The "I'm painting a Captain America Shield" thread

I think I may have to start over. I ordered some very strong neodymium magnets from a company called K&J Magnetics (part #s D93-N52, and DC4-N52). I used a smaller star outline (1/2 inside of the size of your aluminum star per Valor) and I placed my JB Weld just into that star footprint. I also cleared off just a q tip size down to metal about an inch and a half back from the star points and put a small dab there and then I used a toothpick and put the smallest amount just at the points (this may not be needed by I wanted to do so). THen I used the magnets (with each one inside a piece of cut off latex glove finger which helped avoid any scratches to the surface) and let the whole thing sit for 24 hrs. Even taking this much care, I still got squeeze out so I wiped it up and then masked around the whole star to catch any more squeeze out which it continued to do little by little over the course of maybe 90 min. At that point I peeled the tape off so it wouldnt get stuck. By morning it was almost perfect. There were 2 tiny bits of squeeze out by the point but a little 2000 grit wet sanding took it right off and didnt cut through my clear coat so then I just polished out those scratches. One think I didnt do and would next time is put a small bit of tape on the back of the star to cover the pinhole in the center as I did get JB weld squeeze out through that hole but was able to hit it lightly with a wood working chisel and then polish and you cant tell it was ever there. I think putting the star on for me brought the most panic for me but if youre careful (and you dont let those extremely strong magnets slam into each other) itll work out better next go around especially if you get the star bent really well first of all.

ya just too bad I can't just remove the star and try again
 
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ya just too bad I can't just remove the star and try again
I thought I saw on here somewhere at least a time or two where folks got the star of and were able to get back down to bare metal on the center circle but I could be wrong. Star would be trashed at that point but its probably doable. You would just need to grind/sand/chisel the JB blobs off and then spin some 150 grit sandpaper around the center hole to remove unwanted scratches and retain the spun look. Probably take some work but I dont see why it couldnt be done.
 
I thought I saw on here somewhere at least a time or two where folks got the star of and were able to get back down to bare metal on the center circle but I could be wrong. Star would be trashed at that point but its probably doable. You would just need to grind/sand/chisel the JB blobs off and then spin some 150 grit sandpaper around the center hole to remove unwanted scratches and retain the spun look. Probably take some work but I dont see why it couldnt be done.

Yeah I don't have that kind of equipment.
 
Yeah I don't have that kind of equipment.
At the end of the day JB weld is just epoxy so if you were going to trash the paint anyway and start over, it doesnt seem there would be much to lose in giving it a good Acetone bath as Acetone can break down epoxy pretty well if left on there for a while. At that point theres a good chance some cheap sand paper will get you back to a good starting point and theres not much needed equipment wise other than a good bit of elbow grease and some 4 letter words!
 
At the end of the day JB weld is just epoxy so if you were going to trash the paint anyway and start over, it doesnt seem there would be much to lose in giving it a good Acetone bath as Acetone can break down epoxy pretty well if left on there for a while. At that point theres a good chance some cheap sand paper will get you back to a good starting point and theres not much needed equipment wise other than a good bit of elbow grease and some 4 letter words!

I'll give that a try this weekend, you think if i just let the star soak in acetone that'd loosen it up?
 
I'll give that a try this weekend, you think if i just let the star soak in acetone that'd loosen it up?
I would think so. If I were doing it, I would probably find a plastic container big enough where I could flip the shield upside down and lay in into the container and then fill with acetone high enough that the whole star ends of submerged. Ide probably let it set overnight like that and see how easy it pops off
 
I built an 18ft sea kayak a couple yrs back out of wood and fiberglass and a whole lot of 2 part epoxy. I had some nasty runs that dried and my heat gun (not blow dryer) worked really well to soften the epoxy enough that I could scrape it off with a putty knife. That may be an option to try too to remove the JB Weld.
 
I built an 18ft sea kayak a couple yrs back out of wood and fiberglass and a whole lot of 2 part epoxy. I had some nasty runs that dried and my heat gun (not blow dryer) worked really well to soften the epoxy enough that I could scrape it off with a putty knife. That may be an option to try too to remove the JB Weld.

The heat wouldn't affect the metal?
 
I Screwed up the star on one of my shields. One of the corners was popping up. I stuck a putty knife under the star at a corner and with a couple sharp taps to the handle the star popped off. JB Weld bill break free with a bit of work. This left me with a perfectly painted shield and a mess of thick JB Weld. Not wanting to wreck the paint job I covered the outer part of the shield with paper and masking tape. Then set to work chipping the JB Weld off. I use a small sharp chisel and a hammer. Gently tapping the chisel into the edge of the dried JB Weld I could it popped of pretty well. Some grinding with a Dremel would do it too. Once I had the surface flat again I took a new star (I know a guy who makes them) and glued it back on.

Don't give up, Noting we're talking about here is permanent or irreversible.

Good luck.

Valor
 
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I Screwed up the star on one of my shields. One of the corners was popping up. I stuck a putty knife under the star at a corner and with a couple sharp taps to the handle the star popped off. JB Weld bill break free with a bit of work. This left me with a perfectly painted shield and a mess of thick JB Weld. Not wanting to wreck the paint job I covered the outer part of the shield with paper and masking tape. Then set to work chilling the JB Weld off. I use a small sharp chile and a hammer. Gently tapping the chile into the edge of the dried JB Weld I count it popped of pretty well. Some grinding with a Dremel would do it too. Once I had the surface flat again I took a new star (I know a guy who makes them) and glued it back on.

Don't give up, Noting we're talking about here is permanent or irreversible.

Good luck.

Valor

I'm not too worried about the paint, its giving me good practice redoing the coats anyways. I'll try a few ideas, like the putty knife first (sounds simplest), then acetone, and i also read a extended soak in white vinegar softens up jb weld as well. If I find one works best I'll report back so others learn from my experience. My paint job turned out really well though, and I assembled but hadn't attached the handles you made me yet Valor, so worst case scenario i fudge up the shield/star and have to replace each. But since I already fixed a scratch i made in the shield I think if I can get the star off I can salvage the actual shield.

edit:

should be noted I didn't coat the entire star with jb weld, just a circle section around the center of it so once I use acetone to break off the superglue I tried using to fix it, I just have the very center to deal with jb weld, and if I get it off that part is fully covered by the star anyways.
 
If course there's always another option. Battle damage.

THERPF - 1
JB WELD - 0

I used some acetone, a putty knife / hammer, and this 3m adhesive remover and managed to seperate the star from the shield, the star got a WEE bit bent but i can smooth it out.

Now I just have to work the rest of the jb weld off the back of the star and the shield and I'll be back to square one. (I also used paint stripper to remove all the paint again, i kind of enjoy painting this shield)

edit: slowly sanding (and when i say sanding I mean i have a piece of sand paper and my hand) down the jb well and apply more of that adhesive remover / acetone to keep whittling it down, very time consuming but i'll get it down eventually, and i have the star soaking in acetone to hopefully loosen the jb weld on it.
 
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Anyone have any suggestions to get the circular spun look back into the shield? I noticed as I am working off the JB weld a couple of places got over-smoothed and made it so i removed that spun look (just in the very middle area). I'll take a photo but it basically just looks like smooth metal, might not even be noticeable when painted but i'm trying to get this as best i can.

On a related note, does anyone know if i got a heat gun to heat up the jb weld (which sounds like one way of getting it off) would it affect the aluminum shield in a negative way?
 
If course there's always another option. Battle damage.

A third option is always to rivet the star rather than jb weld it. I know it isn't exactly accurate but if you ever have to repaint or replace a damaged star, it's much cleaner and way less hassle to remove rivets then scrape off jb weld.

 
Anyone have any suggestions to get the circular spun look back into the shield? I noticed as I am working off the JB weld a couple of places got over-smoothed and made it so i removed that spun look (just in the very middle area). I'll take a photo but it basically just looks like smooth metal, might not even be noticeable when painted but i'm trying to get this as best i can.

On a related note, does anyone know if i got a heat gun to heat up the jb weld (which sounds like one way of getting it off) would it affect the aluminum shield in a negative way?
To get the spun effect back just take a 1/4in bolt (fits the hole in the shield) and run it through your sandpaper and start spinning around that center point. Depending how aggressive your sandpaper is maybe folkow with a green scotchbright pad using the same method. Just make sure when youre done you really clean all that metal dust and residue off with some lacquer thinner until your rag stops looking dirty otherwise your paint wont adhere as well. As far as the heat gun damaging the blank, I wouldnt expect that it would given the melting point of aluminum is up there pretty high (they make engine heads out of alumimum sometimes). Maybe just try the back first as a safety measure but a heat gun shouldnt be able to produce the sort of heat needed to deform that shield
 
A third option is always to rivet the star rather than jb weld it. I know it isn't exactly accurate but if you ever have to repaint or replace a damaged star, it's much cleaner and way less hassle to remove rivets then scrape off jb weld.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d55/Drakeprimeone/20140605_202010_zps0a6671c3.jpg
Any chance you have the info - like model number or something on those? I've been going nuts looking everywhere for "button head" rivets... picked some up from Fastenal (and spent way too much) and I'm not sure if these are going to work.
 
Any chance you have the info - like model number or something on those? I've been going nuts looking everywhere for "button head" rivets... picked some up from Fastenal (and spent way too much) and I'm not sure if these are going to work.

This is what I bought. Really inexpensive. There is a 7 dollar kit version that includes some rivets and I just used the smallest ones. I believe they are 1/8 x 1/4. I guess I should have mentioned the "drawback" to this. These rivets do go all the way through the shield so on the inside you see atleast where it comes through in atleast 2 different places. The other 3 places are generally covered up by the brackets. If that irks you then you may need to look at a different option but for me the functionality of using the rivets trumps the downside.

http://www.harborfreight.com/hand-riveter-set-38353.html
 
This is what I bought. Really inexpensive. There is a 7 dollar kit version that includes some rivets and I just used the smallest ones. I believe they are 1/8 x 1/4. I guess I should have mentioned the "drawback" to this. These rivets do go all the way through the shield so on the inside you see atleast where it comes through in atleast 2 different places. The other 3 places are generally covered up by the brackets. If that irks you then you may need to look at a different option but for me the functionality of using the rivets trumps the downside.

http://www.harborfreight.com/hand-riveter-set-38353.html
OMG. I bought the same exact riveter... Elsewhere in this thread it was said to use a specific type (button head) and I thought you used those.
 
OMG. I bought the same exact riveter... Elsewhere in this thread it was said to use a specific type (button head) and I thought you used those.

Nah.. just common hand rivets. Lowes, Home Depot, Harbor Freight. Just a few bucks. :)

Just in case, but my hand riveter had a hard time grabbing hold of the stem of the smallest rivet. I just slightly bent the stem and it worked just fine.
 
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Nah.. just common hand rivets. Lowes, Home Depot, Harbor Freight. Just a few bucks. :)

Just in case, but my hand riveter had a hard time grabbing hold of the stem of the smallest rivet. I just slightly bent the stem and it worked just fine.
Thanks. The $5 Harbor Freight hand riveter I bought came with rivets... sounds like you used the smallest rivets it came with?

To think I spent $20 on a box a rivets that I most likely won't use... and I don't think my hand riveter works with them, either.

Again, thanks a ton.
 

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