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[Mi'ix]

This image is more of a place holder than anything else for the smoothing process of these prints.  We used the same process to great effect with marishka's armor and now I'm applying it here to my plates and commissions I have currently. 

Using the resin people use for their resin printers, I used a small paint brush and applied coats of resin to the plates in thin layers, then I let them cure under a UV light.  Once they aren't wet to the touch, I mist the plates with 91% isopropyl alcohol to seal the resin layer.  I'll do about three coats of this before I even touch these plates with sand paper.  The resin fills in the layers then allows me to even out the surface with some sanding. 

I need a bigger UV light setup. Lol 

[Rayne]

Hmmm that sounds like an interesting and much less labor intensive way to smooth print lines.

[Ru'Stor Rawr]

How long would you say the whole process takes from start to paint?

[Mi'ix]

After the resin cured, I gave the plates a once over with some 150 grit sandpaper, then went up to 220, then 320.  That's about as high as I'll go on armor if it doesn't have to be shiny like Beskar.



This was how everything looked when I washed it all down and let it air dry.



Hey! It's all the same color now!  This was a good start, but I'm seeing some problem areas, especially with the shoulders and knees.  I will go back again and maybe do another couple coats of resin.



I can only do so much sanding and filling before I need to take a break with the fun stuff.  So, I got the airbrush out and put down the shock blue middle on the chest plate.  I only meant to do the chest diamond, but the Molotow paint sprays so well I decided to the whole chest plate. 



Masked off the diamond and got that sorted.  Next will be to mask off the white stripes, two in my case, and weather those down with some steel wool.  After that will be weathering with oil paints.  I'll start with the burnt umber and then black to tone it all down.

[Ru'Stor Rawr]

that chest looks great, it really does paint very well!

[Rayne]

The chest plate looks so smooth. Love the colors. I’m excited to see it all painted!

[Dac'Gar Ordo]

That looks real smooth! Looking forward to the decals and weathering!

[Mi'ix]

Little update, but I got the crispy stripes on. 

Shoulders and knees went back for another round of resin.  Should be much smoother now.

[Rayne]

Looks nice and smooth. It’s so clean!

[Mi'ix]

Too clean...

[Bryn Cin'Prudii]

Nice two striper!

[Kurshi BeJahaal]

I didn’t know this build was happening, but now that I do , I’m gonna sit here and enjoy it.

[Mi'ix]

Now that I'm finished with commissions for the time being, I can go back to this build and finish it up.

The goal is to have this done for C2E2 in Chicago during the middle of December so it's crunch time!

I finally have my plates where I want them as far as finish goes.  Working on laying out the base coat blue over the next several days.  I should be done with that by Tuesday.

My jetpack was largely unfinished so I worked on that too.



DW thrusters have these little turbine looking greeblies on the end of the thrusters.  I had to chop off the old ones and glue on the new ones, but that wasn't a big deal.



Silver base coat sprayed with blue accents added.  The main body of the pack will get silver, then blue as well.

Going back to the hook system I used with the shoulder plates, that's what is holding my jetpack on here.  Dw have no back plate and the pack has to appear to directly connect to the back so I think this fits the bill nicely.  Once I work out the placement, I'll added velcro around the edges of the pack and my vest to help with taking the load off the just the hooks.

Buckle up, because this thread is going to be active for the next couple weeks.

[Ru'Stor Rawr]

Pulling up my seat to the front row, This is going to be fun!

The JP looks like its a tad lower on the right side, Looking forward to seeing the rest!

[Rayne]

It’s looking good! I’m in awe of your paint skillz. Can’t wait to see it done!