Thanks, Andy.
The cheek crack is physically scratched into the surface. I made a template for it out of some
spare sheet styrene and use a scribing tool to make a thin simulated crack. Then I go back with some of the dark
color used on the cheek and touch it up.
UPDATE: DAY 48
Effects! I have a lot of fun doing the effects painting. It adds another level of character to the helmet. In this first pic,
I added the "smudge" that runs vertically above the RF ear. It's dry brushed on, with a couple of heavier patches.
In this next series, there are several pairs of photos showing the pale contrasting gray. It shifts from almost unnoticeable
to readily visible depending on how the light hits it. I use RLM 76 gray for this.
First, the back panels. Sorry for the slightly blurry shot here.
Next is the right mandible. There's a decent amount of the gray along the divide between the outer cheek
and the mandible, as well as on the part above the visor cutout.
Here's the dent.
Finally, I did the fade under the killstripes. I mix up some of the dome green with an acrylic silver to simulate the paint being
pulled up by masking tape, then touched up. In the first pic, it's almost invisible.
But when the bucket is rotated slightly, it pops into view. It's a very nice effect.
Whew! So it's really close to being done now. All that's left are the grease stains and the spatter. I'll do those immediately
before I clearcoat at the very end of the project.