ATA B-grade project hemet, my first attempt at an HDPE replica helmet

I picked up this cheap B-grade helmet so that I could have soemthing to experiment on.

I wanted to see if I could produce my own helmet with a nice chipped look and replicate the colour of the HDPE base material.
Until we get a reliable supplier of genuine HDPE helmets (nd believe me, I'm not going to be sending Lord Snooty any of my cash for one of his!), then painting is the way to go.

This was prompted by pictures of a genuine helmet which emerged recently. I was struck by just how green the plastic was. TM made me a great replica ESB helmet but the base colour was distinctly beige/khaki.
I wanted to experiment and see if I could get close to the green colour.

My TM ESB helmet pictured next to an original screen-used HDPE helmet:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

This is what I first came up with. Beige primer on its own looked OK for a quick solution ...

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

... but I stripped the paint back for a second attempt (the first paint job was rushed and didn't cure properly anyway). I used beige primer again and a light spray of some satin green over the top. The green was too bright to use as a solid colour but the light layer on the beige turned out OK I think ...

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Not having any professional maskign fluid around, I used toothpaste and it did the job OK.

What do you reckon, chaps? I'm reasonably happy. As I say, it was a project helmet to test out my (limited) skills. I think I'd be willing to tackle the job on my next proper helmet and I've got a nice little display item out of it in the process.

I like the toothpaste idea, necessity realy is the mother of invention [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

It may just be the pics but the hdpe still looks a little light?

Yep, definitely a bit on the light side. Meanwhile R2Dan in Germany has let me know where to get some great paint.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Cool ask Stuka what paint he used for the hdpe - it's a great colour also