I've been doing some test painting on my Rubies Vader helmet as I am planning on buying a more accurate one - but I cant seem to get it to shine as much as a Vader should... are there any Vader painting tutorials out there? I've used glosscote, varnish, I've wetsanded and repainted and wetsanded and repainted... the best I can get is what I'd call a "satin" finish. It just seems like too much gives me a nasty orange peel effect and too little just isnt shiny. Whats the trick to this???
What kind of paint are you using?
Basically you treat the thing just like a car.
You get a nice smooth (by wetsanding down to 2000) base surface apply two good primer coats, wetsand and paint. I would do several light coats of paint. From there get your automotive polish out and work it until it looks like glass. They make numerous grits of polish so you start with the big grit and work it down.
It can take alot of time and effort to get it there.
ok, thanks! I suppose the fact that I am using fairly cheap paints and not high enough ssndpaper is the problem... is clearcoating less effective than just getting it as smooth as you can and polishing it?
Personally, I hate clear coat that comes in a can. It's just not that durable. Polishing it will give you a nice gloss.
Agreed. Clear coat paints are also very tempremental. Get just one thing wrong during the application and it can frost, drip, bubble and usually wreck your paintjob Just polish it to its maximum shinedarthgordon said:
as far as wetsanding goes - how many coats of paint do I need apply so I dont have to worry about the wetsanding revealing the primer???
Why not paint it like the movie one. Use a laquer that can be hand rubbed and polished. The movie helmets didn't use any clear coars at all, it's all from polishing.
I would not wetsand after you have the top paint coat on, thats when you go into polish mode.
I do not use clearcoat if I can help it as stated it is very difficult to get it right.
Interesting thread. I'll be needing to do this soon as well.
Or...if you'd like, take it to an auto shop...those guys get a kick out of painting domes. Guys used to do that all the time because of the same reasons you posted...they just couldn't get the right look. The auto painters remedy that.
Shawn
I just use rattle cans, at least a full can applied in light coats for the dome with no special precations to avoid dust, let it cure for at least 2 weeks then use a cutting compound (T-cut) to smooth out any dust follwed by a good buff up with AutoGlym Super Resin Polish.James Kenobi 1138 said:
Bit of elbow grease involved in the cutting and polishing but gives a good glass finish.
Check out my tutorial videos on how to paint.
http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...dh&search_type=
Mobius.
Thought I'd share this tutorial I found the other day.
http://www.briansmodelcars.com/tutorials/tutorial/114
As others have already said, it looks like several light base coats followed by wetsanding and buffing (after the paint has cured several days) seems to work wonders for getting a nice glossy finish.
Paint the helmet and dome in a flat black first and then shoot it with Hammerite paints.
I went to the paint guy in my car service station and brought my rubies vader helmet in order to ask him if he could paint it in a shiny glossy black like a car. he told me that it might be possible the car paint might not stay on this kind of plastic. does anybody have any experiences with a rubies helmet?
Yup, I have painted several with no adhesion problems. It just has to be prepped properly.wolfi said:
To get it to shine like a show car it must be painted like one. After being scuffed and prepped with the proper adhesion promoter go ahead and paint it with black base/clear. You must use car paint to get the proper film build on the clear coat. Rattle cans are 100 times over reduced to spray thru a can nozzle. After it has dried or been baked let it sit over night then sand it with 800p grit then reclear it. The gloss will not dye down any as long as good products are used. I have painted alot of helmets using this method with 0 adhesion problems and ultra high gloss that will last. And you won't have to do any buffing whatsoever as long as it is dust free. remember if you wetsand and buff you are removing film from the part. Loss of gloss will happen if you don't have the proper mil thickness of the clear.
My ROTS helmet and Painted and cleared Rubies armor. I am still trooping with the same armor pictured with no peeling.
Last edited by Tetmatek; Oct 13, 2010 at 2:02 PM. Reason: pic added
Wet sand, wet sand, wet sand.
Make sure your paints are compatible with each other, or your asking for HUGE problems. I used ALL automotive paints, even for the brush on parts for the mask. When you applly enough clearcoat it will cover up any brush strokes unless you want to keep them
FIRST I painted my dome with a sand and fill primer. Once I got the results I wanted, then I hit it up with a couple od coats of black SATIN. Wet sand again.
Applied another coat.
For BEST results I put my drying part in a HUGE Rubbermade container to keep the dust and bugs off it bewteen coats. Once you get a nice BLACK SATIN coat you are happy with, hit it up with a thin coat of automotive clear coat. LET IT DRY! It took me WEEKS to get the results i wanted.
Wet sand.
Apply another coat of clearcoat.
wet sand, Clearcoat, wetsand... You get the idea.
The mask takes some time to do, but its the same idea.
Start by painting the mask in the shade of Gunmetal you like. Mine was a dark gunmetal automotive paint.
HAND BRUSH paint the black parts with SATIN paint. LIGHTLY wet sand and apply touch up or another coat if needed.
Clear coat, wet sand, clear coat, wet sand... all while also storing it in the Rubbermaid container.
Trust me on this one, my mask had a permenent wet look to it when it was done. Any questiosn, feel free to contact me.
Last edited by GINO; Oct 13, 2010 at 6:49 PM.
And none of the real helmets are that clean polished so most of these suggestions are just plain wrong if you are going for the original prop look - but seeing as this is for regular helmets it may look nicer as a overly shiny display piece rather than the original look crappy paint job.
I dunno man. Jedi pulled off that "Showroom shine" quite well.
He wanted to know "how to make it REAL shiny." Gino you're right as far as OT accuracy, hats off. But from what I read, he doesnt want OT accuracy.
Too Much Garlic said:
ESB era photos of the screenused Vader prop show orange peeling on the dome. A lacquer coating over the black paint has been observed on one ESB prop. The coating may itself have been polished, thereby providing the wet look while allowing the orange peeling of the paint to coexist.
But for regular trooping, the above methods work out just fine! Seems like a ROTS Vader would be a superb candidate for this too....
Folks,
I coming to you with an open request. What the hell has happened to my helmet after 8 years of a flawless paint job and what is the best remedy (if any) short of a strip and repaint? This "reaction" started about six months ago with a small spot in dead center of the helmet, just above the dome line. Within two weeks, it had spread to some of the cheek area and neck. Now, it covers 90% of the mask. The dome is unaffected as it was repainted approximately 2 years ago due to a bubble/crack in the back. It was painted professionally at an automotive bodyshop. Any thoughts? Has my paint job just just oxidized? When it comes to armor, casting/molding are my thing. Painting, I know nothing about. I've attached images of the face mask in full on suicide mode......the "crazing" of the black strip down one side (the last image) is just freaky to me.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Jesse
Last edited by Darth Movado; Jul 23, 2012 at 7:41 PM.
Must admit I've never seen anything like that before. And that last picture... it looks cool but I have no clue what caused it.
Did you use cheap paints? Did you prep the surface of the helmet before painting? In what manner were you displaying it? Steady temperature, out of the sun, etc.? Still... why the heck did it take 8 years to show?
Stripping can be done a number of ways. Some use Acetone - can affect the gelcoat of the mask. Some use brake fluid - can affect the gelcoat of the mask if it is made of cheap resin. Others just sand it down.
Good luck, man.
I know I've seen that effect before. Just can't remember where. Seems like washing a painted kit or something caused it. I know that is of little help. Sorry.
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