Re: "It's About Time!" Starcraft II Terran Marine CMC Armor WIP *PIC HEAVY*
Hi all! here's a little more progress, but updates probably won't come as often for a while because I'm finally on the painting step! It's quite a daunting task and I'm working thru some weirdness with the process, but I'll keep ya'll informed.
First off, I've added some foam to the back of the fingers for a couple reasons, first to cover the gaps left in the halves of the printed digits, and second because a little extra armor couldn't hurt. Each plate is cut shaped sanded and cemented to each section of the finger, then I plastidipped the top halves of the fingers to seal it all off. When the paint is done I'll add more foam to the inside surfaces of the fingers for padding and grip, but that'll be the last step on the hands.
NOW! Paint! Here we go. So I've got a method that seems to be working for me, and I'm applying it to all the pieces, tho I probably won't be posting pictures of every single piece, but I'll detail out the process as it progresses.
1. First, seal the entire part with a heat gun, this reduces pores and keeps the coatings from soaking in too much. Not a problem except it uses more coating and costs more. Since every part I've built so far was heat formed to begin with, this wasn't a necessary step for me. Next, Plastidip. I used the standard black spray version, 11 oz. cans. I originally bought 12 cans, and only recently with the hands needed to buy one more. 2-3 coats except where seams or defects in the foam surface needed a little extra. Small areas like that were spot treated. helps hide seams further after the caulking. The feet were the first things I built for the suit and the seams were awful, so they were almost impossible to make look better, but maybe I can hide them later.
2. Second, prime the entire dipped surface with a good primer, I chose a Rustoleum automotive primer that says it can be wet sanded. I started with grey, covered the whole piece with two light coats, waited a few hours for it to fully dry then re-sprayed with black. Alternating colors helps you keep track of what has been painted and what hasn't. Total of between 4-5 coats.
3. Third, I went over the "metal" areas with the grey again to make a lighter base for the silver that would go on next, while leaving the "painted" areas black. I also sprayed grey over the damages scattered over the piece to highlight the exposed metal underneath.
4. Finally, I sanded the black sections that would eventually be painted black (or dark grey) to provide a nice smooth surface for the finish.
I've repeated this method for most of the parts so far, but I've yet to decide on a final color finish yet, so no top coats applied yet.
Also, I tried the mustard masking trick or the chipped paint look, and I found something interesting. Yellow mustard will stain the underlying silver paint! Makes it look kinda gold. Oops! Looks like I'll be trying a different method. Good thing I tested it first! Anyway, more to come! I've still got to find a good metal color, as well as a final top coat color.
