New Rocketeer kit build

[indigobob]

Hiya Gents and Ladies! I went to Wonderfest (in Louisville KY) and came home with much lighter pockets but an awesome Rocketeer helmet and jetpack. I used to make models when I was young- er so I am hoping I still have some talent left.

I will post photos as I go along but will definitely be asking a lot of questions!

Wish me luck!

 

[TheRealMe]

Subscribed! I think this is a project i will be doing in the future!

 

[Adrock11]

Is this the set made over at Acme? I'd like to hear more about it since I am in the market for a kit myself.

 

[indigobob]

Yes, this is The Acme set, it is beautiful and it requires a lot of finishing work, as in cutting away excess resin and detail sanding.

 

[indigobob]

Here are some pics of my progress so farView attachment 195395View attachment 195398

 

[indigobob]

I had primered the helmet using duplicolor grey primer from autozone but it dried with a suede like finish so I wet sanded the helmet with some 3M 2000 grit sandpaper, hence the uneven color. I purchased some good ol Krylon grey primer but will test on some scrap first before finishing the primer coat.

I found some rustoleum caramel metallic paint that looked brassy, gonna experiment with it to see if it may be good for base coat or not.

I have to confess, this is not going to be a "movie accurate" costume until I can save up some more money! This will be what you guys call a budget project??

 

[indigobob]

I just finished spraying the 3rd coat of primer. it is drying now. One more wet sand and hopefully it will be ready for the next phase.

I tested the caramel metallic but it looks like chocolate brown with very little metallic so not using that.

I will go with the krylon metallic gold like general frosty used.

 

[Valor]

Antique gold Rub n' Buff is what you seek

 

[indigobob]

Antique gold Rub n' Buff is what you seek

This goes on after the Krylon gold base coat correct? Sorry I'm very new at this. Thanks for the info!

updated with more pics

 

[Valor]

The Rub n' Buff is a very user friendly product. You apply it right to your primer. I rub it on with the tip of my finger, it doesn't take much to cover the helmet. As you go, you ... well, Rub and Buff it. THe heat from your finger activates the wax base of the material and shines it up like metal. The gold paint you were going to use is also a viable option. Just thought I would mention the Rub N' Buf.

 

[indigobob]

If I use the rub and buff, would I still need to seal with a clear coat? Is there a preferred clear coat product that would work? I know from past projects using silver paint, it rubs off if you even look hard at it, LOL.

 

[Valor]

Yep, you'll want to clear it if you use Rub N, Buff.. Any clear acrylic will do.

 

[TheRealMe]

Woah, are you talking about putting clear coat over the rub and buff? Not to sure about that. It would be like waxing your car before you clear coat it, the clear wont bond well to the helmet.

 

[Monster Dave]

I've always loved the Rocketeer helmet and pack - keep us posted!!

 

[indigobob]

Here we go...

For a quick re-cap, first coat of primer was duplicolor sandable, got this from autozone, this dried to a light grey color but needed sanding to remove the grainy surface. Once done with first sanding I still had spots that were back to white resin.

 

[indigobob]

For the second coat of primer I used Krylon colormaster. The Krylon primer is much darker in color than the duplicolor was. After letting primer dry, I proceeded with second sanding, still using 2000 grit sandpaper, 3000 might have been a better choice because after I was done I still had a few white ares but not as bad.

I painted it one more time with Krylon primer and spent much more time on the final wet sanding. In fact I only did 1 half per day. I kept a very light pressure on the sandpaper and just relaxed and was very patient with it. Don't wet sand unless you have the time for it, that's what my son told me.

After this third sanding the primer grey was soooo smooth! it seemed as the resin had just absorbed the grey color.

 

[indigobob]

Well, this is supposed to be a hobby project so I just had to have a little fun with it! I introduce to you, the iron rocketeer!!

 

[indigobob]

And now the day is here, time to spray on some gold Krylon!. Here we have a before.... And followed by some after pics

 

[indigobob]

I completely washed the helmet before painting with some diluted dishwashing liquid (dawn I think) followed by a plain water rinse and air dry. I did not want to leave any skin oils behind that might interfere with the paint. I then put on some latex gloves to carry the helmet out to the driveway for painting.

I did my best to follow all the directions on the can and I am about 90% happy with how it came out. I was afraid that the metallic would be too light and bright, but with the primer being so dark, it kinda helped tone down the gold a bit. I think I probably sprayed too much paint cause I used up the whole can, it might have been better to use about 25% and walked away but I was having too much fun. I don't see any runs or sags but I do need to go back over a few areas that still have primer peeking through. I also have some "lint" like places but hopefully I can remove them with some light sanding. I don't plan on touching this again for at least 48 more hours.

 

[indigobob]

As far as color goes, I was apprehensive of using the gold metallic just because I thought it would be too bright and light colored. I decided to go ahead with it based on what Clint suggested and also after reading general frostys posts about a zillion times heh. Now that it is on the helmet. it really works.

It's not brass but even with a beginner paint job I would not feel bad going out in public and trooping with this thing as-is. It would not be great but still pretty bad ass!

I did try the rub and buff antique gold on a scrap piece of left over resin, just to see what it is like. I really like how easy it goes on and it is a nice color but my problem with it was that I was left with a kinda "muddy" look, which could just be my own inept application. Here are a couple of pics trying to demonstrate the difference between the two.