LongShot X
Well-Known Member
Coincidence. It is! (inside joke)
Good luck with your Helm!
Good luck with your Helm!
ShadoKat's Samus Aran (Metroid Prime 3) helmet sculpt - WIP
- Thread starter ShadoKat
- Start date
- Status
Taking some inspiration from you, LongShot-X, and am going to try to work a little and post something every day. (Except this week, which will likely be several times a day... I have the week off from work 
) So after I finished sanding yesterday, I took a close look at the surface of the cast and discovered this...
Little pits. Not sure if these are from the sanding or from bubbles in my cast, but they're very small and very numerous. Because this is my test prototype cast, I'm not terribly worried about it for this piece, but I am a little concerned that this may be a problem with other casts going forward. My hope is that these will either vanish or be minimized by a coat of automotive primer, but I'm headed out for some supplies right now, so I'll pick up some spot putty, as well, just to be safe. Any other ideas on how to fix?
) So after I finished sanding yesterday, I took a close look at the surface of the cast and discovered this...Little pits. Not sure if these are from the sanding or from bubbles in my cast, but they're very small and very numerous. Because this is my test prototype cast, I'm not terribly worried about it for this piece, but I am a little concerned that this may be a problem with other casts going forward. My hope is that these will either vanish or be minimized by a coat of automotive primer, but I'm headed out for some supplies right now, so I'll pick up some spot putty, as well, just to be safe. Any other ideas on how to fix?
Ugh, what a day! Spent about two hours more than I planned agonizing over paint, then ended up not getting any. I did get the primer, though, as well as the spot putty. The helmet has those little pinholes all over it but, as an experiment, I only applied the spot putty to a small part of it, and this is what I got so far...
As much as I like the color, if I have to do this for the whole helmet I will not be a happy camper. Luckily, this is just the tester, so I'm going to see if primer will fix the rest of it and see what I can get. I've also been thinking about my proposed painting process, and I think I might be going overboard. The color layer will likely just cover up the metallic layer, and I don't think it will have the effect I'm going for. I'll likely get better results by wet sanding the color coat. Then again, spray paint is cheap, so I might as well try it on a small section for kicks
As much as I like the color, if I have to do this for the whole helmet I will not be a happy camper. Luckily, this is just the tester, so I'm going to see if primer will fix the rest of it and see what I can get. I've also been thinking about my proposed painting process, and I think I might be going overboard. The color layer will likely just cover up the metallic layer, and I don't think it will have the effect I'm going for. I'll likely get better results by wet sanding the color coat. Then again, spray paint is cheap, so I might as well try it on a small section for kicks
LongShot X
Well-Known Member
Exellent to see that I inspired you!
Based upon the uniformity of the bubbles... That looks like a problem that I had when I was working with bondo. I had a poorly mixed batch of bondo and hardner (not enough hardner). I had to scrape it all off and start over.
Just make sure that the paint is absolulty dry and hard (I'd wait one day) before you wet sand it.
Based upon the uniformity of the bubbles... That looks like a problem that I had when I was working with bondo. I had a poorly mixed batch of bondo and hardner (not enough hardner). I had to scrape it all off and start over.
Just make sure that the paint is absolulty dry and hard (I'd wait one day) before you wet sand it.
LongShot X
Well-Known Member
Looks like more sanding then spot putty. I've had my share of that and still have more to do!
Otherwize I LOVE the color and details!
Cheers!
Otherwize I LOVE the color and details!
Cheers!
The color is just primer at this point... it looks shiny in that pic because it's wet. I probably should have let it dry a little more before wet sanding, but here it is after the first coat of primer has been wet sanded and washed.
Letting it air dry before adding another coat of primer. The wet sanding makes it REALLY smooth!! And it's neither difficult nor time consuming, so that's nice. Here's what I've been doing while waiting for it to cure...
That's a pepped helmet with two coats of SmoothCast 321 brushed on the outside. I also put in the support struts and slush cast the inside with the same stuff. The thing seems really strong right now! It's not fooling anyone, though... After adding a few more layers to the inside (and maybe a couple more on the outside), I'm hoping it will be built up enough that I can just start sanding away the drips and sanding down the curves without adding anything extra. Going this route I'm hoping to be able to completely circumvent Bondo and fiberglass. It's really just an experiment to see if it can be done, I don't expect a huge unqualified success or anything. In fact, I'm more than expecting more of those pinhole bubbles and other unanticipated issues, but I'll let you know how it goes! There is no pepped visor in there, just masking tape, but I didn't lose too much through the cracks. It's definitely not perfect, but it's the end result that matters, and I do have hope
Wow, I'm getting a lot done today!! Jeez, progress, where have you been all week?
Letting it air dry before adding another coat of primer. The wet sanding makes it REALLY smooth!! And it's neither difficult nor time consuming, so that's nice. Here's what I've been doing while waiting for it to cure...
That's a pepped helmet with two coats of SmoothCast 321 brushed on the outside. I also put in the support struts and slush cast the inside with the same stuff. The thing seems really strong right now! It's not fooling anyone, though... After adding a few more layers to the inside (and maybe a couple more on the outside), I'm hoping it will be built up enough that I can just start sanding away the drips and sanding down the curves without adding anything extra. Going this route I'm hoping to be able to completely circumvent Bondo and fiberglass. It's really just an experiment to see if it can be done, I don't expect a huge unqualified success or anything. In fact, I'm more than expecting more of those pinhole bubbles and other unanticipated issues, but I'll let you know how it goes! There is no pepped visor in there, just masking tape, but I didn't lose too much through the cracks. It's definitely not perfect, but it's the end result that matters, and I do have hope
Wow, I'm getting a lot done today!! Jeez, progress, where have you been all week?
LongShot X
Well-Known Member
Glad to see that the wet sanding worked. Very nice finish.
Cheers!
Cheers!
Castellan Craft
Jr Member
I've never heard of that pitting happening with microballoons, but did you use them on that test casting? Just grasping about for explanations as I've yet to cast something myself. *waiting on her starter kit to arrive in the mail*
This was the very first cast, before I even considered the uses for microballoons. I think I just agitated it too much while I was slush casting and got tiny bubbles. They're not in the very top layer, they're probably a millimeter or so beneath the surface, but I sanded it down quite a bit trying to even it out. I'll be more careful next time, and hope that the other cast doesn't have this same problem. Good luck with your starter kit!!! Is that the one with Rebound 25, SmoothCast 300, and Plasti-Paste in it? What are you planning to mold/cast with it?
So, for the paint, my first idea of "super-mega-uber-ultra-gloss" might be too reflective. I'm thinking I'd like to get as close as possible to the Varia suit statue by First 4 Figures. I like the colors, and I also think they got the metallic sheen spot on. But how to achieve this finish? I have no idea. Suggestions?
Okay, last day of vacation... time to get to work!!
uuummm... oops, maybe... or not?
[original] (11:00 AM) Uh... I think I may have just made a huge mistake. The spot putty wasn't filling in the holes very well. After I sanded, most of them were still there, even after repeated applications. So I thought to myself, "Self, what's a material thin enough to get into the pinholes that will bond to the cast so that they won't just come out when I sand it down?" "Well, Self," I replied, "what about brushing on another layer of casting resin? It's very thin, and will definitely bond." "Okay!!" I exclaimed, all excited, "I'll try that!!" So... i tried that. It's curing now. What didn't occur to me until now is that, not only is it entirely possible that the pits won't be filled in, but I've probably also pretty much just completely negated all the progress I've made with sanding. *slaps forehead... hard... and repeatedly...* [/original]
I have fear.
[update 1] (1:00 PM) So, I'm guessing that didn't work. The resin collected inside my detail lines, but those needed to be cleaned up anyway, so no big loss there. I did waste about two hours trying to fix it, though. Even though it was a completely epic fail, it still looks pretty neat! I made a short video showing the results, if you're interested. Okay, time for more primer! [/update 1]
[UPDATE] (3:00 PM) OMG, I can't believe this, it actually sorta worked!! Doing this has eliminated or reduced the pits substantially, I'd guess by about 70%!! It's not perfect, obviously... It introduced a few other issues, the rushed sanding job traded pits for scratches, and I think I lost a tiny amount of detail, but there are a LOT fewer pits now! You know what they say, "sometimes progress is just a different error message." Was it worth the agony? Oh, most definitely! Would I do it this way again? Oh, most definitely NOT! You see, I've learned something today... I've learned that, in the future, I should be more patient and work harder with the spot putty before doing something so impulsive. We may now proceed with our regularly scheduled helmet [/UPDATE]
[original] (11:00 AM) Uh... I think I may have just made a huge mistake. The spot putty wasn't filling in the holes very well. After I sanded, most of them were still there, even after repeated applications. So I thought to myself, "Self, what's a material thin enough to get into the pinholes that will bond to the cast so that they won't just come out when I sand it down?" "Well, Self," I replied, "what about brushing on another layer of casting resin? It's very thin, and will definitely bond." "Okay!!" I exclaimed, all excited, "I'll try that!!" So... i tried that. It's curing now. What didn't occur to me until now is that, not only is it entirely possible that the pits won't be filled in, but I've probably also pretty much just completely negated all the progress I've made with sanding. *slaps forehead... hard... and repeatedly...* [/original]
I have fear.
[update 1] (1:00 PM) So, I'm guessing that didn't work. The resin collected inside my detail lines, but those needed to be cleaned up anyway, so no big loss there. I did waste about two hours trying to fix it, though. Even though it was a completely epic fail, it still looks pretty neat! I made a short video showing the results, if you're interested. Okay, time for more primer! [/update 1]
[UPDATE] (3:00 PM) OMG, I can't believe this, it actually sorta worked!! Doing this has eliminated or reduced the pits substantially, I'd guess by about 70%!! It's not perfect, obviously... It introduced a few other issues, the rushed sanding job traded pits for scratches, and I think I lost a tiny amount of detail, but there are a LOT fewer pits now! You know what they say, "sometimes progress is just a different error message." Was it worth the agony? Oh, most definitely! Would I do it this way again? Oh, most definitely NOT! You see, I've learned something today... I've learned that, in the future, I should be more patient and work harder with the spot putty before doing something so impulsive. We may now proceed with our regularly scheduled helmet
[/UPDATE]Done with this for the day. There are still some bubble pinhole pit things, but it's not as bad as it was. I screwed up some of the details and the shape a bit with that casting resin fiasco, but I think I recovered to the point where I can move on. I'm really glad this is just a prototype, and not the only cast I have, or I'd be crying into a pint of ice cream right now. Things I've learned from this process:
1. Don't rush the sanding: Use progressively finer grit papers to remove scratches left by coarser grits. If you skip a grit, it may not be aggressive enough to do the job, and if you rush the job, your bound to miss them anyway.
2. Address defects before priming: Or at least before the last coat of primer. Primer clearly shows defects, and can be a great tool for finding them, but it it can't fix them.
3. Be patient with the defects: This is a general thing. Rushing in a quick fix will often cause more problems.
4. Don't put on too much primer at once: This I learned in the very last primer coat. I put on way too much and got really bad drips that wouldn't wet-sand out.
5. Red spray paint gets everywhere and doesn't come off...
Thanks!!
1. Don't rush the sanding: Use progressively finer grit papers to remove scratches left by coarser grits. If you skip a grit, it may not be aggressive enough to do the job, and if you rush the job, your bound to miss them anyway.
2. Address defects before priming: Or at least before the last coat of primer. Primer clearly shows defects, and can be a great tool for finding them, but it it can't fix them.
3. Be patient with the defects: This is a general thing. Rushing in a quick fix will often cause more problems.
4. Don't put on too much primer at once: This I learned in the very last primer coat. I put on way too much and got really bad drips that wouldn't wet-sand out.
5. Red spray paint gets everywhere and doesn't come off...
Thanks!!
Bah... Missed a day... Had to wait two days for the paint to cure before I could do more wet sanding. A good deal of the red came off while doing so, but I sprayed on another coat tonight. Doesn't look much different from the previous pics at this point, and I'm not so sure I like the red that much. And how to get that finish I'm going for? Hmmmm... Well, I have to wait two more days, so I have time to think about it. What else to do till then?
Castellan Craft
Jr Member
Start sanding one of the other castings? Will be interesting to see if the others have the same pitting issue as this one did. It takes long enough, might as well get a jump on it.
I'm just getting the simple pourable starter kit with the Oomoo for a 1 piece open back mold for my tiny project: http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/26070-Starting-Small-DA-O-Morrigan-Necklace-Sculpt-WIP
I don't have the guts to jump right in with a jacket mold lol. Especially since I'm a complete noob to sculpting. I'll likely update that thread though once I have a few more pictures.
If you're worried about that, you could always just pour a few tiny squares of resin (or a long thin section of it), then test different painting and finishing techniques on them (or on different areas of the same piece). Ultimate test would be how it photographs under a flash. I honestly don't think you can go TOO reflective, short of actually intentionally using reflectors (which I saw one guy do to fake the appearance of lights: everything a camera flash hit those things, they looked lit up in the pictures. I thought it was rather clever).
Joshua Morrison
Jr Member
I have been trying to finish painting my Gray Fox helmet and I'm going for super glossy as well. I bought two types of clear coat gloss.. one that is suppose to leave a glass like finish and one that is just clear coat gloss...so far it's semi glossy. I have tried both and I'm on like my forth coat still not that shiny...hope you have better luck.
zeldasaver
Active Member
what an awesome build so far. I'm definitely gonna keep an eye on this one. keep up the great work!
Shadow Slayer
Jr Member
is there a pep model of this anywhere?
Skullcandy Girl
Well-Known Member
This is looking very awesome! Great control of the clay etc And props to you for not giving up!!! It's great to see a Samus pop up here
And props to you for not giving up!!! It's great to see a Samus pop up here - Status
