Iron Man & War Machine helmet kits

GeneralFROSTY

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RPF member DVDVampire sent me his Iron Man and War Machine helmet kits for my build and paint service.
Below you will see both kits side by side in their raw, untrimmed form as I received them:
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Rather than tackle both helmets at once and get a little overwhelmed, I opted to concentrate my efforts on one helmet at a time - starting with Iron Man.
I spent a good part of the day just working on the faceplate. A lot of work went into cleaning out the eyes and thinning the walls to the correct thickness and shape.
Below you will see the eye on the right has been cut out and not sanded/shaped, while the eye on the left is finished...
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After I finished the faceplate, I took a fieldtrip to the hobby store near my workshop to pick out some paint options for the red. There was only one clear choice and that was Model Masters "Metallic Stop Light Red".
Below, you will see a paint test I did on a spare model kit part (can you guess what it is?:love). The red was airbrushed overtop a metallic chrome paint (which was a test when I was doing my Rocketeer jetpack build) which gives the translucency of the red paint more shine and metallic look. More coats and I suspect this effect will be deminished and I will still do some tests as to weather I want to use a semi-gloss or satin clearcoat to tone down the candy-apple redness of the paint.
I do intend on painting over a silver basecoat so I can do some light weathering.
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Next, I had to determine how I would achieve the "brushed" metal look of the faceplate. Using some styrene, I airbrushed using Model Masters Gold and waited until it was 99% dry to the touch, then gently glided a stiff paintbrush down the surface. This is what I came up with:
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While I was fiddling with paint tests, the faceplate was hit with a few coats of primer...
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Thanks to the fast-drying primer (I use Rustoleum brand that I got from Lowes) I was able to cleanup any surface defects I found and then do some wetsanding.
The other parts of the helmet - main shell, jaw, back piece - were all trimmed, sanded to shape by hand and in a few places with the help of my trusty Dremel.
I could not resist a dry fit of the parts...
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Time was running short before I was to call it a day at the shop and I knew I wanted to get a basecoat of gold down on the faceplate - so I gave a few even coats with the airbrush. Next workday at the shop, I will hit it again with another few thin coats and do the brushed metal technique I tested out on the styrene.
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I will also do a few more tests with the Metallic Stop Light Red paint. It looks really gorgeous and I'm sure once I pick the right clearcoat for it I will have a very nice color and finish for this helmet.
 
Wow you sure sanded that faceplate fairly heavy. Should need zero fill or cleanup on the surface of the Ironman helmet, and a adhesion promoter/sealer works perfect before painting.
 
Wow you sure sanded that faceplate fairly heavy. Should need zero fill or cleanup on the surface of the Ironman helmet, and a adhesion promoter/sealer works perfect before painting.

It looks like I sanded it heavy in that pic, but that's because the resin is black and picks up scratches very 'white' looking. I was testing to see if I could get the brushed metal effect by sanding down the faceplate. Trust me, it was (and still is) smooth to the touch.
 
That looks awesome! Nice cleanup and I'm really like the way you did the brush stroke test. :thumbsup

If I were a rich man, I'd send my Acme pack to you for finishing!

Lonnie
 
Ok looks way heavier than I have ever sanded these for sure. I know all about the black resin those are both my castings. ;)


It looks like I sanded it heavy in that pic, but that's because the resin is black and picks up scratches very 'white' looking. I was testing to see if I could get the brushed metal effect by sanding down the faceplate. Trust me, it was (and still is) smooth to the touch.
 
That looks awesome! Nice cleanup and I'm really like the way you did the brush stroke test. :thumbsup

If I were a rich man, I'd send my Acme pack to you for finishing!

Lonnie

You'd have to be rich - I dread the day someone wants to pay me to do that again! It was a real labor of love and I'd have to ask for quite a bit of cash to do it all over again! Thank you for the compliment!

Ok looks way heavier than I have ever sanded these for sure. I know all about the black resin those are both my castings. ;)

I wanted to thank you for providing such an exceptionally clean casting. I have several kits I am scheduled to work on for clients right now and some of them are down-right terrible castings!
This Iron Man helmet is gorgeously designed and casted and I am very excited to be working on it....you may laugh, but as I was working on it today I was continually humming the score music from the first IM movie that we hear during the captivity scene when Stark is making his first mini-arc reactor....:lol
And trust me, looks heavy but that was actually sanded with wetsand paper!
 
Watching this thread closely, since I just got in on the most recent run of the Wat machine helmet myself. ;)

It will be another two weeks before I really get down and dirty on the War Machine helmet as I am juggling several commision jobs at once right now, but I'm happy to inspire anyone and I'm really happy to be working with such finely casted kits - these things are gorgeous!
 
Love your thread and great work! I'm in a painting process right now, so it's nice to see that I'm on the right track after seeing yours!

Can't wait to see the rest as it progresses!
 
Love your thread and great work! I'm in a painting process right now, so it's nice to see that I'm on the right track after seeing yours!

Can't wait to see the rest as it progresses!

If you have one of these kits, count yourself fortunate. I've seen a lot of IM helmet kits and this one blows them away - kudos once again to Finhead.
 
Awesome work!!! I think that metallic stoplight red is going to work just fine for you on this build. I really want to do one myself when funds permit.
 
I'll have two days this coming week to work on this so with any luck I can have it done. That depends on how many coats of that red I need to lay down...
 
I'll have two days this coming week to work on this so with any luck I can have it done. That depends on how many coats of that red I need to lay down...

Holy F*cking *****!!!!!!

That looks fantastic!

I think I've decided what to do with my extra IM lid and have you MKII it up.
 
Holy F*cking *****!!!!!!

That looks fantastic!

I think I've decided what to do with my extra IM lid and have you MKII it up.

:lolI was actually hoping you'd trade me for it. Getting one of these helmets in my hands really makes me want one for myself.
 
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