Comment on Almost ready for Halloween

• FuglyDuck@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  So if you have time, just a little tip here, once you paint it, take some rub n buff and hit some high points- places you think the armor might wear.

  It doesn’t take a lot, but it takes the shiny edge off it. Gives the armor some life. (id suggest either pewter or silver. Maybe hit some low spots with black?)

  The only problem is it would then need a final clear coat to seal it.

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  • USSEthernet@startrek.website ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I was debating on giving it a worn/rough look. I still haven’t really decided. I think I’m going to shoot for a red/black theme with red being primary. Probably a darker red and I was thinking of using a matte black. I just am not sure about how I’m going to utilize the black.

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    • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Don’t want to push too much, it’s your project!

      That said, some very light weathering will take it from “I just rolled off the clone trooper assembly plant” or “I’m a politician and I’m just wearing this armor because it’s expected,” to “space-badass”

      It doesn’t have to be much at all, but a bit of a shiny wear spot would tell people “this is metal” without actually being metal.

      Sealing is only really necessary if it’s going to be handled a lot- it coming off can be minimized by not using much to begin with and buffing it out sufficiently (I may cheat a bit and use a dremel buffing wheel,)- I’ve had good luck with minwax polycrylic clear coat and allclad through an airbrush.

      Another way of adding some weathering effects is thinner down oil paint, brush in some black into cracks and remove with a cloth- like around muzzles on blasters, or maybe some machinist dye thinned out enough to give a bit of tempering-blue to things that might get hot.

      You wouldn’t expect a madalorians EDC blaster or armor to be completely free of wear- even if they’re the most OCD about cleaning and maintenance. (And yeah, they’re probably pretty OCD…)

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      • USSEthernet@startrek.website ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        I appreciate all the tips, I’m not very artistic at all, and it probably would have looked a lot worse before everyone here commented lol. I want to do it right, so I probably won’t get it completely done before I take my kids trick or treating. So my current goal is to at least get it primed, sanded, and the base coat of paint on. I still have to cut the face shield I got, tint it and mount it inside. I saw some pics that gave me some ideas. Would you recommend velcro tape for the interior for foam pads and the face shield, so it’s all removable? Or do you have a better method?

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    • ChamrsDeluxe@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Sand before priming. And make sure you use filler primer! Will help a LOT. You will probably go through 3-4 cycles of sanding, filler, sanding, bondo, sanding then paint lol.

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      • USSEthernet@startrek.website ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        I didn’t even know that was a thing, looks like I’m returning the primer I got. Thanks.

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• andyMFK@reddthat.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Automotive filler primer will smooth those layer lines, a couple of good coats then sand it back with a high-ish grit (about 240 or so) will get it beautifully smooth with relatively little effort.

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  • Flaky_Fish69@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I'd suggest sanding with coarse to medium sand paper, then filler primer. The sanding will help with primer adhesion and reduce the number of extra coats.

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