My fully finished Captian America shield including painting tips !!!!

GF

Sr Member
Here's my painted CA shield using Metal Cast duplicolor paints.

I have been getting so many PM's for the technique I used so here it is, I painted each ring individualy to avoid overspray and also give me more control and concentrate on one section at a time, also if I screw up one section I just restart that section until satisfied. I applied one heavy coat, there's a sweet spot, basically I applied a heavy enough coat without making the paint run, took me 3 tries before I was satisfied, I put the shield standing up vertically, the trick is to hold can approx 5" from shield for a wet smooth look and avoid a hazy (dusty) finish if spraying too far away from shield, go back and forth and cover entire area as fast as possible before paint starts to dry, you need to cover entire section in one attempt, doing a second coat trying to cover missed spots will not give you the same smooth and reflective results, BTW I masked and sprayed all the grooves first so I don't need to try and get those grooves covered so I can fully concentrate on the flat surfaces, a bit more work but paid big in the end results, you can clearly see the reflection of the light how pretty concistent it is from bare aluminum to painted surface, that shows the quality of the super smooth finish.

Remember always start spraying outside shield parameter to avoid any spurts, I didn't apply any clearcoat, I personally find it ruins the smooth finish I was trying so hard to achieve in the first place, applying a clear coat with a spray can will give ou a hazy(foggy) finish, a automotive clearcoat is best but will give the whole shield unified look, I wanted the bare alumimun to look natural.

Gerardo
 

Attachments

  • CA GF shield  (8).JPG
    CA GF shield (8).JPG
    1.3 MB · Views: 1,195
  • CA GF shield  (7).JPG
    CA GF shield (7).JPG
    1.1 MB · Views: 345
  • CA GF shield .JPG
    CA GF shield .JPG
    1.2 MB · Views: 288
  • CA GF shield  (5).JPG
    CA GF shield (5).JPG
    1.5 MB · Views: 306
  • CA GF shield  (2).JPG
    CA GF shield (2).JPG
    1.3 MB · Views: 249
Last edited:
Really nice job. You should be very proud. I do think you should reconsider the bare aluminum. You're going to be chasing fingerprints pretty soon. The oil in your hands is going to likely spot and discolor the bare aluminum. I'd just hate to see this work of art start to look stained. Again, really good job!
 
Really nice job. You should be very proud. I do think you should reconsider the bare aluminum. You're going to be chasing fingerprints pretty soon. The oil in your hands is going to likely spot and discolor the bare aluminum. I'd just hate to see this work of art start to look stained. Again, really good job!

Thanks for the nice words

I painted the shield a few months ago and the aluminum didn't change, fingerprints are easy to clean off, I did clean the bare aluminum section very well using a compound cleaner than acetone which removed all oil and dirt from machining process.

Gerardo
 
Really nice work and paint, baby oil works very well on bare aluminium, well it does on my oven anyway lol not sure if it would affect the paint though.
 
Great job! I'm starting mine soon, i do have a quick question. so you taped everything off except the grooves? is it red/bare-red/blue on one side of the groove. from what i've read so far the Grooves are the bane of the project. Thanks for any info
 
Great job! I'm starting mine soon, i do have a quick question. so you taped everything off except the grooves? is it red/bare-red/blue on one side of the groove. from what i've read so far the Grooves are the bane of the project. Thanks for any info

correct, but you don't have to tape everything just enough to get paint into grooves, you can wipe overspray with acetone without affecting painted grooves.

All the grooves are painted red on mine, that was the easiest and cleanest way to achieve nice super clean edges, the original the color transition was in the middle of the "V" groove but that would be a pain to get a super clean job, I was thinking of masking the groove and use exacto and trim tape in the "V" groove but I can only imagine when removing tape paint, paint would should peel or seek threw since heavy coats is required.

Gerardo
 
Bump for those who missed the thread as I'm still getting emails for tips

Gerardo
 
Last edited:
Back
Top