First Time Helmet Paintup - clmayfield

[clmayfield]

Thanks, guys, I think I will try to hit it with some high grit sand paper at the particularly egregious edges. My paint got especially thick up top. I have to be careful as I have already rubbed some of the grey down to the silver with my steel wool job. I still have some more scratching to do as well as some touch up painting. You can't see it really well, but I did lift up some black to reveal some green, and I find that most inauthentic. I also need to touch up the cat scratch and the dent. I think I will do that after laying down the kill stripes. Or maybe I should do it now before the green layer cures completely...

It is starting too look like a Fett helmet. I can't wait to hit it with the red. And I need to start on the ears soon so I can run them in parallel. The 2-3 weeks off waiting for the silver to cure is kind of a drag. I did not silver the entire helmet because I don't like the idea of taping over the metallic layer. The silver comes up way too easily leaving it darkened.

 

[jonbenm]

Looks awesome man!!!! And I like your idea... making stencils with the templates keep up the good work man ... I'm painting one too we're at the same point just about lol


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[Mullreel]

Wet sanding is a great way to take down the edges a bit without the sanding getting out of control. If you have never used wet sanding I would highly recommend it. It is great for smoothing and finish work.

 

[clmayfield]

And you see what I'm doing here...

 

[clmayfield]

And time to peel the tape off for the big reveal...

and...

Now I have to either a) learn how to paint with a brush and color match my impossible-to-create green or b) start all over again. The joy of painting Fett. I should have been way more careful when removing the tape. It pulled the grey layer right off of the metallic layer.

 

[Mullreel]

Just mask off what you need to put back down and put the green back on..........just and extra step but not a complete loss.

 

[clmayfield]

Mask off with what? Tape? I just burned all of the tape in my house! LOL.

 

[clmayfield]

The fact that the paint came off in a straight line across the top of the kill stripes will help to mask the transition a little.

 

[Mullreel]

Masking fluid.



If you are not currently using it,...........well now is a great time to start. I quite literally redid a lot of my work on my ROTJ helmet several times,

 

[clmayfield]

I use masking fluid for everything... except this. I reasoned tape was going to make for straighter lines and I assumed that was how everyone else was doing the kill stripes. I did prime the helmet and put tape over that, but primer doesn't come off. I have waited to lay down the silver because I didn't want to damage it with the tape... smart decision.

 

[clmayfield]

I can't believe I was able to match the paint color. There is a long repair mark on the helmet as the original paint was really THICK, which is why it came off in the first place. I actually used masking fluid to mask off the paint the first go round and ended up pulling off even more paint chips, so I hand painted that area on the second go round.

So one of the Kill Stripes is hand painted on. Can you tell which one?

 

[jonbenm]

Nice fix bud!! It's ready hard to tell where the effed up part even is lol. Way to go man it's looking really good.


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[jonbenm]

Nice fix bud!! It's really hard to tel where the effed up part even is. Way to go man eep up the good work.


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[jonbenm]

Nice fix bud!!


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[jonbenm]

Nice fix bud!!


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[jonbenm]

Nice fix bud. It's really hard to even tell where it was messed up before. Good work!! Keep it up man!!


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[jonbenm]

Ooh dam...... I'm sorry lol every time I wrote a post my Tapatalk app would close before it said it was sent and when I checked to see if it posted there was nothing there lol my bad dude!


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[clmayfield]

So here is my strategy to mask off for the visor. I am going to paint the helmet portion of the right ear, then I am going to use Parafilm M to mask the dome. I will use Tamiya tape to mask the upper cheeks, lower cheeks, and rear panel with a plastic bag where I can. Talking to someone at the hobby store, she said to lay the tape down on a metal ruler or some other flat clean surface to take some of the tack off. It is only an issue on the dome, though, because that is where I laid the paint down way too thick. I am going to have to repaint it sooner or later, but I will leave it as is for now.

 

[clmayfield]

Any guesses on which kill stripes is hand painted?

 

[jonbenm]

Any guesses on which kill stripes is hand painted?

I want to say 4th from the left?


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