Hey guys! I've gotten a lot of requests about posgin progress pics on my scaled Mandalorian armor. Finally I got off my butt and took pictures! I'll be presenting this in a step-by-step painting instruction for those who want to do what I did.
Step 1: priming
Get your desired piece and clean it off with soapy water, let it dry. After dried, cover completely with grey Sandable Primer.
Once dried, get a piece of 600grit ultra fine sandpaper and sand the desired piece until smooth. the result should look as such:
Step 2: applying a base coat
Once desired piece is properly primed and sanded, wash again wth soapy water and let dry.
After dried, spray 30 cm away with silver spray paint. let dry, repeat until piece has a completely covered look
The spray paint, being as far away as it was, will have gone on specked and flaked. This is no problem as it is expected. Wash in warm soapy water and wetsand using the 600grit sandpaper lightly.
Rinse and let dry. the desired look will be scratched, which is perfect.
Step 3: further sanding
Wet your 600 grit sandpaper and sand until surface is incredibly smooth. wash in soapy water again and let dry.
The end result should look patchy and sort of like a car's paint job you'd see at the beginning of "pimp my ride"
Step 4: final coat
Get in within 3-5 inches of the desired piece of armour and use your silver spray paint to spray, doing so in a linear fashion, using long, sweeping strokes to cover all of the armor. Do not touch until completely dry (depending on what kind of spray paint you use, it will be from either an hour to a few hours to a day to a few days)
Result will not be very smooth, but do not sand, hand wash with soapy water, rinse, and let dry. This should smooth the armor out as much as possible, and the end result should look like this:
And, just for reference, here's every step altogether:
I must stress that this result is for spray painting and the result will depend on what spray paint you use. I used what I could find, which honestly is not the best looking, but gives a desired effect.
This paint job is a temporary one for me, however. I'm planning on using a wax-based metallic finish on my complete armour:
Silver leaf colored Rub 'N' buff brand is what I really want to cover my armour with. it gives a more realistic finish than any spray paint could, but it is VERY, VERY difficult to find here in Canada. I am told they used to have it at michaels, but it has since been called back.
In the US, I believe you can find these in abundance at Hobby Lobby and if you want to look for it, search in the antiquing area and what you're looking for is called
Rub 'n' Buff wax metallic finish and the colour you're looking for is
Silver Leaf. Once i find this, I will work on my armour immediately and post the results.
EDIT: Here's a link to the product I'm speaking of
http://www.amaco.com/jsps/grouphome1.jsp?catID=87&productId=437&GROUP_ID=9&CATEGORY_ID=87&TITLE_NAME=Rub Thanks for looking!
