Updates!
Masked the armor parts using stencils provided from RafalFett. The Hero armor from Wasted Fett and the stencils are not sized to match. I suppose a I could have magnified the image before print with some testing, but meh. I ended up using the stencils as a guide line and free handed the markings, which will take from the accuracy, but will suit my needs. Also to note is masking and layering vs topical painting for weathering effects. For some parts I ended up opening the file on my laptop and sized the image to fit the size of the armor plate and matched the markings. Have a look and be the judge.
I could not, for the life of me, locate a single Humbrol vendor, and I went to 5 separate paint vendors in my area...Decided to stick with rattle can colors: Hunt club and spruce green. Will have to sort out some airbrush colors to dial in weathering.
The collar was the first attempt. I've masked the silver and gray portion as a single part and will hand paint in the gray as a middle layer between silver and green. This is when I discovered the stencils were proportionally incorrect and began to free hand instead.
Left chest plate masks yellow and silver and will hand paint yellow as the middle layer.
The right plate has very little silver weathering, but a large patch of dark gray (base metal), and a darker green/gray (lark gray). With the recommended colors, I didn't feel like it was a match and decided to mask the silver and dark gray area on the left. I will be painting over the silver area in gray to still give the chipped look and will topically apply the lark gray areas as a stain to the paint rather than a chipped layer. (added the masking in a later photo)
The back plate was pretty straight forward and just used the online image to guide the mask.
Same with cod and kidney.
Here's what I came up with before laying down the Hunt Club green layer.
Now I wait for the paint to completely dry and cure before I start peeling away the maskol and applying yellow and gray. Achieving the carbon scoring and weathering appears that I will need to airbrush on the damage to get the best effect, perhaps touch up the green to give it that brighter color I see from the Bespin hallway.
In addition to the first paint layers going down, I've sent out payments for the ESB Belt and Wookiee Braids. Still need to obtain boot spikes and jetpack beacon from Machine Prop Replicas, and need to sort out the EE-3, Pulce 40 and holster. Locking pin backs are in transit after I read through Fettastic's thread for attachment method. Ugh, and sort out the jetpack harness.
When I get the chance I can lay down Spruce green for Gauntlets and Jetpack. Next to mask are the knees and shoulders. Following that I can begin weathering the soft parts: girth belt, flightsuit and boots. It's getting there! It seems attainable. And... then the helmet. That's a whole another project by itself. When I get there, I'll be stoked because it's the cherry on top.
In the end I decided to go with my chosen colors and free handing the maskol because the requirements for the costuming clubs (which is my end goal) states: "Weathering reasonably matches visual reference", colors are "medium dark green", with exposed silver damage. Pretty mellow considering the amount of attention the Dented Helmet community puts into the detail. Part of the fun with this build is being able to do what I can without reaching out to others for assistance and doing the work for me. With that, I can accept any errors or mishaps that happen along the way, learn from it, and improve the skills for the next one.
Thanks for following along! It's a long journey for sure.