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Styrofoam head for helmets display.


herrgeezer
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Got a little bored Friday and tried my luck at painting one of my Styrofoam heads I use to display some M18 U.S. helmets. I was actually quite please with the result and I thought you might like to see it.

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On 7/24/2022 at 2:08 PM, Garnet54 said:

Looks fantastic, what type of paint(s) did you use?

First I coated the head with Mod Podge. Then I just painted it with acrylic craft paints.

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  • 2 weeks later...

You sir, have some talent. Looks fantastic. You should start selling these, you would likely have a number of interested folks. I am sure it took you some time though. Thanks for sharing. 

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gearhead1968
1 hour ago, warguy said:

You sir, have some talent. Looks fantastic. You should start selling these, you would likely have a number of interested folks. I am sure it took you some time though. Thanks for sharing. 

I agree!!! Amazing! 

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Thanks, gentlemen. Ii have thought about it. I'm getting ready to start on another so we'll see out that one turns out.

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I also tried to paint a styrofoam head a few years ago, but I just can't get the skintone mixed properly... it's piglet-pink now :)

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18 hours ago, otter42 said:

How long did it take for the mod podge to dry? Any other tips? Really awesome display!

Mod Podge dries pretty quickly, although I didn't time it. I'd guess within 30 t0 45 minutes... maybe even sooner. Once it dried, I worked the head with my fingers to shape the nose and the folds under the cheeks. I used a flat edged palette knife to define the folds of the eyes and lips. 

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21 hours ago, AZPhil said:

You did a Fantastic job!!!

 Very impressive work.

 

Semper Fi

Phil

 

 

17 hours ago, tdogchristy90 said:

Wow, that’s really good. Very well done.

 

Thanks fellows. I appreciate your comments.

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8 hours ago, earlymb said:

I also tried to paint a styrofoam head a few years ago, but I just can't get the skintone mixed properly... it's piglet-pink now :)

Try giving your foam head a wash of warm brown and then use the pinkish wash color you first used to paint the head for some highlights. That's basically what I did. Once I was done with the washes I went a little heavier with the brown wash in the shadow areas of the eyes. I painted the whites of the eyes with a warn tone white and then washed the areas around the eye lids with pink and red. You might consider watching a tutorial on painting 1:35th and 1:16th military figures to get some better direction. you never know you might surprise yourself like I did. 😉

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 8/8/2022 at 8:03 PM, herrgeezer said:

Try giving your foam head a wash of warm brown and then use the pinkish wash color you first used to paint the head for some highlights. That's basically what I did. Once I was done with the washes I went a little heavier with the brown wash in the shadow areas of the eyes. I painted the whites of the eyes with a warn tone white and then washed the areas around the eye lids with pink and red. You might consider watching a tutorial on painting 1:35th and 1:16th military figures to get some better direction. you never know you might surprise yourself like I did. 😉

 

Thanks and sorry I missed this before. I'm familiar with modelling washes, but never thought of trying it on a styrofoam head! I'll give it a try on the one I already painted, it can only improve :)

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Hello guys. I thought you might want to have a peek at the latest head that I'm working on. This foam head was pretty beat up when it was send to me for a purchase of a 30th "old Hickory" Division helmet. His nose was mashed in and I thought that I'd just toss him out then I had the idea of trying to fix the nose with self-hardening modeling clay. So this is my first attempt to model features on to a foam head. While it isn't quite what I'm after just yet, I thought you might like to see the progress. Today I worked on the eyes. I made them by rolling out a ball of clay then letting it dry for a day or so. Next I dipped each in Mod Podge to get a nice glassy look. Next I printed out some eyes and placed them on the balls and painted mod Podge over them. I'm looking forward to seeing how this looks once I'm done. In the first picture I've just set the first eye. The second picture shows both eyes roughed in. The third image is a straight on shot with the helmet positioned on the head, and the fourth shot is a side view with the helmet.

 

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That is fantastic,  you really have a gift! Are you painting this as well? Thanks for sharing,  not sure if I will attempt doing what you've done. Funny about the nose, my wife ordered a bunch for me for Christmas one year. They came from somewhere overseas and were in the box loose, needless to say many had flat noses!

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"Question on the paint wash, post # 15: what mix of water to acrylic paint did you use, please?"

 

I think I just started out with a 1:1 mix and I slowly built the color up. I even wiped away paint if I felt that there are too much paint on the surface. When it came to the shadows and the lips I literally wiped the color on as a dry brush and rubbed the color in with my hands. On the onw I'm working on now I've got it in mind to tint the Mod Podge with a reddish brown for an undertone when I apply it as a sealer. If that works I will build up the color using a wash of lighter colors. I'll try to capture that process better for you.

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