Repainting a 12'” Scale R5-D4

[Boba Debt]

I want to repaint a Hasbro 12” Scale R5-D4 in an imperial paint scheme – gloss black with red and sliver details but I have no idea of where to start.

I thought it would be a good idea to disassemble the droid but I can't see any way to do that and I couldn’t find an info on the net.

Now I'm wondering how I should paint it.

Should I spray the whole thing black and hand paint the details, or spray the details and mask them?

Or is there some other way to paint this that I don't know about?

Any pointers would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[James Kenobi 1138]

I would think spray it black first and paint the silver on top would be better, but the masking would be a nightmare unless you paint the silver with a brush- which won't look as good.

Usually you would never spray a lighter color over black if you can help it, but silver/gunmetal look better sprayed over black I think. I wouldn't use a gloss black (because it might look like plastic) I would use semi-gloss black.

You might google for a 12" forum like Sideshow Freaks and see if anyone has taken one apart before. If you mask the legs, dome and body seperatly I don't see why you couldn't paint it assembled. More time and more patience but not impossible.

 

[Boba Debt]

Hmmmmm, I was worried you were going to say that.

What would you mask it with?


Just out of curiosity, does anyone know how they paint these things at the factory?

 

[division 6]

What about liner tape like they use on cars or even the metal foil car modelers use for all your silver.
The red parts should be easy to mask with just some tape or frisk film.

If you look at photos of the droids in the Death Star hanger they are gloss black with with chrome stripes and flat dark red (probably just sprayed over the black)

 

[Boba Debt]

Well I got the side legs off and disassembled which will make painting them and the body easier.

If anyone is interested I can post how I did it.

 

[Boba Debt]

Here are pictures of a droid I saw on Ebay that inspired this project.

I like the overall look but I really hope my re-paint looks better then this

 

[Boba Debt]

Here is a picture of the right leg bead blasted and prepped for paint.

It already tried to paint this once with gloss black and HATED it, so I am going with flat black. I know that’s not cannon but neither is this droid

You should be able to understand how to remove the leg by looking at these parts.

 

[James Kenobi 1138]

Are you using Kyron fusion paint ?

 

[Boba Debt]

I tried that and didn't like the look so I bought some Testors paint.

I will be able to do the sprayed areas but I suck with a brush so I'm looking to hire some one to paint the silver and small red details.

 

[James Kenobi 1138]

Masking the silver areas should be very straightforward, it just takes patience and a sharp x-acto.

I would make templates with paper first to make sure they fit then transfer them to masking tape or frisket paper. I wouldn't even try doing all the silver at once, I'd mask one area at a time, spray and dry, then do another one. I'd drybrush the coin slots.

You could use pinstripe tape for the red lines, or decals.

 

[Boba Debt]

Well he's all flat black now.

I'm going to try to paint some of the red areas that I can mask then I might move onto the silver spots.

 

[Boba Debt]

James, I took your advice and masked each area separately. Tonight I painted all 8 panels on the head and 6 areas on the body red.

Most of my time was spent taping and waiting but the results were worth it.

I should have all of the mask-able areas painted by the end of the week.

Then I have to figure out how I'm going to paint the areas that can't be masked and sprayed.

 

[Boba Debt]

I painted all of the masked areas and I even attempted to hand paint a few of the details.

I went with flat black, dark red, gun metal for the silver panels and silver for the hand painted details

Over all I like the look but there are still a lot of hand painted details that I may just not worry about.

 

[James Kenobi 1138]

I think it turned out great, I love the black Imperial droids much better then the Rebel versions- except for R2-D2.

 

[Boba Debt]

Bump for friend

 

[youngwm]

This turned out great.. Nice paint job!

 

[spaceyman]

Wow! that's beautifull!Excellent job dude.

 

[jake88]

That is a nice nice paint job! :thumbsup

 

[Boba Debt]

You guys are too kind.