TK-4510

OK now we are going to finish this bad boy... My wife has had enough of my "playing in the garage" We start by applying the tube stripes. I use a pencil for reference he to get the distance from the side of the helmet. Make a small mark on the cheek and also one at the rear. Carefully peel the stickers from the backing. Lay them on slowly and keep track of the distance from the edge as you go towards the rear of the helmet. Once they are on smooth them out nice and even. If you get a wrinkle in one just use an exacto knife to lift it up and re apply. Now lets do the other side....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVCb52iQrfo

Anyone can do this, buddy. But thanks for the compliment!

Thats it for tonight. Tomorrow we will put on the tube stripes and the rest of the goodies and WE WILL BE DONE!!!!!! The tape is about 1/16 inch wide. I just bought the standard twin stripes you see on every car, but I know they sell it in single strips.

Now to paint the rank.. Just use a standard brush here like we used on the ears before. Dip the brush and just make a stroke up, then turn the helmet upside down and finish the other edge. We finish up by painting the rank on the other ear.. HOW'S IT LOOKIN'??????

Here's the Dave M helmet.. Here's Mine....Not too bad

Just keep painting and staying within your lines. If you take too long the paint will start to gum up. Enamel goes on like silk and dries quickly. You have about 2 minutes of easy flowing then it will start to dry. dont worry about though. Dont rush it. Just paint nice strokes and follow them through. Fill it in as you go down... [imghttp://www.whitearmor.net/forum/uploads/1203302334/med_gallery_548_103_47407.jpg[/img]

For paint you will need a Satin Black Enamel. I place the helmet in my lap and turn it to the most comfortable position. Dip your brush and press down on the first strip and pull.......Fatten it up by applying more pressure as you pull. Stay on your guides (Stay an Target!!!!)

Next I am going to paint the vocoder. You will need a special brush for this. They sell them at Michael's and other art supply places. The brush you are looking for will be a camel hair round tipped brush that is thin when turned to the side.....

Next I will put on the pinstripe tape. I got tired of having to paint a pinstripe on the ears and thanks to a friend (Chris) I saw how easy it was to just use pinstripe tape. It looks great and if you mess up.....just do it again... I like that You can get the tape at any auto parts store. Unfortunately the place I went to only had the two strip tape...I went ahead and bought it. I just cut the parts off that I didnt need. You just start at the bottom of the ear and work your way around. When you come full circle just cut the tape with an exacto knife or a utility knife.

I decided to use the stickers that were provided in the kit rather than hand painting the details. I have hand painted them before, but for this tutorial I decided to use what was in the kit. Maybe on a later date I will do a thread on painting the details. I have yet to do the tube stripes, but I am figuring it out still... I used a utility knife to make small holes in the occasional bubble.

OK now onto the stickers...

OK now onto the ears.... Change brushes and use a "regualr" brush. We are just going to paint along our lines and fill in the rest....

Dave M helmet

OK its paintin' time take a brush load and go for it. Dont load the brush alot because Humbrol runs easily. Paint along the lines of your frown that you made.....Refer to the reference helmet pics for accuracy. If you are a little off dont sweat it. Its going to look better than anything that was on screen!

The Humbrol paint is great paint but as with all great paints its got rules... #1 shake the can for at least a minute straight. #2 stir the contents for at least a minute....

For a brush I use a #1 fine brush. If you dont have one thats fine enough you can cut a brush down.... as I have done here.

Now its time for paint! I use Humbrol Ad Grey 5 but you can also use Testors grey #1138. Here's a pic of both...

Draw the lines a little inside of what you really need. Here we are going to draw the lines and later when we paint we will finish up by using pinstriping tape to make the ears nice and sharp.

Now I will draw the ears....

Now I will do the vocoder... Same here, I am going to match the fatter look of the Dave M vocoder. Just draw a faint line if possible..

I start out by using the photos I have collected from the internet as guides. I am going to use a pencil here to draw a faint line as a guide for the frown. Keep referring to the pics. Notice how the left hand side of the Dave M helmets frown never gets to the 5th tooth? I like that.