VEGAS VADER wrote:
hello Brian. would you happen to know about the way the helmets and masks where painted? where the clearcoated or buffed out too a fine shine?
I will answer this one. As I doubt many know. ANH is obviously Gloss black and dulling spray was used.
Any helmet in the OT is not clearcoated in the term we know it today. The paint IMO is from a UK manufacturer and Lacquer exsisted. If you look very closely you can see orange peel and many other imperfections on ESB in particular. 2 domes have been clarified as having this lacquer for sure, one of them is the PA stunt, the other one is a Hero Dome.
Gino mentioned clearcoat/lacquer was never used at any time throughout the OT..Not true. Most of The ESB faces were Lacqured for starters, let alone the domes.
Do not confuse the very nice wet sanded method of a clearcoated SPFX or JB as a comparison as it is not exactly the same, although nowadays it is a close look in some respects. Additionally the paint I believe that was used not only is it discontinued it is harsh to work with.
Vadermonkey has personally exaimed the ESB stunt, took many reference pictures etc..and I have seen them, there is a coat on it hands down.
Lights play tricks, so does the camera but ANH is simply not the same finish as ESB, in some respects that goes for ROTJ additionally.
If you wanted to achieve a very close look, you CAN do a nice gloss black dependant on the brand and polish or wet sand a Gloss black finish, use compound etc..or you can go the clearcoat route, wetsanding again is a good option. The 2 finishes if done correctly will actually be quite similar like the 2 fanmade finishes I mention above.