ILM Cold cast Jango helmet build and re-paint

[tubachris85x]

Just wanted to post progress over here on theRPF

I may get 2 weeks off of school, but I got ALOT of work to do. Good thing, cause I find myself bored out of my mind when I'm down at my parent's for breaks.

So to get to this next helmet, this is a repaint. Some incredibly vague backstory, this was apparently painted by an art teacher, if I remember correctly. Originally, I was to remove and re-install the visor. From the looks of it, it appeared it was forcebly glued in there, the virtical portion made the mandibles sit too wide, and looked 'off.' When I did remove it, oneside actually sprang out as if it was under tension.

Really, the biggest issue is that the person who painted it, litterally did just that, paint it. Alot of corners were cut on this, and for that, I am re-doing this helmet, fixing the issues that were not dealt with.

First up, over all, from a distance, it doesnt look too bad, it's when you get up close, it starts to show it's true appearence

Upon closer inspection, it's clear that the helmet was not sanded smooth, or he used a really rough grit. There are these scratch marks all over the helmet's blue sections, and is quite noticable in person, hard to pick up on camera though.

You can see one thing about the paintjob which I honestly think looks bad, is the "rusty" looking weathering. Fortunatly, it's easy to remove with some water and elbow grease

Next thing, I don't know how this was cast, but there are noticable gaps between the helmet and the top sections of the keyslots. I plan to fill with bondo, and paint over it (top will be blue, but bottom will be rubb and buff)

Air holes are everywhere on this helmet, need to fill them

Final thing, I don't know what happened with the RF box, but it does not appear to be painted the same color/paint as the rest of the helmet. The good thing though is that it's attached to the stalk very well.

So that's what I gotta do, I dont know if I'll be able to finish it, but I'll do what I can. It's coldcast, so no need to rubb and buff the whole helmet, but I'm going to get me some steel wool and aluminum polish to shine up the silver, per request of TheDentedOne.


-TC

 

[tubachris85x]

I finally got around to starting. My parents have had their own schedule of chores for me to do..:ugh: So right now, I'm juggling around this, a small repair job for Revolverocelot (I'm working on it bro!) and the scout gear, which I got full permission to make it as accurate as possible.



I managed to pic up some steel wool, got the finest grade I could get. I began stripping it today, and the wool really helped to get all of the really gunky weathering off, I was not able to remove all of it, due to that the small corners and the like are really hard to access. So right now, I stripped what I could with my mouse sander, trying to be careful as to not accidentally sand down detail lines. I need to get a new sanding sponge so I can get the rest of the areas. After that, tape off the silver, and spray some primer, sand it down to get it smooth so those scratch lines no longer exist.



So here it is right now. I used the wool to shine up the silver and it's alot shinnier in person then it was before

-TC

 

[TridCloudwalker]

Looking really good. Keep it up. I wish I had one of these.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

The lines in the blue paint looks like brush marks, imo.

Also... you could use brake fluid to remove paint without damaging the material of the helmet: just brush on, let it soak, and then wipe off - but don't force it, just brush on some more, let it soak until the paint lifts and is able to be wiped off gently.

Nice helmet. :thumbsup

 

[tubachris85x]

The lines in the blue paint looks like brush marks, imo.

Also... you could use brake fluid to remove paint without damaging the material of the helmet: just brush on, let it soak, and then wipe off - but don't force it, just brush on some more, let it soak until the paint lifts and is able to be wiped off gently.

Nice helmet. :thumbsup

I've heard of that before with the brake fluid I may actually check that out, just on a tight budget at the moment, so I have to be careful :eek

Oh, I wish those were brush marks, they actually go intot the fiberglass

 

[TridCloudwalker]

I've heard of that before with the brake fluid I may actually check that out, just on a tight budget at the moment,

They sell it in the dollar store. You'll only need one bottle.

 

[BATS]

if the scratches go into the glass, well it sounds like whom ever had it before
you got carried away with some 150 grit

get yourself some build able primer and they will go away

other then that it looks like a great piece for you to work on
just a lot of edge sharpening, some filling and you'll have a
flawless piece

 

[tubachris85x]

They sell it in the dollar store. You'll only need one bottle.

I see, yea, I didn't know that. I've been to an autozone a few times, but just glanced through and saw varying prices, so I didn't know for sure. I'll see what I can do. If it will completly strip off rustolium royal blue, then I'll definatly do it. That paint is probably the worst paint I have EVER had to deal with, and unfortunatly, it's one of the 3 colors of a jango helmet. :angry

BATS- Yea, fortunatly, they aren't too deep, and it's something a layer or two of primer + fine grit sanding can't cure. Just rediculously noticable on the helmet right now