Prepro helmet v.2 project

micke

Active Hunter
Prepro helmet v.2 FINISHED (see 1st post)

It's finally done. Thanks to Rune Spaans for Photographing the helmet!

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I hope you have enjoyed the thread and that you like the finished result:)

-Mikael
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It's been a long time since my last helmet. I have been busy with moving into a new place and other family stuff. It's about time to start something new!

This is one of the original MSH1 helmets that i have done some some modifictations to. I mainly did some changes to the dent and visor area. I rebuildt it a bit because i thought it was a little too open. i also made the dent a little smaller. Still some work left before paint. I will post newer pictures as i progress. There was quite a bit of trimming adn sanding. I've spent close to 30 hours on it til now.

It's hard to see, but i used a dremel to make the damage on the surface. It has some smaller chips here and there and some scratches.

What do you think?
If anyone has any suggestions or tips i would be glad to hear:)

prepped.jpg


My next steps would be:

-Get a new RF top.
-Install the visor.
-Complete all the scratches and chipping.
-Cut the borden connector.
-Widen the gap on the visor area jus a little.
-Make the shape of the dent better.
-Sand down the left side of the mandibles as the original is not as symmetric.
-Install the circuit board in the rear.

I still dont know what these 2 stubbs on the circuitboard is. They are on the rear of the ROTJ helmet as well. Any ideas?

-Micke

prepro_02.jpg
 
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Looking good, so you are going to paint this the pre-pro2 style?

Good to see you back on the boards Micke, it's been a while. I can't wait to see how you finnish this one. Post some pics of the "eyes" bucket you did way back when.
 
I Must mention that this project would not be possible without Natty and Braks buddy. To make a long story short i originally bought a MSH helmet from Lee about 2 years ago and decided to do the Prepro2 helmet. shortly after starting working a year later on it got badly damaged by accident and i was on the verge to give up. When Braks heard about it he and Natty sorted me out a new one. Hows that for helping a member out? Im so happy this project is on again! Thank you so much again, guys!

Predatormv:
Thank you:) Yes its been a while. Prepro2 it is. Im trying to find the best way to paint it. In the beginning i was thinking of doing it topical like my old ESB, but i see so many people doing it by painting it silver and then mask off the scratches with killer results, so i might try that. Just afraid to mess it up.
Im afraid that i dont have any pictures left of the eyes-helmet since my website disapeared. But im happy to say that the helmet is being re-worked. Ive been cleaning it up and sanded it down so soon i might post a few inprogress pics of it too.

By the way...What kind of visor did you use for your Prepro2 helmet? I have a green Visor, but think im gonna look for a dark tinted one. It looks black in the Chronicles photos.
-Micke
 
I used a really dark green one on mine. It looks black in photos but it is actually dark green. FP sent it to me with my helmet when I got it. I think it is a 5 darkness.

I really look forward to seeing your progress on this helmet. It is by far my favorite and I know you will do an amazing job. But try not to do too good of a job I don't want to have to paint mine again!
 
The ESB visor was green, no doubt about that..The ROTJ helmet is black or smoke-tinted. Hmm..I will have to look it up again. I have a green one lying around though:)
You already did a GREAT job on yours..ive been studying it alot;)

This evening i managed to get to the local paintstore before it closingtime.
I bought a can of silver and a few enamels. The red mandible-color looks very very promising and so did the color i found for the dark area under the mandibles. No luck for the green in the rear or orange for the killstripes. I might have to mix them myself. Btw, the green for the rear on the original prepro2 looks very close to the color in the same place on the ROTJ helmet. Im pretty certain that it could be the same color used.

I also tested out the mask and reveal-method with good results on a spare piece of fiberglass. My only worry is if the enamels sticks to the silver good enough. Time will tell i guess. well see in acouple of days. Its still tempting to go for the topical method..so much easier and FASTER, LOL.

Tonight i also widened the visor a little, filled a few tiny tiny pinholes and redid the dent some further. Its tough. i wish i could sculpted it on instead as i use fiberglass-filler with sandpaper and files! some more work left there. Its close to do some comparisons soon.

Tomorrow i will post some color tests from my work in progress palette
along with the 2 correct colors i found.

-Mikael
 
Can you get Floquil colors there? Lee sugested using the color C&O Enhancment Blue for the upper cheaks. That is what I used and it looks good in person and in pictures.
 
I dont think so..I've never seen any. I found one called "marineblue wich matched very well. It looks very similar to the color on yours.


I decided to do a color-mockup. I created this in Photoshop. It has one layer with the helmets, one with just plain color and one with the battledamage. If decide to change color on, say the mandibles i can quickly do that and see the result straight away. The color layer is set to multiply. The scratches is on the layer on top of the colors. I did them just to get a overall feel. The palette in the picture shows the colors i've chosen. The mandible and uppercheek color was picked from the paints i bought yesterday and updated in the palette.

progress_colors.jpg
 
Can't wait to see this one Micke! I still love the "rabbit ears/eyes" helmet you did way back when, makes me want to do a bunch of prepro helmets for myself ;)

This definitely looks like one of the tougher paintjobs to nail. Just checking the pics in SW Chronicles you can see a lot of the weathering is really subtle, lots of light wash spots and I think I even see some light misting of blue on some areas. You colour chart looks pretty good from what I can tell (taking into account different photos and monitor calibrations), though to me the mandibles look a bit browner like Boxcar Red enamel than what you have, which to me looks a bit orangey. I just think that really nice closeups in Chronicles of the helmet front and 3/4 view may be a bit misleading with colours, it looks like it's been brightened a fair bit. But who knows for sure when we're going off a bunch of photos!

Good luck, I don't doubt you can pull this one off :)
 
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JFJ I know what you mean when you talk about the blue misting I thought about including them on my helmet, but I think it is actually a lighting trick or something. I have pictures that I got from Braks (I think) that don't seem to be washed out with colors and the helmet deffinatally doesn't have those blue mist spots. But my standup does have them as do many pics I have seen of the helmet.
 
No updates tonight im afraid..to tired. however i did some more color variations earlier today. i can post them tomorrow. It shows how some color can look totally different like in the chronicle pictures.

JFJ: Do it, man! I would personaly love to see more of these rarer helmets. You are a very skilled painter so i would love to see you do one.

I agree that this one is gonna be hard. Its like the ROTJ helmet. It was awfully hard to pull off and i dont think i managed to do it too good. I will plan this out really good this time.

I have some pictures of the rear that shows big complicated scratches with grey/black misted inside. The ROTJ had the same type of scratches and they were a pain to replicate. Fettpride did an awesome job on his. I would love to hear how he did his as the Prepro paintjob is very simillar to the ROTJ in many ways. One thing that really bugs me is the limited amount of reference. We have tons of ESB and ROTJ reference, but only a handful of the Prepro. Perhaps in a few years new pics will be found and i will find myself sanding the helmet down and start allover, LOL

I have however some other pics that i also work from that is not from the Chronicles that shows the colors ALOT clearer. And i tell you that they are quite different from the chronicle pics. Thats the reason i did the mockup so that i can use it and add the same blue/green tones like in the cronicles.
to see that the colors i have chosen works in that way too. I will post these tomorrow. Thank you for your comment on the red. I might have to mix a new one. Lee commented on the very same color too. Its some time left before i get to paint the helmet so i think we can continue to discuss these colors until we feel that we nail the right ones:)

-Micke
 
Here's a couple of tests just to show variations and comparing them to the chronicle pics. It shows pretty clear that the red isnt not quite good yet.

-Micke

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progress_colors_test4.jpg


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progress_colors_test2.jpg
 
Just an FYI...MICKE...(y)
You are one of the reasons I got into this hobby....
Some of the previous work you posted way back when I still have some of those Pics in my "Boba" file.
I think Originally you used "Gouache"(sp):p paints??...But that's how I started mixing and comparing colors.
*I STILL use your original Swatches that you did for your ESB for mixing, I can post those if you like?...

So thanks Bro, glad to see you posting again...!!(y) (y) (y) (y)

Alex
 
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Thank you for your warm welcome, Alex!

Yes, i used Gouache colors. A waterbased color that dries very quickly.
I used it as i had a set lying around and were on a extreme budget and could'nt afford experimenting too much. The good thing is that it dries very very quickly, the bad thing is that it turns darker once it dries and even darker when you apply the clearcoat.

This was some time before Lee posted his list and nobody knew what colors that was used on the original. I guess it worked out pretty good, but i really would recommend Lee's colors and paint if you wanna do it right! When i look at the helmet now i see it's too dark, but the weathering still works pretty good.

You can post them in the old helmet post if you want:
http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/showthread.php?p=65507#post65507
All the pics was lost when my website disapeared.
I have one left that i'll add too.
 
micke said:
Thank you for your warm welcome, Alex!

Yes, i used Gouache colors. A waterbased color that dries very quickly.
I used it as i had a set lying around and were on a extreme budget and could'nt afford experimenting too much. The good thing is that it dries very very quickly, the bad thing is that it turns darker once it dries and even darker when you apply the clearcoat.

This was some time before Lee posted his list and nobody knew what colors that was used on the original. I guess it worked out pretty good, but i really would recommend Lee's colors and paint if you wanna do it right! When i look at the helmet now i see it's too dark, but the weathering still works pretty good.

You can post them in the old helmet post if you want:
http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/showthread.php?p=65507#post65507
All the pics was lost when my website disapeared.
I have one left that i'll add too.

that would be great..
Again I think I still have all mock-up progress pics and swatches you did....
I will post what I can tonight.

Again great to see ya back.:cheers
 
Here are the Swatches you did Micke for the ESB Fett...I think I may have added a color or two.....
I included a pic of your bucket using these colors.

Again Thanks Micke for getting me to this point:cheers

colours.jpg


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