Painting advice needed for stargate replica

[dantrak]

I'm a massive fan of the Stargate franchise and recently had this made out of HDU - http://i.imgur.com/dSa9f.jpg

I want to paint it as close as possible to the actual prop used on the TV series.

Reference images:

http://wpcontent.answcdn.com/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7a/SG1stargate.jpg/250px-SG1stargate.jpg

http://images.fanpop.com/images/image_uploads/SG1-stargate-133549_1024_768.jpg

http://www.thewallpapers.org/photo/11884/stargate-sg-1-009.jpg

I was wondering what technique and colours you guys would recommend for painting this?

So far I'm thinking a very dark base coat, Matt spray black or dark grey, then dry-brushed with a light grey acrylic, then again with white for the finer details -

Essentially a stone effect.

Is dry brushing the correct route to go?

Cheers.

 

[andy19422]

Very nice. Is that just one section or did you have the whole gate made and what is the size?

 

[dantrak]

Just the one section approx 3 foot wide, as much as I'd love a full gate I don't have the space.

 

[andy19422]

Are you thinking of selling these:love If you made a full gate of the sections what diameter would it end up?

 

[Too Much Garlic]

The gate in the movie had a charcoal steel look to it, similar to pewter. Definitely a metallic grey over black basecoat and some slight weathering.

 

[dantrak]

No plans to sell any, at least for now, though I have the paths available for a full gate, the cost of the material and space required is too high - I assume a full gate would come to an 8 foot diameter.

Too Much Garlic - this is a replica of the gate or the series rather than the movie, same advice? Cheers.

 

[Forge]

Wow, I still get weirded out seeing hair on Teal'c, anyway
your reference pics are a bit different in particular the third one.
The third one seems to be have a base of earthen brown tone
For the first two ref pics, the colours look to be blue greys, I found another reference here
http://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/27900000/StarGate-Worlds-stargate-27909882-1024-768.jpg

I'm far from an expert painter, and probably already goes without saying to test first. I use games workshop citadel paints, but you can easily google a paint converter to find your own brand. For the earthen one (third ref) I would choose graveyard earth and highlight with dheneb stone.

To get closer to actual prop, the blue greys, prime matt black, base paint GW codex grey, paint edge highlights and dry-brush with fortress grey and the very very lightest white (or not at all). Then maybe weather with tamiya weathering powders in soot or burnt metallic blue. Hope that helps

 

[dantrak]

thanks for that, very informative!

Just another question, what are the benefits a black prime then covering with grey, rather than going straight for grey? I guess it makes sense, but I thought I'd better ask!

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Too Much Garlic - this is a replica of the gate or the series rather than the movie, same advice? Cheers.

Ah okay. Honestly, I don't know... didn't much care for the series, but I should have guessed seeing the raised chevrons on your gate.

I'd probably still go for a charcoal metallic grey and then weather with earth tone colors, such as light brown, pale green, and such... and just dab it on there heavily thinned with a sponge or paint it on and wipe it off gently, leaving most of the paint on the model, but would give it some texture as if the gate has been standing outside in all weather conditions for a long time.

 

[cheech9898]

Depends on which gate your trying to replicate.

SG1 SGC gate is charcoal and pewter towes
SG1 Off-world/travel gate had a lot of bronze tones to it
Atlantis gate is going to be charcoal, pewter and blues/turquoise.

 

[dantrak]

probably the SGC gate, though i do like the clarity of tones in this screen cap: http://images.wikia.com/stargate/images/a/a3/Prior_from_origin.jpg

 

[Aegis159]

For painting this I'd recommend starting with a medium base color, then use a wash of the darker tones and colors to bring out the recessed areas, and then use some dry brushing of your high tones to bring out the edges and highlights. With a pieces that size both of these techniques could be done with an airbrush as well.
The biggest thing to remember is you want to start out light. It's amazing how just very light wash or drybrushing (or even the combination of the two) can really make things pop.

Oh and that's an awesome section of the ring, do you plan on lighting it possibly?

 

[dantrak]

Thanks for that- I had an extra interchangable case made for a lit chevron but I don't have the skill to mold translucent plastic so probably not.

 

[Aegis159]

Thanks for that- I had an extra interchangable case made for a lit chevron but I don't have the skill to mold translucent plastic so probably not.

I'm sure there's several people around here that would be able to do it for you if you're not confident enough right now.

 

[andy19422]

Hi Dantrack, Here are a few good pics for you.

By andy19422 at 2012-05-11

By andy19422 at 2012-05-11

By andy19422 at 2012-05-11
I haven't got to the painting stage on my chevron yet, still a bit of work to do. I was thinking of doing a full size piece of gate to go with it

By andy19422 at 2012-04-12

By andy19422 at 2012-04-16

 

[susje00]

going to sell a copy?

 

[dantrak]

Those images are exactly what I have been looking for, cheers - I was going to start painting yesterday but decided to hold out. - I'm glad I did, these images point to a much cooler slate texture than the other references I have seen, brilliant.

 

[Don Jarr]

Hi all

You asked about using black primer first, and I always find if you give it a good coat of black first, then if when you spray the second colour on being lighter on deeper bits it just adds depth as it looks like shading as it's darker. Or if you want to give it an artificial shadow once sprayed black you can spray from a slight side angle and this will leave certain areas looking darker and shadow like, although you don't tend to do that unless it's a static prop only viewed from a certain angle and you want the shadow effect.

As for looking at those later pictures I would go with a lighter grey base coat over the black, then when dry spray on a darker grey, then try ragging the surface to get that mottled look, then dry brush the edges of bits you want to stand out. You want to try on a old bit of board first and see what you feel happy with.

Lastly I don't suppose you have a dxf file of that you're willing to share as I have a m8 who has been pestering me for ages to cut him a drain cover of a stargate so when it rains the middle fills up and looks like the gate is active, but as yet I have not found a decent picture to work off for the dxf file.

Don

 

[dantrak]

I have no idea what a .DXF file is, so i probably cant help, the paths were made in some obscure cnc software. - i have some vector blueprints if thats any help?

... meanwhile... so far:

im tempted to leave it for now, apart from the lighted areas of course, not sure if drybrushing the edges of the chevron symbols would add anything or ruin it.

 

[andy19422]

It's starting to look really nice, I think it needs a bit more contrast in the greys to make it stand out.