What do you paint an piece of armor with?

[JSmails[501st]]

Hello,

 

I am doing an ROTJ mod a la Bernard. What a great tutorial.

 

Now this is going to sound completely dumb, and looking back, it really is. I only know I need more sleep.

 

I am in the process of flipping the chest buttons from ANH to ROTJ. I get them cut out and carve about and dremel in order to get a good fit. But there are some smaller gaps in spots.

 

So I superglue the button-piece in place so I can better work around it.

 

Then out of nowhere, I decide to bondo around the button piece to fill the gaps. There is some give to the buttons, as it was only superglued, and there was some cracking in the bondo. No idea why I decided to use bondo instead of decorators caulk. The caulk would fill that just fine I am guessing.

 

On top of that, I just had to use my new "squeeze-tube" bondo I bought, and it turns out it is RED! I figure that's okay, because I'll just primer over it anyway when I paint the button-box.

 

BUT I WAS NEVER PLANNING ON PAINTING THE BUTTON BOX!

 

It became a necessity after using RED-f-ing-BONDO.

 

Anyway, I am the worst bondo-user on the planet, and it is smeared about. I have sanded it pretty well, and if it were WHITE bondo, it would hardly be noticable. But no. It is red bondo.

 

The only good thing to come of this is that now when the ab-button-box is removed the bondo has formed under it so it is a perfect fit to go back in. I can't even put it back in ANH-style.

 

I figure I can now use the decorators caulk to put the button box in place. THEN I'll need to prime and paint the entire piece as I haven't found a color yet to match the rest of the piece by just painting over the bondo'd area. So if I paint the entire piece, at least it'll be uniform.

 

Really sorry for the length of this post.

 

So if you had to paint an entire piece, perhaps an ab-plate for instance , how would you do it? Some sort of flexible primer of some sort? What color for the main outer coat? Any sealant or anything?

 

I know folks paint their MR CE's all the time, which is next for me (yikes), but those don't usually "flex" like an ab-plate will.

 

I have put up a WTB in the For Sale section.

 

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

 

Smarmy comments about the fix I'm in will be tolerated, but not appreciated.

 

Thanks.

[TK-8224[501st]]

If you can't match the colour, your ab-plate will not match the rest of your armour either. I guess I would go for an mismatched button box rather than a mismatched ab-plate. Before you know it, you'll have to paint the entire armour!

 

Is it possible to just buy a new button box or get rid of all the red bondo?

 

Anyway, good luck to you!

[JSmails[501st]]

Thanks for your reply!

 

From my reading, the only armor that comes with the botton box separate is AP.

 

Anyone want to PM me AP's details to see if he'll pull this or me? From what I understand though, he usually doesn't part out.

 

I do a lot of reading here.

 

Oh man, if I could get rid of the red bondo, at least I'd be back to square 1 and it really wouldn't look half-bad.

 

Anyone know how to remove bondo from plastic?

 

I have seen a Utube video with a guy removing paint from models with SuperClean. I am going to try that right now.

 

Any help is appreciated.

[tk9323]

I have a spare AP button box from my TD. What set of armor do you have?

[JSmails[501st]]

I have a spare AP button box from my TD. What set of armor do you have?

 

I hate to say, knowing everything I do now, but it is a Rubies TK Supreme that I'm trying HARD to make it look somewhat movie accurate.

 

A button box is probably my best bet at this juncture. if i can get the bondo off, I may be able to use my button plate without painting. If not, a button plate covering the area would work best.

 

If you want to part with it, I'd be more than interested and greatful!

[tk9323]

The AP button box may not fit and you would still have to paint. You should try and remove the bondo and use white E6000 to replace the original button box. If that doesn't work I would paint the ab plate.

 

What is the Rubies armor made of?

[JSmails[501st]]

I have no idea what the armor is made out of. It isn't as bright white as my MRCE. Close, but not quite.

 

Where can I buy E6000 in white? I have used the Devcon Plastic welder before, but that doesn't dry white.

 

Is that what you use to attach the button plate? Will Plastic welder work?

 

Thanks for the help.

 

I can give you some L x H dimensions of the box if that will help.

[tk9323]

I found white E6000 at Tap Plastics. -----

 

 

JSmails said:

I know folks paint their MR CE's all the time, which is next for me (yikes), but those don't usually "flex" like an ab-plate will.

 

I would use E6000 over Devcon because it's flexible. How flexible is the Rubies?

Edited December 5, 2020 by gmrhodes13
link not working, removed gmrhodes13 2020

[JSmails[501st]]

tk9323 said:

I found white E6000 at Tap Plastics. 

 

 

 

 

I would use E6000 over Devcon because it's flexible. How flexible is the Rubies?

 

Thanks for the link!

 

The Rubies is pretty flexible. It's not flimsy or anything, but you can bend the ab plate on itself, I don't know, an inch? Then it feels like it'll break.

 

I'm slowly working the red bondo off by soaking the button plate in SuperClean. It's going to be a lot tougher to soak the front of the abplate in SuperClean just due to the size of the plate. I'll need a new, bigger container so I don't have to use so much.

 

So far, the SC seems to be leaving the plastic alone and just removing the paint and softening the bondo.

 

E6000 stays flexible? That's what I'll need I believe.

 

Will it fill small gaps and smooth like caulk?

 

Thanks!

[tk9323]

E6000 stays flexible? That's what I'll need I believe.

 

Will it fill small gaps and smooth like caulk?

 

E6000 stays flexible and will fill the gaps.

[JSmails[501st]]

I see the website for Michael's, the craft store, says that E6000 should be purchased in-store.

 

I guess I'll be swinging by Michael's tomorrow. After scrubbing the hell out of these pieces after their soak tonight.

 

I should get white if I have a choice, right? Not the clear?

 

Thanks for the help.

[tk9323]

I should get white if I have a choice, right? Not the clear?

 

Right. Good Luck!

[JSmails[501st]]

Okay I got home from work and the plate had been soaking for about 8 hours.

 

I scrubbed and scrubbed and most of the bondo is gone.

 

Unfortunately in its place is a nice PINK hue. My button plate is a very nice shade of very light pink.

 

If anyone wanted to offer up a button box, the L x W of the infected area is a little more than 4" x 3".

 

Bigger would cover everything, and even a little smaller would help as I'd rather have mismatched WHITE instead of mismatched pink.

 

Moving along.

 

The button piece is still removable. I "should" be able to make that white and shiny again, right?

 

What should I paint that with? What primer do you all recommend and paint, and whatever it is that'll bring the shine back to the piece?

 

Lastly, I've never painted a piece like this before. Should I use a brush?

 

It seems to me if I laid it down and spray-painted it, the primer would fill up in the ridges and around the raised button areas.

 

Any help, always appreciated.

[tk9323]

PM sent.

[JSmails[501st]]

Today I went to Michael's.

 

The only E6000 they have is clear. I am going to try a different hobby store tomorrow that I am hoping will have the white. Hancock fabrics also only had the clear.

 

BUT if you need CLEAR E6000, both of these places carry the big tube of it for less than $4.

 

I bought some testors paint and some brushes. I can't stand the remaining red stained bondo on the ab-plate. So I tried to see what some white paint would look like on it. I used Testors Glossy White. It covered the red/pink, but it's WAY whiter than my armor so it really sticks out. So that's a failure.

 

How about sanding. Can I sand well into the ab plate (I think it's vinyl that the armor is made out of) to eventually remove the soaked in red? Is the color the same all the way through?

 

If sanding is an option, do I just keep going lower and lower grit until it is smooth, wet-sand maybe, then just polish it up or something? What do you use to polish armor? ABS polish? What and where would I buy it?

 

Is there a paint that isn't quite as white as the Testors someone could suggest?

 

LASTLY, I had put some Krylon primer over the bondo. I obviously didn't do a very good job of taping, because the button plate has a VERY thin layer of pink-stained primer. I have been trying to remove this very thin layer to get back down to the plastic/vinyl.

 

Any ideas on what to use? I tried the SuperClean and left it soaking in there for over 8 hours. I don't know if that is doing more harm than good. Still, the very thin layer didn't come off.

 

The guy in the video (youtube) says to leave the plastic (models) soaking for 24 hours and it'll easily brush off. Unless someone has a different solvent fix, I'm going to try a full 24 hour soak.

 

Anyone want to sell an ab-plate? This is a real PITA.