Tutorial: Make & Paint Your Own See-through Visor

[Liquidfire3]

Or blast it with salt at close range. Because, you know, shotguns are fun.

Oh yes, shotguns are my fav.

You are quite correct. If you look at the inside edges of my outer visor, you'll see some gouging. I chose not to clean that up during finishing for the very reason you mention. Even so, you're right, my visor looks much healthier than the rest of the helmet. If I was going for a more abused look, I would suggest gouging the visor (outside the center of vision) before applying the Metalizer. The end result would gouges, but with the Metalized finish intact rather than a clear spot that would result if you did the damage after finishing. his would also be consistent with the fact that the MC's vistor looks more like solid metal than a see-through visor. A further degree of weathering would be to mud spatter the visor with thinned paint. I would do this by spraying an oval in the center of vision with a light coat of WD-40 just prior to spattering on the "mud". The WD-40 will easily clean up with glass cleaner, taking only the mud that would have blocked your vision with it. The fuzzy edges of the WD-40 path will allow the mud spatters that remain to have a gradient, rather than a hard edge like you'd get if you masked the center of vision to protect it.

My thoughts.

That's actually some very good points, I kinda forgot about the fact that the chips and gouges would make a clear spot in the visor. And I really like that idea for the mud splatter.

 

[chipscolaman]

I vote for sticky, but the paint thing seems pretty complicated at first...

so you wanna metalize, then orange....

so it isn't so complicated afterall, you just have to be patient and carefull when spraypainting.

Right? ^^

 

[Redshirt]

That's really it. So long as your airbrush atomizes well, the Metalizer is hard to screw up except by overdoing it. To much equals a visor you can't see through. The Metal coat is fragile until you get it covered. The trick to the color coat is evenness more than smoothness. The clearcoat is all about the smoothness. That is the layer that most affects how clear your vision is. Just make sure the visor is clean and that the temperature of the air and the clear coat can are warm enough to get the coating to flow out smoothly. If you screw it up, take it all off with paint thinner and only lose 1 to two days starting over.

That reminds me, if you do have to start over, be careful with the paint thinner in the areas where you used modeler's putty to join in the extra pieces. The thiner will dissolve your smoothly sanded surface, causing additional time to restore it.

Redshirt

I vote for sticky, but the paint thing seems pretty complicated at first...

so you wanna metalize, then orange....

so it isn't so complicated afterall, you just have to be patient and carefull when spraypainting.

Right? ^^

 

[knightwing316]

Will any clear or translucent paint do? If not, could you explain why?

 

[Redshirt]

I suspect that other brands of clear paint (there aren't many) will work fine. Translucent paint will not be see through, but would make a cloudy visor. The real trick is to test compatability between all of your paints before starting. The nice thing about the Tamiya clear paints is that they are acrylic, so they have little chance of disturbing (disolving or wrinkling) the Metalizer (an oil-based enamel) underneath. Your biggest risk is in the clear coat causing trouble with your color coat. If it causes problems, just change brands. It's much easier to find different brands and formulations of clear coat than it is to find the clear red and amber paints. The risk of interaction between dissimilar paints is further mitigated by starting with a very thin coat or two of the gloss and letting those dry before laying on the heavy gloss coat. The thin coats aren't wet for long enough to dissolve the lower layers. The thin coats then act as a barrier when the really thick coat goes on.

Will any clear or translucent paint do? If not, could you explain why?

 

[Spydwar]

This is the tutorial I have waited for.
I have made a few visors using clear plexiglass by shaping them in the oven and using tinting on them.
(No gold though could not find it)
This prossess could also be used for colored lenses for lighting I would imagine?

 

[Soul Drinker]

Wow. This certainly helped a lot..Do you get all your paint from a local hobby store? Well..not really local for you I guess, but can you?

Awesome visor though!! What did you make the rest of your suit out of?

 

[crackhead09]

why hasnt this been stickied yet? this is great!

 

[Redshirt]

I do get all of these at a hobby shop. Locally--I wish. Fortunately, I had these items in my kit. The clear red and amber paints are primarily for car modelers painting turn signals and brake lights. If you can't find this paint locally, I have used Megahobby.com to good effect. They carry all of the Tamiya clear colors and the buffable Testors Metalizer very cheaply. Shipping is reasonable. In about a month I get to return to the land of big hobby shops though!

As for the rest of the suit, it's cardboard, layers and layers of triple-wall cardboard from television set boxes. I went through the build after the fact as a work in review (WIR). If you click on my Redshirt profile, it will give you the opportunity to look over the costume build thread. I'm considering doing a TUT on how to work cardboard. There is definitely a different skill set required than the other mediums.

Wow. This certainly helped a lot..Do you get all your paint from a local hobby store? Well..not really local for you I guess, but can you?

Awesome visor though!! What did you make the rest of your suit out of?

 

[knightwing316]

Not translucent, sorry about that, I ment transparent. I've got a 2 yr old and another on the way which means daddy don't get a lot of sleep.

 

[JEDI THERON]

Outstanding TUT! Also a great excuse to purchase an airbrush .
I vote STICKY!

 

[project003]

I vote sticky also.

I concur.

 

[Yodajammies]

Brilliant, just brilliant.

 

[NZTK]

This is very good. I'd been trying to mix custom paints that would do it all in one go with terrible results, It never occurred to me to do it in layers,. I'm going to have to dust off the old airbrush and take a crack at this, thanks for posting
+10 internets for you.



(internets are not redeemable for cash)

 

[mroreo123]

How Well Can You See Through It? Better Than This. This Is A View of My Dormitory Through My Rejected First Attempt (Bad Airbrush). Warning--All Girls May Seem Pretty When Viewed Through This Visor!

Very cool. Do you have updated pics for how well you can see through the visor with your latest paint job? If what you have posted is only your rejected one, I'm really curious to see the final effect. Thanks for a great tutorial (although now I have to buy an airbrush, which my wife will probably get mad at me for getting even MORE tools, lol).

 

[HaloFreakX]

Wonder why this isn't stickied... Well, I know there's already plenty of stickies, how about it gets put in the Creation Discussion area.

 

[Rorschach semaj]

I realize the last post was 2 months ago... but I must ask.



If the metalized is omitted, will the ending result cause vision (form inside) to be improved? Also, do you have any pics of your more recent attempt? I need a good scale of what to expect before I go out and spend a whopping $12 dollars on paints.



My dad's a professional artist, so a cheap airbrish is taboo in this house

 

[Wired]

Amazing guide!

I'm gonna give my vacuum formed visor to someone I know who airbrushes motorbikes as his job, what would I want to give him and tell him to do for a visor the colour of the dude in my sig?

EDIT: Sorry for the necro post, but I need to know this.

 

[PsychoMike]

have u tried ordering a clear mold of links odst visor and painting it the blue like the in game color just a thought

 

[HaloFreakX]

This still needs to get stickied maybe just in the Creations subforum.