*UPDATE 2013* WIP : Jayvee's 'lil' chunk of ROTJ love' paint up

[Jayvee]

Haha, nice gents. Eric - all is good, but because your clocks are in reverse, obviously just reverse all the steps, and you should get the same results Ahh, the comedy.. And Eric x 2 - Im not even gonna get into the toilets in the US - those things are manic, and flat out scare me at times :confused I think its one thing for a change, we may actually have sussed out far better over here.. But I digress..

Dave - yea, im really looking forward to recieving the ears too, I really want to finish this sucker now, and even have one of my good buds ready to take some studio shots. But I know there is plenty of folks in the same boat, so just waiting on the mighty Gav-man. But as always to yourself and the other lads, appreciate the kind words, and just thought it might give some folk some ideas. thanks for looking gang! Peace

 

[Fett 4 Real]

Guess whats been showing up a few tiny paint cans at a time....

 

[Jayvee]

Guess whats been showing up a few tiny paint cans at a time....

Oh reaaalllyyy..... Eeexxxxcellent (does best Mr. Burns hands rubbing impression... )

 

[Jayvee]

Okay Fett-a-rettes - just a small peek at this pair of twins on a recent lighting test, coupled right next to each other. TDH member and close mate Karlos108, has shot the ESB lid in full, and will post some of his fantastic shots in hi-res down the track, but thought it a nice idea to shoot the unfinished ROTJ right next to it, to check how things were shaping up. As it's the first really 'tidy' shot of the ROTJ, thought I would pop the 'teaser' into this thread..

The rangefinder stalk and topper obviously need to be weathered, as well as a full weathering of the aluminium ears when they arrive from Mojo-Fett. While we will straighten up things perfectly, and clear the background in the actual shots down the track, for a test, the things I really like are the noticable colour scheme differences, and by adjusting the visors like they are on the real lids, how it manages to give the helmets a differrent flair to each other. Hi res shots of ESB to come soon, followed by ROTJ on completion. Mad props to the wizard, Karlos! Enjoy peeps

 

[sgtski]

Thank you for all of this excellent information. I will be starting to mark out my damage and begin painting and you took a bit of the fear out of it.

 

[Jayvee]

Thank you for all of this excellent information. I will be starting to mark out my damage and begin painting and you took a bit of the fear out of it.

Very welcome bud. The aluminium ears are on the way, so can hopefully have some new and final updates soon, but if you have any dramas, feel free to ask anything you need

 

[Jayvee]

APRIL 2013 UPDATE

Well hello my fine, Fett loving friends! Yep, it’s been a while. Waiting for the aluminium ears, and partaking in that little thing called ‘real life’, has halted me a little on this project, but glad to say I’m back for the first real update for 2013, and I’m starting off with a good one : the superb metal ears, weathered and finished in all their ROTJ glory!

Now, first thing I will say is that the wait was very worth it. A beautiful job by Gav to produce these ears, and in my mind, completely suited to the PP2 and ROTJ versions the best, with all the metal showing and having them look as authentic as possible. They were also a pleasure to paint and weather, because, as they act like the real thing, `a variety of techniques work so well for them - from airbrushing, to scratching, sanding, steel wool-ing and applying pastel weathering. So they provided a really neat challenge to get them accurate.

Rangefinder Ear
I love this ear. Love it on ESB, and really love it on ROTJ. Just looks so dynamic. First thing to do was to clean up the ears, and on this ear, insert the Honeywell micro chip. A very light bit of dremel action was all that was needed. The weathering was achieved by carefully dissecting the patterns, complete with liquid masking certain areas to remain silver metal underneath. Lots of colours were used, including gold and gunmetal highlights, to bring out the very faint browny shade within. There are also some small flashes of caboose throughout. Once dried, scratches with a fine compass point, angled sanding with 400 grit sandpaper, and some steel wool ensued. Once I was pretty happy, some pastel weathering went on to bring out a few extra shades, and some finer detailed scratches were added throughout.

Other Ear
This ear used many of the same methods as the rangefinder ear, but was a little more subtle in the application, and there wasn’t much sandpaper used, as it is more even throughout. The signature section on the left hand side was an important section for me to get right; and I was pleased with the results. This section also has some caboose highlights – namely in the middle of the bottom rectangle, and also a little in the actual recess in the middle towards the top, and a small bit of overspray on the bottom right hand corner. I was able to get those details down, so once again, very happy

 

[Jayvee]

So, onto our pics... The first two simply show the ears weathered and attached to the helmet from either side. I really like the overall look of these ears, and they really bring the whole helmet together. Our comparison pics are next, and I’m very satisfied that I was able to get these accurate – these ears after all, would’ve been very random, and taken some extra damage and rubbing back over the years, so that will always be hard to replicate 100%, but I’m happy with the results. The colours are a bit lighter in person, but with the metal gleaming off the light, they can be difficult to capture right while trying to get in all the detail.

The montage pic is next, and highlights some fine detail areas - the micro switch peeking out in 1.; Some of the previously mentioned Caboose highlights in 2; and the bondo fix present on the real helmet in 3., where I actually used some real bondo to add some texture. The last pic is a pretty basic one of the earcap with the Microswitch screwed in.

So there you are gang – I hope you enjoy the pics, and with the rangefinder, interior final weathering and final pics only to go, this one is almost there! Colours and techniques have been added to the first post, any feedback, suggestions or questions, most welcome! Peace

 

[RafalFett]

Oh my...! Are you kidding me?! The ears are perfect! The helmet is perfect! So... when you will return the original helmet to LFL?

 

[superjedi]

Holy cow, Jonny. . .
That looks awful, absolutely horrendous.

Tell you what, I'll send you some money for shipping and you can be rid of
that helmet for good. My mailing address is:

Superjedi
U.S.A.

Seriously though, those pics are jaw dropping. Congrats on an
incomparable job! This has been my favorite ROTJ helmet thread to date.

 

[Jayvee]

Haha, thank you lads for the awesome comments. Eric - I now know exactly where to send this helmet for a quick and efficient disposal. Thanks kindly for offering up your stealth-like services

Raf - as always, far too kind. As for LFL, some old bearded guy named 'George-something' only lets me take out the helmet on weekends..

In all seriousness, thanks lads. Still some more little fine detail work to add around the ears, such as the clear orange substance drips, and sorting out the RF topper and stalk will be the next area to tackle. This helmet has been a beast, but light at the end of the tunnel! Thanks again chaps!

 

[Wolfsburg]

I am absolutely blown away by what you've achieved here. I've seen some good "interpretations" of the RoTJ helmet but I'm not exaggerating when I say this honestly and truly looks like something that could've been stolen from the LFL archives! Just stunning!

 

[Jayvee]

I am absolutely blown away by what you've achieved here. I've seen some good "interpretations" of the RoTJ helmet but I'm not exaggerating when I say this honestly and truly looks like something that could've been stolen from the LFL archives! Just stunning!

Wow Wolf, they are super kind comments - thanks so much for the big props my friend, much appreciated!

 

[shabad]

The most amazing thing for me personally is that this thread (which has been such a great paint up thread) has made me fall in love with the ROTJ helmet when I was a hardcore ESB guy. You have achieved a new level of Awesome with this one.

 

[Fett 4 Real]

Cant wait to do this to my ears, theyre sitting here hanging out.....LOOKING GREAT BTW

 

[Jayvee]

Shabad - firstly, thank you kindly for your big props. I know exactly what you mean with the helmets - ESB always looked immediately more easy on the eyes for me, hence why I did that first. But during the process of painting this ROTJ lid, it started giving me a much bigger appreciation for it, and while I love the look of both helmets, I definately enjoyed the process of painting the ROTJ more, and it provided some pretty technical challenges..

As for you Dom - get cracking on those ears my good man! They are a blast to weather up and I have no doubt you will do a superb job!

Thanks again for the great feedback gents!

 

[Fett 4 Real]

Its almost time

Been working on alot of other stuff, trying to get accessories crafted. Almost ready to do work on them.

 

[terminal fettler]

Amazing work! The subtle colour changes are most impressive. HOWEVER.
That left hand ear. I did a commission a few years ago for a ROTJ with aluminium ears. I studied the reference pictures and I think the ROTJ left ear is from the Super Trooper helmet. To me it looks like it has been painted silver over the original white paint, weathered and then sanded back to reveal the aluminium finish on corners and edges...

 

[Jayvee]

Amazing work! The subtle colour changes are most impressive. HOWEVER.
That left hand ear. I did a commission a few years ago for a ROTJ with aluminium ears. I studied the reference pictures and I think the ROTJ left ear is from the Super Trooper helmet. To me it looks like it has been painted silver over the original white paint, weathered and then sanded back to reveal the aluminium finish on corners and edges...

I completely agree G. I'm sure by now you would understand that the white shade that appears in this area hadn't gone unnoticed by my pedantic eye, but your assessment of them likely originally being super trooper ears seems bang on the money, and has me completely sold.

My thoughts when doing them, was to get it right using the silver, then if this exact topic ever came up, I could weather them whiter with some misting, washes, pastels or a combo, as its a fairly subtle difference. So that will all come under the banner of 'fine detail tuning' before I post final shots.

Thanks so much for the excellent feedback and comments. Having crew like you in my corner is a huge bonus. Plus, I did say numerous times that I have ageing eyes, so a spare quality set is invaluable! Thanks again bud!

 

[RafalFett]

Amazing work! The subtle colour changes are most impressive. HOWEVER.
That left hand ear. I did a commission a few years ago for a ROTJ with aluminium ears. I studied the reference pictures and I think the ROTJ left ear is from the Super Trooper helmet. To me it looks like it has been painted silver over the original white paint, weathered and then sanded back to reveal the aluminium finish on corners and edges...

Just to clarify this for everyone: what TF says by Supertrooper left ear is part of a helmet that was already in transition from Supertrooper to Boba Fett; I say this because the one and only fully functional Supertrooper suit (the one with the undented helmet) was fully converted to Pre-Pro #1.

This... :


... to this:


I did some research a while ago (1-2 years) and this helmet:



looks the best candidate for the ROTJ helmet (although the ESB helmet is close too to this one).