UPDATE JULY 16th
Finished! *Sigh* Well, the final weathering and construction are done. I spent some time applying pastels for weathering. I used dark gray and black, applied with an old paintbrush, and really ground in in certain places to make dark looking stains. I basically went over the entire helmet, making the colors a bit uneven looking.
I followed this with an overspray of Testors Dullcote over the entire helmet, to seal the pastels and to even out the sheen of the different paints I used during the detail painting. Once the Dullcote was dry, I used some steel wool over the entire helmet, just to bring it back from a dead flat finish. Not too much, though.
The Dullcote really dulled down the little hairline scratches, making them sort of grayish looking, so I broke out the compass and went over every one of them a second time. It didn't really take very long, as they were already there, and I didn't have to take all that time trying to match the reference photos.
Once I was satisfied with the overall finish, I started on the visor.
I had gotten a Bobamaker visor a while back, while I was still waiting for my helmet to arrive, and now I finally got to use it! I fitted it into the helmet temporarily with some painters tape, just to check the fit. I found the top edge could stand to be trimmed back to get it closer to the visor opening. As it was, it was sitting on some "bumps" in the gelcoat in the helmet interior which held it away from the surface. I marked the visor and cut off about 1/4" with my Dremel and a cutoff wheel. Then it sat in place almost perfectly.
To install the visor, I had read a lot of different methods, and the basic method I chose was described on TK-409's website. I got a tube of epoxy putty and some picture hanging brackets, and starting from the center of the visor (the "forehead"), I began epoxying it in place. I used a bracket, and put a blob of putty right over it, holding it in place till it dried, about 15 minutes. I worked my way outward, all the way across the top of the "T" until it was secure. Then I worked down the sides, ending at the bottom. I had to be extremely careful that I didn't get my sticky fingers anywhere on the visor. So I used a small Philips screwdriver to press down on each bracket until the putty hardened. There's a pic below showing the bracket/putty method.
Now, the ONLY remaining thing is the range finder. I probably will not use the RF that came with the helmet. It's a terrific cast, but I'm going to wind up replacing it with a hollow RF, so I can install LEDs. I'm not going to go the circuit board/battery route, but I want to put in LEDs for show.
Anyway, it's been an amazingly rewarding project! A couple weeks before I bought the M_S helmet, I almost bought a pre-painted one from eBay (not a M_S. . . it was its own "mystery"), but now I'm so glad I decided to do my own. My wife, who's not the biggest Star Wars fan in the world, says "it looks like it came from the Smithsonian."
Thanks for all the unbelievable information found on TDH. There's no way I ever would've attempted a buildup like this if it weren't for the great stuff I've seen on this board!
Pics below.
Eric