Painting Question

[Guest jedislayer5000]

ok so my armor is on its way now, it is a mat hips plastic, so i am just wondering how would i go about painting it, like what color of paint does an anh stunt trooper have, and dont say white i know theres tons of different colors of white, some troopers ive seen stark white and some a more milky white which i actually prefer... and ive never painted anything before so do i need some sort of primer to go on before or do i need to sand before or what, i know nothing about paint lol

[TK bondservnt[501st]]

painting plastic requires a lot of patience, and an environment where you can have an even temperature and lot's of slow moving air flow.

 

you will need to sand the armor lightly with extra fine grit, usually wet sanding is the best way. prep the surface of all

 

the parts AFTER YOUR ASSEMBLY IS TOTALLY COMPLETE. so for example, you would assemble a forearm, with all of it complete, with

the parts glued, and the finishing strips on.

 

then wet sand everything.

 

then after completely dry, and dust free. you hang the part up where you can rotate the part easy.

lightly paint a coat of primer. allow to dry. then paint primer again, lightly.

 

after the prime coats have fully cured, say 2 days later. then you can work on laying down the top coat.

some types of paint cannot be sanded much after application, and some paints can be sanded.

 

you just have to decide that when you get your first paints. it's usually best to purchase all the cans

from a single source, at the same time... I'd figure on getting about 10 cans. it takes about 3 cans to cover a

helmet.

 

after painting the top coat very lightly, you should wait 3 days and then paint another coat. then wait another 7 days

before you even touch the part again.

 

when the part is completely cured, lets say 10 days after your first primer coat- you can then apply a clear coat for

protection. after that cures, then you can apply a UV protectant sealer, or wax.

 

I don't cheat by heating up the paint, or applying heat lamps. just let the paint cure naturally.

 

the goal when painting armor is to lay the paint on as thin as possible, while getting a full coat.

plastic round shapes like armor, cause lots of paint to load up quickly.

 

you will need to cordon off a section of a garage, or shop with plastic drop cloth and have a

clean and dust free environment to lay the paint down.

 

make sure that you wear a paint mask with filters. otherwise your nostrils will have paint inside them!

 

it took me about 2 weeks to fully paint up a suit of armor, and the helmet and thighs give the most problems with

runs, and bubbles. the main goal is to keep the paint thin. thin... did I say thin?

 

hope this helps.

 

the key when applying a clear coat, or finishing with a wax or UV treatment, is to make sure that the paint has fully cured down

to it's base coat. say 2 weeks after you've finished up the top coat. yes, it takes a long time for layers of paint

to cure to their base.

 

I like to let the sun hit the armor and bake the finish a little for about 10 minutes a day and rotate the parts to let

the heat and light cure the paint to it's end. you could use shop lights to simulate this, if they are not too hot.

don't want to go over 90d.

[Guest jedislayer5000]

wow thanks for the very detailed answer, its a great help, sounds complicated! i wonder if i can take it into an auto shop or something and have them take care of it haha i dont have a garage or anything like that either... or i may just use pandas method and shine it without painting, we'll see. anyways thanks alot for your reply

[john danter]

Appliance white is usually a good one to chose

 

Fridges, cookers that kind of white

[Guest jedislayer5000]

Appliance white is usually a good one to chose

 

Fridges, cookers that kind of white

 

k cool thx

[TK bondservnt[501st]]

having an auto body shop paint your armor is a great idea.

 

the color probably won't be correct for the polish method. the plastic used and the color you get will really depend upon that

concept for shining the armor up with a polish, or a clear coat.

 

when you get your armor in, it will most likely have a blue cast to the white color.

which then requires paint to correct.

 

having a nice clear coat does wonders for painted kits. it's just harder to get all the materials matched.

you need to be specific on your types of brand of paint and keep them matched.

[Guest jedislayer5000]

having an auto body shop paint your armor is a great idea.

 

the color probably won't be correct for the polish method. the plastic used and the color you get will really depend upon that

concept for shining the armor up with a polish, or a clear coat.

 

when you get your armor in, it will most likely have a blue cast to the white color.

which then requires paint to correct.

 

having a nice clear coat does wonders for painted kits. it's just harder to get all the materials matched.

you need to be specific on your types of brand of paint and keep them matched.

 

ya, i think thats what ill do IF its a reasonable price, like 100 bucks or something, not paying like 50 per piece or something ridiculous like that haha

[TK bondservnt[501st]]

I doubt that you'd get an auto body shop to go that low.

 

there are a lot of complex parts to paint on an armor kit.