The "I'm painting a Captain America Shield" thread

I'd recommend a clearcoat, not only to protect the paint, but because your bare aluminum is going to look pretty bad pretty fast. Fingerprints and discoloration will develop with handling.
 
Mounted my brackets and clearcoated the whole back of shield using Krylon Satin, it's a must, the finish stains very easy and is very hard to clean off.

Gerardo
 
First thank you for all the info GeneralFrosty very helpfull,

I tried both Testors and Duplicolor to experience first hand which gives the best results, I have alot of experience painting with spray cans with great professional looking results.

First tried the Testors, very dissapointed with the quality, anodize effect was poor, paint came out of the can blotchy with lots of little speckles, ect... tried several ways and for the life of me I couldnt get the results I was hoping for, on the other hand Duplicolor was a charm to work with, it sprays on super smooth, the first test I did was 2 med coats with a 10 minute dry time between coats but the finish was too hazy killing the anodize effect, when viewed at certain angles you could see the not so smooth surface, the second test I did one very heavy wet coat, the results is fantastic! the finish is supersmooth, the anodize effect is perfect! no blotches very even and the relfection matched the bare aluminum,

TAKE NOTE! and I did the test, if you do one heavy wet coat let dry 10 minutes and do a second heavy wet coat the finish is not even close to the quality as if you do one very heavy wet coat, the trick here is one very wet coat at close range and let dry, no second coat, no satin coat let the paint do it's magic, I was actually suprised how easy it was to work with since many here seem to have had had many problems, again DO NOT do several thin coats you will screw up the effect, the trick is one very heavy coat at close range, approx 5 inches from surface, I went back and forth 4-5 times very fast making sure I get a good wet coverage everywhere, the paint dried super smooth, no orange peel ect... because when the paint is applied super wet as it dries it lays superflat as opposed to several thin coat which gives more of a dusty effect ruining the shine and finish. DO NOT put a Satin clear coat over the anodize paint you will kill the anodize effect and smoothness of the fiinish, I put a Satin coat only on the bare aluminum not the Red and Blue, will post photos soon.

Gerardo
 
What I've been trying to say for a long time now... Heavy wet coat and it works wonders. However, I put a satin clear on and it still looks great. You're going to want to clear it because the paint chips very easily, unless you're going to do a battle damaged look.
 
Here's mine, duplicolor paint, no clearcoat, and a couple little touches on the backside (Stiched the leather on my valor brackets and shiled gov label.)
And then I got all ate up and got it drawn on me!

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Did you buy the SHIELD label from someone or did you make it? That is the perfect thing to cover the center hole on the inside. I would love to acquire one of these for mine. Actually, my brother-in-law owns a trophy business. Wonder if he could make me one out of brass...
 
For the most part the paste was still wet and the coating & paint just melted off. I used a rubber type puddy knife to pull the remaining paint off.. any dry areas I just re applied the paste and let it sit for maybe 20 min or so

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After the paint globs were off I used Acetone to clean up the shields and shine it back up and so ultimately back to the beginning with a shiny blank. Hopefully this little addition helps you guys who are thinking / needing to start over with the paint job but are a bit skiddish about starting over.

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Way easier and less messy to remove paint using straight acetone, I had to restart a few times the paint as I didn't like the finish and took me only a few minutes using acetone and paper towels.

Gerardo
 
Feel your pain GF, had to trip mine twice, once because I got careless, the seond time becuase the clear coat bubbled everyting up.
 
Feel your pain GF, had to trip mine twice, once because I got careless, the seond time becuase the clear coat bubbled everyting up.


Yes I had to repaint the red 3 times before I was really satisfied, there's a sweet spot to get the finish just right, I will post photos soon, just the blue to paint and glue the star

Gerardo
 
Damn you guys. All of you with your awesome shields. I have been trying to not buy one of the spun blanks but... Damn it guys. Someone mark this thread Not Safe For Wallet.
 
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