stormtrooperguy's rotj armor rattlecan colors

Can you use airbrushing and rattle cans? I've had trouble of mixing paints leading to peeling in the past. I recently inherited a airbrush (but no compressor) and so I'm wondering if I should try to borrow one for my painting or should stick with my experience in the rattles
 
Can you use airbrushing and rattle cans? I've had trouble of mixing paints leading to peeling in the past. I recently inherited a airbrush (but no compressor) and so I'm wondering if I should try to borrow one for my painting or should stick with my experience in the rattles
An airbrush is awesome if you have the patience to learn it. You can cover alot of area with a little paint.

Sent from my Nexus 6
 
Can you use airbrushing and rattle cans? I've had trouble of mixing paints leading to peeling in the past. I recently inherited a airbrush (but no compressor) and so I'm wondering if I should try to borrow one for my painting or should stick with my experience in the rattles

It depends on the paint you're using and how you're layering it. If you are using acrylic paints out of the airbrush, you need to be very careful using more caustic paints (ie: rattlecans) because it can kill your acrylic coat, especially if it isn't completely dry.

It's doable, but you have to be very careful and patient.
 
Can you mix layers of acrylic and enamel out of an airbrush ( not at the same time but letting one dry first)

Sent from my Nexus 6
 
Enamels are much more tolerant of rattlecan paints. I usually let my airbrush job dry for 8 hours if I'm going to put rattlecan paint over the top.

You can layer enamels and acrylics, but again, make sure the acrylic is good and dry before your first layer of enamel. Also, just dust on the first layer of enamel.
 
However, if you're just looking for drying time between coats of similar paint types... That's parts of the advantage of an airbrush. Your drying time is nearly immediate if you're laying it on right. I will mask off sections I just painted minutes ago.
 
And you can put enamel airbrush on top of rattlecan? I have no experience with airbrushing so I'm trying to determine the most efficient way to mix things since I get the impression that airbrush isnt for large basecoats but more detail and weather work. Am I wrong and you can relatively quickly coat a piece using airbrush or would you recommend that I lay down my base silver/yellow/green via rattle then go in for nitty gritty with airbrush?
 
And you can put enamel airbrush on top of rattlecan? I have no experience with airbrushing so I'm trying to determine the most efficient way to mix things since I get the impression that airbrush isnt for large basecoats but more detail and weather work. Am I wrong and you can relatively quickly coat a piece using airbrush or would you recommend that I lay down my base silver/yellow/green via rattle then go in for nitty gritty with airbrush?

I put down my primer coat with rattle can. The rest I have done with airbrush. If you get a .5mm airbrush needle you can cover a lot of material. Mixing enamel and acrylic paints follow a pretty basic rule. You want to thin the paint down to roughly the consistency of whole milk. Enamels are thinned down with lacquer paint thinner, and acrylics are thinned down with acrylic paint thinner (which is essentially a light soap and water).

Acrylics can go over the top of enamel and rattlecans just fine. Enamel can go over rattlecan. But rattlecans can be fairly tough on airbrush paints, so you just have to make sure they are good and dry, and you mist on the first coat or two. You can usually go gangbusters with the rattlecan after the 2nd coat, but be gentle with the first two.
 
Sorry all... this is a classic case of why images should always be uploaded to the forum. I no longer maintain at web site. I *might* have these in flickr somewhere, but not sure. I'll see if I can track them down.

At this point though, the various colors are probably not even available anymore.
 
Since there seem to always be threads about paint colors for RotJ, I figured I'd create some search-fodder.

This is just what i like. This isn't "right". You might hate the results. The cans might explode, sending shrapnel into your eyes. I'm not to blame for any of that!! Enough folks have said they like my suit that I guess it's at least ok.

Personally, I think you should seek out the colors that YOU like best, rather than just trusting someone else to make the decision. It's your armor, so make it you YOU want it, not how I want it!

Also note that I'm not mentioning anything about the subtle weathering... mists of grey and brown, graphite powder, razor scratches, etc...

This is my armor:

normal_rotjarmor%7E0.jpg


And here's what I used (sort of):

normal_rotjarmor.jpg


Grey primer
Metallic Silver
Line Striping Yellow
Spruce Green
Hunt Club Green
Flat black

My armor is metal, so it was already silver. Assuming you're working with something non-metal, do the standard prime and coat silver thing.

The line striping yellow is an inverted can, so you spray upside down. But it's the best match to the color that I've been able to find in a spray can.

After the yellow, I do a layer of Spruce green on the ab plate only. This is for the light scratches where the rifle stock hits the armor.

The hunt club green is the finish color, with black misted fairly heavily in some areas, as can be seen in the photos.

For the shoulders and knees, I use these:

normal_shoulderknee.jpg


Line Striping Yellow
True Orange
Summer Squash

Line striping yellow, with misted layer orange. For the weathering on the knees, I use the summer squash for the layer between the silver and the yellow/orange.

rotjknees.jpg


And for the gauntlets, I revisit some colors from the helmet: black and claret wine (please excuse the bad composite here. the primer is implied ;) )

rotjgauntcolors.jpg


Real simple... silver, masking, flat black then claret wine, with a bit more black misted on top.

normal_IMG_1271_2.JPG


On the note of the "subtle weathering" that I didn't get into above - don't forget that you always want to use a matte clear coat to seal it all and dull down any gloss. Satin, gloss... it doesn't matter what the finish of the paint is, as long as you have a good clear coat.

Testor's Dullcote is my favorite. I've never had a bad reaction with the paint underneath it, so that's a plus.

That being said, if you can't get the dullcote anything should do. Be careful - clear coats can mess up the paint underneath if you don't carefully follow instructions, including letting all of the layers underneath cure properly.

Also note that products change regularly... Some of these paints are 4+ years old. You might not be able to find exact matches anymore.
Pictures wont upload on Explorer or Chrome. But the explanations are great/ So amazing how so many help each other in here. Fantastic group. Simply astonishing...
 
Just for the Fett Painting Historical Record, I have sourced every single one of these paints,the line striping yellow comes in 2 shades or so the cap makes it appear so one is gloss so I dont know what is up with that,but anyways let the Record show, Walmart.com,JBtools,and Home Depot have come in for the Win.
 
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