudden it's reading as the L: drive. (??????? Crazy computer.)
Then, my photo program wouldn't work. It said several library files had been damaged and I should "repair" the program.
Um. . . me? Repair a program? I don't know such stuff!
Anyway, I had to completely uninstall my photo program, and redownload the 30 day trial version until my wife can find the discs for my old program.
Sheesh!!! Anyway. . .

UPDATE: November 30th

I'm very close to being done with this puppy. As I mentioned before, I went back and repainted over some of the silver areas, giving it back some of the "glint" of metal. I didn't do this to all the silver, just in certain areas matched to the reference pics.

I also went ahead and added the weird pale color on some of the damage areas. It took me a while to decide to do this, but I really like how it came out! I searched through my whole supply of paints and tested them by putting small dabs onto a piece of plastic I had painted silver. I tested some pale grays, light greens, and light blue grays. I finally decided on a "craft acrylic" by Delta called Blue Wisp. I think it's a really close match. It also changes appearance depending on the lighting, which is precisely what this color does in the reference pics.
Here's some examples of how the appearance differs.

First, the right mandible. In the first pic, the pale color almost blends in with the silver background. You can notice it more toward the visor area, where the light starts catching it at a different angle.

With the camera at another angle, the pale shade is more apparent.

Next, the dent. In the first pic, you can make out some of the pale shade.

But with more indirect light, the extent of the shading becomes more clear.

And finally, the back. There's some of this shade just to the left of the keyslot area, and small specks within the keyslot area itself. But it's most apparent on the right panel. The first pic shows how it blends.

This next shot shows how it becomes more visible under different light.

I'm pretty pleased with the effect! Not sure if I'll weather it down a bit or not. I may apply just a dusting of grayish pastel powder over these areas. I'll have to test that out to see how it looks.

The only things left to do on the helmet now are the white thumbprints, and the "grease stains" around the back of the dome.

 

[Mojo Fett]

Absolutely awesome SJ...
I'm currently trying the layered technique myself... but seeing yours I think I shall go for topical too as you seem to get much better flow between colours (if that makes sense)

 

[Jluck]

sweet jeebus i never really noticed the "pale" color was different than the silver...i always thought the silver was dull in spots from being weathered! 8)

looking REAL sweet Eric