Trooper Trent
New Hunter
Hey guys. I've been a member here for years but only lurk occasionally, although I'm pretty active on the RPF.
I'm building a helmet collection for my office and of course I had to have a Fett helmet. I've never done anything like this before so I was really overwhelmed on how to do it.
I spent a lot of time reading all the valuable info here, studying the diagrams, templates, color separations, etc. I really appreciate all the work you guys put into helping the community.
Anyway, I finally have something to show and I'm pleasantly surprised that it turned out as good as it did for it being my first project like this. Anyway, let me know what you think.
Started out with a FettPride helmet. I spent lots of time cleaning up the imperfections, evening up the lines, wet sanding, etc. Then primered it.
So here's the initial base coat. After the green, I stippled a slightly lighter green on with a sponge to make it look oxidized.
Uused a vinyl cutter to cut out stencils of the main scratches to hopefully make it a bit easier to paint (and hopefully more accurate than I could do on my own)
I had to go ahead and throw some silver on the dent as a test to see how it works. So cool.
The next weekend I finished airbrushing the base coat colors. First time using an airbrush. Me likey. I learned lots of good tips for masking off difficult curves and corners.
Then I took the helmet home and spent some time referencing all the resources available here to place the remaining stencils for all the major scratches.
And here's the result! I'd feel like I was cheating if I didn't have to take so much time picking out the scrap material from these decals! Especially those back panels!
The next step was to prep and apply the stencils to the mandibles, mask everything off and hit it with silver. This part always makes me nervous.
And here's the result! Starting to look like Fett!
Next was airbrushing the kill stripes on my helmet, evenly blending from yellow to orange. Again, this is using the adhesive stencils cut out on the vinyl cutter.
After that, I probably spent a good 30 minutes picking the sluff material out of the stencils in order to paint the first layer (concrete/tan) on the back panels.
And here's the reveal of that first layer.
Then I started hand painting the gray details. It definitely makes a huge difference. I can't tell you how appreciative I am for all the reference material provided on the forums. Complete color diagrams of each tiny little scratch and ding makes it SO easy to do. I just hope it turns out have as decent as some of the fantastic helmets I've seen here and on TDH.
And just as an FYI, this is what is involved in picking out those stencils for the 2nd and 3rd layers of the back panels. Holy crap, getting everything lined up and applied with no bubbles has to be just as hard as hand drawing all this stuff.
Started working on the fine scratches on the dome area this evening. Trying to replicate every fine chip and hairline scratch is really time consuming!
Got all of the "by hand" dark gray and silver scratches done everywhere but the red parts on the back. I'm trying to do it in sections so I don't miss a scratch.
Still have a few colors to apply on the mandibles and back areas. This weekend hopefully I can get the ears painted. I feel like I'm getting close!
Got the handpainted details done on the back red strip and cut/fit the visor.
Then after several hours of hand painting all the remaining details, and installing the rangefinder and visor, it's FINISHED!
A little better photos in the daylight.
I'm building a helmet collection for my office and of course I had to have a Fett helmet. I've never done anything like this before so I was really overwhelmed on how to do it.
I spent a lot of time reading all the valuable info here, studying the diagrams, templates, color separations, etc. I really appreciate all the work you guys put into helping the community.
Anyway, I finally have something to show and I'm pleasantly surprised that it turned out as good as it did for it being my first project like this. Anyway, let me know what you think.
Started out with a FettPride helmet. I spent lots of time cleaning up the imperfections, evening up the lines, wet sanding, etc. Then primered it.
So here's the initial base coat. After the green, I stippled a slightly lighter green on with a sponge to make it look oxidized.
Uused a vinyl cutter to cut out stencils of the main scratches to hopefully make it a bit easier to paint (and hopefully more accurate than I could do on my own)
I had to go ahead and throw some silver on the dent as a test to see how it works. So cool.
The next weekend I finished airbrushing the base coat colors. First time using an airbrush. Me likey. I learned lots of good tips for masking off difficult curves and corners.
Then I took the helmet home and spent some time referencing all the resources available here to place the remaining stencils for all the major scratches.
And here's the result! I'd feel like I was cheating if I didn't have to take so much time picking out the scrap material from these decals! Especially those back panels!
The next step was to prep and apply the stencils to the mandibles, mask everything off and hit it with silver. This part always makes me nervous.
And here's the result! Starting to look like Fett!
Next was airbrushing the kill stripes on my helmet, evenly blending from yellow to orange. Again, this is using the adhesive stencils cut out on the vinyl cutter.
After that, I probably spent a good 30 minutes picking the sluff material out of the stencils in order to paint the first layer (concrete/tan) on the back panels.
And here's the reveal of that first layer.
Then I started hand painting the gray details. It definitely makes a huge difference. I can't tell you how appreciative I am for all the reference material provided on the forums. Complete color diagrams of each tiny little scratch and ding makes it SO easy to do. I just hope it turns out have as decent as some of the fantastic helmets I've seen here and on TDH.
And just as an FYI, this is what is involved in picking out those stencils for the 2nd and 3rd layers of the back panels. Holy crap, getting everything lined up and applied with no bubbles has to be just as hard as hand drawing all this stuff.
Started working on the fine scratches on the dome area this evening. Trying to replicate every fine chip and hairline scratch is really time consuming!
Got all of the "by hand" dark gray and silver scratches done everywhere but the red parts on the back. I'm trying to do it in sections so I don't miss a scratch.
Still have a few colors to apply on the mandibles and back areas. This weekend hopefully I can get the ears painted. I feel like I'm getting close!
Got the handpainted details done on the back red strip and cut/fit the visor.
Then after several hours of hand painting all the remaining details, and installing the rangefinder and visor, it's FINISHED!
A little better photos in the daylight.
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