Looks sawesomememe
I've been painting a Dredd poster and your pics have totally cleared up some misconceptions I had about the uniform construction. The movie stills are sometimes a bit vague.
Hey Art. I may have missed it. What mannequin are you using? It looks awesome!
Would heating the Struss eagle and bending it help to give it the correct shape?
Sorry I'm late coming to this thread, I'm finding this very interesting, even though I've vac formed my own armor and had my vest sewn. Everyone might consider taking a deep breath and not stressing terribly about conflicting small details as Many people can be correct. Just as some of the back ground costumes had differing pieces ranging from foam guns to non opening med kits, they may have used differing size zippers on the vests. You can change a zipper to match one known version, only to have another match the previous. Most costumers will not be too concerned with such small details....not sure why we agonize over them. Regarding color, similar issue. You can see the effect of manipulation of color in scenes where blood is plentiful. At the same time that they made the blood vibrant and garish to enhance the 3D effect, Dredd's helmet becomes equally garish in those scenes. It doesn't resemble the Colonial red many people are using. Unless you are able to color scan a screen used helmet and get a custom color mix, you will not replicate that color exactly. I hope this gives everyone a pause to consider the futility of searching for perfection......though for some, that alone is a hobby, I suppose. By the way, for those that have satisfied themselves with Pinsky armor or made their own and want the same texture as on the movie version, they can PM me for the name of a specialty paint, which I used as an undercoat, that replicates the haircell surface texture.Well... I am getting some conflicting info... there are two people we know who have original vests. One says it is a #8, the other a #10... It is a YKK for sure and I feel pretty confident that it is the antiqued brass (just don't think it was painted), but I am struggling on the actual zipper size.
FYI, if anyone has a bright zipper on their vest that they want to darken, a product called "Blacken It" works to chemically darken brass without paint which would possibly gum up the zipper. You can stop the chemical reaction with a damp sponge when you like the look of it. It is available at a company called MicroMark. Better to do it before the zipper is installed but I applied it after and it didn't harm the spacermesh at all, even though it is an acid. The result on my vest is a natural antique look. If you leave it on too long the brass will go totally flat black.Art,
What are you going to use to blacken the zipper? Also, just curious about the mannequin that you are using, what model is it? I am trying to find a decent one to display my costume but I know I am going to have issues with it standing without using the calf or heel rod.
At this late date, it maybe isn't of any interest to you but if you look at my thread on modding Pinsky armor, I not only changed the size of a pauldron, but haircell textured the entire piece which was totally smooth previously. The paint I found is like a miracle for creating that texture. It is actually called "wrinkle finish" paint. You have to use it as a primer because it doesn't come in gold.So... what have we learned today? Dissimilar materials take Goldfinger Soverign Gold metallic paste VERY differently!
While it is completely the wrong material, it was VERY easy to work with on the left shoulder armor which is covered in leather on the Struss armor.
The other shoulder has the large eagle which is vacuformed haircell plastic (much closer to the original). For some reason I thought the paste would go on (and come off) the same way. WRONG!!!!
You need to be MUCH more careful how you apply the paste to the eagle.
Here is what I did:
Started off just like last time. Tape off the eagle.
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Second step, again, same as last time. Apply paste sparingly to the heaviest areas with a q-tip.
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Here is where we began to run into a problem. At this step the last time I used a paper towel to spread and even out the paste on the leather covered armor. That doesn't happen on the plastic. The paste doesn't move at all and does not spread! I moved from the paper towel to a scotch brite and an interesting thing happened. First, there are parts of this pull that were handled poorly resulting in some of the surfaces being smooth instead of textured. On the smooth surfaces, the paste wipes right off (not the upper left wing). You can't make it stay. However, on the rest of the eagle, where there is texture, you can SCRUB come of the gold off and it will deposit trace amounts in other areas, but it is all but impossible to blend and smooth like I did on the other side. Because I left huge gaps of black area and because there is virtually no smoothing, the final result is not nearly what I had hoped for. This is where I am at the moment.... not happy. Going to go back, fill in some of the gaps and then try a tooth brush and water to work it out a bit. Will report back when I have more progress.
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