Polishing my Black Series helmet...With Pics!

[lear60man]

The Black series is a great little helmet to start playing with. One of the first things that needed correction was the dull looking 'chrome'. I get it, they needed a slightly weathered mass produced helmet. But in my head, Mandos helmet needed a good base to start a proper weathering and that meant getting the finish to as close to metal as possible. I grabed some Mothers Scratch remover and a clean cotton cloth. I left the upper cheeks alone to give it some contrast. But now it looks like chrome. Al in all about a 20 minute project. Now to grab some paints and start the real weathering.

Out of the box....

After a bit of buffing...

More to come.

 

[Mike M.]

ooh, shiny!

 

[lear60man]

Im calling this done. Weathered it with some oil paints....and finished.

 

[SolarFett]

What did you use to buff it - just a cloth?

 

[lear60man]

What did you use to buff it - just a cloth?

Yup, old white cotton Tshirt, Mothers Scratch Remover and elbow grease. Much easier that I thought.....low effort.

 

[mbxfett]

Looks great!

 

[SolarFett]

Just gave mine a polish...WOW. I gotta say, I'm more and more impressed with this helmet.

EFX: Hated it. Sold it.
Anovos: Hated it. Sold it.
Jsin: Decent helmet, but not as sturdy as I'd prefer, and paint was just ok IMHO. Sold it.
Nomad Props: Ordered 2, kept both.
Black Series: Keeping the first and ordering another

 

[lear60man]

I love how they are marketing the Black Series of helmets as toys.....but in reality, they are super accurate prop replicas. I used to work for a company called Icons way back in time. We were the first to offer a Licensed Prop replica of the X Wing. Right as we were about to hit the market, Kenner came out with their retooled studio scale X Wing and it was a home run. Plus it had electronic. Everyone of us bought one and repainted it instead of buying ours hahahah. Ours was a Prop replica, theirs was a toy.....but for 95% cheaper.

 

[Andy]

ICONS! I read those Starlog magazines back in the day, near the end would be all the mail to order ads for licensed items and I would endlessly fawn over there stuff. The timing between those awesome replicas you had out in the market and the similar toyline wares must have been gutting. Had the company came into life a few years later during the boom in the mid 2000s the alternate timeline branch created would have been very interesting to see. Very cool bit of information, thanks for sharing!

Just gave mine a polish...WOW. I gotta say, I'm more and more impressed with this helmet.

EFX: Hated it. Sold it.
Anovos: Hated it. Sold it.
Jsin: Decent helmet, but not as sturdy as I'd prefer, and paint was just ok IMHO. Sold it.
Nomad Props: Ordered 2, kept both.
Black Series: Keeping the first and ordering another

The general consensus right now from all the people I've spoken to like yourself and a few others around the groups/boards is his bucket is one of the best on the market presently. I'm on the waiting list for both helmet and armor and looking forward to that eventual notification Sean's ready to take orders again.

 

[Gee2]

ICONS

 

[RBF]

I'm sure there will be a crl note that will disable use of the blackseries helmet one way or the other. Something in the lines of: helmet can't have a completed interior because it didnt have one on set or... Helmet must be a one piece construction. Or even simpler: must be fg.

I love the black series helmet, it's epic! Also polished it a bit and its just.... Great

 

[Gee2]

Pretty sure it's already in there, not specific about the Black Series helmet but in regards to the ear pieces and the brow not being in line w/ on screen.

 

[RBF]

Pretty sure it's already in there, not specific about the Black Series helmet but in regards to the ear pieces and the brow not being in line w/ on screen.

I thought the ears were slightly to thick on the black series one. No idea what would be wrong with the brow.

Edit:
Here's a sloppy compare of screen used...? & black series.

 

[ShadowX81]

Out of curiosity how does the Black Series painting compare to Alumiluster? Ive been thinking of repainting mine, but im wondering if its even worth it.

 

[lear60man]

Out of curiosity how does the Black Series painting compare to Alumiluster? Ive been thinking of repainting mine, but im wondering if its even worth it.

Depends on how much work you want to put into it, but very comparable. I would venture to say possibly superior as its an industrial process and comes out near perfect.

 

[SolarFett]

Depends on how much work you want to put into it, but very comparable. I would venture to say possibly superior as its an industrial process and comes out near perfect.

100% agree. Like I’ve said, after owning Nomad, Jsin, EFX, and Anovos, buckets, I keep going back to just how beautiful this helmet is.

Regarding the paint…I’d have to say, it’s just as good as Alumaluster, if not better. Like lear60man stated, I think the application process actually makes it look more even and “metal-like” than other helmets painted with Alumaluster.

So, if it were me…I’d polish and weather it, but I wouldn’t repaint it with Alumaluster imho.

 

[ShadowX81]

Depends on how much work you want to put into it, but very comparable. I would venture to say possibly superior as its an industrial process and comes out near perfect.

The only reason I ask is because im about to have a set of armor sent for painting with Allumiluster, and im considering adding the black series helmet to be painted to match. If its very similar though I may just let it remain as is and accept the color mismatch.

 

[SolarFett]

The only reason I ask is because im about to have a set of armor sent for painting with Allumiluster, and im considering adding the black series helmet to be painted to match. If its very similar though I may just let it remain as is and accept the color mismatch.

Ok so that’s a different question…I’m no expert, but I believe the prop masters would tell you that no two paint jobs (batches) are alike - meaning, if one prop builder paints your helmet with Alumaluster and a different one paints your armor with Alumaluster, there are bound to be subtle/slight differences in the final product due to the many variables (weather conditions, paint guns used, priming process, etc).

So the reason i say that is, I would have him paint it to match if that’s your goal.

Hope my ramblings made sense lol

 

[lear60man]

Ok so that’s a different question…I’m no expert, but I believe the prop masters would tell you that no two paint jobs (batches) are alike - meaning, if one prop builder paints your helmet with Alumaluster and a different one paints your armor with Alumaluster, there are bound to be subtle/slight differences in the final product due to the many variables (weather conditions, paint guns used, priming process, etc).

So the reason i say that is, I would have him paint it to match if that’s your goal.

Hope my ramblings made sense lol

Agreed....but this could work in the favor of the builder. Mandos whole outfit is kida put together at various points in time so nothing is going to match each other 100%. A slight variation would actually be more appropriate. Just my two cents.

 

[Andy]

Ok so that’s a different question…I’m no expert, but I believe the prop masters would tell you that no two paint jobs (batches) are alike - meaning, if one prop builder paints your helmet with Alumaluster and a different one paints your armor with Alumaluster, there are bound to be subtle/slight differences in the final product due to the many variables (weather conditions, paint guns used, priming process, etc).

So the reason i say that is, I would have him paint it to match if that’s your goal.

Hope my ramblings made sense lol

Yeah I'm in favor of keep things painted uniform or repainting everything instead trying to match it. The black series is definitely not using the same production Alumaluster grade finish. So getting the right color to match the bucket is more trouble than it's worth.