Well I will tell you, after several long, long days and nights in a row I am finally finished with this stupid ESB Fett helmet that I am painting for someone. The helmet is totally done. The visor is installed, the RF is attached, the MQ-1 board is installed, and most importantly the paint job is 100% DONE! I have been working for hours and hours every day for the last like five days to try to get this thing done and I finally finished it this morning. I have hated this helmet all the way from start to finish, and I was really not happy with how it was coming along but in the end I am actually really pleased with the end result. I guess it's true the whole is greater then the sum of it's parts. Is it perfect? No not by a long shot. There are a bunch of things I would do differently if I were to do it over. If it were my helmet I might even try to do them at this point but since it isn't I am not going to touch it. I will suggest to the new owner to replace the visor in it with an accurate dark green welders face shield as the dark grey one that came with this kit sucks anus. It is the wrong color for the ESB helmet, and it isn't dark enough (I can see my own face in the mirror while wearing it). Also I don't like the range finder that came with the kit (or the flimsy resin stalk for that matter either) as it is all one peice and not three seperate ones as it should be, now normally this wouldn't make a big deal if it was ment to all be painted the same color, or even different colors. But the middle section of it should be clear, and well there is no way I can paint fiberglass clear. It just isn't possible. Another problem and this one is minor, I couldn't find the perfect accurate color for one of the ears (none of the shops in town had any and I didn't have time to order it) so I had to use an off the shelf spray paint that was suggest to me. Most people would never notice, but I know it isn't right so it bothers me. The only other big pet peeve I have is with the kill stripes decals I used. This one is probally my fault, most of the time I paint the kill stipes on by hand, but this time I wanted to use the nifty decals I got on TDH for them. They came pre-weathered (meaning the little peices are missing out of them where they should be, or at least that is what I was told) but the weathering isn't really that accurate. It is close, but not quite perfect. Also the ESB kill stripes should fade from a yellow color to a orangeish yellow color, and these are all the same bright yellow color. I tried to hide this a bit with a dark grey misting over the back half and then lightening up as I moved forward and it works, but again not 100%. All in all I am pretty pleased with my work, I think it really is as good as I could make it, except for the above mentioned items. I kind of want to keep this helmet as it is the first ESB helmet I have done and I kind of like it. I can't of course keep it as I can't afford to pay the guy who paid me for it back what he paid me ($300 for the paint plus I think $265 for the helmet!) plus I am sure he wouldn't do it after waiting this long for it. After seeing how this one came out I feel a lot better about having to paint Scott's when he sends it to me, and depending on how many helmets he sends me for myself I might even have a go at an ESB for me too. I do think I am going to have to tell Mac that I can't paint his, I think Mac is too detail oriented and will never be happy with my paint job and I don't want to spend that much time only for him to be dissapointed. I know he isn't going to be happy about that, and I wouldn't blame him but I think it will be better in the long run. My parents got me a new ten megapixel digital camera for my birthday (which is next week bitches!) and I am going to take this helmet down to West Palm with me tonight to get some good photos of it. I will post them here when I do.
Oh since i clearly just mentioned it, I am going down to West Palm either tonight or tomorrow morning for Thanksgiving to see my folks. We are going to celebrate my mom's birthday, my birthday and Thanksgiving all at once, like we do every year. I am exctied. I am also going to see Julie Friday, we are going to go shopping and then to a movie, so I am excited about that too.
On another note, I don't remember if I posted on here or not, but my girlfriend and I broke up a little while ago, things just weren't working out for us, but we are staying friends and I think that is good. Holly still just wants to be friends, and I am not happy about that, so much so that I am thinking about telling her I can't be friends with her as it is really hard on me to talk to her and see her and not be with her. I don't know.
Oh I still have no idea where I am going to live at the end of January, let alone later next year. I am really starting to stress out about it, and it is starting to make me feel kind of sick.
My shoulder is fucked up once again, and this time it doesn't seem to be healing, I think I have done some serious damage to it. Next week on the second (my birthday) I am going to see a doctor about it. Hopefully it's something that can be fixed without surgery, as I can't afford to be out of work for any amount of time (and something tells me shoulder surgery would have me out of work!).
Wow, that one ended up being much longer then I expected. Well that is all for now, I am off to sleep. Have a good day, and if I don't talk to you before then have a happy Thanksgiving!
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