In the second part of the article, I'll show some specific examples and the steps involved using the hair gel masking process.
The helmets were created using the simple steps of one color over another except that the Normandy camouflage helmet had one additional step concerning the decal. The helmets are 1/6 scale and meant to be used with action figures. I think they are an ideal way to get used to the technique as they are inexpensive, a convenient size and can be painted in an endless variety of colors and finishes.
I first masked the decal on the "Normandy Camo" helmet. I allowed some of the decal to show through as it was a nice detail and surviving examples indicate some soldiers didn't want to completely obliterate the shield when applying the paint to the helmet. You can see that I have replaced the molded liner rivet with the head of a straight pin.(1) I airbrushed a dark grey/green on the helmet.(2) I removed the gel mask from the decal (3) and started to reapply the mask to the rest of the helmet. (4)
The helmet was sprayed with tan, brown and olive. The helmet was scrubbed with a stiff brush and the photos show the result after a wash of dark grey and light buff to bring out the details and age the colors. The helmet shows a lot of wear to the camo paint for a couple of reasons. The field applied colors were painted over a "contaminated" surface in that the helmet could have oil, mud and dirt and other substances that would inhibut the paint sticking to the shell. The paints were not carefully mixed and had no chance to be baked to the surface like the factory color. If a helmet were used in combat long enough, it surely would suffer from being hit with debris and generally being abused.
The tan "Afrika Korps" helmet and the winter whitewash helmet were both painted in the same manner. Like the Normandy helmet, they were airbrushed with grey/green and then daubed with gel.
Each helmet was then airbrushed with the camo and the paint scrubbed away with a stiff paint brush. I applied a wash of dark gray to each helmet and the white helmet got an additional wash of raw umber to tone it a little more.
The photo shows the tan helmet in the first two images.
The white helmet is shown with it's sprayed coat of white over the hair gel (1) and the white being scrubbed off. (2)
Images (3) and (4) show the finished, weathered helmet.
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