Garbage can armor, REALLY!

dankenman

Hunter
So I have been skipping the threads that say garbage can armor for a month now. I was looking at another thread and it linked me to a thread about the garbage can armor. To my suprise, it looked semi interesting, so I thought, for 6 dollars I will give it a try for fun. I couldnt find the same can, but I found one that was similar at Target. I also got a small can for the shoulder armor. Anyway, WOW! I have a degree in sculpture and painting, so that helps. But a few cuts, and minimal work with a heat gun (Except the back plate was a bit of a challenge) and bam:
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If anything I take it as great practice, and it encourages me to try more scratchbuilt ideas. Still have some cleaning up to do with the armor, but I thought I would try some gauntlets too! Heres where Im at so far:
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looks great! i've seen some beautiful sets of fett and custom armor built from trashcans. i've never tried it myself. my only apprehension with the trashcan armor is how thin it is. it just doesn't have the depth i think of when i think of armor plating. personally, i prefer the 3mm sintra although when properly formed, i've seen vac formed armor that gives the illusion of being thicker than it is due to rolled edges.

can't wait to see your progress here! is this gonna be a fett or a custom project?
 
I used the ESB templates because that is my ultimate goal. I think I will make a few before I really go for it, so this one will be a custom mando. The material is just over 2mm so the thickness isnt that bad. I am considering using two layers glued together, but? That will certainly make the dents easier to dremmel out, versus heating and melting it just right. I gave the pieces a good sanding and they look much better than the first pics I showed. I am really surprised at how it is coming along. I would have never guessed! Thats why I ignored the threads for so long. Well I just got off work and will take some more pics tomorrow...
 
Yep, trash can armor is a good way to go for cost effectiveness (y)

This is mine, a WIP...
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Thanks for the encouragement, and looking good gunnerk19. How did you make your dents? They look really good. I barely slept last night so I need to wake up a bit to get started, but this is how it looked after sanding it a bit:
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Up close it looks much better. In the pics you loose the dimension a bit. I still wanna adjust the back plate a bit.
More to come soon.
(SIDENOTE:Hey A'den Kyramud, how big is that gun in your Avatar pic?!? NICE!)
 

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To be honest, it's been so long since I worked on the armor, I forgot what the heck I used... :facepalm

I think it was a round ended handle to a kitchen utensil (my Wife would remember :angry) that I heated and pressed into the plastic to get the basic shape...
 
I think heating and pushing sounds like a good idea. thanks, gunnerk19. So like I said, this is practice for an eventual ESB attempt, so since I know it wont be ESB, I messed around with the scratches/dents to get a feel, didnt try to match ESB, this will end up as Mando armor. (so maybe this thread no longer belongs in this category?) but it is a study project for Fett armor so...
I decided to throw some paint on in to see how it looks so far (I can always sand it down if I need to reshape). I threw on the silver layer first.
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My next step is to cover the scratches and add another color, then repeat for a top layer. I also decided since this is for practice I will wait on the back piece until I finish the rest. That way I can try to color match it, so if I ever break a piece, I have practice on that as well. More too come if anyone is interested...
 

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Which trash can did you use?

Here's my completed armor. I had to use Krylon for Plastic paint because my first coat completely flaked off.
PA160019.jpg

(The shoulder add-ons are for my variant.)

Yeah, a lot of people pass over the can armor because it has a certain "unclean" thought about it. But, most of the time they turn out just as good as Sintra and with a lot less work.

Keep it up!

David.
 

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It was a rubbermaid can, rectangular base. The natural curve of the bottom half of the can is the wrapped lower half of the back plate. I formed the entire upper half of the back plate with a heat gun. What color did you use on that armor, Jaiden? I like the way it looks in the pic, it almost looks like it has a glitter effect? I just put some masking fluid on my armor, and am about to throw the next layer over the silver. I am going to test run some effects to build my skills for my ESB. I plan to try some masking methods and some topical methods to see what I prefer
 
So masking fluid is pretty easy stuff. I think I used too much and should have made this layer of paint much closer to the scratches. That way when I put on the top layer, I can have it closer to the scratch and still leave some middle layer exposed. I am going to cross layers and try to fix it a bit. Either way its great practice. As soon as this dries a bit I will sand it lightly, add masking fluid again, and then hit it with the top layer.
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What color did you use on that armor, Jaiden? I like the way it looks in the pic, it almost looks like it has a glitter effect?

I used the Hammered Metal Black. They make other colors that will turn out smooth, but I like the way this one worked out. It intentionally pools and "bubbles" to give it the...well, the hammered look. It takes about 2 or 3 coats to completely hide the white of the can, but I don't think you will need more than 1 or 2 coats of the regular Krylon for Plastic for your project.

David.
 
Ok, so here's the top layer:
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and this is after I removed the masking fluid:
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it came out better than expected. There are things that worked and things I feel I can improve on. Ready to do another, but still must paint the back plate. It is still too wet to sand, so I must wait to do any more.
 

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Great looking battle damage!!!

I'm still amazed that you got the backplate so perfect...amazing...

To do dents, I used a ball-peen hammer...works really well.

Keep up the great work!!!
A'den
 
I like that idea. the ball-peen tip has the right surface for the dents, thanks bro. I like the damage but I think there is a bit too much. I was using this as practice, so I just got carried away with the scratches. I just sanded it up and plan on doing some black blaster flashes and details. Then on to trying to color match the backplate. I think since I have the same paint it will be easy. Matching a new piece to one that was painted by someone else would be a different story. All good practice. I really enjoyed forming the backplate. Any other comments would be graciously accepted.
 
ya man, looking great so far! the shape of the armor pieces look really good! now, as far as doing the charcoal method to "scortch" it up a bit, you are going to have to be creative in how you do it...since you are customizing this armor, it is kind of difficult to match it up with fett's damage....any major dentage will have the scortch marks around it, and you just want to blend the charcoal effect, darker up close to the dent, then blend it as you go out...hope that helps, brother!
 
Thanks for the tip. I am also working on a gauntlet build right now, so I am going back and fourth with it. Probably work on the armor more tomorrow...
 
Ok. started on the back plate. I cut some damage, and made a blaster spot on it. I also added scratches on the sides because I think it would be a natural spot for rubbing to occur.
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I added less masking fluid to leave a bit more blue areas this time, next layer tomorrow after it dries.
 

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