Question on Rubies Vader Chest Armor

[nightrider]

Hi guys, I just purchased a set of the Rubies supreme Vader chest armor, from what I've seen of it online it looks like the nicest stock piece on the costume and if it's made like the helmet then it should be very durable. My question is has anyone just had the armor clear coated as is without painting it and if so how does it look? I can't see painting it if the colors are already fine, but a nice automotive clear would certainly finish it off. My new version GT armor just lookes to good after painting to troop in, and I tried to mount the bells to keep them from drooping and getting scratched but they aren't long enough and just look a bit goofy to me, looks great on my wide shouldered display though. I like how the shoulder bells align on the ROTS style armor and though I would rather have the OT style, the armor currently made with the correct bells is a bit out of my range at the moment and if I could get a hold of it I probably wouldn't want to use it to troop in anyway.

My other GT clone set had a crack in it(one of about ten) that finally gave way even after JB weld, so I wanted to find a decent set for trooping. I've seen a few sets of fiberglass ROTS armor on ebay but after what happened to the GT clone set I think I would rather have ABS than a fiberglass set I don't know the quality of. Besides, after a good paint job I don't see the advantage of fiberglass over ABS other than thickness, but from what I understand the ROTS armor wasn't very thick anyway. I welcome any comments from anyone who's had any experience with this armor, hopefully it's as nice as it looks online.

-Chris

 

[darthgordon]

Well, I have one of these. It looks okay, but the silver/gunmetal isn't very good. It looks much more like a grey. As far as just clear coating, I'm not too sure if clear coat will adhear to the plastic as is. It's pretty smooth. If you planned on having an automotive shop do it they could probably better inform you.

 

[kalkamel]

Go with auto paint. I wasn't happy with the original colors so I spray painted it with Duplicolor Gun Metal and Krylon Fusion Gloss Black and finished it up with clearcoat and this is the result:

I did the same thing to the Rubies shin guards:

 

[nightrider]

Wow Kalkamel, that looks really nice, just the type of input I was looking for. I think I'll be well pleased with this armor after a good repaint, can't see a glass set looking any better than that, thanks man.

-Chris

 

[Darth Kahnt]

I also did the same thing to my Rubies armor and the results were amazing. I did mine with automotive paint and had it clearcoated in an autoshop. You wont regret it.

 

[nightrider]

Thanks for the replies. Think I'll do the same thing Kahnt, I'll just paint it myself and then have it cleared by the guy who painted my portumac lid.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

<div class='quotetop'>(wizard @ Jul 12 2006, 03:16 PM) [snapback]1279235[/snapback]</div>

Thanks for the replies. Think I'll do the same thing Kahnt, I'll just paint it myself and then have it cleared by the guy who painted my portumac lid.
[/b]

Any pictures of that helmet?

 

[nightrider]

Yea, I posted some pics of it here Helmet and it's also for sale on ebay at the moment as I'm in the market for an ESB lid, although in the junkyard I offered a lower price to any RPF member who would like to buy it before it's bid on. Here's a link to my offer in the junkyard for anyone interested. Junkyard
What clear did you use Kalkamel? It looks very nice.
-Chris