Need advice and help

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PlaylikeLuX

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Hello everyone, I've been working on my Halo Reach Noble 6 helmet for a big while now. I've already pumped more than 80h in the helmet as it was my first ever try sanding it which I did suprisingly well. I've used Spray putty (first problem) which was chosen randomly. I've did about 4-5 coats which I then sanded down to 600 wet.
Till now everything went fine .

Then I asked automotive painter in my school if he could help me paint the helmet and what I should do and how. We added the primer and then boom.
Small bubbles started appearing. The top looks somewhat like crocodile leather :/ . Sanding that down to 500 , we added some black matt (which is somewhat too dark) and Sky blue which I fought looked differently on the helmet *facepalm* .
I wanted the Helmet to look darker like in the picture added to this thread.

What spray cans can you recommend me to paint the rest and for future helmets. And how could I get the helmet to look better?

Is there a way to wheater it that much that it could get darker?






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Backwash probs your best bet. But honestly that's a gorgeous color. Maybe not what you were going for but I love it. That helmet looks awesome.
 
Acrylic blackwashes make miracles for weathering. You could also weather with oil paints. In regards to paint recommendations, what continent are you in? Sometimes brands can change between them.
I am in Europe, Luxembourg. The color really resembles the Halo Infinite one. The problem is also that The ingame has the some really nice Dark Grey matt on which mine is somewhat Black reflective

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Oooh so are you looking for a way to make the black more matte grey? I thought you were looking to darken up the blue.
 
As most others have said blackwash ot to get a darker weathered look. Put a small amount of black acrylic paint into some water. Mix it around, then generously apply. Wait a few minutes then gently dab off with a paper towel. Repeat til satisfied. Love the color though!
 
For your black/gray problem, Having darker tones to start with is actually a good thing because you can then use these tones to give even more dimension to the piece.
Generally, recesses receive less ambient light and therefore are darker. So by building up your desired color on top of it while leaving some black tones in the recesses will help bring out the details nicely.

So my advice in your case would be to varnish the whole helmet with a Mat clear coat, this will dull the shiny black and add some bonus protection to the paint. (You can always bring back some shininess to the blue later on with some satin varnish if it becomes too dull for your taste.)
Then I'd build up the gray areas using either an airbrush or a regular brush with some gray paint. If I'd be using a brush, I'd probably do a few drybrush layers. (This tutorial actually has a good overview on how you can built up gray with a black base using drybrush at around the 22:35 mark :
)
You can then do and additional black wash as suggested by others to add even more textures.

As for the blue, you can apply a similar principle and simply go in with a darker color towards the recesses while leaving the color you have right now where ambient light is going to be more prominent, like on the edges and raised areas.

Your piece should look a bit more contrasted and less flat by having different tones over a given surface. It will also make things pop more in pictures and look generally nicer.
Hope this helps.
 
For your black/gray problem, Having darker tones to start with is actually a good thing because you can then use these tones to give even more dimension to the piece.
Generally, recesses receive less ambient light and therefore are darker. So by building up your desired color on top of it while leaving some black tones in the recesses will help bring out the details nicely.

So my advice in your case would be to varnish the whole helmet with a Mat clear coat, this will dull the shiny black and add some bonus protection to the paint. (You can always bring back some shininess to the blue later on with some satin varnish if it becomes too dull for your taste.)
Then I'd build up the gray areas using either an airbrush or a regular brush with some gray paint. If I'd be using a brush, I'd probably do a few drybrush layers. (This tutorial actually has a good overview on how you can built up gray with a black base using drybrush at around the 22:35 mark :
)
You can then do and additional black wash as suggested by others to add even more textures.

As for the blue, you can apply a similar principle and simply go in with a darker color towards the recesses while leaving the color you have right now where ambient light is going to be more prominent, like on the edges and raised areas.

Your piece should look a bit more contrasted and less flat by having different tones over a given surface. It will also make things pop more in pictures and look generally nicer.
Hope this helps.
Thank you very much for this detailed description. I'll get myself first the Clear Matt Coat and then look what I'll do first. I'll keep you updated :)
 
Make sure your varnish is compatible with your paint. rattle cans can have issues when you layer them. ive had aweful luck with rustoleum specifically. always do a paint test before using it on your helmet.
Agreed, always try things out on test pieces when its the first time using something.
I tend to stay away from Rustoleum in general except when I'm in a tough spot.
Having tried a variety of can brands, my personal favorite is Krylon. Never had any issues with it, on the paint level and clear coat/varnish level. They also have great coverage and a good variety of colousr. They're just a bit harder to find unfortunately, at least where I'm from..
 
A question for the Clear coat Matt. Just to be 100 procent sure, should I apply the clear coat before anything and then weather it and add deatails or after everything is done ? ( Asking because in the automobile sector it is applied afterwards)
 
If its for the dulling the black, then I'd do it first. Gloss has a tendency to make it a bit harder for other paints to stick to and generally makes it run more. For example, if you were to do a wash on a glossy surface, the liquid would slip a lot more towards the recesses and wouldn't have as good an overall coverage as if you'd be doing it on a mat surface.
You can also apply multiple coats of varnish at different steps of the painting process. I tend to do it myself in between major steps, like after basecoat, weathering, final details. In all case, I give a good one at the very end to protect the surface as much as I can, especially if the piece is going to see the con floor.
 
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