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Case Mod - In Progress Imperium - Update July 7: COMPLETE!

Discussion in 'Project Logs' started by blueonblack, 21 Feb 2014.

  1. Impatience

    Impatience Minimodder

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    As much as I hate to say it (knowing the effort involved..) but those grey rivets look damn sexy with that iron black paint! :thumb:
     
  2. -MisterX-

    -MisterX- Minimodder

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    Awesome job! Definitely go with the grey rivet heads.
     
  3. blueonblack

    blueonblack What's a Dremel?

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    Paint question

    Ok, as much as I'm not looking forward to the work, gray it is.

    I love this Hammered Gray paint, but it is a little too bright. I'd hate to try mixing anything with it before application, do any of our paint gurus on here have any ideas on a top coat I could use after application that would make the gray darker? Almost like a tinted clear coat maybe?

    I'm still very much learning the whole painting thing, any help is appreciated thanks!!
     
  4. Mockingbird

    Mockingbird What's a Dremel?

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    Completely wrong end of the scale, but your could try something like Games Workshop's "smoke" washes - they have exactly this affect, but I imagine the amount you get per pot compared to the scale of your buiild would make them a pain to use (they are inteded for wargames miniatures). You'd also want to clear coat some kind of protective layer over then afterwards.
     
  5. Impatience

    Impatience Minimodder

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    The other way is to wet-brush them (also a GW method I discovered from the guys at my local store before those washes were made.. Mix black paint and water (about 30-40% water, rest paint) and dip the brush in water first, brush off excess on the side your water container, then dip and brush on the paint.. Takes a few layers (and a while to dry..) but it looks awesome! You can also use a tissue to absorb most of the excess water away.
    The idea behind it is the ink runs to the recesses, leaving the prominent bits shinier! :thumbs:
    Otherwise +1 with Mockingbird's idea!
     
  6. keenan

    keenan Minimodder

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    Phenomenal!!!! Absolutely amazing work and incredible attention to detail!! You have my motm vote ;)
     
  7. blueonblack

    blueonblack What's a Dremel?

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    Both great ideas thanks! I'm still definitely in the experimental stage here and like I said I wouldn't want to mix anything with this particular paint. It really is unlike any paint I've ever seen, it's thick and gooey and stringy and smells like it should be weaponized. It works like magic and I'd be afraid anything I mixed with it would ruin it.

    Someone else suggested mixing some black of the same paint with this gray. Since they're theoretically the same paint with different pigment they should mix fine and let me fine-tune the color.

    I'll add that to the list of experiments to do.


    And thank YOU sir! I was honestly surprised to see it up there in the early stages it's in. :)
     
  8. Impatience

    Impatience Minimodder

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    Ahh.. The "joys" of oil-based paints by the sounds of it.. :') Yup, count my idea out! Short of buying ink/dye and putting that on top of the grey.. Your best bet would seem to be mixing in some black and experimenting! I was going to suggest ash staining, but since it's a PC, it'd rub off instantly! :sigh: I'm out of ideas.. Haha
    But it's nice to finally find out who this other person was who voted for you on MOTM! :hehe:
     
  9. Nexxo

    Nexxo * Prefab Sprout – The King of Rock 'n' Roll

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    Less is more, IMHO. Have the details match the case. You want the eye to be drawn to those lovely moving gears.
     
  10. blueonblack

    blueonblack What's a Dremel?

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    There are a couple more evidently. I couldn't vote for myself in good conscience with Stainless Tower being in the running. He got my vote. :thumb:
     
  11. stonedsurd

    stonedsurd Is a cackling Yuletide Belgian

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    Love the hammered look, great stuff. Defeinitely go with individual rivets.
     
  12. Dk_vr

    Dk_vr What's a Dremel?

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    This build is amazing.

    I can't wait to see the clockwork mechanism finished and with proper red backlight...
     
  13. blueonblack

    blueonblack What's a Dremel?

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    Thanks. The latest update has been delayed with some paint issues but part of that has been finding just the right color/finish for the individual rivets.

    And thanks to you also. I've actually decided on an amber/orange light rather than red. From what I've seen it looks like it will illuminate the spaces better and if the shade is right it will go better with the old industrial theme I think.

    Of course, finding the right shade of amber or orange has turned out to be a lot harder than the right shade of red. :wallbash:
     
  14. JD Design

    JD Design What's a Dremel?

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    Very Nice project, I love this old industrial theme with these camshafts and these gears.
    Eager to see more. :thumb:
     
  15. blueonblack

    blueonblack What's a Dremel?

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    Paint and the Learning Curve

    Sorry no updates from Sokolov tonight. He’s probably out drinking and womanizing. I’m not going to judge, he’s a genius and the Empire needs him.

    So it’s been a while since my last update. At the time I had decided that I might need a little less black on it. While it looked pretty good in bright direct light, the finish was so flat it was actually hard to see without it. A lot’s happened since then so I’ll try to break this update up so it’s not a huge wall of text.

    First off, I removed every one of those rivet heads from the project. There were a LOT of them, but it was easier than I thought it would be. They’re held on with Superglue and came off with a chisel and a tap from a hammer. Lots and lots of taps.

    I had shown the rivets with a new grey paint on them, an oil-based Rustoleum Hammered paint that comes in quarts instead of rattle cans. It’s beautiful stuff, with a base of gray and tiny little veins of black. I decided since the finish I had wasn’t even anyway I would sand it down and repaint it with the black version of this same paint. Worst. Idea. Ever.

    Thankfully I didn’t have to sand it bare since the new paint has similar hammered effects to the spray already on it. I got it all sanded down and repainted with the quart paint. It looked excellent on smaller pieces and larger pieces with a lot of changes in surface area (like the hard drive enclosures), but anywhere with large flat areas looked like crap.

    So, after letting it cure for a week (this stuff dries really slowly but I figured it would come off a lot more easily fully cured) I spent 18 hours over the course of two days using this:

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    and these

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    and way too much of this

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    to get all of that enamel paint off.

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    This transformed my formerly perfectly promising project into this pathetic pile of parts (deal with the alliteration there, I restrained myself. And yes, I enjoy the use of parentheses.)

    After some research I decided the problem was not the product but my application. I bought an HVLP paint gun, dryer and regulator and practiced with some copper paint of the same kind and was able to get some absolutely beautiful results on large flat panels.

    Properly thinned and sprayed this is a great product. I didn’t get any pics of the black, but it gave the hammered look I wanted, it has these awesome little gray veins in the black, and is just beautiful. Problem is, it’s glossy. Really, REALLY glossy. I found Testors Dullcote that’s supposed to be great for that but I’ll be damned if I was going to spray anything on this finish and screw it up. Again.

    So there I was, getting ready to spray this new awesome but overly glossy finish on my pile pf parts on my next weekend, doing some last-minute research online when I stumbled across an image that someone was complaining about. They were upset that the product they were using turned out like this:

    [​IMG]

    I was smitten. *This* was what I had been looking for. Not too flat, not too glossy, the “hammered” marks were actually very fine wrinkles; it looked exactly like cast iron to me. I quickly found out what product they were using, went and bought some (for $6 a can instead of the $25 or more for the quarts I already bought) and gave it a shot when I got home. I had to use it wrong since this isn’t the result it’s supposed to produce, but… PERFECT!

    With this product and this method I could go from bare plastic or metal and the paint still in the can to finished product, dry and ready to assemble in five minutes flat. five minutes.

    First I laid out a bunch of those rhinestones I’m using for rivet heads on a piece of contact paper and painted them with a satin-finish Rustoleum Forged Hammered paint in Chestnut color. Looks like forged bronze, beautiful stuff.

    Then I got all of my parts painted. I was done soon enough that the rhinestones were still drying. Once that was done I got all the rivets glued back in place and the whole thing put back together.

    This whole thing was quite an ordeal but in the end I think it looks at least five times better. Pics! (There are minor flaws that need to be fixed and it's dirty, but those will be remedied.)

    Opinions?

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    And some super macro shots of the texture of this finish.

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    And some closeup pics of the texture of actual cast iron for comparison:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Before I tell everyone what I used on these I’d like opinions on the appearance. Again, I think it looks exactly like cast iron, and I’m very happy with the results (which is good since I wasn’t going to paint it again regardless), but I’d like some outside opinions, good or bad.
     
  16. jimbaw

    jimbaw What's a Dremel?

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    I love this finish! looks way better than before. well done! definitely looks like you've put a lot of time and effort into it
     
  17. Impatience

    Impatience Minimodder

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    Woah, it's... Beautiful! :clap: Big congrats on the update, I bet it was a right PITA for you.. On the upside though, just WOW! :jawdrop:
     
  18. blueonblack

    blueonblack What's a Dremel?

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    Thanks!! Believe it or not I got this look out of black Plasti Dip aerosol spray. Used according to the directions it lays down a beautiful smooth matte finish that looks great, but was not what I wanted. Used... differently you get this. :)

    The *only* thing I don't like is the way it feels. It has the "grabby" feel of fresh rubber, as you'd expect. I'm hoping that fades with cure time but if not it still looks awesome. I may experiment with some very heavily thinned clear coat like polyurethane or a varnish of some kind but I really don't want to mess up the appearance. It looks perfect.

    Great thing about this stuff, as quick and easy as it is to use I can whip up practice panels to experiment with in 5 minutes flat. It also comes off easily and cleanly should the need arise. I'll be experimenting with this stuff in future mods to be sure!

    :clap:
     
  19. Mockingbird

    Mockingbird What's a Dremel?

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    looks excellent!
     
  20. Nexxo

    Nexxo * Prefab Sprout – The King of Rock 'n' Roll

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    This is the cast-iron effect you've been looking for. :thumb:

    Only the chrome toggle switches need to look more brass. And toggly. Like these.
     

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