This welding helmet is painted with an idea to create a knight’s helmet look. The welding helmet has a very nice shape, that allowed me to draw out shapes and bring out a medieval knight’s style. This is my second welding helmet where I used the airbrushing technique (you can see my first welding helmet with riveted metal plates here).
Usually, all welding helmets are made from plastic. However, for this style, I had to bring out a heavy-duty look. My first step was to find out, what colors I should use to get an old metal look and create a design.
So, I took apart the welding helmet to avoid masking more parts that should not be painted. Then I smoothened out all scratches and plastic bumps and prepared it for a primer. To get a better result I applied the primer twice lightly. When the primer was dry, I covered all the parts I was not painting with masking tape.
The first color that I painted was black. It was my base color. When the paint was dry, with a pencil, I marked the main lines of my design: the black shapes in the front of the helmet and on the sides where it covers the ears. These black parts I masked for the next paint layers. The second color layer was light brown, which was my background color, to come closer to the old metal texture.
The next step was to mark the rest of the main lines and decide, where exactly I should paint my rivets and other details. After that, I prepared two new colors: black and gold. These colors help to get an old metal look. To get a better result of the old metal texture look, I took a thin abrasive pad, which let me spray paint through it. So, using two colors, black and gold, I started to create an old metal texture look.
The next step was to paint rivets and other details. For this, I used three colors: black, gold, and white. With the help of a few stencils, I tried to do my best. For the last touch, to make some highlights, I used black and white colors.
When painting was finally finished, I put a clear coat lightly 3 times. When the surface was completely dry, the last step was to polish it.
I hope you like it.