The Armour Archive

Has anyone tried or thought about painting the bargrills tan instead of black or leaving them as naked steel? I have been kicking around the idea and would like some input. This helmet was done by Hal and I am finishing my kit..thinking about doing the bargrill and ear bars one the ear openings with a light brown or tan to blend in.
Marius

You know why the majority of golf balls are shiny white?

Light colors show up against the sky better. They show up against trees better. So, if you paint it a light color, you will actually notice it more. And everybody else will stare at you. A tan bargrill will look out of place in a field of black grills. And not in a good way.

Flat black is what most folks do because it is unobtrusive, and on the bars, it helps them blend into the shadow inside the helm, and you don't notice them as much against the background. You'll begin to focus about 2 feet in front of your nose, and not notice the grill.

I'm assuming the objective of a tan color would be to visually blend in with what's behind it, that being your face. Keep in mind that your face is recessed a bit behind the solid parts of the helm, so will be (at least partially) in shadow. The bars, being flush with the helm, will be seldom shaded. That in mind, you'll want to go for a color noticeably darker than tan/whatever you skin tone. I'd recommend a lot darker if you're mostly going to be showing this off outdoors; highlight and shadow are pretty intense in direct sunlight. Thus, some shade of brown. Or plain old flat black.

That, and as Odd pointed out, lighter colors/objects are more obvious, so it's probably better to err on the side of too dark than too light.

Yup. Black "vanishes" to the eye more, especially in an application like bars or wires. Most wires in the old "wire work" kung fu films were black.



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Electric tape is actually matte black, and helps the most to disguise bargrills, imo. Some people painted the grills "face" colored, and it just made it a lot more obvious.