Superjedi's Jaster Mereel for JMereel

[superjedi]

Hi all!
The EU forum is strange territory for me, yet here I am.
I'm working on something that's pretty different from my usual Fett ESB and Pre-Pro buckets--a Jaster Mereel helmet! This is a commission for member JMereel, and it's based on the Jaster Mereel custom kit by Cruzer.
It's a very cool kit, and a really nice cast. The kit includes the helmet, an RF stalk with a separate topper, and an "ear cap" piece. The RF assembly is able to pivot using an attachment bolt. The parts are molded in cold-cast, which unfortunately I'm not able to use. . . There were some impressions in the surface left from the packing materials, and even after some pretty intense polishing, I couldn't get them to come out. But no worries! I'll be painting the helmet to give it a worn, dirty bare metal appearance.

In these first couple of shots, I've primed the helmet and laid down a base coat of a Duplicolor metallic shade. It will give a great base for the metallic weathering, which I'll be starting within the next day or two.

It's definitely not that shiny, lol. The overhead light really reflects off the dome in these pics.
You might notice that I've cut in some minimal physical damage as well. I'm using a few panels from the comic books as reference and they seem to show some small gouges and scratches.

Here's the RF assembly. I forgot to snap a pic of the ear cap piece.

Much more to come!

 

[Mullreel]

Ready to see this one play out...........

 

[superjedi]

Had more time today than I thought, lol, so I was able to do some more work on Jaster.
I airbrushed a lighter silver over the base "gunmetal" color, then after it dried, I used a Scotchbrite pad to do some mechanical weathering. Using varying pressure on the pad, I was able to wear away some of the silver, revealing the darker metallic shade underneath.
This is only the first weathering pass. I'm going to do some "dirt" layering using the airbrush.

Here are some rear angles.

After the "dirt" airbrushing and a dark wash, the contrast between the two metal shades won't be as stark.
This is fun!

 

[superjedi]

Next weathering stages!
I have added 3 different tones to the helmet so far--a medium muddy brown, a medium/dark gray, and a dark blackish-brown.
I wanted to give it some tonal variation instead of just 2 shades of metallic colors. I'll still be doing additional weathering, too.

Here's how the back is looking.

It still retains some shine through all that muck, lol!

 

[jmereel]

Looking very good! Very excited

 

[superjedi]

How about some color??? I think it's about time.
I did the base coat for the mandibles. I'll add a slightly lighter tone next.

Here's the rear band.

We're getting there!

 

[superjedi]

More weathering on the mandible areas.
I added the lighter shade, then re-added some of the darker base color, along with some silver chips and scrapes.

Here's the rear band.

This weekend I'm going to work on fitting the ear cap and RF assembly. Then the visor, and it'll be all finished!

 

[jmereel]

Man SJ, I think you really nailed that red/orange shade for the mandibles. Outstanding work!

 

[Mullreel]

Looking good............

 

[superjedi]

Thanks, guys! Today's a dreary, rainy day. . . perfect for working on helmets!
The final stages went pretty quickly, and Jaster Mereel is finished and ready for battle.

Here's a gallery of finished shots with my "nice" Nikon camera and my light box.

Here's the back.

This was really fun! Quite a departure from my normal ESB work. Thanks, JMereel for the opportunity to work on it!
I hope you enjoy having it in your collection.

 

[ToEleven]

This is so good. SJ you are the best.

 

[Covafett]

Very nice!

 

[Artakha]

I like

 

[tubachris85x]

Would look perfect next to my Montross!

Curious, for the splattered paint, are you just flicking that on there? Or do you have any unique technique?

 

[superjedi]

For the spattered areas, I dialed the pressure way down on my compressor and shot a very thinned brownish-black through my airbrush.

 

[tubachris85x]

Further explaining why I still need to switch to using an airbrush..

 

[hvacdon]

Looking Awesomeness !

 

[superjedi]

Thanks again, guys!
The helmet has safely arrived at its new home and I hope JMereel will enjoy displaying it in his collection.

 

[SingaFett]

Its definitely a one of a kind bucket! Amazing work

 

[tennantlim]

Damn. Now I want one too.