Re: "It's About Time!" Starcraft II Terran Marine CMC Armor WIP *PIC HEAVY*
Hello again! For today, the chef has prepared a very special helping of a SEE-THROUGH VISOR tutorial smothered in cheese, with a side of foam work on the torso aged to perfection. You'll find both go well with a glass of slight disappointment as my already too-close deadline waves as it flies by. And to finish the night out, hope on a plate complimenting six more months before the next major deadline, deep fried and dipped in chocolate. Enjoy!
Yep, as I said, it turns out I'm not going to be able to finish this in time for SLCC, but we have another big one called Fan Xperience taking place sometime in (most likely) April next year. Last time, Sir Patrick Stewart made it out here for one of the days! Excited to see who else shows up next year. So anyway, that's my next goal. Actually it's Halloween this year but it's already starting to get cold so painting my have to wait until spring. We'll see.
Minor update on the foam work, the trickiest part to date (I know I've said that before but I keep finding new ways to stump myself) is the lower surround to cover the gaps in the front and back. Kind of hard to describe but you'll get it looking at the pictures. I trimmed the existing foam pieces back a bit, added some layers around the lower edge to build up thickness, and used frog tape to create the shape I'd need to cover it all up. Confused yet? Ok pics are worth their weight in words so here they are:
Didn't turn out exactly as I'd planned due to cutting the edges at a tad too sharp of angles, but not too bad, I think. If anyone wants more detail on how I did that I'm happy to oblige.
Ok on to the main course, a fairly detailed tutorial on HOW TO PAINT A VISOR or similar helmet/specs/mask etc. that reflects from the outside but remains see through! YAY! Examples might be a Halo helmet visor, Doc's silver sunglasses from the end of BTTF and beginning of BTTF2, a NASA space helmet, etc. I originally found a seriously awesome tutorial on the 405th,
HERE, but I've added a bit more detail I think. I used his method on a test piece and altered it to make it work to my needs. If I were to start over there's a couple things I'd do differently but I have neither the patience or money to try again, so I'm content with what I've got. Oh, and BTW, I was thinking of different colors to paint the visor based on the color scheme of the rest of the armor but I decided orange/gold would probably fit best with the majority of the options I've been looking at. If I have enough kick-back tho, maybe I'll clean it off and try again ANYWAY here we go!
Step 1:
Aquire the right materials for the job.
I bought a clear acrylic dome from EZTops in Maine, US. They took almost a month and a half and a bit of nagging for the pieces to arrive but their quality is top notch and I'd definitely buy from them again! The dome/visor doesn't have to be acrylic, that's just the easiest thing I could find in the specific size I needed.
I dug out my old airbrush from high school and dialed it in to about 20psi on my compressor.
I bought 4 kinds of paint. I have Alclad II Chrome and Klear Kote, and Tamiya clear red and clear yellow acrylic. You'll also need tamiya's acrylic thinner in order to spray the stuff because it's surprisingly thick and will gum up your airbrush. FYI they have many different colors of clear so any color or combination thereof will work, as long as it's the "clear" version and not the "transparent" stuff.
You'll need a good cleaner for the airbrush. the Klear is a laquer so the Tamiya thinner won't work to clean it out of the airbrush. Learned that the hard way.
Lastly, lots and lots of fresh air. Airbrushes are excellent at creating a very fine vapor that seems to never settle and float around in your breathing space indefinitely. Do this outside with a breather if at all possible.
Step 2:
Do a test piece first!
Last thing you want to do is jump into this without knowing how the paints will coat because it's not like using a spray can. Airbrushing is different! I used the piece I cut off the dome to get the correct shape, which was great because it had the same curve as the final piece I'd be painting, which helps to figure out what the paint will do on the surface.
Step 3:
Spray the chrome on the INSIDE of the piece.
The Alclad is airbrush-ready and does not need to be thinned. They recommend between 12-15psi for the chrome. Make sure your piece is VERY clean, with no fingerprints or dust at all! Those will show up at this point if they are present. Spray the chrome on the inside face of your piece as lightly as you can. The idea is to build up several very light layers in order to keep it thin enough to still see through from the back. After several light coats you'll start to see the surface starting to become darker and shinier. At that point, STOP. You've probably got it enough. Any thicker and it will no longer be see-through (as shown by my first test piece). It won't look very mirror-like yet but trust me, it will be. FYI this paint is truley incredible! I thought for sure I'd get the same result as a spray can style chrome that turns out more silver than chrome but YOWZER this stuff could not be closer to real chrome! Just spray it as evenly as you possibly can because you'll be able to see the thin spots. Let the chrome dry for about 15 minutes, but be aware: until you clear coat the stuff it's extremely delecate and will wipe off with just the pressure of you finger.
Step 4:
Mix the color acrylics to the shade desired and spray on the outside of the piece.
I used about a 4:1 ratio of the yellow to red, and not quite 50/50 with the thinner. I wanted darker than just yellow but not orange, so mixing worked for that. Try spraying a bit on a white piece of paper before you start in on the plastic to make sure the color is what you want, as well as the right consistency to spray evenly thru the gun without droplets forming and making a mess of the surface. The paper is white and opaque so the color will be far bolder than on a clear or reflective surface so try to get it just a bit darker than you want the final result to be. You'll be putting it on thin enough that the darker the color, the less you may have to put on.
I tried a different method to begin with on my test piece, which was spraying the color on first, half on the outside and half on the inside before the chrome goes on. I was hoping to retain the naturaly shinyness of the dome itsself and thought that I could just spray the chrome on over the top of the color to make that happen. That... didn't work. It looks ok from the outside but visibility is next to nothing and the surface finish is terrible. Also, I sprayed the chome on way too thick to begin with. Take it slow with that stuff. A little bit goes a long way!
As you can see, visibility on the test was.. well... non-existent. Slightly better on the side with the chrome inside/color outside however. Stick with that method. The key is a noce smooth surface for the chrome to stick too. The color coat on the inside makes is rough so the chrome can't coat evenly and lay flat like it's supposed to. That wreaks havok on the surface finish and thus, visibility.
Now I know what you're thinking, it's not shiny enough! Or see-through enough! Your are correct, but that's where the next bit comes in:
Step 5:
Clear coat!
Like you, at this point I had my doubts and couldn't imagine I'd done anything right up to this point. But I plowed on, hoping at some point it'd be ok.
Crank the psi on the compressor up to 20-25psi for the clear and hose the piece down with 2 medium thick coats. Not enough that it runs but enough to glossify the surface. This fills in the spaces between paint particles and adds thickness to the finish which shines up beautifully without even buffing! Later on if you like, (I will) you can go back with very fine sandpaper and buff this thing to a mirror-like finish like you would a car. Wet-sanding tecniques and whatnot. I haven't done that part yet but when I get to it I'll detail that as well. Let the clear dry for at least an hour before touching it as it's very tacky stuff and will accept fingerprints with no argument.
No polishing at all! Just clear coat! As you can see, didn't work too well on the other side. Surprisingly enough, this cleared up the vision a lot! I forgot to get pictures in my excitement that I'd actually done something right, but I could see through the piece well enough to avoid people and obstacles fairly well! Remember tho, I sprayed the chrome on way too thick, so visibility behind the real piece is even better. Looks nice, but too much.
, next project after the suit, still in primer) and in an interview the director they said "The color white was chosen for the car simply so the car would stand out against the background scenery in the movie." In most of the movie he's driving thru southern Utah, and Colorado so the red rock makes an amazing backdrop in contrast to the stark white. Plus I think the dirt shows up better. I'm thinking we may be onto something using some sort of white somewhere to make it stand out. I'll keep that in mind thanks!
