"It\'s not easy being green"* Colors are now here ****

[Rogue Studios]

"It's not easy being green"* Colors are now here ****

I think that about sums it up.

Anyway I'm working on a post and I'll explain paint/colors I'm also going to come outright with the green and I want to ask a favor from everyone and that is after getting the paint and putting it on a helmet please suspend your disbelief I don't think I'll be able to handle the barrage of emails telling me if it's right or it's wrong if you don't like it by all means do not use it but the source I used to obtain the maker of the paint which led me to the color is a very good one and I'm 99% percent sure the green is correct(I'll never say 100% since most of the costume guys forgot what color was used LOL.)

Hopefully the color release will help change peoples mind to thinking outside the box again and not be swayed by opinions of others which I feel has stagnated the whole cause. Most of my friends will testify that I have had to do some convincing to make them think this color is right and some aren't 99% percent convinced yet which is ok with me. One funny comment made about the color came from Tyler D and he said it looked too dark I told him to add some white to it haha.

The pepto helmet color is a futile search and you'll never find that color and the green out of the bottle doesn't even look remotely correct but after you start applying scratches and dings and the other colors it does some freakishly weird stuff and goes pepto on it's own.

Although being accused of trying to make a profit off of this whole thing that is just utter bunk. I am all for helping the RPF but if anyone wants to berade me like on my helmet post or throw a tantrum please just IM me I can take it but cursing me out and judging my character just because I chose to wait is nuts. I forgive and forget but I must admit I got several appologies from the board members for a persons conduct but that indivudual never said anyhting back and I appreciate the rest of you for being so patient and supportive. Well the info will be here today for everyone to share for free I hope we can all work together to make some great helmets and costumes because this is just the begining.

Lee

 

[TK Fett]

Thanks Lee. I must admit I was a little sceptical about your reasoning for not giving us the colors at first either but the more I thought about it the more it made sense and I guess it just kinda made us realize even though everyone on the board is buddies sometimes other things prevent us from sharing information with each other. Cant wait for the green revelation. Keep up the good work Lee.

 

[Rogue Studios]

Here’s where the whole thing started if you want to know the color just scroll past my rant it’s at the bottom.

I was approached by Chris King and Nathan Duncan to see if I could paint some helmets for them. Well after doing the X-wings for them I thought no problem (Now that statement said I didn’t realize what I was in for). I was involved in original movie props very heavily and through a few contacts I received a phone call from individual who is now EFX supervisor in the industry they worked on a particular film and I had the 6 foot long model from that film and this individual wanted to purchase my model. Well we got to talking about the films he’s worked on and one of the first was Empire. Now my interest is peaked we talked about X-wings and the Executor and many other things but we got on the subject of paint since I was scratch building a studio scale Millennium Falcon and his name is on the Empire model I thought he could help.

The first thing out of his mouth was if you ever paint anything from ILM or major EFX shop movie use Floquil paints that is what they used and "If you mix paint to get to the right color it's probably the wrong color no matter how good you mix it". Floquils are railroad paints that are made in enamel colors.

So I now know where to look even though it was a costume and not a model he told me to look at those paints. I started looking and found out one problem Floquil is basically going out of business and is no longer producing paint under that name. Although you can easily buy remaining supplies of the paint they haven’t made a military line of colors for years so more research. Testors bought Floquil who also bought a company called Polly S or Polly Scale paints.

I found a few colors and sent the swatches to Nathan and Chris is to verify at the AOSW and the rest is history.

Polly S makes all of Floquils paints now but in acrylics even the color names are the same. Testors is producing the colors mostly military in enamels under the model master label.

The base green is a color called “Panzer Olive Green” any variation in Testors or Polly S will do I think Testors calls theirs “Panzer Olive Green 1943”.

That’s it have fun and let me know what happens to your helmets over the weekend. The Silver I used is also Floquil and the Gray is a color called “Euro 1 Gray” I’m still researching so I hesitate to say if this is factual but 99% percent sure that is correct(I don’t believe we can ever be 100% sure on paint color so that is my insurance policy that I could be wrong).

The mandible colors are still out too but since everyone knows where to look for colors now that may help I did not use Floquil for that color but when I have confirmation I’ll post it. This looks easy but it took me about a month or working the colors and 4 months researching other areas of the costume and helmet. I must say this has led me into making a Fett costume now and researching other protions of the suit. Can't wait for you guys/gals to see the next couple of things.

Please let me know what you folks think.

Thanks!

Lee M.

Almost forgot the cheeks are the SAME color as rest of the helmet.

****Hobbystores beware you are about to be raided LOL*****

 

[natty15d]

WOOOOOHHHHOOOO!!!!!!!

Thanks for sharing this Lee!

Nathan

 

[Rednave]

Thanks Lee! I know what I'm doing this weekend!

 

[Slowmo]

sweet! I've been using model masters paints to do all my stuff anyway, I was just off on the color selection. guess I get to start all over again now.

Doug

 

[Han Hunter]

WoooHooo. Thanks Lee. Any info at all on "The red that is not a red". Whether it's "the one" or not is largely irrelevant. It's still a great colour. either way.

 

[Rogue Studios]

The red is not red you're right. Even though the pics show it to be very vibrant it's not that at all it's very "Rusty looking" . Just hesitant to say until I know 99% postive and the inside cheek is close but it needs to be darker but that could be due to weathering still checking that too.

Lee

 

[Appolo_50]

WOOOOHOOOOOOo this rounds on me :cheers thx C17LM!!!!!!

 

[ShireFolk]

Well i guess ill say it too......*cough*....woo hoo...!

 

[Bountys Hunted]

Lee, great news. Testor's Model Master Series is an excellent product. And it's available in spray cans too!



(at least it wasn't something like Martha Stewart's Sage Green)

 

[Rogue Studios]

What is funny to me but how many of us have gone out and bought that weird green color from home depot( I know I tried it once).

Lee

 

[METALBOY]

THAAAAAAAAANKS for sharing this info I will be heading to the
hobbie shop that I know they carry just about every frigging
thing.

 

[Rogue Studios]

Hey please post pics so we can all see how they come out. Let me know if I can help out.

Lee

 

[Tyler Durden]

C17LM wrote:
One funny comment made about the color came from Tyler D and he said it looked too dark I told him to add some white to it haha.

Yeap, I sure was skeptical. But as any of us who have taken a flash photograph know, the flash dramatically lightens the color of everything in the frame. And there are no "daylight" photos of the ESB helmet that I know of. So all we have are exhibit photos ( flash city because it's indoors) and film stills (color filter and artificial lighting city). That being said, there are couple of photos that show a darker hue to the helmet than we are accustomed to seeing, as TDH member Keith, who has seen the helmet in person, astutely pointed out. However, the Panzer Green also possess the "pepto" hue we are all so accustomed to seeing in the exhibit photos and film stills.

Check the Visual Dictionary photos or Blue Prints photos from this website to get an idea of the darker green look:
http://www.bobafettfanclub.com/multimedia/image/reference/index.shtml

I do think this color could be 99% accurate to the real deal. It's been verified by two of the pickiest guys that side of the Atlantic, who were at the exhibit next to the helmet to verify the color. Is there a possibility it could be wrong? Sure. But I think it is a very convincing color. And if you don't like it, you could always add a little white.

 

[jrnymanprotector]

Very cool news! Thanks for all the effort you put into this, Lee. I think shortly we'll see a Renaissance in helmet painting around here...

This might be dumb, but where are these commonly available? particularly the sprays?

Thanks!
Phil

 

[BOBA PHAT]

Thank you for all your hard work, Lee! You came through just like you said. :cheers

 

[Bountys Hunted]

Phil, you should be able to get them at most good hobby shops. Especially the ones who cater to WWII models.

The nearest one to me is 60 miles away!!

 

[Rogue Studios]

Journemanprotector. Of the colors listed only the Euro dark gray is in a can of course the silver is sufficient from just about anywhere as there are no metal flakes.

Any hobby stores that sells Testors paints or trains will have the color or the Polly scale paints you are looking for are very common(Polly Scale has a little Parrot on the label). I hate to say this but if you don't own an airbrush it's going to be diffcult since most of these colors are designed for airbrush use.

 

[Bountys Hunted]

Lee, Testors ModelMaster series doesn't have the green in spray can form??

Aw rats!


And then there was yet another reason to purchase an airbrush...