Captain America Shield (UK Production & 1st Thread)

Just got my blanks in the mail the other day. Just wondering where you got the VHT paint from? I'm in the UK too and there's nobody willing to ship the Dupli-colour paints here and I thought VHT is the best shot seeing as it's an off brand of dupli-colour. The red doesn't look that dark to be honest, the paint job came out lovely too :)
 
I found my Vht paints on Amazon , also saw it on EBay pretty fast delivery time as it was by courier due to the chemical content , next question I imagine will be which clear coat to use ?
 
I found my Vht paints on Amazon , also saw it on EBay pretty fast delivery time as it was by courier due to the chemical content , next question I imagine will be which clear coat to use ?

I got my paints through ebay nice and easy no problems. I have an uncle who owns a garage and sprays cars so I'm going to get him to hit the shield with a clear lacquer I think although right now I'm in two minds whether to strip the centre red circle and the blue, few bits I'm not happy with it, this could easily drive you nuts!
 
Yeah, so I bit the bullet and striped both center circles. I wasn't happy with the red coming away on the edges, I tried to touch it up but the result was less than satisfactory. I'm going to use those thin dental brushes you use to clean in between you teeth to get into the groves and take the paint away then the shield will be ready for the new paint job.

red outer.jpg
'
 
How are you painting the grooves? I was thinking of going for half and half but my shield has awkward grooves so I don't know how feasible that is.
 
I'm avoiding the half and half on the grooves. To tape that up perfect will be such a pain and my groves are only 2.5mm wide. The outer circle has a red groove, then the silver circle with a silver groove, for the final groove I'm undecided on it being red or blue, I'm going to have to check out some other shields or the eFX shield.

Clark
 
So last weekend I found time to hit the red rings with a couple of coats , painting a dome is tougher than you think , maintaining an equal distance is the prob if your not really on the ball , consequently I had a couple of patches that were darker than the rest , if I'm totally honest I was not massively disappointed for a first effort given the amount of 2nd & 3rd attempts we read about here .

So during this week I've stripped it back to bare metal , I used Pollycell advanced paint stripper active gel , I would highly recommend this as it seems to work quickly on the anodised paint & for cleaning the groves lolly stick sanded in to a wedge shape works really well , one benefit of having kids :)

Today I received some Vht engine enamel clear gloss now I've only sprayed it quickly onto some ally step ladder that I had tried the red paint on , I could not believe how good it looked. , the ladders are not very smooth or shinny but the clear coat really left a great finish , taking the roughness away and made the colour really stand out a worth while purchase as far I am concerned.

Am looking forward to seeing some Uk built shields soon , have a good weekend people .

Mike
 
So last weekend I found time to hit the red rings with a couple of coats , painting a dome is tougher than you think , maintaining an equal distance is the prob if your not really on the ball , consequently I had a couple of patches that were darker than the rest , if I'm totally honest I was not massively disappointed for a first effort given the amount of 2nd & 3rd attempts we read about here .

So during this week I've stripped it back to bare metal , I used Pollycell advanced paint stripper active gel , I would highly recommend this as it seems to work quickly on the anodised paint & for cleaning the groves lolly stick sanded in to a wedge shape works really well , one benefit of having kids :)

Today I received some Vht engine enamel clear gloss now I've only sprayed it quickly onto some ally step ladder that I had tried the red paint on , I could not believe how good it looked. , the ladders are not very smooth or shinny but the clear coat really left a great finish , taking the roughness away and made the colour really stand out a worth while purchase as far I am concerned.

Am looking forward to seeing some Uk built shields soon , have a good weekend people .

Mike

Nice. I should be getting my blank tomorrow, thinking of going for a semi-gloss clear coat myself. How are the VHT paints on your blank? Any pictures to share? :)
 
image.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpg

Here you go they are not the best photos as taken on my iphone ,next attempt I will try painting having the shield vertical as I found that while it was lying flat you tend to over stretch as well which isn't the best way to get an even coat either, hope these are of some use to you .

Mike
 
I've seen a lot of people asking about how to paint the grooves correctly. In my opinion, it is way easier to properly mask the grooves then to go back and try to paint them by hand with a brush.

Here's my technique: Use a quality masking tape. Not painters tape. Set a piece, (maybe 4 or 5 inches long) gently across a groove and slowly work the tape down into the valley with your thumbnail – sticking the tape to the side walls of the groove and down to the bottom. Be careful to not tear the tape with your thumbnail. Work carefully and slowly. Do this all around the circle of the rings. Once the whole groove has tape in it, run the tip of a sharp (NEW) X-acto blade along the bottom of the groove – just let the tip ride along in the very bottom. Then remove the tape from the side of the groove you want to expose to paint. It make a razor sharp paint line right at the bottom of the valley. When you're ready to paint the other side –*like when the red meets the blue, do the same thing. Done well, the two colors will meet exactly at the bottom of the groove.

Good luck!

Valor
 
Completely screwed up the red paint. Stripped it and tried again. Better the second time but then found dirt/dust/other crap had gotten in. Back to stripping :lol
 
Did you only get your shield today ? Blimey your keen lol , I do know what you are saying about dust etc when I looked at mine last week when dry I noticed a dog hair on the outer ring & when I I tried to lift it off it took about a litre of paint with it ! Lol , definitely a little awkward to work with this metalised paint .

Mike
 
hey man, where did you buy the aluminum shield blank? can you send me the link, or the address or something like that? Please?

Yeah I would double the request, from UK shipping to Italy could be super reasonable! Would You mind please sending the link to me too??

Kind regards,

Alberto
 
Hi guys sorry for the delayed reply, my blank was actually produced for me using some plans I drew up by a local metal works / spinners and I've used in the past for a few interior design projects. I will look at a possible run of shields but it won't be until I get this one finished up and depending on Arnies work load at the shop, and if they are keen to start selling them.

UPDATE
Well I've actually stripped my shield 3 times now. I seem to be able to lay the blue and the red outer circles down perfect. However after doing a really careful masking job covering the groove between the blue and the red circle, laying the paint down, letting it dry for a decent period of time, upon removal of the tape I always seem to end up lifting some of the red paint away around the edges near the groove without fail. I have no idea why this keeps happening as it doesn't on the outer circle or on the blue circle I'm guessing I've hit the red to heavy around the centre and it's drying to the tape edges.

Frustrating to say the least!
 
Last edited:
I've seen a lot of people asking about how to paint the grooves correctly. In my opinion, it is way easier to properly mask the grooves then to go back and try to paint them by hand with a brush.

Here's my technique: Use a quality masking tape. Not painters tape. Set a piece, (maybe 4 or 5 inches long) gently across a groove and slowly work the tape down into the valley with your thumbnail – sticking the tape to the side walls of the groove and down to the bottom. Be careful to not tear the tape with your thumbnail. Work carefully and slowly. Do this all around the circle of the rings. Once the whole groove has tape in it, run the tip of a sharp (NEW) X-acto blade along the bottom of the groove – just let the tip ride along in the very bottom. Then remove the tape from the side of the groove you want to expose to paint. It make a razor sharp paint line right at the bottom of the valley. When you're ready to paint the other side –*like when the red meets the blue, do the same thing. Done well, the two colors will meet exactly at the bottom of the groove.

Good luck!

Valor

I followed Valor's instructions (though I did use the green Frog tape instead of masking) and painting the valleys was not a problem at all. And I say that acknowledging that I screwed up almost every other aspect of painting, so that should be indicative of how well this method worked.

As others have suggested, I removed the tape while the red paint was still somewhat wet, so I've never had issues with the paint coming off the shield. Best of luck!
 
Any news on a possible run of the shield blanks for those of us in the UK?

I hope the Shield is coming along well for you.
Thanks
 
Clark

When using the VHT paint, did you apply anything to the shield prior or just go direct on the bare metal? I'm a fellow uk guy so advice would be great!!
 
This thread is more than 8 years old.

Your message may be considered spam for the following reasons:

  1. This thread hasn't been active in some time. A new post in this thread might not contribute constructively to this discussion after so long.
If you wish to reply despite these issues, check the box below before replying.
Be aware that malicious compliance may result in more severe penalties.
Back
Top