ANOTHER Dredd 3D Judge Dredd Helmet

TV8

Well-Known Member
This Dredd Helmet is from a fiberglass cast I got from a seller on the Bay,UK, late last year, apparently from a screen used helmet. Badge is separate, resin and with a brass paint (?) finish.
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Not sure about its origins and welcome your opinion. The seller says he's a member here. I am going for a 90% Dredd 10% generic helmet with only moderate field damage.
Anyway the first one came warped:
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But the seller quickly sent me a cleaner cast from a new mold, no warping, excellent finish. Great service. It’s a very solid cast with a clean finish. I won't bore you with the details of triming and sanding, but MAN. What a job. Tip for newbs: five minutes into cutting fiberglass with a Dremmel, I stopped work and went to the local Bunnings to buy a proper breathing mask instead of the paper disposable ones I usually use for resin jobs. Invest in good PPE.

Used the Dremmel to make a few dents in the lid as it appeared to be a cleaned up cast. I decided not to go with the long axe-type damage on the top and right hand side. By my reasoning, if a Judge’s helmet was that severely beaten up, it would be close to failure, so he would replace it.

I don't have an airbrush so I painted it using rattle spray cans. Did an undercoat first with Rustoleum 2x Ultra Cover gloss black. Mistake! That stuff comes out so fast and furious from the can that it immediately gives you that hammered metal finish. Avoid. I cleaned that off and went over it with a new white Undercoat of White Knights Squirts. Then at least four coats of White Knights Gloss Black enamel. Took about a whole can. My local Supercheap Auto had 1500 grit sandpaper, unlike Bunnings which only goes up to 1200. I started at 800 and went up 1500 wet and dry. That took hours and hours. I then buffed it with a sheepskin glove turned inside out. It got me the dulled gloss finish I had hoped for.

Then I sanded the helmet back in the red areas that were to be distressed. I sprayed them with White Knights silver enamel. I got some Norton Professional Painter’s Gold masking tape from Bunnings. It’s the Japanese paper and it is fantastic – no bleed. I used a scalpel to cut slithers of tape which I stuck over the silver on areas of most wear ie: the eye cuts, X over the nose, cheeks etc. I masked out the black areas and sprayed the White Knights Cherry Red gloss enamel over the top and then used tweezers to peal off the tape when the paint had dried to a gooey tacky finish.

I used about 4 coats of the red and after each coat I lightly misted it with Gloss Black to give it some depth of colour. Here it is at the moment with a little dry brushing around the damaged areas. More distressing to follow.
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