Pepakura Halo Reach Scout helmet

[savagehunter]

Hope mine comes together anywhere near as good as yours. Looking forward to seeing yours finished.

 

[realmasterchief]

Thanks briger and savage hunter
i desperately want to get paint on it now and I thought I was finished sanding and was good to go but after reviewing some reference pics from the game it looks like iv got more work to do... Some of the edges need to be rounded off much more than iv got them
at the moment :-(
i spent some time doing the front again and it looks better now.... But iv still got the back and sides to address before paint :-(

 

[realmasterchief]

 

[Chernobyl]

I have some improved files that might help you out - the file you're using was made pre-release and features a lot of inconsistencies. I realise you may not want to re-do your file from scratch but if you're interested in something a little more close to the game, I can help you out.

 

[realmasterchief]

Arcanine that would be great, thank

this is won't be the only helmet I make for sure... A more accurate scout helmet would be cool, then I can customize this one

 

[realmasterchief]

Sorry for poor quality photos but the light in my garage isn't great :-(

 

[realmasterchief]

With a quick coat of silver iv quickly picked out a few spots that need a tiny bit of work up but generally the finish is good.

 

[realmasterchief]

- - - Updated - - -

- - - Updated - - -

got a coat of rust oleum hammer Finnish paint on this morning... Tomorrow, it's air brush time

 

[realmasterchief]

Ok some good news and bad news...

had a quick look in a pound shop for some christmass tree tinsel and found this...

they are super bright and for just £1 a total bargin.

now the not so good new... The enamel paint I'm using is too thick to go through my air brush so I got enamel air brush thinner...but the thinner seems to have reacted with the rust-oleum base coat I put on and it's gone soft :-/
The enamel paint without any thinner has a 6 hour dry time so I'm hoping that tomorrow morning the enamel will be dry and the rust-oleum will have cured again... Otherwise I will be spending countless hours scrapping the damaged paint off and starting again :-(

fingers crossed.......

 

[Master Builder]

Yes, you need to be careful mixing paints. I've also learned this the hard way a couple of times. Test before using. Just make a little panel on the side to spray on.

Most of the rusolum aerosol spray paints will dry almost completely in 24 hours. So you must wait until each different paint is completely dry before applying another, unless of course they don't react violently.

Another thing to keep in mind is: You should apply the clear coats within like 2 hours of what you are spraying on (to make a better bond)(don't do this with different brands) Otherwise you should wait a complete 48 hours or so before applying the clear (need to wait if the paints are reacting).

Hope it ends up well.

 

[realmasterchief]

Thanks for the info master builder,

iv been doing some research on the rust oleum hammered paint, it's an oil based enamel and some people are saying it takes up to two or three weeks for the paint to harden completely, also the "hammered" effect really isn't very noticeable so I'm not sure I'll bother with it for the rest of the armour, I may try the Hammer rite hammered paint instead

 

[realmasterchief]

OK, so the enamel has dried and the rust oleum base coat also seems to be drying, although I think only time (maybe three weeks of it) will tell if it's going to cure fully and give me the tough hard wearing finish I'm after.

hopefully I'm not tempting fate but here is the colour...

 

[realmasterchief]

The colour is quite dark and I will be black washing once the other colours are done so the green will be highlighted like this...

 

[realmasterchief]

Ok, so following a slight disaster involving some spilt enamel thinner and the back of the helmet the paint scheme has had to be re-done :-(
To be honest I wasn't that impressed with the rustoleum hammered finish anyway and it still wasn't cured after over a week, so I stripped the whole thing back and started again from the primer coat up. Even tho the rustoleum was still soft it was a pita to get off and took about 4 hours of sanding.
Iv used a clear plastic primer this time, followed by a coat of black car spray paint, and then a coat of plasti-coat chrome effect.
Then iv started again with the enamel air brushing. This is what it looked like this morning...

 

[Master Builder]

Hey it looks really good!

Are you going to sharpen up the dividing lines? Or leave a smooth transition?

 

[realmasterchief]

Thanks MB,

I tried them sharp on the last paint job and I think I quite like them smooth, iv got some shadows to put in and highlights with the airbrush, then some detail work with a stencil, then a black wash, then oil wash and weathering powders and then edge highlight with chrome effect so I think any sharp edge will be lost anyway

I'm really please how it's turning out, iv got most of Saturday to work on it so should have some progress pictures then I hope

 

[Master Builder]

Did you by any chance clear the chrome? It's best to otherwise you will most likely scrape all the way down to the bondo, instead of only scraping off the top layer.

I was just curious about the lines. I think they look best smooth as well, it goes good with your style of bondoing, having very few hard/sharp edges that is.

 

[realmasterchief]

I didn't no :-(
i tested some clear varnish on a test piece of plastic I painted with the chrome and the varnish took the chrome paint straight off like id sprayed on paint stripper :-( so I went straight to the air brush.
I think your right, if it gets damaged it may scratch down to the GRP, that said the enamel paint is really tough stuff so it should cope OK.

for the next project, which is a Reach chest piece iv got some enamel primer I can thin down and put through my air brush, other than get 2 PAC paint and spray with a compressor I think the enamel is the toughest stuff I'm going to get?

 

[Tetro]

to me the smooth looks good, and I guess with a weathering job edges will appear clearly

 

[Master Builder]

Oh so the green is air-brushed? If so, that shouldn't cause any problems.

The reason I said it was because I painted my helmet with all the same brand primer, metallic (to get the same effect you're aiming for)(wait this was Krylon), base coat, and top coat, but with some airbrushing right on top of the base coat. My plan was to scrape off the base coat (airbrushed on top which was not a problem) down to the metallic. But all the layers bonded extremely well, and I found it nearly impossible to only scrape away one layer, instead it always took everything(primer included) off right down to the bondo. And I was thinking I could have avoided this by clearing the metalic before moving on.

All the clears that use air as it's catalyst (all aerosol can paints) that I've tried haven't been very durable, well they would be plenty for a lightly handled prop. Stuff like gas and other chemicals will damage the enamel almost instantly.

There are a few clears in a can that have a button on the bottom to inject the catalyst. And these of course are much more durable and give you a very nice, shiny surface. But once the catalyst is active, you will have to use the can with in like 24 hours before it goes hard.

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