I've got two casts to paint, one ESB and one ROTJ. Could anyone recommend what paint they'd recommend? I'm painting a practice lid now with Duplicolor paints, and they're not bad, but damn if you go a hair to thick the stuff will vapor lock and you'll be sanding the shot out of areas(ask me how I know!)

Colors are important, but I'm also looking for a quality paint that will have possibly more user friendly attributes than the Duplicolor paints.

And shortly I'll have a ANH lid to paint up too, but that beast will come much later...

I know next to nothing about Vader paint choices and details of the paint schemes, and I also want to learn more. Here's a couple of good threads in case you have not yet read them:

http://thepropden.aokforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=4268
http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=236753

sskunky provided some really good photos of Ron Punter's made-for-production ESB faceplate. It was a backup mask not used in filming, but I suspect should be close to the actual paint scheme of ESB Hero helmets. The paint detail near the right nose tip is particularly interesting, but I'm not sure that is how the screen-used ESB Hero was painted.

http://thepropden.aokforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=214&t=4656

Thanks man! Thinking of using auto poly to paint my ROTJ. This Duplicolor stuff is shit. Not the color, just one of its tendencies. Being very careful with how I apply it, it can still eat thru a layer under it. Never had this problem with regular spray lacquers before, and I'm painting very thin layers. Down to one small spot and it's so minor I'm going to leave it. Regardless I won't be using this stuff again.

I had problems with Krylon Super Bond Primer+Paint gloss white for HDPE stormtooper helmets. First coat went on fine, second coat whether I waited 10 min or 1 week caused it to kurdle like cottage cheese, disintegrating the first coat, with or without adhesion promoter first. Rustoleum has given me more reliable results, though still not perfect. I have much respect for automotive/professional painters after my trials lol.

Before I read your posts about Dupli-Color problems I picked up this one just to give it a shot. It may be a little dark but it matches fairly well to the EFX PCR gunmetal.

I'm sure you followed the instructions on the can just like I did for the Krylon. Don't use in high humidity, only when temperature is within a certain range, recoat before X hrs or after Y hrs, blah blah, yet we still got similar crappy results on recoats.

I'm thinking it may be temperature related. Not outside temperature but the temperature of the spray paint as it hits the partially- or fully-dried initial coat. Paint under high pressure in the can when it comes out into lower pressure will be colder. And as I recall it was much colder probably 30 degrees F colder. Maybe we'd have better luck if we put the helmet in the refrigerator for 15 minutes or so before recoating. Or bite the bullet and buy an airbrush setup, where could also mix paint colors to get exactly the one we want. Hmmm food for thought.

But I think I will try that chill the helmet between recoat idea before painting recoats and see if it helps.

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I'm open to hearing different brands/methods, etc. I thought I had this one where I could take it, but after inspecting in full light there were just too many areas that suffered from the new coat eating into the old. Maybe the temp/humidity played into it, but typically what I had previously experienced, this only caused some blushing in the new coat.

Yesterday I stripped the mask back down, sanded her and washed/dried her, and I'm back to primered state. Today I'm going to pick up some industrial Rustoleum gloss black and dark gray and give it another go.

Got it sprayed with standard Rustoleum primer and it is looking good. Found Rusto's Industrial line in gloss black and charcoal grey, so in thinking I'll get good results with the paint, but we'll see on the color. I'll post up some pics once the black is down.

Are the RH tubes supposed to be grey on ESB? I see they are on the EFX, but the paint guide pics shows them being black on the ESB guide. Somebody has to be wrong here lol...

I think the following is the right paint scheme for ESB. You should get confirmation from someone who knows for sure, which isn't me!

Maybe someone else with some ESB experience will chime in. That's how I had mine painted, then when I started repainting I couldn't find the thread that had that info. Started looking at the differences between the SL and the EFX captured in pics and noticed that ANH had the R tubes painted grey, only the triangle inside was black.

I have the mask and done res prayed in Rustoleum Industrial, gloss black, and it went down perfect. Trying to determine the best color for the grey now....

ESB Vader paint scheme...

I figure there's one here as well...

http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t= ... ost1568212

Glad the Rust-Oleum is working out for you. Hope they have the colors needed. Speaking of... what to use for the inside of the nose? Even the CRL doesn't make any mention. Looks more silver and less metallic than the gunmetal to me.

http://databank.501st.com/databank/Costuming:SL_esb_vader

For level three certification (if applicable):

The eye sockets (areas bordering the lenses) should be painted black with the exception of the bridge of the nose.

On the wearer's right, the grey section of paint directly above the cheek should come to a sharp point on the side of the nose.

The small lower section of each cheek is painted black. To contrast the cheek on the wearer's left, and to match the cheek on the wearer's right.

Thanks BP! Think I'm good on the black now. I've sprayed some down on a test piece to try my grey to test color, but I'm thinking I want to lighten up the grey a tad more than the gunmetal I have. Not a fan of it being extremely dark.

As far as the nose it's definitely silver, but I don't have a reference color either. I'm going to test some Testors silver on the test piece I have to check how it reacts with the Rusto. Plan to leave it alone for a few days to get to full hardness prior to pushing on.

Yeah mixing paint brands can be iffy. The nose will look better hand painted. I have a couple of masks where the nose was spray painted, and just a slight overspray is very noticeable. I suppose the tusk paint should match the nose paint.

And this probably is in the realm of Vader Secrets, but I think some of the painted accents on the ANH mask might have used the same color as the inside of the nose for some "swipes" such as the nose tip droop on Vader's right side. Some shots of the ESB Hero look similar. Or it could just be the lighting and reflection angle, for both cases, making the color look like a bright silver.

I've been asking around as well. One thing I've noticed is that under different lighting the gray areas vary in color and hue so it's been difficult gauging it just by looking and film and photos. I'm trying some tests with Rust-Oleum products as well. So far the gloss black and metallic charcoal are looking good. I'm working on some test pieces right now. I'll clear them in a bit and then take some pics and upload them.