Paint Job

[trumpetcase]

As a noobie I have never made anything like this. I sewed a Ike costume in like 24 hours but that's the extent of my artistic reach. But since I really want my armor to look nice I wanted to know how I can make the armor look battle-worn and what color paint I should use blue and green.
Also I was wondering if maybe shooting the armor with a low fps airsoft pistol from a certain distance could help do that.
Well, thanks in advance. Can't wait for the advice and ideas.

 

[delta38]

As far as i know, you use bondo to detail your armour how you want it, then put paint on it to make it look better, i don't think shooting it will make much good, considering it probably would crack it? I don't know if it would crack it but i wouldn't do it personaly..

 

[Veritech017]

While some enjoy the perfect smooth and clean look on their armor, I'm a big fan of the "worn" look.

There's a lot you can do to achieve the look, actually, but the most basic and easy one is once you've finished your paint job, you take auto primer (dark) and spray it on lightly in spots, then use paint thinner to spread it around. This works great if you have armor that is a bright color, but if you happen to be wearing a dark color then the process doesn't turn out so well.

Another method which is actually mentioned in a tutorial on here is to do a coat in a silver/grey and spread vaseline on spots you want to have damage then spray in your primary color and remove the vaseline. This creates scraped paintjobs very well.

The most detailed forms of battle damage are actual mods to the armor itself. This can be simply using bondo to create "dents" and other deformities. The most extreme version of this process I've seen was on a Stormtrooper who had melted a chunk of his armor off and placed a circuit board behind it and then did carbon scoring across the blast area using a mixture of brown and black paints.

Really, once your armor is at the stage where everything is hardened and just needs detail, it's completely up to you how you want to do it.

 

[bigoz9]

I've seen certain tutorials where the creator uses silver paint (really thick, no paint thinner) and just dabs a wide brush to lightly coat the end, then takes that to the outside of certain sections that would have the paint worn off (anything sticking out) and lightly brushes away from any recessed areas. This gives your armor the appearance of being worn, As for battle damage, Veritech is right, make the scrapes with the bondo, Shooting your armor would
just leave small bumps that would catch paint, and give your suit a spotted look, not exactly what most people want
Check out the tutorial section, they should still have the video up on what I described

 

[trumpetcase]

Thanks guys so much. But for the shooting part I was going to do it from a far distace a probably use hot glue on the inside to make it more flexible that way it doesn't crack or atleast to bad (that way it looks more worn), but most likely I won't shoot at it. Well, please keep the advice coming. I'm starting my armor soon, I hope to wear it at realms con in September and maybe halloween. YAY!!!

 

[sirblood]

if you want a flexible yet fairly strong inside. You might consider applying fiberglass cloth underneath the hot glue on the inside. You could cheat and use fiberglass tape (its in the drywalling section) often called drywall tape, just make sure you get the fiberglass one. Get a good pair of scissors cut it into smaller pieces and apply it to the inside of the helmet before you apply the hot glue.

Might want to consider giving it a light coat of clear enamel, then a heavier coat after that one dries. I would spray the inside and outside of the helmet/armor it will help to waterproof it somewhat.