Chrisisall
Master Member
That's why when I accidentally cut myself with an Xacto knife I just go "****" instead of "OHMYGOD!!!!!!".
Robocop 3 with flight pack from Horizon
- Thread starter Chrisisall
- Start date
Yeah, did that few years back working on a project....never fun.
Chrisisall
Master Member
MMMmmmmmm, sorry, vampire here..
Chrisisall
Master Member
Paint test.
Chrisisall
Master Member
More paint tests: Yes, the paint without priming doesn't pass the light fingernail scrape test. It needs priming.
Foreground: Krylon paint & primer (you know, the all-in-one deal) on scrap vinyl flash. After 20 minutes it feels vaguely tacky, as I expected.
Background: Krylon primer only. After 20 minutes it feels bone dry. This is the way to go.
A decade or more ago I made the Horizon Robo kit (didn't wash the parts, just wiped them a bit) and simply painted it with basic tube acrylics & it came out well except that it always felt sort of tacky. I even talcum powered it, and it just never felt completely dry. I ultimately gave it away.
Today I'm more aware of what I'm doing. Always do tests first! And WASH PARTS!
Foreground: Krylon paint & primer (you know, the all-in-one deal) on scrap vinyl flash. After 20 minutes it feels vaguely tacky, as I expected.
Background: Krylon primer only. After 20 minutes it feels bone dry. This is the way to go.
A decade or more ago I made the Horizon Robo kit (didn't wash the parts, just wiped them a bit) and simply painted it with basic tube acrylics & it came out well except that it always felt sort of tacky. I even talcum powered it, and it just never felt completely dry. I ultimately gave it away.
Today I'm more aware of what I'm doing. Always do tests first! And WASH PARTS!
Chrisisall
Master Member
Small thing, don't know if this picture shows it well- I changed the Peter Weller lower lip to the Robert John Burke one.
Chrisisall
Master Member
My tests conclude: while the Krylon primer adheres to the vinyl very well, the acrylic actually adheres to the vinyl a little bit better than the primed vinyl(!).
So first step, wash the entire figure as it's no doubt covered in trace finger oils after the assembly. While he's drying I'm setting up the paints. Tube silver will be the base coat after I paint the flesh colour on the face. Then liquid acrylic for the highlights. A super soft flat brush is essential, so I just rushed out to Michael's and got one. Needless to say I'll be washing my hands constantly during the different paint times. After it's done I'll coat the entire mess with Future for protection & shine (except the mouth area). This will take at least 2-3 days....
So first step, wash the entire figure as it's no doubt covered in trace finger oils after the assembly. While he's drying I'm setting up the paints. Tube silver will be the base coat after I paint the flesh colour on the face. Then liquid acrylic for the highlights. A super soft flat brush is essential, so I just rushed out to Michael's and got one. Needless to say I'll be washing my hands constantly during the different paint times. After it's done I'll coat the entire mess with Future for protection & shine (except the mouth area). This will take at least 2-3 days....
Chrisisall
Master Member
Well, after quite a few hours I'm this far. This brush stuff is so old school. It has to dry before I can proceed, which means I'm kinda done for the day.
Chrisisall
Master Member
Okay, a little bit more.
Surprised you are brushing it on. Most would spray it on. Pros and cons of either.
Chrisisall
Master Member
Believe me, I'd rather spray than brush. But this is a vinyl kit- spray acrylics have potentially problematic ingredients and I don't want to spend endless money & time on tests when I can do it faster & on the cheap old school. It's just this one kit.
Plus, silver and chrome are like the absolute hardest thing to paint and get to look right.
Few years ago I wanted to make a Agent of Shield emblem. Figured it would be super easy and take a few days....but that chrome just fought me the whole way through and took 2 or 3 weeks total.
I ended up having to stop and do some tests, all with spray, between the 2 brands, and primed or not primed.
I believe, (without looking up the whole thread) I ended up not priming, but can't remember what brand I went with.
One of them actually beaded up over the primer.
I also made the mistake of getting all the piece finally painted good enough, thinking I could use super glue to get them all placed correctly....but that just made a mess, my finger prints were on the edges, so I ended up popping all the pieces off and recutting new ones and started over.
How it finally turned out, not perfect, but I was just SO done with it.
Before this one, I painted the pieces, and closed up the box to keep dust off and brought it inside....
the next day I checked it and found out the cat got into it and left paw prints all over....
I'm like, this project is 3 layers with 10 pieces, it shouldn't be this hard......
Few years ago I wanted to make a Agent of Shield emblem. Figured it would be super easy and take a few days....but that chrome just fought me the whole way through and took 2 or 3 weeks total.
I ended up having to stop and do some tests, all with spray, between the 2 brands, and primed or not primed.
I believe, (without looking up the whole thread) I ended up not priming, but can't remember what brand I went with.
One of them actually beaded up over the primer.
I also made the mistake of getting all the piece finally painted good enough, thinking I could use super glue to get them all placed correctly....but that just made a mess, my finger prints were on the edges, so I ended up popping all the pieces off and recutting new ones and started over.
How it finally turned out, not perfect, but I was just SO done with it.
Before this one, I painted the pieces, and closed up the box to keep dust off and brought it inside....
the next day I checked it and found out the cat got into it and left paw prints all over....
I'm like, this project is 3 layers with 10 pieces, it shouldn't be this hard......
Meow! It’s looking amazing btw. Some of the best work I’ve ever seen has been brush work when the time is spent doing it slowly and with the proper care, and it appears that‘s what you’re going to do with the cop’er here! Oooh… teasing such chromatic iridescence on the hand earlier! The modifications you’ve done so far really make a huge difference. The visor upgrade was spot-on but that lip! Don’t give me no lip! haha 
That makes sense. Wish I had known that 3 years ago....
Yeah, it took me a while to finally come across that one. Once I did though, it made a big difference in my metallic paintwork!
Chrisisall
Master Member
I tested that with the primer- this acrylic silver isn't opaque, so a black base would mean almost double the coats I'll be giving this guy would be necessary. In general though, it's a good rule of thumb.
True; I tend to use apple barrel acrylics "silver anniversary" and that tends to have good opacity.
On that note: been thinking about finding a Horizon Robocop model kit (or had been before stuff blew up on me financially and left me poor!) to cut the armor apart and mount on a 12 inch multiposeable figure. The idea would be to make a black bodysuit like they did for Peter Weller in the original and mount the armor to it (and get the same movement in the forearms and shoulders like they did during filming).
Maybe someday...
Chrisisall
Master Member
Okay, as RoboCop would say, This is a bust!
Way too far out of my comfort zone now. You can't paint a vinyl model in pieces & then assemble it later. And now I find I can't paint over mistakes with this totally useless acrylic silver paint. It's just translucent garbage (ha, and it says 'opaque' on the container).
BUT The test pieces done with paint & primer in one are now bone dry, to my utter surprise. Wow.
SO, I'm Gonna sand Robo some to get rid of some brush strokes, then blast it with Krylon gray paint & primer, let it cure for a few days until bone dry, then hit it with aluminum Krylon or Rustoleum & finish it off like a regular model with mostly enamels & stuff.
Want to see if I can salvage this mess....
Acrylics are for paintings. Grrrrrr
Way too far out of my comfort zone now. You can't paint a vinyl model in pieces & then assemble it later. And now I find I can't paint over mistakes with this totally useless acrylic silver paint. It's just translucent garbage (ha, and it says 'opaque' on the container).
BUT The test pieces done with paint & primer in one are now bone dry, to my utter surprise. Wow.
SO, I'm Gonna sand Robo some to get rid of some brush strokes, then blast it with Krylon gray paint & primer, let it cure for a few days until bone dry, then hit it with aluminum Krylon or Rustoleum & finish it off like a regular model with mostly enamels & stuff.
Want to see if I can salvage this mess....
Acrylics are for paintings. Grrrrrr
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