Attempted Mask Airbrush DIY

[motowngoalie]

Creating this thread for a project I'm starting soon. I'm going to attempt airbrushing my own mask, with inspiration from @kylewesbury  

My wife has a ton of experience with airbrush, so I'm sure she'll end up doing at least half of the work lol. I have a CCM 1.9 on it's way to me that I picked up cheap, so lots of room for mistakes here. 

Design-wise, I want something simple and flat, with a bit of retro flair. I was initially going to do a yellow-based mask, but apparently yellow is one of the hardest paints to get good coverage with. So blue it is, with yellow and silver accents. A Tre Kronor based design to match my setup, along with Saab's griffin logo on top in silver. Cage and window will probably be silver also.  Image attached is the basic design I'm going for, although the linework needs to be tweaked (pardon my crappy mockup skills).

Happy for any advice, comments, and chirps  I'll be updating this as the project goes along.

[ArdeFIN]

I like the simple design a lot. Something to the backplate just to give some color there and maybe initials or number on the chin? The chin pops to me the most, if anything.

[kylewesbury]

Design looks awesome! Happy to be an inspiration.

A couple words of advice:

1. You're going to get frustrated. This is a part of the process, but when things don't go your way, think of it as a way to learn rather than a setback on your project.

2. Let your creativity flow. Got a subtle design you want to throw in there to give it some depth? Do it! Worst comes to worst, you can just paint back over it if you decide it isn't right for you.

3. Be patient! Sufficient dry times are a must. Rushing straight in to your next coat is never a good thing, so trust the process and give yourself adequate time to make sure that your design comes to life exactly as you wanted it to.

Keep up the good work! Make sure to keep us updated, and have fun with it!

[A.YOUNGoalie13]

Is airbrushing expensive? Also, is it something you can dip your feet in first before going all in?

[BadAngle41]

On 3/16/2021 at 7:41 PM, A.YOUNGoalie13 said:

Is airbrushing expensive? Also, is it something you can dip your feet in first before going all in?

You can pick up a relatively inexpensive airbrush kit that includes gun, compressor, and basic colors on Amazon. After that you'll need masking (tape and/or paper) and maybe some custom stencils. Then... pracky. Definitely take some time to practice on a piece of cardboard etc. Tape some things off... get used to the gun... layering paints for different effects... that sort of thing. Clean the gun often and thoroughly. Come to think of it wouldn't hurt to pick up an extra bottle of cleaner. I had never done it before and I'm the furthest thing from an artist... so I kept the design pretty simple... mine turned out pretty well.

[court31sierra]

cricut vinyl cutter works wonders for doing stencils and lines

[motowngoalie]

Little update on this project, I picked up an Itech NV7 for cheap this weekend (had a snafu with the CCM mask I bought, seller said it was a large, received a small lol).

I've disassembled the mask and sanded the clearcoat off with 400 grit already, it should be ready for paint by the end of this week after some further prep.  Some small chips on the chin that I'm going to fill in with bondo putty and sand down, per advice here. Also, thanks to @BadAngle41 for linking the JBo Airbrush videos in this thread, it's definitely helping me with the process.

Besides paint, I'm planning a new cateye and foam kit from Goalieparts, and mask straps from Kova. More updates to come!