PAINTING TUTORIAL
This will also work for any other aged bronze thing you ever want to do.
YOU'LL NEED
Primer (any color)
Dark Brown spray paint
Bright gold or brass spray paint (brass dries better)
Spanish Copper Rub n' Buff
Antique Gold Rub n" Buff
About a dozen 1.5" squares of velour, foam backed car headliner fabric (any color)
Once you have your helmets all cut out and the edges sanded, wash the whole thing in hot water and Dawn dishsoap to remove any seperator. The stuff I use says it's paintable, but why take the chance?
Prime your helmet a couple coats, then let dry.
When it's dry, give it several coats of the dark brown (really dark, almost black). Let that dry.
When the brown's good and dry, LIGHTLY mist the whole helmet with the brass or gold. What you're shooting for now is just to make it look brown with a few gold sparkles when the light hits it- this will look really good in all the little pockmarks and creases later.
Now this is where the serious detail starts. Take one of your velour headliner squares, and "load" or "pack" it with Spanish Copper rub n' Buff. Take that and wipe off any excess on a piece of scrap material first, then start lightly stroking it over the helmet's surface. DON'T force it down into any tight corners or any of the pockmarks- you're wanting to simulate an almost aged bronze statue look where the low areas are untouched by the polishing cloth.
When that's done, take a fresh velour square pack it with the Antique Gold the same as you did for the Spanish copper, and then just barely brush all the raised detail. Also, don't go as close to the edges w/ the gold as you did with the copper- you want to fade gradually from the dark, gold speckled brown to the Spanish copper, then (sparingly) to the gold in the big areas and sharp edges like the nasal crest, the edges of the rear flange, etc.
When that's done take another clean velour square and lightly buff the whole helmet to help the colors all blend together and get a nice metallic shine!
You can finish you helmet further if you want, but I wouldn't recommend rinsing with verdegris, I didn't see any in my research, and that would make it look like a Stargate prop anyway.
Also, I wouldn't use any clear coat either, one of the great things with Rub n' Buff is that it gives a great metallic finish by itself and if it ever gets dull, just buff it up again.
For lining/ sizing your helmet, I'd recommend lining it with fake (or real if you want to spend the money) sheep skin to give it that authentic touch.
And there you go!
-Sarge
