Metallic aluminum fine tip paint pen.
Slowest costume build ever (Han Solo)
- Thread starter ID10T
- Start date
ID10T
Sr Member
I re sprayed the top today, after a few other things. We’ll see how it looks Monday. I’m out of the buffing metalizer now too.
I have the air fittings in hand now. I think it works out to a bit over $6 each. I’m thinking of doing a Scariff marine (not my sniper) and I think I’m going to need more. But if you need three for the Poe holster, I should be able to spare them.
I have the air fittings in hand now. I think it works out to a bit over $6 each. I’m thinking of doing a Scariff marine (not my sniper) and I think I’m going to need more. But if you need three for the Poe holster, I should be able to spare them.
starks
Sr Member
Oooh skyski! Skylines are such a sweet thing and so far ahead of their time.... and this is coming from a hot rod and muscle car guy.
My cousin had an M spec R33 we used to play with... 320hp at the wheels just from a set of cam gears and a Power FC.
And funnily enough a customer of mine asks me about 2 weeks ago to look at painting a car he's had mothballed for years. Turns out to be a 32 Godzilla.
On topic of clothes I bought an Indy shirt from Adam at Karolian dry goods. I had 4 already but his looked good. Its by far the best fit and make Ive ever bought and he's a Star Wars guy, I see doing his own Han costume. He's great to deal with, I would look him up.
Cheers,
Josh
How many more?
ID10T
Sr Member
Not sure yet. I'm still working out the details.
How many do you need? Just the three for Poe? I'll need those three for sure myself. I'm not sure if I'm going to end up doing a Cassian Andor as well (LATER) which will need quite a few on his belt like an old spaghetti western...
How many do you need? Just the three for Poe? I'll need those three for sure myself. I'm not sure if I'm going to end up doing a Cassian Andor as well (LATER) which will need quite a few on his belt like an old spaghetti western...
Yeah, just the three for Poe. You have a good source, though? I could order a batch, keep my three, and let you have the surplus for all of that other stuff...
ID10T
Sr Member
I added a few of the other bits. The clamp got painted aluminum and the screws stainless steel. Very subtle difference but in person it looks more believable.
I did a brown wash after parts were on. The black was too harsh in the knurling.
I also used a screwdriver in the clamp screw to chew up the slot slightly. You’d never notice if I didn’t mention it
I think it looks good from ten feet.
Still that damn logo to sort out...
I did a brown wash after parts were on. The black was too harsh in the knurling.
I also used a screwdriver in the clamp screw to chew up the slot slightly. You’d never notice if I didn’t mention it
I think it looks good from ten feet.
Still that damn logo to sort out...
ID10T
Sr Member
So, I’m open to ideas on the Kobold logo.
Tried thin solvent-based paint, and that wicks up into the wrinkle finish and makes a mess.
Trued the Molotow acrylic paint pen, thinking I could clean up with alcohol, and by the time it’s off the wrinkle, there’s nothing left in the lettering.
I was thinking maybe silver wax could fill the relief and then be buffed off the surface... I think the wrinkle is causing a, er, wrinkle in this project.
Back when I had 20-13 vision, I could do this with a toothpick. Now, with corrected vision and no patience or time, it’s not going as smoothly.
I have considered solvent paint, as good as I can manage, and then touching up the surface with black over the “errors”. This might be the only option, but I think it’ll end up looking like a muskrat in a snowblower.
Tried thin solvent-based paint, and that wicks up into the wrinkle finish and makes a mess.
Trued the Molotow acrylic paint pen, thinking I could clean up with alcohol, and by the time it’s off the wrinkle, there’s nothing left in the lettering.
I was thinking maybe silver wax could fill the relief and then be buffed off the surface... I think the wrinkle is causing a, er, wrinkle in this project.
Back when I had 20-13 vision, I could do this with a toothpick. Now, with corrected vision and no patience or time, it’s not going as smoothly.
I have considered solvent paint, as good as I can manage, and then touching up the surface with black over the “errors”. This might be the only option, but I think it’ll end up looking like a muskrat in a snowblower.
Reverse Paint? Spray silver, mask off with maskol or toothpaste. Spray black?
How light a touch are you with an X-Acto knife? One thing I've done before is... Stick some low tack scotch tape over the logo, carefully cut the logo path in the tape, then push through with a silver paint marker. The tape should keep it from leaving the grooves to get on the textured face.
ID10T
Sr Member
So, today I went on a mission.
I wanted more buffing metalizer for the bottom screw plug so I went to a local shop. But they only sell miniature figures and their brand of paint. Waste of time.
Then I hit the art supply store. They have the regular Testors paints but no model master stuff. BUT, they had a cool ball point pen with silver metallic ink! I asked and spent a few minutes looking at other options- I found a couple other felt tip ultra-fine (0.7mm) felt tip paint markers. Off to test!
I applied all three on the bottom cover for the Kobold to check if it would bond and to be sure the clear wouldn’t smear or draw it out. They all passed that test fine.
I tried the ball point first, because it only has ink at the tip. But the ball didn’t grip the smooth plastic well so it wasn’t working. Tried the Pilot one next, and it seemed to flood the trough too much. Finally the sharpie, which also flooded but not as bad. So I ran it around as fast as I could, to control the flooding. A couple spots I had to over-coat with flat black paint pen, but from ten feet, clipped in a belt when you squint and have had a few beers, it looks mediocre.
So, I cleaned it up, touched up the glaring errors and then gave it a brown wash. Finally, a coat of that matte clear that’s actually clear.
So now I just have the bottom cover (which I need paint for) and the “light”. This thing is ugly. I need a better solution here guys... this will let the whole thing down, don’t you think?
If I do keep this thing, how do I paint it? I can’t think of a way to make it look good. So, any help here would be great!
I wanted more buffing metalizer for the bottom screw plug so I went to a local shop. But they only sell miniature figures and their brand of paint. Waste of time.
Then I hit the art supply store. They have the regular Testors paints but no model master stuff. BUT, they had a cool ball point pen with silver metallic ink! I asked and spent a few minutes looking at other options- I found a couple other felt tip ultra-fine (0.7mm) felt tip paint markers. Off to test!
I applied all three on the bottom cover for the Kobold to check if it would bond and to be sure the clear wouldn’t smear or draw it out. They all passed that test fine.
I tried the ball point first, because it only has ink at the tip. But the ball didn’t grip the smooth plastic well so it wasn’t working. Tried the Pilot one next, and it seemed to flood the trough too much. Finally the sharpie, which also flooded but not as bad. So I ran it around as fast as I could, to control the flooding. A couple spots I had to over-coat with flat black paint pen, but from ten feet, clipped in a belt when you squint and have had a few beers, it looks mediocre.
So, I cleaned it up, touched up the glaring errors and then gave it a brown wash. Finally, a coat of that matte clear that’s actually clear.
So now I just have the bottom cover (which I need paint for) and the “light”. This thing is ugly. I need a better solution here guys... this will let the whole thing down, don’t you think?
If I do keep this thing, how do I paint it? I can’t think of a way to make it look good. So, any help here would be great!
ID10T
Sr Member
And in other news, I got to work on the “relays” for the belt. These came from the same vendor as the caller, and they’re fine. But I took a few steps to make them more like the zoomed in and cleaned up screen shot of the real ones we have around here somewhere. I’m on my phone or I’d post it for reference.
Anyway, there are two larger copper pins on one side, on a black pad, a threaded mount stud with a nut and external tooth lock washer, and then two fine “silver” pins on the other side, on a phenolic impregnated paper insulator (or something like that). There is also a pin hole on the side of the “lid”, which is probably what secures it to the body.
After gluing the top to the body, I painted the raised areas black. I tried the paint marker first but went for real paint with a brush. I perfected the edges with a razor blade.
While that was drying, I found some 6-32 socket head cap screws, and 6-32 nuts with attached external tooth lock washers. I cut the heads off the screws:
Then I needed to simulate the phenolic impregnated paper insulator that is missing. For this, I used to box from the screws- heavy brown color card stock. Cut to size with my (AWESOME) scissors I bought for leather, and saturated one side with CA, and stuck it in place. Once down, I could figure where to drill for the screws:
Thestud is not in the center- it favors the brown phenolic side more. I set the nut so it just touches the paper and marked for drilling.
Once drilled, I flooded the hole with CA. I was going to tap it, but... naaaah. No point.
The connector bits were on trees, so I painted the base flat black. The other cool thing is, the parts are spaced nicely on the tree, so they helped get placement. I saturated the top of the cardboard with CA and plopped them on.
Ok. So, that’s looking good so far. The large connections are also on a tree but it attaches at the bottom. So, those got slathered in copper paint and left to dry overnight. In the morning I’ll sand the bottom flat and stick them onto the (cleaned spot) black area.
Last thing for the night was the small spot on the side of the cover. I drilled a hole and put flat black inside. Then scraped the top surface with a razor because I’m a slob. But it looks like the photo reference we have, don’t you think?
Looking at it like this, it seems a 4-40 Screw would have been a better choice... Take note if you’re building these too.
Anyway, there are two larger copper pins on one side, on a black pad, a threaded mount stud with a nut and external tooth lock washer, and then two fine “silver” pins on the other side, on a phenolic impregnated paper insulator (or something like that). There is also a pin hole on the side of the “lid”, which is probably what secures it to the body.
After gluing the top to the body, I painted the raised areas black. I tried the paint marker first but went for real paint with a brush. I perfected the edges with a razor blade.
While that was drying, I found some 6-32 socket head cap screws, and 6-32 nuts with attached external tooth lock washers. I cut the heads off the screws:
Then I needed to simulate the phenolic impregnated paper insulator that is missing. For this, I used to box from the screws- heavy brown color card stock. Cut to size with my (AWESOME) scissors I bought for leather, and saturated one side with CA, and stuck it in place. Once down, I could figure where to drill for the screws:
Thestud is not in the center- it favors the brown phenolic side more. I set the nut so it just touches the paper and marked for drilling.
Once drilled, I flooded the hole with CA. I was going to tap it, but... naaaah. No point.
The connector bits were on trees, so I painted the base flat black. The other cool thing is, the parts are spaced nicely on the tree, so they helped get placement. I saturated the top of the cardboard with CA and plopped them on.
Ok. So, that’s looking good so far. The large connections are also on a tree but it attaches at the bottom. So, those got slathered in copper paint and left to dry overnight. In the morning I’ll sand the bottom flat and stick them onto the (cleaned spot) black area.
Last thing for the night was the small spot on the side of the cover. I drilled a hole and put flat black inside. Then scraped the top surface with a razor because I’m a slob. But it looks like the photo reference we have, don’t you think?
Looking at it like this, it seems a 4-40 Screw would have been a better choice... Take note if you’re building these too.
Last edited:
This is looking great! You certainly have an eye for detail. I've never seen that photo before of the relays ... is it something that can be shared?
ID10T
Sr Member
It’s here somewhere. I have it on an external drive and printed it to have in the shop. Another member took a high Rez screen grab and cleaned it up. Some identification lines were drawn on it as well, but you can still see the detail pretty well.
It might be the epic Han Solo holster pattern thread that it came from. I realize some Russian relays were identified as these pieces but they do not match. I was searching for a while, and I have a list of possible manufacturers that may have made the right parts, but I have not found them yet. These are close enough.
It might be the epic Han Solo holster pattern thread that it came from. I realize some Russian relays were identified as these pieces but they do not match. I was searching for a while, and I have a list of possible manufacturers that may have made the right parts, but I have not found them yet. These are close enough.
ID10T
Sr Member
Todays’s update. The “relays” are done. I glued down the copper bits after cleaning a spot for them with acetone on a q-tip.
Once that was dry, I went back with the flat black and painted around the bases of the copper bits.
Then I glued on the (included) arbesh labels for the end of the box, and then did the brown wash:
I cleaned up the brown a bit more than this last photo and then gave them a bath in the matte clear.
Another bit off the list!
Once that was dry, I went back with the flat black and painted around the bases of the copper bits.
Then I glued on the (included) arbesh labels for the end of the box, and then did the brown wash:
I cleaned up the brown a bit more than this last photo and then gave them a bath in the matte clear.
Another bit off the list!
Similar threads
