Dhagon Syntir's Armor:

[Dha Syntir]

I finally snapped a couple pics of what I have finished to date-well almost finished as I have some more weathering to do. Let me know what you think, but take into consideration that I've only been doing this for about 5 months-ish...I'm not really crazy about the color of the jumpsuit compared to the armors color but I've not washed it yet, perhaps it'll fade rapidly. Or not. I've heard that you can airbrush the jumpsuit to maybe lighten it up some. Is that true? I wonder what color I should use to lighten things up a bit-any ideas? Is there a special technique I'll need to follow or just go with the flow? Or would you just leave it the color it is now and leave well enough alone? Sorry for all the questions, but I deem them necessary being as picky as I am...Thoughts???

 

[superjedi]

Dha,
Nice work! I like your overall color scheme.
For the jumpsuit, I'd try washing it a few times before you try any paint or chemical weathering. It appears to be a military-style flightsuit, and I know that they WILL fade with repeated washings. . . just don't know how many it will take.

If it comes to painting it, there's a line of fabric paints called Createx that you can airbrush right out of the container (no mixing/thinning.) I'd maybe try a lighter gray on some "high wear" areas (elbows, knees, lower legs) and maybe a spattering of dusty-beige as well. But if you do airbrush it, mist it on from a distance and let the color build up slowly.
Once you've painted with Createx, you have to heat-set it with an iron.

 

[GCNgamer128]

I like the helmet!! I would also recommend that you give the armour a wash in black acrylic, it looks too clean for all of those scratches

 

[Dha Syntir]

Thanks guys! It's been a blast working on these projects. I think I've felt more creative in the last few months of working on various Star Wars related props, than I have in ten years or better-so you can expect more and more photos out of me...I washed the jumpsuit (and yep it is a standard Air Force flight suit) yesterday for the first time and it faded a great deal. So between it's fading over the next few washings along with some eventual shading wear areas of the fabric later, I think it'll work in the end. Alot of the jumpsuit is covered by vest, armor, and jet pack anyway, so that'll help it from looking as overbearably darker than the armor color. I'll have to look for that fabric paint when I hit the stores while doing my annual last minute frantic shopping spree... And yes I'll be doing the black ink wash method where it's needed. Once I painted the armor and helmet a piece at a time, I've been putting them away inside of a large Rubbermaid box to keep the white from becoming discolored, and figured I'd do the ink wash and other weathering all at one time. I really appreciate the compliments, hopefully I'll keep getting better at it as I go along. I'll keep posting any progress once I finish my helmet and it's electronics along with the armor I finish a piece at a time...

Happy Holidays!

 

[superjedi]

Another thing to consider; if you look at pics of Boba's armor, he generally has 2 colors around each damaged area.
For example, on the chest/back armor, it's a yellow zinc chromate showing as the "primer" with silver where it's chipped all the way through.
On the helmet dome, it's silver scratches with a darker gray primer showing. The mandibles have silver with a darker maroon, etc.

I photoshopped one of your pics to show you what I mean. It's pretty subtle, but have a look.
Just something to consider.

 

[Dha Syntir]

Thank you very much for the advice. I had planned on doing something like that. I'd planned on primering, then metallic silver, then spray little streaks of black, white, lighter grey here and there over the silver then putting on the Elmers glue(washable) rather than mustard as it stained. I'm just not yet comfortable enough to try your method with the masking tape yet so I went the old standby route...Now I'll try your method and hopefully I'll be able to make it turn out ok. It may take me a while as my hand will go almost totally numb until I stop and let it chill until it starts working again. I'll post the pics as I go along...

Now are there any tips you can give me? I assume you used a brush to do something like that, or an airbrush? Any specific type of brush? Thank you very much for giving me that advice-I really appreciate any that can help me make my armor look the best I can make it with the generous help of you and many, many others...

Merry Christmas!!!