RS Props Lineage Fett Helmet!

I'm a photographer. This picture is totally bogus, colour-wise. It is over saturated. This isn't what that table, any of those greys or that shade of green look like in person. I am certain.

Green is probably the most difficult colour to photograph, and this image is clearly not depicting reality in any of the colours present, green or otherwise.

This picture is a non-issue.
That was a really helpful comment!

That said, there is merit to the point, that the original argument, that we have never seen the original Hero in that strange a color on a picture. Reading through all of the statements, it makes me think the answer lies somewhere in between - strange photograph that amplifies the downsides of a specific color used maybe?
 
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I took the photo into Lightroom and pulled some of the saturation and blue tone back.

I’m not a Fett painter by any means, but the green does still feel a little off to me, and overall the helmet seems a touch lackluster from the video in my honest opinion.
 
View attachment 194006I took the photo into Lightroom and pulled some of the saturation and blue tone back.

I’m not a Fett painter by any means, but the green does still feel a little off to me, and overall the helmet seems a touch lackluster from the video in my honest opinion.
the real good news in this pic is that the helmet casts are not black but a medium to dark grey. Thats exactly what I hoped for and was worried about when I read on their website that the cast is going to be black. (see an earlier stage of this thread for the discussion around that)
 
View attachment 194006I took the photo into Lightroom and pulled some of the saturation and blue tone back.

I’m not a Fett painter by any means, but the green does still feel a little off to me, and overall the helmet seems a touch lackluster from the video in my honest opinion.
Totally agree with you on the green. Definitely looks off, hopefully on of the RS guys can post a hi-res photo of how it looks painted. Definitely lacks life? Imo
 
View attachment 194006I took the photo into Lightroom and pulled some of the saturation and blue tone back.

I’m not a Fett painter by any means, but the green does still feel a little off to me, and overall the helmet seems a touch lackluster from the video in my honest opinion.

Yes, I wouldn't think this image is overly saturated - if at all.
Let's see if there will be additional images soon which allow a confirmation one way or the other. But I did find the ArchiveX green color too much on the green side on other helmets that used it as well.
 
That was a really helpful comment!

That said, there is merit to the point, that the original argument, that we have never seen the original Hero in that strange a color on a picture. Reading through all of the statements, it makes me think the answer lies somewhere in between - strange photograph that amplifies the downsides of a specific color used maybe?

Thing is, there is no one standard of picture. The variables of whether it is film (like old archive pics) or digital, what film and what type of digital sensor, what jpeg engine (differs between tech brands) or processing, if any, the digital camera image has been put under. Monitors display colours differently as well. Just look at how the same paintwork looks in their paintwork reveal video. It is very muted and dark, as that is the colour profile they use in their videos. That is possibly the same helmet as the workbench photo.

MrMoldMaker It isn't just an issue of saturation either, you can't just reduce the saturation and expect to find the true colour, and I don't even think it is possible to download the image and objectively 'reverse' it to realistic depiction. The pic probably has a smartphone filter on it from the time of capture, which would be baking in all types of modifications. You would be messing around with curves and sliders without even knowing where to stop. If you got it 'right' on your screen, you then wouldn't know if it matched reality unless you had access to it.

The answer is that the photo may as well be a hand drawn sketch, as a photograph isn't as objective as most people believe. There isn't really anything to nitpick based on this image alone.

I'm not saying they got it completely correct either, but there is no way to know from that photo.
 
I have a tub of that "pure" Archive-X light green here and yes, it is slightly lighter and slightly more saturated than the EFX PCR green, but it is nowhere near what this image suggests. Pictures to follow.
 
I would be interested to hear Art Andrews opinion on his first impression of seeing the Hero and whether it was different from what he had believed it to have looked like.

I can share my most general observations but must point out that I am exceedingly colorblind, so my ability to be useful in this area is quite limited. In general, the helmet is far more muted than most think, especially the base color. It has a far more militaristic color to it, making many people's replicas garish in comparison. The sheen of the helmet is maddeningly hard to describe, and something I have rarely seen replicated. It is neither flat nor glossy. Some might call it satin, but it is somewhat less than that. Maybe a low luster? Tough to say and surely somewhat modified by years and years of handling.
 
MrMoldMaker It isn't just an issue of saturation either, you can't just reduce the saturation and expect to find the true colour, and I don't even think it is possible to download the image and objectively 'reverse' it to realistic depiction. The pic probably has a smartphone filter on it from the time of capture, which would be baking in all types of modifications. You would be messing around with curves and sliders without even knowing where to stop. If you got it 'right' on your screen, you then wouldn't know if it matched reality unless you had access to it.

The answer is that the photo may as well be a hand drawn sketch, as a photograph isn't as objective as most people believe. There isn't really anything to nitpick based on this image alone.

I'm not saying they got it completely correct either, but there is no way to know from that photo.

I’ll explain what I did and why. First off, you have to have an understanding of a few things. We have a good idea of what an aluminum stalk looks like. I personally have a good idea of what a “black”
casting looks like. I have a good idea of what a “white” casting looks like. And we also have white cabinets in the background. The original photo, whether from lighting in the room, camera settings, whatever, had a very blue overtone to it so I shifted that until it was more neutral. I also noticed it was slightly over saturated. I’m talking I took it down -4 on the saturation slider. I never once referenced the actual helmet in the changing of this photo, only the things I felt worked reliably as reference. This just seems like common sense stuff, to me at least..

Is it perfect? No. Is it very likely going to be different from screen to screen? Well.. very likely.
I never said it was the end all be all reference photo, just an educated guess to hopefully represent the helmet a little better. I assumed this would be pretty obvious, but next time I will explain the details to avoid confusion.
 
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Is this the exact same green? I'm asking because the green shouldn't be used straight from the bottle but mixed with grey (info found in the Archive-X posts). So, are you using the exact same grey/green mix RS used on its master?
It's just Lt green , it's not mixed with anything . Not sure where you got that info but it's just lightly painted over the lark grey layer .

Pictures of the RS Hero bucket

IMG-20200711-WA0027.jpg
IMG-20200711-WA0028.jpg
IMG-20200711-WA0029.jpg
IMG-20200711-WA0030.jpg
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IMG-20200711-WA0032.jpg


The green in different light
Inside
IMG-20200711-WA0037.jpg


Outside
IMG-20200711-WA0038.jpg
 
I can't deny that pictures can be very deceiving sometimes with certain colours but this does seem a little shade off but who am i to judge. I can guarantee it probably looks way better in person. Jon did an remarkable job on that paint master as always.
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Original post by Keegan, here: The first fully Archive-X Fett Helmet paint up

It's going to be great seeing what you can do with them!
I've found nearly all of the vintage paints can't be used to paint because the chemicals have gone bad and produce weird textures etc. The late 80s onward seem to be ok.
Archive-X is a great match to the correct vintage hues. You can always choose to custom mix them and they work great when diluted for airbrushing.

There are some colours that are good to use right out of the jar.
D&H Caboose Red for the mandibles
SP Lark DK Grey for All the grey chipping
Dark Grime for the back panel tan
Earth LT for right ear

Other colours need a bit of mixing as what was done on the original.

Maroon needs a bit of black to darken for use on the mandibles.
Dark Green also needs some black to be uses for the back panel green.
Light green and SP Lark DK Grey get mixed for the main helmet green.
Etc.
Those are just known recommendations. People may come up with mixes of misting that is even better.
The idea of these paints has always been, "What would Joe Johnston have had in the shop when he painted the ESB and PP3 helmets?:
Simple mixing if two colours has yielded great results and is exactly as low tech as youd expect for a painter that just needs to adjust the contrast of colors and not so much the hues.

And from Archive-X:

With Fett we are very hesitant to release what would be a complete set as feel much of the original work wasn't strictly out of the jar, its very complex to get the paint looking right. Though we do have the matches for a lot of the helmet, the artistry is required to get the results and from our experience releasing a go to set is great but when the artistry doesn't come jhand in hand the colours will be questioned and we dont want that.

We want people too use it as a tool set and see the results they get compared to whats currently available and common place. I would like the customers work to sell the idea rather than push it at people.

One thing we do know is time and time again the colours are becoming obviously used and with the correct name and hue to each one now. for those using vintage Floquil please bare in mind that for Empire stuff Floquil RR colour range that was available only went up to about RR178 Possibly RR185 For serial numbers after these you are delving into the impossible if you want to be accurate historically

Even with in the time period of the trilogy being made the colours shifted Hue from year to year and batch to batch so its a very fine art sourcing something correct, unless pre mixing your own to taste.
 
That green historically has been very tricky. Only a few good painters I know have come close; but that's just my opinion.
There is a range of greens one could use and achieve very similar results on their replicas. It's shocking how much misting other colors over another can shift the whole thing drastically. So even in person the challenge faced is: how much was the green on the real helmet misted over, vs how much was it pre-mixed?
The answer is somewhere between and I dont feel I can say for sure.

In my opinion, the Floquil/Archive-X Light Green hue should not be used as a basecoat right out of the jar; only relying on misting and weathering to tone it down. Id recommend mixing in a grey or really anything else from the known colors anyone would like to test to achieve a nice looking Fett green.

The color green selected for the EFX I felt was the best starting point. If you weather and mist that color down I think the result would be quite convincing. Below are some pics I've collected to dhow the green shifting in different lighting. The first pic of the real ESB shows the green as similar to some of the EFX shots. However even that pic of the real one I wouldnt say is representative of how that green really looks in person.
 

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