Thanks, everyone! I really appreciate the words of encouragement!
Hopefully you start getting into the more advanced stuff then like head/part swaps, and the like.
I'm planning to get into that soon (I want to make a super-articulated commander, but I want to use #33's more detailed right arm instead), so I've been reading up on removing parts at the link you posted.
My only suggestion would be to add a little grime to the armor here and there, to emphasize that the armor rubbing up against rough edges and such was what helped grind off some of that paint.
I've been holding off on doing this until I do some experiments with it (I have an R4-G9 with a flaw in the paint on his dome that I'm going to work with). I really like how the chipping turned out on these, so I want to get the scuff marks to look as good.
Unfortunately, Alpha (the commander, inspired by Darth Delicious' version) has suffered from some discoloration. I was trying to deepen one of his peg holes, and when I set him down I noticed that where I had been holding him had become stained reddish. Looking further, I found more places on him like this! I noticed this a couple of months ago when I was modifying the R4 mentioned earlier to fit into Obi-Wan's starfighter, but I didn't think much of it because most of the problem was hidden when the droid is in the slot. Has this happened to anyone else? I try to make it a habit to wash my hands before handling my figures, but now I'm afraid to go anywhere near them!
I'm not going to let this deter me; I'll paint over the whole figure if that's what it takes to save him, but I hope this doesn't happen again!
Again, thanks for the kind words, everyone!
And SLC, I'm going to see it at the new theater in Greeley for the midnight showing. I was thinking of going to the digital theater in Denver, but I decided to just go to Greeley. I'm kind of regretting that, but I already have my ticket. I'll see it digitally eventually.