Bobamaker ESB helmet paint-up using Archive-X acrylics

[MartinSivertsen]

Hi,

This is my first foray into Boba Fett, but not Star Wars Props. I built a Stormtrooper costume (Troopermaster with RS Propmasters helmet) 13 years ago, built two full size Han Solo in Carbonite's in 2013, and have made a few Jedi Training Remotes and Thermal Detonators these last few years.

Boba Fett has "always" been a costume I've wanted to own, but it has felt too expensive, time consuming and intimidating, but last year I decided to at least get a helmet, so I could admire it on a shelf in my home office / hobby room.

I decided to go with a Bobamaker ESB VX, and after a lot of reading both on here and in the Archive-X Facebook group I finally started painting it recently.

 

[MartinSivertsen]

I bought the Boba Fett ESB paint set from Archive-X and made a lot of notes on Jon Bird's (who painted RS Propmasters helmets) approach and tips, as well as gathering tips from other painters here on the forum, primarily Superjedi's.

As many others I started with the back panels.
I airbrushed Dark Grime and then used the excellent stencils by RafalFett to transfer and mask off the damaged area and painted it with a 2:1 mix of Dark Green and Engine Black.

I then painted the rest of the damage topically using a brush, using SP Lark Dark Grey for the grey, Vallejo Model Air Aluminium for the silver areas and the old Citadel blueish grey paint Astronomican Grey for the small areas of blueish grey damage.

 

[MartinSivertsen]

I then tackled the right back panel, this was a bit more daunting due to the large area with a lot of detail, but I just put on a podcast and did it piece by piece.

I'll go over the panels to see if there's any details I've missed before weathering.

 

[MartinSivertsen]

Both back panels finished

 

[BudaFett]

Very nice! I love a good WIP!

 

[MartinSivertsen]

It was very rewarding to airbrush on the light green next. Here I used a 4:1 mix of Light Green and SP Lark Light Grey, then a fine misting of Light Earth with the airbrush pressure all the way down.

Both the colours used, the mixing ratio and the tip with misting Light Earth over came from a post by Jon Bird in the Archive-X Facebook group. I had a really hard time finding anyone who shared what paints they used for the light green, so thanks a lot for that Jon.

People seem to be very secretive of their paint mixes here at TDH, and I remember seeing a post that said that it was "naturally a secret", but it didn't seem natural to me. I can only assume that people that have done a lot of research and trial and error might sit on that knowledge, especially if they paint helmets on commission. "Trade secrets, my friend", as Sean Connery's character said in the movie The Rock.

 

[MartinSivertsen]

Then I started with the damage on the dome, working my way around from the back.

Stencil transferred using graphite paper.

SP Lark Dark Grey painted on

Silver and minor details painted on.

 

[MartinSivertsen]

This weekend I managed to get started on the damage on the front right and top of the dome, the cat scratch is finished and the top has SP Lark Dark Grey laid down.

Painting all the damage by brush like this is very tedious work, and when I think of what's left (the other half of the dome, the cheeks, all the red parts with lots of detailed damage, the ears, the stalk and range finder topper) it feels a bit discouraging. But taking pictures along the way showing the progress helps to keep me motivated.

 

[masterjedi322]

Looking good!

Sean

 

[MartinSivertsen]

Looking good!

Sean

Thanks!

I managed to paint the silver damage on the top of the dome today.

Next up is the damage around the turn signals and the dent, I'm looking forward to getting those done!

I'll also mention that while painting the back panels I felt the itch to get a (confirmed) lineage helmet, so I ordered an RoTJ SE with metal ears along with an RoTJ SE armour from Minutefett, so that's on its way as we speak. I'm still not going all in on a full costume, but thought I'd start with some armor pieces so I can display the helmet and armor on a bust. And maybe later down the road get the rest of the suit.

 

[MartinSivertsen]

I spent around an hour painting just the grey around the turn signals area and the dent this evening.
I haven't tracked the time I've spent painting the helmet so far, but I wouldn't be surprised if it reached close to 100 hours when it's finished.

A quick picture of the desk showing the paint and tools.

 

[BudaFett]

That looks so tedious!

 

[MartinSivertsen]

That looks so tedious!

It is!

 

[tuffstufftom]

Great job! Looks amazing

 

[MartinSivertsen]

Great job! Looks amazing

Thanks a lot!

Today I managed to stencil out and paint the silver damage around the turn signals and the dent. It's coming together slowly!

Next up is the light blueish grey damage and some airbrush misting around the dent, but I have to study the reference and read up a bit more before I continue, as I'm not sure if the light grey was painted on before or after the misting. It's apparent that the dent was masked off before the misting, but I have to study it a bit more to absorb it.

Edit: After looking at reference images, it's easy to draw the conclusion that the dent was masked off and a dark color was misted around it, and when removing the masking it took the underlying paint with it, exposing the light blueish grey base coat underneath. I guess this is the case for all the light blueish grey on the helmet.

It's evident when looking at this grey stripe that has no misted dark color on it:

Now what Joe Johnston actually misted with is another question... SP Dark Lark Grey? It seems to have some brown in it as well...
Maybe it was simply misted with black and the brown I see is the Rust paint spatter airbrushed over the front and sides of the helmet?

Jon Bird who painted Boba Fett helmets for RS Propmasters mentioned that he liked to weather the helmet with really thinned down washes of black and Light Earth, which would also add some color shifting to the final look. I guess this has been discussed ad nauseum on this forum previously, so I'll do some digging to see what other people's opinions are.
I wish the forum was more active and people would chime in with their views, instead of it feeling like an archaeological project to find some information in old forgotten threads.

 

[tuffstufftom]

Thanks a lot!

Today I managed to stencil out and paint the silver damage around the turn signals and the dent. It's coming together slowly!

View attachment 247556

View attachment 247557

Next up is the light blueish grey damage and some airbrush misting around the dent, but I have to study the reference and read up a bit more before I continue, as I'm not sure if the light grey was painted on before or after the misting. It's apparent that the dent was masked off before the misting, but I have to study it a bit more to absorb it.

Edit: After looking at reference images, it's easy to draw the conclusion that the dent was masked off and a dark color was misted around it, and when removing the masking it took the underlying paint with it, exposing the light blueish grey base coat underneath. I guess this is the case for all the light blueish grey on the helmet.

It's evident when looking at this grey stripe that has no misted dark color on it:

View attachment 247558

Now what Joe Johnston actually misted with is another question... SP Dark Lark Grey? It seems to have some brown in it as well...

You’re doing an awesome job on it!

 

[MartinSivertsen]

You’re doing an awesome job on it!

Thanks!

I brought out the Maskol and changed from this airbrush

To this airbrush

Thinking I needed a bit bore control for the misting around the dent.

Less is definitely more, and I used lower pressure because I thought it would yield better control, but it didn't atomize the paint as finely. Higher pressure and better trigger control is probably better. But I'm happy with it! I think I was able to match the misting and general shape of everything around the dent pretty well.

I'll try to get some better pictures to compare to the original later.

Next up is the damage around the kill stripes and the kill stripes themselves. The main painting on the dome is soon finished, which is very exciting!

 

[BudaFett]

Can’t wait to see the killstripes!

 

[lowberg]

Coming along super nice! I definitely agree there's some brown in the misting but I wouldn't worry about the weathering misting until the very end, the helmet will continue to shift as you add the mandibles, cheeks and the rest of the damage. It really plays tricks on your eyes until it all comes together. I've only done one helmet (and not nearly as nice as yours so far!) but I was second guessing colors all the way to the end.

And what you don't like digging through ancient forum posts? That's half the fun!

 

[MartinSivertsen]

Can’t wait to see the killstripes!

Me neither!

I managed to start masking them off this evening.
I first spent some time trying to find the right scale for the stencil, and 99% scale seemed correct for the kill stripes on this BM VX helmet.
I compared the placement of the Kill Stripes to damage I already had painted on the helmet, like the left back panel and the dent.
Then I transferred the SP Dark Lark damage outlines, and then masked off the Kill Stripes with Tesa Sensitive pink masking tape.
I even masked so I can add the yellow/orange over spray on the front and top back of the dome.

I taped the tape down on a cutting mat and cut it into smaller pieces for finer control and to remove a bit of its tackiness, and even though I applied the tape, lifted it off and put it back on the helmet without issue I'm still nervous over whether or not it will lift off some paint afterwards.

A litte session with a scalpel and some maskol to refine the shapes and they're ready for paint.
I'm looking forward to it!