Spasm

Paul Yes, a nice commendation. Thanks for finding it. I'll let Steve know. Cheers

A bit closer but still a long way

What a great thing. Of course it's art, both musically and aesthetically. I assume it has a sound all of it's own.

Tony - yep, Royal Irish Rifles, first day of the Somme Kris - a good blank canvas, gonna be hard painting it with that strut still bolted on. Difficult to display as well, unless you've got your own trench system like Chris.

Thanks Kris... I think that's about it, was going to add some medals but it got a bit crowded. So, get me crayons out and fill in the colours

A bit of a challenge (even trying to carry it around) A couple of days spent blocking out the picture adding bits and taking others away but you get the general idea. Lots of barbed wire, a few poppies and hopefully after a few weeks.... The plate itself is slightly bent probably having been hit when the hinged cover was broken off. A great thing but will need some big screws if it's to go on the wall.

Might be some tie in with the Rift Valley Railway and the Rift Valley Police. Note the coins used in the region with the same stance lion.

A few ARP bits and bobs that came together

What about a GMIC "Pals Battalion"? Jock could be the PR dept.

Almost done (you'll be glad to hear). Add some lettering trying to get the style correct for the age. Make sure you've centred the writing on the helmet or it just makes the whole thing look off. The lettering will draw the eye first so it has to look right. You can spend hours and hours on lettering as it's quite difficult. Have a look on t'tinternet at differing fonts to help. Put your signature on the underside of the rim, with a date, get another final coat of lacquer on and we're all done. Phew. Onto the next one - an ARP with St Paul's aglow. I've got a few bits that go together with this one. A gas mask and bag, a wooden warning rattle thing, an ARP precautions handbook, a full tin of Anti gas No2 Ointment, an ARP whistle on a lanyard, ARP badge and tunic buttons - all from the same person, The helmet is scratched H Hall under the rim. Thank you. Over.

Tony - what would I do if I ran out? Frank - Robin - thank you very much. Glad you like the helmet. I still think it's better in the hand than in the pictures. I must try to figure that out, probably need to make a light box or use the 'big' camera. So, continuing to completion of our Dunkirk one. Paint on a few badges and flags representing the 'little ships' and a veteran's badge. Then the medal Don't be tempted into putting the colours on, just use white - as in airbrushing bonnets, motorcycle tanks etc. - you need to cover the base colour and paint on the details. Medal ribbons are pretty difficult but I paint on weenie stripes to represent the silk of the ribbon. Easy to then colour and shade to make it look like a ribbon. The medal is built up using yellow ochre as a wash and then darkening down into the details. The Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Yellow Ochre and Black can be mixed and used as washes to make any 'bronze'. Silver medals are much more difficult but give a wash of Burnt Umber before getting into the details with Black washes works quite well.

Robin - all in all it takes about a week including the restoration and all the split thumbs from the sanding. Lots of music and a pleasant way to pass the time while thinking about the next project. Now, I've got a side of a WD petrol/water can, a couple of WW2 German Ammo boxes, a British WW1 sniper plate, half a dozen relic German helmets, half a dozen WW1 British helmets, quite a few WW1 and WW2 British water bottles and I still haven't got those bits of Afghan Apaches from work yet - must have a chat with those REME guys again. I'm short of WW1 German helmets, anyone have any relics they want to part with?

Tighten up the newspapers and give them a wash or six and some shadows Move onto the other side and do as above to get another couple of pictures on. Then onto the back and paint directly over the brown base for another picture. All painting by numbers and saving with a coat of lacquer and then applying washes to sneak up on what you want. I'll save ya'll from the rest of the process as they are all much the same until I get onto the medal, laters.....

Cor, I like that quick shade dipping varnish. Probably best shaking it off in the garden rather than in the bathroom though.

The edges of the now sharp white base need to be made a bit fuzzy. Use a drop of water and your nicked scourer. This can also be used for any overspray. Wipe clean. Take the newspaper headlines and give it a good dose of pencil on the back - I've a big thick 6B to do this quickly. Lay and tape on over the white and trace with a ballpoint pen. You can see where you've been so you don't forget which bit you've already traced between sips of tea. Make sure the paper doesn't move as you'll need to hold it as you draw around the 'bends' in the helmet. Ta-da a rough copy of the headlines. Position and tape the next piece and trace again. Once all traced then get your brushes and paint out and fill in the outlines. Painting by numbers, time consuming but pretty easy. Don't worry too much about the weenie details as we're going to make this look old and a bit ragged so the details won't be too clear when finished.

Right, back to the Dunkirk helmet... You've had a good session on Google and have found loads of pictures that will go on the helmet. Obviously you own the rights to all the pictures and have permission to use them...ahem. Get them all to the right scale by mucking around with the settings on your printer and print them all out. You may need several reams of paper and a few dozen ink cartridges to get everything right. Then choose which ones you'd like on the helmet, cut them out and temporarily stick them onto the helmet to get the look you want. Pick something to start with, here I've gone for the newspaper headings. Hold the picture onto the helmet and draw round it with pencil. Take the picture away and stick masking tape around the drawn border. You'll notice that the lines you've drawn don't look straight. This is because you're drawing onto the 3D curves of the helmet, so you'll need to position the masking tape to ensure the corners look square and the edges look straight. This takes a bit of fettling until it all looks ok. Mask off the rest of the helmet. Don't stick the masking tape down too well or it'll be a bugger to get off, you're just looking to stop any overspray onto the rest of the helmet. Use too much masking tape or you'll get overspray. As you've got a lacquered helmet any overspray can be fairly easily removed but it's best not to get any in the first place. Here I'm using some Citadel Skull White, a hobbyist's rattle can spray that is a bit more expensive but it dries really quickly and is meant for grown up kids to paint their Space Marines. So it's easy to use and can be sprayed thinly. You don't need a thick white, just a light coating to give your painting a base to work from. You could always just paint this base with white acrylic brushed on but it takes ages to cover the brown and ends up with brush marks that will show when you're laying washes on top. Pull off the masking tape and hey presto, all ready to get into making it look like an old newspaper.

I've consulted the Admin Staff. Her knowledge on cricket bats is absolutely rubbish. She's good on crochet though.

I obviously need a new camera or to improve my knowledge on what buttons to press, the helmet is a lot better in the flesh. Thanks Gents, nifty with pots is what I'm trying for. Enjoy the helmet Robin. Here's the antique cricket bat (I've no idea how old it is, does anyone have any knowledge on these?) and the continuing portrait. WC Grace, who was a Doctor and a Surgeon, and one of the greatest English cricket players ever. He achieved the double (1000 runs and 100 wickets in one season) 8 times in his cricket career. He played football for the Wanderers and could throw a cricket ball a distance of 122 yards. He was born here in Bristol which is where he was a GP. His never seemed to get around to invoicing his poorer patients and regularly visited the local workhouses on his rounds. Sounds like a great bloke. Back to the Dunkirk helmet.

Sorry I haven't been getting on with this. I've been diverted by a couple of other things, this being one of them. Made by Montagu Odd, who hand made cricket bats for one of the greats.... Not really militaristic but it does give an idea of how to build up a portrait

Impressed or what. Well done Tony. Looks good to me, you'll get used to how the colours interact and how to change the tones to get the final result you want. Not using enough lacquer will not cause anything to bubble up. All I can think of is that the paint was not quite dry before you lacquered, this will seal in the moisture and cause the paint to lift as the water evaporates. Acrylic paint is basically a resin or plastic once dried. It sticks to the lower wet or dry coat by drying around millions of weenie bits that stick up into the new coat. The bubbling has caused these to separate and therefore will now not be as stuck together as they should be. If kept dry and stable there shouldn't be a problem but I wouldn't be surprised if, given time, you loose those sections. However, lacquer is pretty strong so you may never see any problem as the final coats of lacquer will hold the layers in place. Dampness in the air causes the lacquer to go misty, lacquering in the rain causes what looks like white spots (which is really annoying) but doesn't cause any lifting. Putting on thick coats of lacquer can cause 'orange peel' (which needs rubbing down to make smooth). Your lacquering looks good. Don't get too heavy handed with the lacquer, you're not painting a car or bike tank for the glossy finish. You can put on as many coats of lacquer as you want just keep them thin like you have. Nice one. Bloody excellent for a first one, you should've seen my first one

Hmmmm........looking through the site. I suppose he did find a field full of them and ran out of ideas. I liked the bog, but then saw this No way to feed the baby

Came today in the post, will pass on

Is this the finished helmet or just the base colour? Assuming it's the base colour and you are going to start with the lighter colours (ie at post #24) then it looks ok to me. If it's the finished helmet then yes, it looks like it needs lightening up. Again, go back to post #24. Keep going it looks pretty good to me. And yes, keep the darkening paint glazes very thin and dab away.

A great M18, miles better condition than the ones I usually end up with. Any stamps inside?

Tony Yep, making a mess is all part of the experience. Would be good to have a look at some photos. My photos may not show the helmet correctly as the colour does look a bit darker in the flesh. You're trying to get something that looks authentic, If it looks ok, and old untouched helmets are pretty dark, then I'd leave it. Not too much problem painting over what you've got using the dark colour as the base. Apply the lightest colour again and then use very watery colours to darken down. Dry each coat until you get the colour you want. If I was really unhappy then I'd start over. It's been some time but I remember cleaning the paint off of a few before I was getting what I wanted. Acrylic comes off pretty easy with some paint remover under a running tap and a bit of rubbing. Don't be worried about starting over, practise makes whatsit and all that. Remember you're sneaking up on the colour, not trying to get it in as few coats as possible. Keep the paint thin and use plenty of dabbing off to get a worn look. It'll come, but watch the carpet with all the splashing about.