I thought I would share my build, or should I say my rebuild. I had previously used troopers stencils and used a cheap satin black paint straight on the aluminum, I used Q-tips with some turps to soften the edges, everything looked great, but it would not dry. I went back to scratch, and got another stencil. This time I thought I would do this better and badder. I looked at the new reference photos and thought I would do my best, so I started to weather the booster, some keys, a metal ruler, 240 grit in light circular motions, reg steel wool, super fine steel wool, hydrogen peroxide with the steel wool. Soon results looked good. I used Aluminum Black on the booster and pommel to make it look dull and aged. Trick with the A/B was using it with steel wool and as soon as it turned black to rub it off with the steel wool working the fluid until it evaporated, and then dabbing it dry, then washing it with water to stop the reaction until I got it to how I wanted. I roughed out some of the dings in the pommel, but still have some more fine tunning to go.
Next I sought a better way to paint, I thought I needed a primer, and found a flat black primer Rust-oleum 2x I also bought British Paints Satin black as well. I decided to work on the grenade first, and I am masking up sections and taking the long way round, thus when I do the booster last there will be less handling. I already fitted a genuine graflex clamp which is a bit loose, nothing some tape wont fix. I noticed in the reference pics the clamp has two different positions, which indicates it is movable on the prop. I prepped and removed the old paint, masked and hit three of the grooves lightly misting on the flat black until it was all covered. I let it sit for an hour, then hit it with the satin black.
I let this sit overnight. The Satin Black was a thick paint, I was worried this was a rinse and repeat, but I was wrong. Upon further investigation the paint on the original prop does have a lip in areas, indicating it was put on thick. I sat down with some bamboo toothpicks, studied the reference photos carefully, used a ruler and some guessing, held it at the same angles as the pics and started to work the chips in. To my suprise the paint was malleable, I could use the toothpick to push open and shape, and even correct, using the toothpick like a rolling pin. The paint is dry and will dry harder in five days, so the working time is limited.
I am pretty happy so far, my placement may be a mm out here or there, but it is hard with photos and angles to get exact placement. I will wait 5 day until I mask up and do some more sections, so it will be slow going, but worth while I hope.
Next I sought a better way to paint, I thought I needed a primer, and found a flat black primer Rust-oleum 2x I also bought British Paints Satin black as well. I decided to work on the grenade first, and I am masking up sections and taking the long way round, thus when I do the booster last there will be less handling. I already fitted a genuine graflex clamp which is a bit loose, nothing some tape wont fix. I noticed in the reference pics the clamp has two different positions, which indicates it is movable on the prop. I prepped and removed the old paint, masked and hit three of the grooves lightly misting on the flat black until it was all covered. I let it sit for an hour, then hit it with the satin black.
I let this sit overnight. The Satin Black was a thick paint, I was worried this was a rinse and repeat, but I was wrong. Upon further investigation the paint on the original prop does have a lip in areas, indicating it was put on thick. I sat down with some bamboo toothpicks, studied the reference photos carefully, used a ruler and some guessing, held it at the same angles as the pics and started to work the chips in. To my suprise the paint was malleable, I could use the toothpick to push open and shape, and even correct, using the toothpick like a rolling pin. The paint is dry and will dry harder in five days, so the working time is limited.
I am pretty happy so far, my placement may be a mm out here or there, but it is hard with photos and angles to get exact placement. I will wait 5 day until I mask up and do some more sections, so it will be slow going, but worth while I hope.
Last edited:
