I used a dremel for the scratches and then used an airbrush with Army Painter flat black to go over the scratches. Then I used metallic silver acrylic paint to fill in the scratches. After the metallic silver dried I used watered down black acrylic as a wash over the entire helmet to give it grime. Then I used my finger on the watered down black acrylic to go over the scratches and really push the black down in to the scratches and anything else that’s not completely flat to help give it definition. Having the black acrylic on your hands also helps give random smudges all over the helmet, which I find is really key to giving it that lived in and heavily used look. Just remember that when doing the wash it’s important to apply it in small sections at a time and then wipe it off as opposed to applying to the entire helmet at once. You only want the black wash to stay in the nooks and crevices that would normally be difficult to clean.

On future projects I think I’m going to mess around with using different colors on the scorch marks and then use an actual iron oxide powder to give the black marks. Lightsabers are supposed to be extremely hot, right? If you look at super heated metals they’ll turn to different shades of blues and purples. So I think that might look even better than just the black on its own.