gort33
04-08-2010, 09:51 PM
Those of you who visit the GSBB may have seen this already, but I figured I will post this here as well.
A bit of the background on the design, I have been an avid world of warcraft player for the last couple of years, so I decided my next mask paintjob would be themed after that. I basically told the painter I wanted him to base the paintjob off the the cinematic for the most recent expansion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu1EE7GheD0
On one side is the Lich King himself, the opposite side features his frostwyrm (dragon) companion Sindragosa (seen in the cinematic). The forehead is a mountainous landscape with the crest of lordaeron covered in ice. Lordaeron being the kingdom that Arthas (the lich king) was prince of before he was corrupted and became undead.
Full high-res picture links:
http://has-flavor.com/lichkingmask/Images/1.jpghttp://has-flavor.com/lichkingmask/Images/2.jpghttp://has-flavor.com/lichkingmask/Images/3.jpghttp://has-flavor.com/lichkingmask/Images/4.jpghttp://has-flavor.com/lichkingmask/Images/5.jpghttp://has-flavor.com/lichkingmask/Images/6.jpghttp://has-flavor.com/lichkingmask/Images/7.jpghttp://has-flavor.com/lichkingmask/Images/8.jpghttp://has-flavor.com/lichkingmask/Images/9.jpghttp://has-flavor.com/lichkingmask/Images/10.jpg
Mask Model: Sportmask Razor VX (large) with a white flatbar cateye
Prior to ordering this mask, I was already wearing a sportmask razor from 2005. I have been extremely happy with this mask, without any complains whatsoever. I was contemplating getting something a bit higher priced, and initially was considering a pro's choice or a cubberly, but after some debate and the long term durability of my sportmask, I decided to stick with what I knew and opted not to go for the much more expensive masks I had been thinking about (maybe next year's tax return).
I bought this mask from thehockeyshop.com, who had the mask in stock and shipped the mask directly to my painter. It came with a stainless certified cage, so the catseye had to be special ordered. This was a huge ordeal apparently, because it took about 7 weeks for the cage to arrive at my painter (it arrived the day before he finished painting, ironically), after I had given up hope and initially told the painter to just put the stainless certified cage on. Meanwhile, I had ordered another white flatbar from Duke's, who was able to get the cage into their shop in less than 5 days and shipped to me a few days later. I'm not quite sure why THS had such a hard time acquiring a white catseye from Sportmask while Duke's got one in less than a week, but at least now I have a backup cage in case anything goes wrong with this one.
The 2009/2010 Razor vs my 2005 Razor
The fit of the mask is nearly identical. This is a good thing, because I would have hated to find out Sportmask changed their sizing and the mask ended up not fitting. The padding on the interior of this mask is black as opposed to gray in my 2005, and material for the strapping is a more plush/felt type of elastic strap as opposed to the elastic straps used in the 05 model (which is the same type of elastic one might find on a set of knee pads). Finally, the sweatbands that come with the sportmask have changed a bit; they are now black (instead of white), and they are custom cut to fit the countours of the inside of the mask while avoiding the vent holes and the added temple padding; a nice a subtle touch.
The painter
I opted to go with Don at macmasks (http://www.macmasks.com). The main factor that convinced me to go with macmasks was reading the thread that Tater posted (http://www.goaliestore.com/board/equipment-reviews/68922-pros-choice-vapor-paint-review-long.html) about his pro's choice paintjob that Don repainted for him. I couldn't believe the difference in quality of the paint jobs listed here, and the art style Don uses is really up my alley in terms of my preference for clean, hard edges without much of the "carnival" soft airbrush look (I really can't stand that).
I had my mask sent directly to Don from the hockey shop, and it sat there for a few weeks while he was finishing up some other paint jobs. There was no problem here because I was told up front before any commitment that it would be at least 4-5 weeks before the paint job was next in line.
The best thing about Don's paint practice as opposed to others, is that he lists right on his website where your paintjob is sitting in his list. He provides a sketch of the work to be done prior to starting it, and lets you know the status of the paintjob, as well as the other paintjobs he has waiting. In addition to this, he also broadcasts his paint studio live via web cam so I was actually able to watch my mask get painted from start to finish. This was really a fun and exciting experience since I find these sort of things really interesting, plus it helped me deal with how ridiculously impatient I am!
In terms of complaints with Don, it's tough to come up with any. The only thing to think of is that Don is not a full-time mask painter, so his mask painting has to fit around his regular day job. This adds time to the overall waitlist, but I think ultimately it was worth waiting for. Even with a full schedule on his plate every day, Don is easy to reach via e-mail, and he also regularly updates his facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/MACMASKS/210317534898) with status updates on when he will be broadcasting on webcam, the order of the next masks he'll be painting, and also puts up in-progress pics for people to see.
Total wait time for paint not including shipping: 47 days
It should be noted that Don outsources his clearcoating to an outside local shop, so that adds a few days to the overall completion time. My understanding of this is that his basement where he paints isn't equipped to handle the ventilation required to do clearcoating.
A bit of the background on the design, I have been an avid world of warcraft player for the last couple of years, so I decided my next mask paintjob would be themed after that. I basically told the painter I wanted him to base the paintjob off the the cinematic for the most recent expansion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu1EE7GheD0
On one side is the Lich King himself, the opposite side features his frostwyrm (dragon) companion Sindragosa (seen in the cinematic). The forehead is a mountainous landscape with the crest of lordaeron covered in ice. Lordaeron being the kingdom that Arthas (the lich king) was prince of before he was corrupted and became undead.
Full high-res picture links:
http://has-flavor.com/lichkingmask/Images/1.jpghttp://has-flavor.com/lichkingmask/Images/2.jpghttp://has-flavor.com/lichkingmask/Images/3.jpghttp://has-flavor.com/lichkingmask/Images/4.jpghttp://has-flavor.com/lichkingmask/Images/5.jpghttp://has-flavor.com/lichkingmask/Images/6.jpghttp://has-flavor.com/lichkingmask/Images/7.jpghttp://has-flavor.com/lichkingmask/Images/8.jpghttp://has-flavor.com/lichkingmask/Images/9.jpghttp://has-flavor.com/lichkingmask/Images/10.jpg
Mask Model: Sportmask Razor VX (large) with a white flatbar cateye
Prior to ordering this mask, I was already wearing a sportmask razor from 2005. I have been extremely happy with this mask, without any complains whatsoever. I was contemplating getting something a bit higher priced, and initially was considering a pro's choice or a cubberly, but after some debate and the long term durability of my sportmask, I decided to stick with what I knew and opted not to go for the much more expensive masks I had been thinking about (maybe next year's tax return).
I bought this mask from thehockeyshop.com, who had the mask in stock and shipped the mask directly to my painter. It came with a stainless certified cage, so the catseye had to be special ordered. This was a huge ordeal apparently, because it took about 7 weeks for the cage to arrive at my painter (it arrived the day before he finished painting, ironically), after I had given up hope and initially told the painter to just put the stainless certified cage on. Meanwhile, I had ordered another white flatbar from Duke's, who was able to get the cage into their shop in less than 5 days and shipped to me a few days later. I'm not quite sure why THS had such a hard time acquiring a white catseye from Sportmask while Duke's got one in less than a week, but at least now I have a backup cage in case anything goes wrong with this one.
The 2009/2010 Razor vs my 2005 Razor
The fit of the mask is nearly identical. This is a good thing, because I would have hated to find out Sportmask changed their sizing and the mask ended up not fitting. The padding on the interior of this mask is black as opposed to gray in my 2005, and material for the strapping is a more plush/felt type of elastic strap as opposed to the elastic straps used in the 05 model (which is the same type of elastic one might find on a set of knee pads). Finally, the sweatbands that come with the sportmask have changed a bit; they are now black (instead of white), and they are custom cut to fit the countours of the inside of the mask while avoiding the vent holes and the added temple padding; a nice a subtle touch.
The painter
I opted to go with Don at macmasks (http://www.macmasks.com). The main factor that convinced me to go with macmasks was reading the thread that Tater posted (http://www.goaliestore.com/board/equipment-reviews/68922-pros-choice-vapor-paint-review-long.html) about his pro's choice paintjob that Don repainted for him. I couldn't believe the difference in quality of the paint jobs listed here, and the art style Don uses is really up my alley in terms of my preference for clean, hard edges without much of the "carnival" soft airbrush look (I really can't stand that).
I had my mask sent directly to Don from the hockey shop, and it sat there for a few weeks while he was finishing up some other paint jobs. There was no problem here because I was told up front before any commitment that it would be at least 4-5 weeks before the paint job was next in line.
The best thing about Don's paint practice as opposed to others, is that he lists right on his website where your paintjob is sitting in his list. He provides a sketch of the work to be done prior to starting it, and lets you know the status of the paintjob, as well as the other paintjobs he has waiting. In addition to this, he also broadcasts his paint studio live via web cam so I was actually able to watch my mask get painted from start to finish. This was really a fun and exciting experience since I find these sort of things really interesting, plus it helped me deal with how ridiculously impatient I am!
In terms of complaints with Don, it's tough to come up with any. The only thing to think of is that Don is not a full-time mask painter, so his mask painting has to fit around his regular day job. This adds time to the overall waitlist, but I think ultimately it was worth waiting for. Even with a full schedule on his plate every day, Don is easy to reach via e-mail, and he also regularly updates his facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/MACMASKS/210317534898) with status updates on when he will be broadcasting on webcam, the order of the next masks he'll be painting, and also puts up in-progress pics for people to see.
Total wait time for paint not including shipping: 47 days
It should be noted that Don outsources his clearcoating to an outside local shop, so that adds a few days to the overall completion time. My understanding of this is that his basement where he paints isn't equipped to handle the ventilation required to do clearcoating.