Tim Allen Armor Paint Up

[BrianTheSith]

I purchased a set of Tim's armor recently, received them today. Just thought I'd do a progress thread for you guys.

Overall, I'm very satisfied with this stuff. In fact, in comparison to the trash can armor I had, it is almost a perfect match up in size to my body.

Here is it right out of the box:

After shaping it to my body (heatgunned):

Painted silver. I bought Krylon hammered finish silver, as I thought it would be cool to have this look to the silver, almost like it was scraped/dented in.

I'll post more as I go along.

 

[BrianTheSith]

WHOOPS! Just realized I hadn't cut the slots for the chest lights in. Well, back to the drawing board

 

[Wes]

You need to re-work that left plate.

 

[BrianTheSith]

Yeah, it's been giving me grief all night.

 

[Tim Allen]

Yeh thats the biggest issue Ill be fixing with the new set coming. The shape and curve of the armor, and also the detail in the dents.

 

[BrianTheSith]

Well, and part of it is my ribs are shaped a little funky, so when I shaped it to that side, it got all out of wack, and I've been trying to get it back in shape ever since.

On a side note, can't wait to see how version 2.0 looks.

 

[Tim Allen]

On a side note, can't wait to see how version 2.0 looks.

me too

 

[webchief]

Dude, you melted it. Instead of a heat gun you should have tried hot water.

 

[GrottyFurball]

Dude, you melted it. Instead of a heat gun you should have tried hot water.

That's what I was going to say, deffinetly overkill with the heatgun. use a big pot of hot water, usually simmering is more than hot enough.

 

[Tim Allen]

Yeh heat gun on styrene can be very brutal. Even a hair dryer may work but unless you know what your doing and how long to heat the styrene for, I wouldnt recommend heating it. None the less v2.0 will eliminate that, wasnt pleased with the curve of the 1st edition so will be trying to fix that issue.

 

[CombatBaby]

Yeh heat gun on styrene can be very brutal. Even a hair dryer may work but unless you know what your doing and how long to heat the styrene for, I wouldnt recommend heating it. None the less v2.0 will eliminate that, wasnt pleased with the curve of the 1st edition so will be trying to fix that issue.

Plus melting it instead of heating it gives off some nasty fumes.

If you are still reshaping it I would agree with Webchief and use hot water. Right now it's very jagged

Good luck with this

-=QuinN!

 

[BrianTheSith]

Thanks for the input guys. I didn't realize the heat gun would be way too hot. I had thought about the boiling method, but when I had tried it in the past with other stuff (not styrene), it didn't work all that great. I'll give it a try with this though and keep you posted.

 

[mrgr8ness]

I hold my sintra and styrene parts over a kerosene heater, to heat them and shape them. I usually put the sintra right on top of the cage for a few seconds then bend. Styrene, you don't want to get as close, maybe a foot above the heater.

 

[Gilmortar]

best case scenario you can use to reshape the plastic isn't even boiling water...the best Idea is to fill your sink with cold water, and then on the other side have hot water running, then put the armor under it.

It doesn't take alot of heat to reform plastic. Basic plastic manipulation 101:

It takes only a small amount of heat for the particles in plastic to begin to move rapidly enough to make it pliable. IT will make it soft enough to bend but still have a rigidity to it as to not lose its initially formed shape. As you have noticed intense heat will actually change the physical property of plasic very quickly. You can literally turn plastic into a liquid very quickly. It can reach a semi solid state in a matter of seconds so you have to be careful with the range of heat you are using.

Now for the bending, you just keep your armor under the running water for a few seconds - a few minutes depending on the thickness of the armor. This will give it enough give to bend it in to submission, then when you have it, keep holding it with that bend and dunk it in the cold water, this will cause the particles to halt suddenly and hold its shape to the new form.

 

[BrianTheSith]

Sorry, been busy with work and such. I just got some masking fluid, and plan on working some more on this shortly. I tried to reshape the one side using just the hot water as suggested, but I couldn't get it to work. I'll try the boiling method sometime this week. Hopefully more action coming soon!