I finally finished off my V2 last week - I decided that I couldn't wait for one of Roman's new clamps, so I sacrificed the clamp from a spare 3 cell that I've had lying around for a while.
As far as the finish goes, the first thing that I did was to go at all of the parts with a combination of a couple different types of Scotchbrite pad and superfine steel wool - old, worn aluminum is gonna have a ton of very fine surface scratches, which is the look that I was going for. I also gave the parts a bit of light "abuse" with a ball peen hammer, and then focused most of the abuse on the booster section, going at it with coarse Scotchbrite, hammer, machinist's square (for a different type of gouging than the hammer), and a pair of channel lock pliers, which I used to scratch and "claw at" the aluminum. I also smacked the bottom of the pommel around on one of the anvils at work, and even used the coarse surface of the wooden stump it was mounted to.
Then I started in with the Easy-Off oven cleaner treatment - after spraying it on and completely coating the parts, I let them sit for about 5 - 7 minutes before rinsing it off. I repeated this process several times, building up a nice mottled staining while also dulling the aluminum down, so it no longer looked shiny and brand new.
For the painting process I used Krylon satin black, painting each section separately and using Trooper_trent's vinyl stencils. Thanks Trent! :thumbsup After removing the stencils, I lightly scraped at some of the edges of the painted areas with an X-acto to make them look a little more ragged/natural. I also lightly scraped at all of the raised edges that were painted to expose a bit of the aluminum underneath. Referring to the Celebration images, I also did a bit of creative scraping in the areas that weren't addressed by Trent's stencils - I didn't go nuts... close enough was good enough for me.
Then I went in with Birchwood Casey Aluminum Black to add some dark grime/staining in the crevices and recessed areas. The aluminum black that I had was old and I also diluted it with water, so it gave me more of a dirty grey color rather than a true black. In some areas I applied the aluminum black after I had done the painting, while in other areas - particularly the booster section - I applied the aluminum black before I did the masking and painting. I actually dipped the booster section into a cup of the diluted aluminum black several times to build up the grey tone of that part.
I worked over both the cone knob and Roy's clamp lever with the same Scotchbrite/steel wool combo, did a little bit of staining - aluminum black on the knob, Jax Chemicals Iron Steel & Nickel Blackener on the lever, and added a dab of "crevice crud" to both. The threaded steel block on the opposite side of the clamp didn't react to the Jax patina solution, so I coated it with olive oil and burned it with a propane torch. Voila - cruddy, nasty old steel. :love
The final steps were going back in and adding some small specks of black paint with a fine paintbrush, and then adding "crevice crud" - oil paint thinned with turpenoid, also applied with a fine paintbrush. For the bare aluminum areas I used a mixture of ivory black and burnt umber, and for the parts that were painted black I added titanium white to the mix so it became a dark grey to show up against the black.
I had to bulk out the section underneath the Graflex clamp with a few layers of masking tape in order to get it to close tightly without becoming too narrow to accept slothfurnace's circuit card. I did have to sand the edges of the card just a bit, but it fit nice and tight.
Overall I'm pretty happy with it. And to think that there was a time when I didn't like the ROTJ saber... Now I have TWO of them! :lol
As far as the finish goes, the first thing that I did was to go at all of the parts with a combination of a couple different types of Scotchbrite pad and superfine steel wool - old, worn aluminum is gonna have a ton of very fine surface scratches, which is the look that I was going for. I also gave the parts a bit of light "abuse" with a ball peen hammer, and then focused most of the abuse on the booster section, going at it with coarse Scotchbrite, hammer, machinist's square (for a different type of gouging than the hammer), and a pair of channel lock pliers, which I used to scratch and "claw at" the aluminum. I also smacked the bottom of the pommel around on one of the anvils at work, and even used the coarse surface of the wooden stump it was mounted to.
Then I started in with the Easy-Off oven cleaner treatment - after spraying it on and completely coating the parts, I let them sit for about 5 - 7 minutes before rinsing it off. I repeated this process several times, building up a nice mottled staining while also dulling the aluminum down, so it no longer looked shiny and brand new.
For the painting process I used Krylon satin black, painting each section separately and using Trooper_trent's vinyl stencils. Thanks Trent! :thumbsup After removing the stencils, I lightly scraped at some of the edges of the painted areas with an X-acto to make them look a little more ragged/natural. I also lightly scraped at all of the raised edges that were painted to expose a bit of the aluminum underneath. Referring to the Celebration images, I also did a bit of creative scraping in the areas that weren't addressed by Trent's stencils - I didn't go nuts... close enough was good enough for me.
Then I went in with Birchwood Casey Aluminum Black to add some dark grime/staining in the crevices and recessed areas. The aluminum black that I had was old and I also diluted it with water, so it gave me more of a dirty grey color rather than a true black. In some areas I applied the aluminum black after I had done the painting, while in other areas - particularly the booster section - I applied the aluminum black before I did the masking and painting. I actually dipped the booster section into a cup of the diluted aluminum black several times to build up the grey tone of that part.
I worked over both the cone knob and Roy's clamp lever with the same Scotchbrite/steel wool combo, did a little bit of staining - aluminum black on the knob, Jax Chemicals Iron Steel & Nickel Blackener on the lever, and added a dab of "crevice crud" to both. The threaded steel block on the opposite side of the clamp didn't react to the Jax patina solution, so I coated it with olive oil and burned it with a propane torch. Voila - cruddy, nasty old steel. :love
The final steps were going back in and adding some small specks of black paint with a fine paintbrush, and then adding "crevice crud" - oil paint thinned with turpenoid, also applied with a fine paintbrush. For the bare aluminum areas I used a mixture of ivory black and burnt umber, and for the parts that were painted black I added titanium white to the mix so it became a dark grey to show up against the black.
I had to bulk out the section underneath the Graflex clamp with a few layers of masking tape in order to get it to close tightly without becoming too narrow to accept slothfurnace's circuit card. I did have to sand the edges of the card just a bit, but it fit nice and tight.
Overall I'm pretty happy with it. And to think that there was a time when I didn't like the ROTJ saber... Now I have TWO of them! :lol
