Star Trek TNG I’m DESPERATE to find the correct color to paint rank pips

BlueSaber

Active Member
I’m assuming that this is one place where it’s normal to be obsessive over the smallest details right? I have spent countless hours looking at screenshots and Blu-ray videos to crack this but I can’t. Refer to Netflix or trekcore for things i mention. I know in earlier seasons of TNG they used actual brass. I think they did so in Voyager/DS9 too as those look noticeably darker. I’m only interested in the resin painted brighter pips in later seasons of TNG.

I know the commbadge were painted with krylon bright gold. In person and on screen these have a VERY coppery/orangish hue and in most lights don’t look gold at all. If I shine my phone light on them, or in certain settings on the show, they actually do look gold so lighting plays a huge part. The thing is, usually when the commbadges appear coppery orange on screen, the pips usually remain looking gold/yellow. So I don’t know if they used the same paint. Or maybe a brass paint? One thing I found was that the oversized commbadges and pips for voyager episode live fast and prosper appear to use the same color paint/gold but not sure I can tell from that.

I have the Hollywood pins versions which seem like a good color match but are far too smooth/shiny.

When it comes to krylon and rustoleum paints it seems like for a color like metallic gold they’ll have different versions (maybe for different stores) like bright gold, brilliant gold etc. are there actual differences or are there just different names for different carriers/stores?
 
OK so all of the pips were cast bronze polished, But not clear coated. They were allowed to age and from time to time they would be lightly polished again but not that often. The over sized pip's from the Voyager eps. were also cast but in tin and then painted Krylon gold with a dusting of black. The Voyager over sized pip's also had the same type of backings as the regular pip's. I know this as I was one of 2 people that made them for the shows.
 
OK so all of the pips were cast bronze polished, But not clear coated. They were allowed to age and from time to time they would be lightly polished again but not that often. The over sized pip's from the Voyager eps. were also cast but in tin and then painted Krylon gold with a dusting of black. The Voyager over sized pip's also had the same type of backings as the regular pip's. I know this as I was one of 2 people that made them for the shows.

Wow that's so awesome, thank you!

So there never were resin pips on TNG?
 
Just to be thorough

https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/73812/what-are-the-measurements-of-rank-pips-as-worn-in-star-trek-the-next-generation


http://startrekpropcollector.com/trekauctions/item.pl?i=8299

https://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=262279

They aren’t exactly as credible as you guys though that’s for sure lol :p . If the ones by Anovos are the most screen accurate I’ll buy those once available (are they too dark to look TNG?) but I am also looking for a cheap alternative for extra uniforms/costumes. I have OCD.
 
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Edit: ignore all this. I tried it again and it turned out the right color, I guess the first time I didn’t shake enough or the weather threw it off. :lol Night and day difference.

I'm super confused about something right now. I'll post tomorrow if I notice a change unless someone can speak to this now but the commbadge I got from Roddenberry's store is a VERY coppery gold (unless I shine a flash light on it) which is what you see a lot in TNG.

It looks like the middle badge in the top pic of this page on this thread: https://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=172778&page=3

Anyway I bought a few cans of different types of gold spray paint and the two main ones I was interested in were Krylon 1701 Bright Gold and the Rustoleum American Accents 2x Metallic Gold.
I honestly thought the Krylon would have had that coppery/rose gold tone to it and the Rustoleum would look more neutral/yellow gold. Turns out they look near identical! The Krylon doesn't have that coppery look to it.

I asked the guy at Xscapes props what color he uses (since he provides them for Rodd.com) and he said bright gold. So now I'm super confused. Is there a significant color shift after a certain amount of time drying?

I used white plastic cups and white plastic spoons. I also used a flat black primer on a set for one test too. Does plastic react a lot differently than resin or something?
 
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