Reach Commando Concept

[Lieutenant Jaku]

i dont see the distressed stripe you mention in the concept art, but i noticed the silver capsule missing in the pep. a good thing to use for that would probably be a plastic fake bullet or something like that cut in half. but only if you intend to do it.
my advice for a distressed stripe would be tape off the edges, you put a small amount of toothpaste or Vaseline on and paint over it. afterwards, go with the same color and a small detail brush and barely put any paint on it, then lightly scratch it along the stripe for smaller parts which will add a more worn look. (i dont think my explanation was very understandable)

 

[BaronVonReicher]

Satchmo III, I'm going to take your advice and try to etch some detail into the helmet. I suppose I can always redo the spot putty if it doesn't turn out well. Great idea for some realism!

Lieutenant Jaku, the distressed stripe is on the cheek in the artwork. I thought about it more last night and I'm going to try to tape off that area and spread a little bit of toothpaste before I paint. For the particular color I want, I'm using a brush and an acrylic paint so I didn't think the vaseline would work like it does for spray paint. The toothpaste will have a chance to dry so I don't have to worry about it smearing when I paint.

I have debated whether or not to add the capsule; if I find something laying around that would be a good match I may use it, otherwise I can do without. If the other detail carving goes well, I may try to carve detail into the silver part of the "mouth" area.

Until next time!

 

[BaronVonReicher]

First Clear Coat!!!

I did a little bit of detail engraving as Satchmo III suggested. It turned out just as I expected... not so fantastic. Being as it was my first time and I don't have the hands of a surgeon, the engraving doesn't look the best but I think it's passable. Good thing I had a needle file set to clean it up as best I could.

The semi-gloss coat throws a glare from the flash so it looks a little worse than it actually is but it's definitely not perfect. You may also notice the slight contrast between matte black spray paint and matte black acrylic paint. I actually didn't really notice that until I got up close. Hopefully the weathering black wash will help to cover that up.

Here are the other angles:

I wanted to include little tribute to another great (relatively) recent FPS; I think that one turned out quite well!

When weather and time permit, I'll black wash and possibly do a light tan wash on the black areas to simulate dirt. I'll brush some of the edges with a metallic gray and touch up some of those areas that are already present. Then I'll clear coat again, pad it, and add a visor.

Let me know what you think!

 

[Sean Anwalt]

I think it looks great. The distressed stripe you were talking about turned out pretty well. You need to get a visor in it, now.

 

[Satchmo III]

The line work might not be perfect but I don't think it looks bad by any stretch. You have to start somewhere and the only way to develop your skills is to practice (and also try new things). Perhaps you did here but if not, next time you could try sketching pencil or marker guidelines directly on the helmet or use tape to mark out lines to follow as you take away material with your rotary tool or files.

The stripe detail turned out well. I'm looking forward to see the helmet black-washed (I don't prefer the pristine).

I have some other suggestions on the paint if you wanted to add in some realism (take or leave or maybe incorporate on your next project). At the outer edges of the green areas (like the bottom of the band in the back) you might also paint green instead of black. Thinking about how something like this helmet would be constructed in reality...this band would all be made of the same "painted metal" material so it would be the same color. I've always thought of the neck and visor seals as a hard rubber material and the other black areas as less of a finished material than the "painted metal" of the outer shell of the helmet...perhaps a matte finish (and a slight shade lighter than hard black) for some of this would approximate that these aren't made of the same material as the more finished colored areas.

Good luck as you continue on.

 

[BaronVonReicher]

Sean Anwalt, I'm pretty excited to get a visor done but I'm afraid I'm a ways away from that! I need to clean up the visor buck I cut out, build a vacuum former, then I can have a visor! Unless someone would be willing to make one for me in exchange for currency (possible Marketplace post will come).

I took Satchmo III's advice and painted the bottom of the back band and the cheek pieces. After revisiting the in-game model I decided to go ahead and make the correction.

So without further ado, the weathered helmet is ready for the final clear coat as soon as it warms up just a little bit.

I’m very pleased with how it’s turned out. The green darkened up just how I imagined with the weathering and clear coat. Comparing with the pictures from my previous post you can tell it’s been black washed but these pictures don’t really do it justice. I also did a wash with a tan color but I wasn’t happy with how it looked so I covered most of it with black.

That’s it for now!

 

[DJames]

Looks amazing man! As someone who is just starting with pepakura myself, what you're doing really helps.

 

[BaronVonReicher]

Thanks DJames ! This project has taken me a year from start to where it is now. Granted, I didn't work on it much between when I first pepped and this past October, but it's been a great experience. My advice is to take your time (maybe not as much as me, ha!), read lots of posts, watch lots of videos, and jump right in. You're not going to get it perfect the first time but if you don't try to rush through it you'll get pretty close.

 

[Dire]

I love the "bill" on your commando, badass man.