Killstripes. PESKY!

Just finished working on these - And here's me thinking it would be easy!

I masked them off with tape, and painted them last night, mixing more orange into the paint per stripe.

Removed the tape today - The paint had seemed underneath

So I spent all day with a scalpel scraping the yellow away.
There's still a bit more excess yellow than I'd like, but overall I think it looks pretty good - The weathering's pretty close to what I intended anyway, and I should be able to touch up the green a little bit if it annoys me.

Whatcha reckon?

Looks good to me.

Great work

Yeah, that looks pretty good to me.

I think the weathering looks great. I'm still trying to work up to courage and paint my own armor.

First I need to get the armor , hehe

It really looks good to me

I've painted a couple kill stripes in my time. It always happened every time. Yours look good to me.

They look good ... nothing wrong with that paint job

If you look at all the HIGH RES REF PHOTOS the real deal does not have perfect stripes...you can tell the Prop guy had the same Problem..

Looks Good..

Looking good, keep it up

looks FINE to me bud !! Spidey is rigt...remember, in the end...its fett. Its supposed to be chaotic.

And in the future, I tape, paint, wait 10 minutes then remove the tape so as to avoid the tape 1. clinging to the tape and ripping chunks off, 2. allowing capillary action draw the wet paint under the cracks of the tape overnight.

just fyi

OMFG those kill stripes are terrible!.... JK man, they look awesome, just thought id give a jolt to anyone reading this. THey are great.

Reverend,

Your killstripes came out fantastic!!! I'm trying to find ways to achieve something at least half as good as yours!

So GotMaul, by removing the mask BEFORE the yellow has time to dry completely, you tear some of the killstrip off to get that 'chipped' effect? Anyone else do it differently, like using liquid mask,...etc. GotMaul's way sounds pretty easy. Any feedback will greatly be appreciated.

Thanks everyone! Can't wait to get started on my MS.

Aloha,
Chris

Instead of masking tape, I used that sticky label paper you can buy for inkjets, the removable kind. Used Chris's templates, printed them on it, cut them out, and stuck them on. After I painted it, like GM, I removed them shortly there after. Worked pretty good.

Yours looks fine. Nice work.

One word: MUSTARD...

Worked great for my knee's, gauntlets and armour! Plan to use that tech for the helmet as well..

Nice idea Forced Trekker...and cool banner!

Aloha,
Chris

If you put the tape down, then spray a good layer of clear coat over the tape and let it dry...all the bleeding happens to the clear. Once you paint your new colors over it they wont bleed because the edges of the tape are sealed under the clear coat. Then you are going to dull coat everything any way so you won't see the extra clear coat.

I like the masking tape/mustard combination for painting the killstripes. Here's a M_S and a M_S 2 that I'm painting for two boardmembers here. Can you tell which one is which?

Well, what I did was mask off the rectangles with tape, THEN took liquid mask and dabbed here and there with the tape on...painted, peeled tape away (took SOME mask with it) then took the rest of hte mask off later.

Originally Posted by Got Maul

Well, what I did was mask off the rectangles with tape, THEN took liquid mask and dabbed here and there with the tape on...painted, peeled tape away (took SOME mask with it) then took the rest of hte mask off later.

Hmm. . . that's actually the way I was considering doing it. Did you use the regular blue painters' tape?
Did you have any trouble with paint seeping under the edges?
Eric

here's the thing about the tape and horror of using it. I taped out the edges and painted my stripes as listed above. To my horror, when I pulled off the tape, the paint came with it, but that was MAINLY because the metal paint I used under. Now the NICE thing about the floquil paint is that its quality, self leveling paint. I literally painted a first thin coat by brush over the LARGE areas that lifted. Then came after it again with another brushed layer. the point is, if you pull up the paint, you CAN repaint it nearly seamlessly. After you do the black washes, TRUST ME you never see where you had to paint. Can you spot the areas on my helmet ?

I learned very early on this hobby from a very good teacher, your mastery of the art of propping is not necessarily what you create, but how WELL you can cover your mistakes ! words never rang truer !

oh and another thing, with the blue painters tape, you might want to stick it to your shirt first to take some of the tackiness off. Initially, I think its too sticky, so by sticking it to your shirt then peeling and repeating, you take some of its tackiness off.

Another simple but very effective tip is that after you lay your tape, simply take your nail and graze the edges of your tape so to really pat it down. that usually prevents leaking. Lastly, really look VERY carefully at each edge and make sure you didn't force down a crease...paint loves to capillary draw into these tiny folds.

Originally Posted by AFettFullofDollars

I like the masking tape/mustard combination for painting the killstripes. Here's a M_S and a M_S 2 that I'm painting for two boardmembers here. Can you tell which one is which?

MS on the left MS2 on the right? Looks awesome BTW.

Does any one use artist tape? It ain't cheap but it works great for masking stuff off. I use it on illustration to make a border on the board. It gets tons af paint on it and peals of really easy with nothing under it, but these are with brushed oil, acrylic paint, and the ocassionaly watercolor. I've never used with an airbrush. I just got my first airbrush last week. It's a handy little tool. I was wondering if anybody's used it or not because I ran out a couple weeks ago, and I haven't bought anymore yet because I'm working on the computer alot more lately. Does anybody know if it'd be worth buying artist tape instead of masking tape for this type of project?

hmmm, interesting. I will take a look at some of this artist tape tomorrow. I am going to the art store first thing in the morning !

I picked up some artist tape and gave it a try. I still got a little under spray, but nothing too bad. I don't think you'll hardly even see it once it's wethered. I would have taken a picture, but my significant other is a realtor, and she's using the camera to photograph houses today.

I use a tape for painting RC polycarbonate bodies called "Pactra"....NOTHING gets past it....I swear by it when masking anything. Even still I have to agree with GM 100% on how well mistakes are covered when prop building. I had to go back in on my Fett helmet plenty to bring it to my satisfaction. It's why we are all called "artists"


Steve