Last year for my birthday my parents bought me a great hard ABS plastic wheel cover... originally I wanted the hard cover so that I could buy a vinal sticker that could be removed... but I never got around to it.
I toyed with the idea of painting it... and for a long time wanted to... but my ex thought a blatant show of my love for star wars on the back of my jeep would be bad (despite the fact that I have a boba fett liscense plate she gave me...)
But hey, she doesn't matter anymore right!? lol. anyways. so here's the wheel cover:
So what do I put on it? Imperial cog? Rebel insignia? fett's mythosaur skull to match my tatoo? Fett's chest emblem? Something else entirely? I considered a fossil... maybe a trilobite or fossil fish from the time I spent in wyoming...
No. It must be more complicated than that... and it definitely needed to be star wars. So I decided I would do as accurate an image of boba fett's helmet as I could do....
And here is how I did it:
Step one: Find necessary paints. I got dark grey primer, nickel (or silver), olive green, hunter green, red, yellow, black, and finally enamel clear coat for preserving the final product.
Step two: Mask the cover off with a layer of painters tape:
Step 3: create a template. I used my 60" tv to pull up an image of the helmet, drew the cover's inner circle on a sheet of newspaper stock and then taped that on my tv and VERY CAREFULLY traced the helmet's features.
Step 4: I didn't photograph this so I'm sorry, but cut out the template you drew createing an outline with the remaining paper. Use this to draw the main outline onto the masking tape
Step 4: Cut out the masking tape that you've just outlined to create a negative of the image. This will be the base layer of paint and should be primer.
(already looks cool I think...)
First coat:
Now, I masked off a few spots that I wanted to be the primer color as weathered places, then painted over the entire thing with the nickel/silver color
Then is the most complicated part. Tear off tiny pieces of tape and place them over the silver layer. When removed this will be the weathered areas of scractes and dings. You have to really think ahead on this, refer back to the template often.
Then paint the next color (the lighter green in this case)
Then you need to cut apart the helmet template's cheeks and mandibles so that you can use them as reference for the next part. Mask off the top half of the helmet and then mask off the cheeks. Use the template to draw out the curves, then trace them with the razorblade making the masking the perfect shape. I had to re-do this step because I didn't get the template positioned right the first time so be careful and pay attention. (dark green next)
Then do the same thing for the dark green mandibles, cover them up just right and then paint the red.
Then, remove some of the masking from the right side of the helmet and also cut out the bars on the top of the helmet for the yellow layer. This should be the last layer of masking.
Finally... once everything is dried completely, remove the masking:
and add the few final touches by hand with a brush or paint pen. Add a layer of clear coat for protection and voila:
Did I mention that this literally took me all day? (you might notice the mug in the first photo, that is mt. dew and redbull.... then in the last few pics you might spot my glass of wine for the evening. lol)
You need to be very cautious though as you move from one layer to the next. DO NOT start masking for the next layer before the first layer is dry. You will ruin all your work. Don't rush it. Let it dry and make sure it isn't even TACKY. I mean DRY, COMPLETELY. Also make sure as you apply the masking tape you do so smoothely and evenly, for if there is the slightest wrinkle paint will seep under it and render the masking useless.
You really have to plan these kinds of projects, do them methodically and perfectly or else it will not line up or work right in the end. But man, is peeling off that masking tape to see it all come together something amazing. Probably one of the most rewarding feelings of any project I've done.
Hope yall enjoyed it. I'll post pics of it on my jeep tomorrow...
