VulpX

Hahaha, cool to see you guys are so excited for the pics Okay then, update time! Yesterday evening I took a hobby knife, tweezers and a spatula to remove the masking tape. It worked fine to a certain extend. It didn't matter how careful or delicate I tried to work, in a lot of places the removal of the masking tape peeled of some paint too. You can see it in the above picture too, near the wheel. That happened in a lot of places. Now this may sound worse than it actually is, if you look at the box from a small distance (let's say more than a meter) you won't see the imperfections. Pics of the box after all the tape is gone: Looks good right? In the coming week I'll try to repair the spots where the paint has peeled: I will also need to clean up some parts where somehow some paint got through the masking, like here on the clip. But tomorrow evening I need the box for the midnight launch of Battlefront, so I won't be able to start on that before Thursday. The three black squares on the top of the box didn't turn out as I hoped, they all have this effect: I want to try something else here. I might take silver (EIB) or gold (Centurion) paint and mask the peeled paint with a line. I think this might give a nice effect. Tomorrow the box goes on its first trip as a pimped TK box. My Garrison mates haven't seen the photo's of the finished box yet (unless they see it here before tomorrow of course), I think it will be a nice surprise! However, the box still lacks some stuff that would really make it stand out as my personal box. So after I finish cleaning up the peeled spots later this week I want to paint my TK number on it. EIB patches are on the way, as are some embossed aluminium 501st logos. I also plan to have white Imperial Cogs on the black panels on the short sides of the box. So I'm not done yet, more updates to come!

My PSN is the same as my nick here: VulpX. Is it an idea to create a 501st or FISD community? Invite only, and an easy way to have all the Battlefront players together in one list.

Well, over this weekend I gave the box its second, third and final paint coat... And it went well! At least, I think it did, tomorrow will be judgement day when I will try to remove all the masking tape. Anyways, here is the box after its second coat: Still quite rough and the black is still visible. I used the scotch-brite scrubber pad after each coat to smoothen the surface a little bit, and then cleaned it again with water before I put on the next coat. Third coat: It might look well covered now, but in daylight there are clearly some spots left where the paint is thinner. There are still some dark spots. So today I did a fourth and hopefully final coat: The surface is way smoother than it was after the first coat. I think I'll still give it a very lights pass with the scotch-brite tomorrow, to make it super smooth

Wow, that looks great! Did you spray paint it?

I'm in the Netherlands, I got the foam at a local home depot, the Praxis. It was the only sound isolation foam they had. I can't imagine home depots in the US don't carry that stuff?

Mmmmm, okay, than I misunderstood the orange peel effect. I will try to spray closer tomorrow anyway, I used up almost an entire can of paint for this very thin coat, so I suspect most of the paint is lost as vapor. I used the same brand for painting my E-11 and remembered today that I used that way closer to the objects.

Okay, so I sprayed the first layer of paint... It did not go well. The dust particles have returned again. This first layer is very thin, and the whole box is covered in the small structures again. The paint needs to dry for 24 hours, but when I feel the box it looks like it's almost dry already after an hour, and the whole surface feels very, very rough. I will need to sand again tomorrow to get rid of all the flakes, but if this continues with all the layers it's never going to be a smooth finish... Should I do another pass with ammonia before the next round? Could it be the weather? Maybe the paint dries up in de air before it even hits the box? It's 15 degrees Celcius out here. -edit- I looked up some tips for spray painting plastic and the phenomenon I see on my box could be "orange peel", meaning my spray distance is too far from the box. I will sand the box down tomorrow and try again, this time closer to the surface. There is hope yet

Hahaha, very cool Jeff! Another small update. I used a scotch-bite scrubber pad and 600 grit sandpaper to lightly sand the whole surface in an attempt to get rid of all the small dust trapped with the primer. And it worked! The box looks way smoother now, but still feels rough when you run your finger along it. Nice! Thanks for those very useful tips guys! After the sanding I took a slightly damp cloth ( ) and went over the whole box one more time. I'm leaving it to dry now. Tomorrow is the first day of painting! I might do another pass with the slightly damp cloth in the morning to get all the dust that settles overnight of the box. I'll update again after the first coat

Great, thanks!

Ok, slightly damp cloth it will be, thanks for the advice. Will it be okay to actually paint this in the same spot, or should I look for someplace else? I don't want the same dust baked into the paint layers.

So, first part of priming is done! Here the box is waiting on its first coat in the attic in front of the elevator of my apartment complex. The only place outdoors which is dry and big enough for spraying all this stuff. The neighbors are gonna love me. First 2 coats done! And after 3 coats, safely inside the apartment again, drying overnight. I noticed the whole surface of the box is now covered by some fine hair/crystal like structures. I don't know if the picture is showing it all too well. Is this normal with primer paint? I don't have much experience with this. Also, should I do another coat or two tomorrow to be sure, or does this look good? I know I'll need to sand the box again with like 600 grit before applying the paint.

Thanks Joseph, that's a really useful tip! I'll be sure to mask off some additional areas.

Update time. Masking the box took more time than I anticipated. So I spend some time yesterday afternoon and this evening tackling that job. Unfortunately it's raining here today, so no painting can be done. Hope the weather clears up tomorrow so I can start with priming.

Inspired by some posts in this topic, I decided to take my own shot at customizing my new Stanley 190L transport box. This is a WIP, so I'll update the thread as I move along with the project. The Box: I started with some internal padding. I had a troop yesterday that I wanted to attend with the box. But I got the box last Tuesday which meant there was no time to so the painting, but I did want to transport my new armor in a secure way. So I did the padding first, painting second. For padding I used sound insulation sheets. Really nice stuff. I trust it will protect the contents of the box very well. I glued this stuff with expanded polystyrene glue. I got it from Bison. Great stuff. You apply it with a spatula. And this is the result: Now it's onto the nice exterior customization part. First I sanded down all the surfaces that I want to paint. I started with 80 grit, and followed that up with a 240 grit sanding. After this follows a very thorough wash of the box. I used water mixed with ammonia, followed by clean water. Right now the box is drying. Next up: masking and priming! I'll keep you guys posted on how it goes

Congrats, welcome to the ranks!

Congrats, welcome to the ranks!

White, it's a TK box after all. I really like yours, and want to do it in a similar way but with a little more black. I want to keep the "grooves" on the sides of the box black for instance. Actually, when I look at it, I want to do almost the same as Tango did in the OP but with the colours switched I finished the internal padding yesterday, and will buy the primer paint today or tomorrow. I have a troop this Saturday and then the next one 2 weeks after that, so I want to do the painting in between. I'll post a WIP here when I start the sanding and tape masking.

Thanks for the tips guys! Looks like I have another small project on my hands the next few weeks

I just got my box this week, I want to paint it too. What kind of paint should I use? And primer first?

-edit- Weird, double post...

Great to see you picked up the build again! I looked a lot at this thread when I started my own build on a TM. Can't wait to see your finished armour, all the pieces till now look really good!

Thanks Mathias, much appreciated!

Donation sent!6CT62918HS073134H

Thanks for the kind words Tim! Centurion application was submitted and approved yesterday

Richard Smits 19979 Centurion A4<br><br> Thanks!