Well folks here we go…the process was supposed to be a quick repaint/rehair of the SSN v2 #02 copy. Ron asking me to do it was an honor in itself first and foremost. Never painting an H20 before, i was scared, nervous “what if i screw it up?” there would have been no amount of $$ or mask that could’ve replaced such a delicate and RARE piece of art.
one hand…this was the chance for me to step up and turn some heads…on the other hand how could i even begin to top an already sweet paint job on this mask?
SSN V2 BEFORE THE PROCESS BEGAN:
one thing that Ron definitley wanted changing was the hair. it was the cheap stringy nasty fur hair that is very hard to do anything with. he wanted to go with a less yellow paint job and go with a more antique white and light weathering on it…i said “I can do that, no problem!”
He shipped the mask and i got it on 2/19/10 on a Friday evening and went to work on it the next morning. I remember calling him that night and saying…“I got the mask today. you sure you want me to do this?” he replied with a confident “yes”
I wasn’t so sure still…but I proceeded after my second cup of coffee and admiring the SSN v2, this thing was truly AWESOME as it was already…once again “do i really want to do this?” I had no idea what a project this was going to be…once i took the hair off, i knew it wasnt going to be a quick repaint/rehair because the glue GRABBED a piece of the latex paint and it RIPPED…now i had a seam i couldnt just load paint over it, i wanted it to be RIGHT…
SKULL and hairline
me being a weirdo:
so i called ron and broke the news to him that i was going to have to take quite a bit of time stripping ALL THE PAINT off the mask back to the bare latex…so my first fear was there…“i fucked up!” i thought atleast…Ron told me “dont worry man, take your time with it…no rush” which was reassuring, trust me!
then the rest of that saturday and sunday, i was pulling little bits of paint off at a time with tweezers…some of the paint DIDNT want to come off because it had grabbed the latex so hard…so i was like FUCK!!! for the next two weekends, i had the same struggle with no end in sight at all…
Random pix of the SSN v2 taking the paint off:
that was about as much as i could get off…i was really getting worried “did i just ruin this mask?” i called JC_70 and begged for help on how to strip latex paint off the mask, and while JC was doing his BEST to comfort me he wasn’t sure either. JC, you da man for just telling me some comforting things during a major freak out.
My wife then said to me “Babe, you have that great dremel with that extra soft brush on there, take one of your old masks and try it out.” so i did…low and behold the paint was pealing off. I went to Ron’s H20 SSN v2 for 3 days getting the rest of this paint off the mask…slowly but surely it was coming off…
ALMOST DONE:
Ron was very patient and never once wanted me to rush this, all he kept saying was “I know when i get it back it will be right, so take your time.” at this point, i had ALL confidence back and then finally got it back to the bare latex
BARE LATEX FORM:
(ignore the flakes, they were bonded with the latex mask, but it was smooth, no ridges)
I was now ready to paint, so i cleaned my surface with soap and water really good and let it air dry till it was ready to paint.
BASE COAT:
then after it dried i did a 3 layer weathering process to give some nice undertones and shades to give it that natural screen used look that Ron wanted
ALMOST DONE:
Then haired it with the hair i get from my manufacturer in China and sent final pix to Ron for approval before it was sealed up
HAIRED:
Ron loved it and said SHIP IT! so i shipped Wednesday and today he got it and here it is FINALLY HOME!!!
AT RONS HOUSE COMPLETE:
so there it is folks…the complete rehaul story…start to finish and step by step. it was a PUSH to do it, but in the end i look back and so glad i took my time and worked hard on it, hard work pays off. Ron-thanks for the the trust and the friendship! you could have easily gone with 10 other people to do your mask, but you trusted me with one of your most prized posessions and for that i am TRUELY grateful! I am extremely proud of the hard work paying off, and everyone here loving it. I really hope to work on some more H20’s in the near future, but if i dont…i was DAMN PROUD to do this one!
Thanks yall!
Chris
CKING AWESOME!!!
