Superjedi--GMH PP2 for Shabad

[superjedi]

Oh no, that Superjedi character is at it again!
This will be my progress thread as I paint GMH #91 in the Pre-Pro 2 paint scheme for Shabad.
I got to meet him earlier today when he dropped off the helmet in person. It's always cool meeting
fellow TDHers. Thanks for stopping by, Luke. Hope you enjoy the progress!

Here's my current helmet collection in my shiny new Detolf display cases. I picked them up a few
weeks ago and they're fantastic for helmets!

But wait, who's that poor unpainted guy on top of the cases? Why it's. . . Shabad's GMH! *gasp*

This is one of the resin helmets, and it's just as gorgeous as the gelcoat version. Superbly cast and smooth
as a baby bounty hunter's bottom. (There are baby bounty hunters, right??)
I spent some time out in the garage doing the cutting, trimming, sanding, and filing to get it ready for paint.

Using the trusty ol' Dremel with a cutting wheel and a sanding drum, I got the visor and keyslots cut out.
Finish work was done using my jewelers' files.

Next stop: Primer Town! Hopefully this heat wave will break during the next couple of days. Paint does
weird things in high heat and humidity, and I want to get a really smooth primer coat laid down.
More to come.

 

[Rich D]

I'm so looking forward to this progress thread!

 

[Jayvee]

Ahh, lovely - always look forward to a SJ thread - crazy cat that he is! Nice display too mate

 

[Bountyone]

I'll take the one on the top left Eric! How are you old friend?, hope to see you at C6

 

[shabad]

Those helmets you have painted are amazing, it's a fantastic display, so glad I got to see them in person. Great meeting you Eric, of course I'll be following this thread! :love

 

[Lucksy31]

Yet another SJ thread to bookmark. can't wait to see it.

 

[superjedi]

Seems as though I have a few passengers along for this ride!

I'll take the one on the top left Eric! How are you old friend?, hope to see you at C6

Hey Ben, good to see you're still around. And you certainly will not take the one on the top left. If I remember right, you
have an ESB of your very own. If all goes as planned, I'll be there at C VI.

UPDATE: July 2nd, 2012

Nothing super exciting today. I got 2 coats of primer on a little while ago. I've used Duplicolor primer on the last
couple of helmets I've painted. I like auto primers because they dry fast and give a very durable base for the
color coats. This one is in a very exciting color called "gray."

The first area I'll be painting will be the back panels. Hopefully my airbrush is speaking to me. It's been so long
since I've used it.

 

[Jayvee]

Ahh, PP2, back panels - dare I suggest a certain mix of green we have both had a little infatuation with? ;-)

 

[superjedi]

UPDATE: July 3rd, 2012

Speaking of back panels. . .

Round 1 complete. I masked off everything but the back panels and keyslot area before airbrushing.
It isn't really necessary, because everything else will get painted over. But I always try to keep the
excess paint to a minimum.

I sprayed the entire area with Polly Scale CSX Gray. It's a nice medium-light neutral gray. Once that
was dry, I went back with a tighter spray pattern and overlaid some Bar Gray. I tried to match the
patterns in the reference pics as closely as possible. Now that this is done, when I mask and airbrush
the green, the differentiated grays will show through in certain places. A nice subtle detail.

Here's Shabad's GMH 91 alongside my number 9.

This is also a photo experiment as I took this shot with my new HTC One S 8MP phone camera. Not too bad!

Next step: stenciling, liquid mask, and airbrush the back panel green.

 

[Mojo Fett]

Cool..! another SJ paint thread.
Will be watching and taking many notes..

 

[RafalFett]

I love your paint jobs and I will watching this with more interest and admiration! I hope that the modified and improoved Pre-Pro #2 stencils will do justice to your paint job!

 

[superjedi]

Thanks, guys! Rafal, yes your updated PP2 templates are beautiful! See below for the results.

UPDATE: July 4th, 2012:

Happy Independence Day, everyone! Hope you're all enjoying a nice midweek holiday.

I'm celebrating independence from plain gray back panels. I got a lot of work done on the helmet today.
Not quite done with these back panels, but I'm getting there.

I started by stenciling and using liquid mask for the damage patterns. Rafal's templates came in very handy
as usual. If anyone's painting a helmet, I highly recommend checking out his templates. Even if you choose
another method, they're an amazing reference and may show some details or patterns that are tricky to make
out from reference pics. The darker areas below show where I have applied my Winsor & Newton masking fluid.

The fluid dries pretty quickly, so I was all set to airbrush the green. I took a cue from Jayvee and experimented
with CNW green mixed with another Floquil green in varying ratios. I wound up using a 3:1 mix of CNW Green and
Southern Sylvan Green. I think it brightened the tone just a touch and came out looking great! Thanks for the
tip, Johnny.

I misted the green using Reefer Gray, and I began adding some of the tiny chips and scratches as well.
Here are a couple of shots of the back panels.

Another closer shot showing the fine scratches in the keyslot area. All the fine scratches were done with
Floquil Primer and a size 000 brush.

The final stage for the back panels will be to add the silver. Then it's on to the dome and cheeks.

 

[Jayvee]

Great work mate, back panels look lovely, glad that southern sylvan green worked out for you. It looks a really good shade and really takes out that 'blue shade' that the cnw alone seems to give. Just for anyones reference - if you are looking at a green mix, Eric and I had a differrent ratio of mix, as he is using the floquil pollyscale acrylics, and I use floquil enamels. The colour we mix with the cnw is slightly differrent - the acrylic version he used is called 'southern sylvan green', while the enamel version is simply 'southern green'. Slightly differrent shades, hence the differrent ratio mix, but as you can see, eric has produced a fantastic shade with the acrylics as well

Hope thats not hijacking your thread to much E - love your work, cant wait to see more! Peace

 

[BobaFiend]

This is looking excellent. Always a pleasure to see your paint work.

 

[Spideyfett]

LOVE IT!!

 

[Tsophika]

Watching with great interest! This is looking awesome as always.

Craig

 

[superjedi]

Thanks, all!

Alex, it was good talking to you the other day. Have fun next week!

UPDATE: July 6th, 2012

Back panels complete! I stenciled on the silver areas and painted them with Floquil Bright Silver.
I love using this paint. It levels and blends very well.

Rafal's templates were a huge help. His right panel template is more defined than the set I used when I
painted my own PP2. You're getting the improved version, Luke!

Here's the helmet all masked up for the next step: the dome and cheeks.

I left the upper cheeks unmasked because there are a couple of small areas where the lower cheek green
shows through the darker upper cheek color.
After the dome/cheeks are sprayed, I'll let it dry overnight and then lightly mist on some olive green in a
few places to match the reference pics. Most of the dome and lower cheeks will receive additional mistings
further down the line to "muddy up" the colors.

 

[HeadlessHunter]

Eric, I always really enjoy following your paint up threads, this is looking first rate already! Can't wait for more

 

[superjedi]

Thanks, HH!

UPDATE: July 7th, 2012

Dome/cheek stages 1 and 2 complete. I sprayed on the base green and then the olive misting.
Most of this will change tone with later mistings of gray.
Here are a few shots around the helmet.

The next stage will be a long stretch of working with nothing but silver. All silver areas will be applied
topically with my detail brushes.
As I post pics during this phase, you'll notice that there seems to be some "extra" silver in several areas.
This is because some of it will be masked and overmisted with the dark gray that's seen in the ref pics.
I think when I did my own GMH PP2, I called this a "layeropical" method because it's a combo of layered
and topical.
(That term is copyrighted by the way. Anyone who uses it owes me a dollar.)

 

[superjedi]

UPDATE: July 8th, 2012

Got an early start this morning and did the first section: the lower right cheek.

Here's a closer look.

Gonna give my wrists a break for a while.