Boba Fett's Empire Strikes Back helmet - Part 1

So now that I've completed the entire Return of the Jedi Boba Fett armor, (I haven't taken final project photos of it yet -- need to get a decent camera & set up,) I thought I'd move on to painting Boba's Empire Strikes Back helmet.

The two "buckets" have different color schemes, and significantly different battle damage.

I collected about 20 different photos online of the ESB helmet, and printed them for reference.

I'm starting with a "GMH" by FettPride -- recast from an actual film-used Lucasfilm prop.  It's a resin shell with fiberglass reinforcement.  I cleaned it up, trimmed everything, and got it ready for priming:

Next up, I sprayed the whole thing with Rustoleum Aluminum...

...Except for some areas in the back that seemed to have primer showing through the final paint job.  I masked these with Windsor Newton Liquid Mask so the primer would show through. 

Then I masked more battle damage per the photos (you can see my reference sheets on the table there,) and sprayed the dark gray layer.  I used Rusto Anodized Bronze and then a mist of black.  Between each layer, after peeling off the liquid mask, I lightly brushed the surface with 0000 steel wool.

Another layer of liquid mask, and then the off-white layer.  For this, I used Rustoleum Almond, with a mist of Rusto Anodized Bronze.

After that, the last layer of liquid mask, and the top coat of Valspar Peacock House, misted with Black.  Once the top coat was dry, I added "micro-damage" with a screwdriver and some gravel. 

Here we have the completed back panels... Click for a larger view:

More soon!

~N