tubachris85x
Master Member
Well, some of you with Premium accounts were likely already aware of my WIP, but due to the nature of secrecy, I hid the progress from the masses until after!
So this was a secret project gift for my girlfriend (now Fiance') that I actually began last November at the earliest. About 2 years ago, she had expressed a desire for the Hot Toys Porcelain Stormtrooper figure. While I could have saved and shelled out the money for the figure, I felt it was too easy. Of course, I decided to do something stupidly complicated, but hey, it's done now. Her birthday party (smaller group of friends) was at a Tea house/antique shop out in Virginia. I used this as a follow-up to proposing to her (of course she said yes!)
This was a group effort by friends of ours. One of our good friends, she is a graphic artist and replicated the designs based off of the figure. Another friend helped me get sheets printed and began the initial application phase at his place. Dan Laws formed the bubble lenses, and my buddy Scott let me finish this thing all last week at night after work. So it was a big effort.
I tried to be as accurate as I could, establishing that the figure's is more a "hero" TK helmet VS the common stunt. For this, I reached out to Troopermaster for a kit, which was quickly supplied. I think my short-coming with this was, although having built TK helmets before, I failed to test the fit of the rubber trim before going through the finishing stages, which caused some frustrations last week. Of course, this isn't a true 100% accurate replica. The scale for the patterns is slightly too small, the rear graphic we made much larger, and the most noticeable is that the lower-tubes of the helmet are not that "all blue" and inverted graphics design. While we originally tried to do that with the graphic transfer material, the extremely finicky nature of it would not have given us any good results in the least, so I opted to just repeat it like the dome. I was happy though that I was able to paint the rubber trim without much issue. Since the best matching blue I needed for the teeth/traps/tears was an acrylic, it made it much easier for me.
The actual application of graphics was both a trial by fire and an experiment, really. I originally was in talks with a local business to have at least the dome graphics applied via hydrodipping, but for whatever reason, they stopped communicating with me...oh well.
The product I ended up using is called "Sunnyscopa DIY Type A Film-free Waterslide Decal Paper." If you research the stuff, it's clearly meant for product labeling and the sort if you're a at home business type. I initially looked at traditional waterslide decals, but realized that due to the complex patterns, there was going to be an obvious "film" overtop the designs (which had I stuck to that would look pretty horrid). This stuff, however, eliminates that- It literally transfers the printer-ink to the surface and you remove the film itself, leaving JUST the actual graphic. Think of how temporary tattoos work, it's like that, but more complicated....and DO NOT use the squeegee....it will damage the graphic as you use it.
I will tell you that if you choose to try this stuff out, don't really "listen" to the instructions. I nearly gave up entirely as this yielded A LOT of failed applications. You WILL NOT be successful if you follow their instructions/video 100%. The KEY thing they fail to tell you is to let it sit and fully "dry." My successful process, with a 2-"speed" hair dryer, has to been apply the graphic, use my finger to remove airbubbles and to remove as much water from underneath it as possible. Once you get it as flat as possible, I hit it with the "low" setting for at least 3-4 minutes straight. Don't get impatient- trust me. Immediately after that, I hit it with the "high" setting, so you're hitting it with hotter air...again, do this for at least 2-3 minutes straight...Don't remove the film!. Now, at this point, I would move onto applying another graphic to another part of the helmet, repeat the process as I just described, but THEN I would go back to the first graphic and hit it a 2nd time with the high-heat setting on the hair dryer for another 1-2 minutes. I would then move onto a 3rd graphic application, repeat, etc. Only after this much time has passed, I would go back to the first graphic and pull the film off. It should be very dry and the film should very easily peel off, with little to no removal of the ink/graphics. (long winded explanation but someone searching and trying to learn about this stuff years later should be thankful! lol )
So there it is. I don't think I ever want to do another one of these helmets ever. Took way too long and I really think it would have saved me the stress to actually paint it myself!
-TC
So this was a secret project gift for my girlfriend (now Fiance') that I actually began last November at the earliest. About 2 years ago, she had expressed a desire for the Hot Toys Porcelain Stormtrooper figure. While I could have saved and shelled out the money for the figure, I felt it was too easy. Of course, I decided to do something stupidly complicated, but hey, it's done now. Her birthday party (smaller group of friends) was at a Tea house/antique shop out in Virginia. I used this as a follow-up to proposing to her (of course she said yes!)
This was a group effort by friends of ours. One of our good friends, she is a graphic artist and replicated the designs based off of the figure. Another friend helped me get sheets printed and began the initial application phase at his place. Dan Laws formed the bubble lenses, and my buddy Scott let me finish this thing all last week at night after work. So it was a big effort.
I tried to be as accurate as I could, establishing that the figure's is more a "hero" TK helmet VS the common stunt. For this, I reached out to Troopermaster for a kit, which was quickly supplied. I think my short-coming with this was, although having built TK helmets before, I failed to test the fit of the rubber trim before going through the finishing stages, which caused some frustrations last week. Of course, this isn't a true 100% accurate replica. The scale for the patterns is slightly too small, the rear graphic we made much larger, and the most noticeable is that the lower-tubes of the helmet are not that "all blue" and inverted graphics design. While we originally tried to do that with the graphic transfer material, the extremely finicky nature of it would not have given us any good results in the least, so I opted to just repeat it like the dome. I was happy though that I was able to paint the rubber trim without much issue. Since the best matching blue I needed for the teeth/traps/tears was an acrylic, it made it much easier for me.
The actual application of graphics was both a trial by fire and an experiment, really. I originally was in talks with a local business to have at least the dome graphics applied via hydrodipping, but for whatever reason, they stopped communicating with me...oh well.
The product I ended up using is called "Sunnyscopa DIY Type A Film-free Waterslide Decal Paper." If you research the stuff, it's clearly meant for product labeling and the sort if you're a at home business type. I initially looked at traditional waterslide decals, but realized that due to the complex patterns, there was going to be an obvious "film" overtop the designs (which had I stuck to that would look pretty horrid). This stuff, however, eliminates that- It literally transfers the printer-ink to the surface and you remove the film itself, leaving JUST the actual graphic. Think of how temporary tattoos work, it's like that, but more complicated....and DO NOT use the squeegee....it will damage the graphic as you use it.
I will tell you that if you choose to try this stuff out, don't really "listen" to the instructions. I nearly gave up entirely as this yielded A LOT of failed applications. You WILL NOT be successful if you follow their instructions/video 100%. The KEY thing they fail to tell you is to let it sit and fully "dry." My successful process, with a 2-"speed" hair dryer, has to been apply the graphic, use my finger to remove airbubbles and to remove as much water from underneath it as possible. Once you get it as flat as possible, I hit it with the "low" setting for at least 3-4 minutes straight. Don't get impatient- trust me. Immediately after that, I hit it with the "high" setting, so you're hitting it with hotter air...again, do this for at least 2-3 minutes straight...Don't remove the film!. Now, at this point, I would move onto applying another graphic to another part of the helmet, repeat the process as I just described, but THEN I would go back to the first graphic and hit it a 2nd time with the high-heat setting on the hair dryer for another 1-2 minutes. I would then move onto a 3rd graphic application, repeat, etc. Only after this much time has passed, I would go back to the first graphic and pull the film off. It should be very dry and the film should very easily peel off, with little to no removal of the ink/graphics. (long winded explanation but someone searching and trying to learn about this stuff years later should be thankful! lol )
So there it is. I don't think I ever want to do another one of these helmets ever. Took way too long and I really think it would have saved me the stress to actually paint it myself!
-TC
