Painting a Vader helmet... how to make it REAL shiny?

Hecubus114

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RPF PREMIUM MEMBER
I've been doing some test painting on my Rubies Vader helmet as I am planning on buying a more accurate one - but I cant seem to get it to shine as much as a Vader should... are there any Vader painting tutorials out there? I've used glosscote, varnish, I've wetsanded and repainted and wetsanded and repainted... the best I can get is what I'd call a "satin" finish. It just seems like too much gives me a nasty orange peel effect and too little just isnt shiny. Whats the trick to this???
 
What kind of paint are you using?

Basically you treat the thing just like a car.

You get a nice smooth (by wetsanding down to 2000) base surface apply two good primer coats, wetsand and paint. I would do several light coats of paint. From there get your automotive polish out and work it until it looks like glass. They make numerous grits of polish so you start with the big grit and work it down.

It can take alot of time and effort to get it there.
 
ok, thanks! I suppose the fact that I am using fairly cheap paints and not high enough ssndpaper is the problem... is clearcoating less effective than just getting it as smooth as you can and polishing it?
 
Personally, I hate clear coat that comes in a can. It's just not that durable. Polishing it will give you a nice gloss.
 
Personally, I hate clear coat that comes in a can. It's just not that durable. Polishing it will give you a nice gloss.

Agreed. Clear coat paints are also very tempremental. Get just one thing wrong during the application and it can frost, drip, bubble and usually wreck your paintjob Just polish it to its maximum shine :)
 
as far as wetsanding goes - how many coats of paint do I need apply so I dont have to worry about the wetsanding revealing the primer???
 
Why not paint it like the movie one. Use a laquer that can be hand rubbed and polished. The movie helmets didn't use any clear coars at all, it's all from polishing.
 
I would not wetsand after you have the top paint coat on, thats when you go into polish mode.

I do not use clearcoat if I can help it as stated it is very difficult to get it right.
 
Or...if you'd like, take it to an auto shop...those guys get a kick out of painting domes. Guys used to do that all the time because of the same reasons you posted...they just couldn't get the right look. The auto painters remedy that.

Shawn
 
Why not paint it like the movie one. Use a laquer that can be hand rubbed and polished. The movie helmets didn't use any clear coars at all, it's all from polishing.

I just use rattle cans, at least a full can applied in light coats for the dome with no special precations to avoid dust, let it cure for at least 2 weeks then use a cutting compound (T-cut) to smooth out any dust follwed by a good buff up with AutoGlym Super Resin Polish.

Bit of elbow grease involved in the cutting and polishing but gives a good glass finish.
 
I went to the paint guy in my car service station and brought my rubies vader helmet in order to ask him if he could paint it in a shiny glossy black like a car. he told me that it might be possible the car paint might not stay on this kind of plastic. does anybody have any experiences with a rubies helmet?
 
I went to the paint guy in my car service station and brought my rubies vader helmet in order to ask him if he could paint it in a shiny glossy black like a car. he told me that it might be possible the car paint might not stay on this kind of plastic. does anybody have any experiences with a rubies helmet?

Yup, I have painted several with no adhesion problems. It just has to be prepped properly.

To get it to shine like a show car it must be painted like one. After being scuffed and prepped with the proper adhesion promoter go ahead and paint it with black base/clear. You must use car paint to get the proper film build on the clear coat. Rattle cans are 100 times over reduced to spray thru a can nozzle. After it has dried or been baked let it sit over night then sand it with 800p grit then reclear it. The gloss will not dye down any as long as good products are used. I have painted alot of helmets using this method with 0 adhesion problems and ultra high gloss that will last. And you won't have to do any buffing whatsoever as long as it is dust free. remember if you wetsand and buff you are removing film from the part. Loss of gloss will happen if you don't have the proper mil thickness of the clear.





My ROTS helmet and Painted and cleared Rubies armor. I am still trooping with the same armor pictured with no peeling.
 
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Wet sand, wet sand, wet sand.
Make sure your paints are compatible with each other, or your asking for HUGE problems. I used ALL automotive paints, even for the brush on parts for the mask. When you applly enough clearcoat it will cover up any brush strokes unless you want to keep them

FIRST I painted my dome with a sand and fill primer. Once I got the results I wanted, then I hit it up with a couple od coats of black SATIN. Wet sand again.
Applied another coat.
For BEST results I put my drying part in a HUGE Rubbermade container to keep the dust and bugs off it bewteen coats. Once you get a nice BLACK SATIN coat you are happy with, hit it up with a thin coat of automotive clear coat. LET IT DRY! It took me WEEKS to get the results i wanted.
Wet sand.
Apply another coat of clearcoat.
wet sand, Clearcoat, wetsand... You get the idea.
The mask takes some time to do, but its the same idea.
Start by painting the mask in the shade of Gunmetal you like. Mine was a dark gunmetal automotive paint.
HAND BRUSH paint the black parts with SATIN paint. LIGHTLY wet sand and apply touch up or another coat if needed.
Clear coat, wet sand, clear coat, wet sand... all while also storing it in the Rubbermaid container.
Trust me on this one, my mask had a permenent wet look to it when it was done. Any questiosn, feel free to contact me. :):thumbsup
 
And none of the real helmets are that clean polished so most of these suggestions are just plain wrong if you are going for the original prop look - but seeing as this is for regular helmets it may look nicer as a overly shiny display piece rather than the original look crappy paint job.
 
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