Sgt JB

Hello all, I'm at work, so no pics till this afternoon, but I'll get started with some basic painting and weathering techniques. First off, I'd like to talk about paint. There's many options on what paints to use, and for you blaster, and other side props you may want to paint, I recommend starting with a matte finish primer. Matte finish paints tend to obscure less detail, and are not as runny as gloss paints, so I recomend doing all your painting of your blaster / props with matte paints. If you want a sheen on it afterwards, use a gloss, or semi gloss clear coat when finished painting. This will prevent chipping, and give it a nice sheen. Gamesworkshop, Tamaya, and Reaver all make very good plastic primers for models. These are very good to use as primers / base coats, as they are designed to 'shrink' when drying. See, normal spray paint is designed to fill in small blemishes, and details. While this is fine for armor, it will detract from the details in your blaster or props. So, to start with, when your blaster is all ready for paint the first thing you want to do is wash it in soapy water, and rinse with clear water. This will prepare the surface for paint, and remove any little particles that may be on it from sanding, and the like. Allow to completely dry before starting your painting. Hang your blaster, or prop, and get your paint. If using spray paint, shake the can for at least a good minute or more to get the paint mixed correctly. When painting with spray paint, it's better to do several thin coats of paint than one heavy coat. Heavy coats of paint will run, and fill in details. To do light coats, begin by holding your can aprox 6-8" from the surface, and begin painting a few inches to the left or right before the paint gets on the blaster. This allows any clumps of paint to shoot out before going on your blaster. Move your hand quickly from left to right in an even motion, this will get you good coverage, and reduce pooling, and running. Don't worry about making the whole thing black on the first pass. in fact, the color of the plastic / resin / metal should show through the first coat if you did it right. Wait for the paint to dry, but not cure all the way before adding a second / third coat. Usually about 45 minutes to an hour. After you get full coverage with your primer, allow 24 hours to dry before continuing. Now, After getting the whole thing black, we want to start in the weathering. The first technique we'll look at is drybrishing. Drybrushing is a way of painting where you get very little paint on the brush and 'dust' the object with very, very small amounts of paint on just the raised edges, and details. This allows the interior or recessed parts to remain your starting color, while bringing the details out with the new color. On my blaster, I used GW Citidel paints, as that's what I have, but any hobby shop whould have a decent range of model paints for just a few $ a pot. Again, they shrink up a little bbit, to prevent you from obscuring the details. So to start, get a brush that's about pencil thickness. Use only horse hair, or natural brushes, synthetic brushed tent to not hold paint very well, and you wind up getting a very streaky, unnatural paint job. You can use a standard 1' paint brush, but your details will come out streaky, and not look natural. Start by dipping just the tips of the brush head in the paint. removing as much back into the bottle as possible, as we're trying to get as much paint off the brush as possible. Next, use a paper towel, or old wash cloth, and start wiping the paint off the brush until almost all the paint is off. You should be able to drag the brush across the towel and have nothing come out of the bristles. Begin brushing the area you want to weather with light, short strokes. (think of cops dusting for prints) Don't worry if at first you don't see too much paint going onto the surface, as it takes a bit to build up. I always start on areas that I think would be worn down the most in real life. (like the edges of a sight, or the barrel end) Keep this up until no paint is comming off the brush at all. Redip, and continue until you get the light brushing of metal paint on the areas you want. here you can see there's very little metallic paint (about half a thimbles worth) over the whole blaster, but the metallic highlights come through nicely. If you really want the metal color to come through, use a lighter metallic color just on the raised edges, like the rear sight teeth, or the cross hatching on the blaster grip. So, after drybrushing what's next? Well, depends on what you want as an end results. Next up is washing, and the results.

The sanding, I used a Black and Decker mouse with a fine grit sand paper, I then sat with 'Empire of Dreams' on the PC, and went SLOWLY. Took about 2 hours sanding total. I started with Games Workshop's Citidel model paint primer, several coats of Chaos black model paint, then drybrushed with several metalic paints, I'll be doing a painting how to thread tomorrow, so stay tuned.

check out some pics I put up in the painting thread about paintint tutorials

very well put.

nice!! Thanks, was hoping someone had used it, but I'm thinking on going with auto paint.... hear it looks awesome!

k, got some build pics up, just gotta figure out how to show in post.....If anyone can give me a fast how to, I'd be grateful. this was after I clipped the tracks off, and ground the rest down with a palm sander. front view taken apart, and inside primed on spots that would be visible from the outside. Putty I use for filling in the gaps and screw holes filling holes now for these holes, I made a stamp of the crosshatching using liquid latex, I then stamped the putty to make it look like the cross hatching assembly with the resin parts more assembly here it is primed. Like the sabre? it's my custom job.... the primer really lets you see the cracks, and seams better, I used the putty thinned down with thinner, and painted it on with a brush. then sanding, then more paint. I then drybrushed the outside with metalic model paint (see my painting thread soon) final pics minus t-tracks and scope work. It's not 100% done, as I need to finish the scope rings, add the t-tracks, and hit it with a few coats of satin finish clear coat!

lol, no thanks, I have 4 5000 pt armies.

Yea, DOW and DOW II are the nuts...

Quick question... Anyone here play Warhammer 40k? just curious. I figured you guys across the pond might.

how do I post pictures to a post? I tried to import from photobucket, but had difficulties, can anyone assist with a quick tutorial? I was able to get very small pics to upload, but not normal pics from my camera.

question is, how's the durrability. does it chip too much? or crack?

cool thanks, I was thinking about doing auto paint with a few coat of clear gloss over it with my airbrush... but the Krylon fusion, or the rustolium palstics paints bond to plastic alot better, so I'm trying to decide if I want to get a nicer paint job that I'll get from airbrushing, or do I go with a lesser quality, but longer lasting paint job with the canned stuff.

Anyone ever try Automotive paint / airbrush? just wondering if it's been done.

I think Paul's started putting medals on people, I'm seeing them in their info panel on the left.

There's a new product, it's called Rustolium Plastic...it's like the Krylon fusion. What I have is the professional high gloss enamel, but for paint I didn't want to do Krylon, then Rustoleum gloss over it. So I was just wanting to see if anyone has used it. here's the site for it : -----

I would too, he's been a source of inspiration, and knoweldge. I would give you specifics, but there's too many to mention, just little comments, positive criticism, and a general love of all things TK.

Smitty seems to be MIA for a bit now, not responding to my emails, haven't seen him on the board in like a week. anyone know if he's OK?

After seeing their "screen accurate" recasted FX, I'm a little leery of those guys.

NM, I spoke with my Garrison, got it answered.....

I know what the rules are, but I have a 17 year old that's doing a Mara Jade outfit to standards. Does the Legion have a 'parental waiver' for the age limit? just wondering, since she wants to go do events with me until she leaves next year for college. Thanks.

should also stand for 'awesome trooper armor' from the pics I've seen, and all the good things I've herd from people.

I'm going nuts..... I can't wait....can't wait!!!!! I feel like a little kid, I'm going to break the f5 key on my keyboard checking my email. lol

I'm starting to get very jealous of all these ATA build threads.....

That looks awesome, I have my armor on order, whole set. really looking forward it the build!!

Anyone use the new Rustolium plastic paint yet? It's like the Krylon Fusion, but they have a high gloss clear coat specifically formulated to go with it, and I'm interested to see if anyone's used it yet.