Topic: Materials for Dioramas: Finding crates, parts and miscellaneous stuff...

[JDeck]

Okay let's try this again.
    I got the AK Interactive True Metal aluminum. It's a wax based metallic finish, that works with the plastic Hasbro uses. It has the consistency of oil based paint. You just apply it to whatever you want, then buff it out with a cloth, I use a cotton ball, and for small areas a Q-tip. If you buff it too much it will rub off, especially in high spots. I painted a FL2.0 C-3PO, Ra-7 and the armor on Mando. Word to the wise, use gloves. The mando ended up looking like the carbonized one, because it got everywhere. I had to take the time to buff out the places I didn't want metallic. Pretty simple. It's a lot like shining shoes, but metallic. It also works really well for dry brushing. I have pictured one of those candy soda barrels, the right is drybrushed, and polished.

I makes a great shine. It's almost a mirror finish, not quite. It's somewhere between vac metal and the new metallic paint Hasbro uses.
Pictures Really don't do it justice. I guess that's why I was fooling with the camera and broke the whole page.
Anyhows, heres the link
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZHHBRNQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_6PECNRHT3YFSJ40BETFJ?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
I liked it so much I ordered the Gold too.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZHHC47M/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_500VDTNMW0NBNZYCRR26

[Tamer]

Wow, that finish looks awesome. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Now, I need to go share it on the front pages.

I can't wait to see how the gold pans out.

[JDeck]

Wow, that finish looks awesome. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Now, I need to go share it on the front pages.

I can't wait to see how the gold pans out.

Thank you yeah I've been wanting to get this stuff for a while, but wasn't sure how it would react to the soft hasbro plastic. So far it's good, it's hard, not sticky or anything.

Im anxious to see how the gold comes out too. I should have it Tuesday. I have a few droids I want to do, but outside of that I don't use gold for much of anything. Ill experiment, and see if I can mix gold and aluminum to make a champaign.

[customjedi]

This looks like something promising.

[Tamer]

I know Hasbro has had a heck of a time getting any good vac metal paint work. Maybe this product could fill a gap that has been needed for awhile.

[JDeck]

Yeah. I used to be a strong advocate for Vac metal, but I always end up putting a dull coat on it anyway. Vac metal is just too shiny, I think. They claim they won't do vac plating because of the environment, but it's because it won't work on the type of plastic they use. They would need a really hard plastic. Harder plastic means it's more brittle, so less intricate parts for articulation. Joints would just snap. I like their new paint. It's a little shiny. This product is just a little better. I have some more of the FL2.0 C-3POs coming so I'll do a side by side comparison, their gold vs AK gold vs vac metal.

[Starchaser]

Wow, that looks really good. Thanks for trying it out. Thanks for sharing. That's a really promising product.

[JDeck]

I got the AK INTERACTIVE TRUE METAL GOLD today. I applied it to my Super 7 Metropolis Maria, as I had the non vac metal orangish one. So I have the vac metal SAGA C-3PO, Maria in the middle and the Forcelink 2.0 c-3po. So the ak is shinier than Hasbro gold, but far from Vac metal. You can add a thin coat of floor finish, no more that one coat, or it'll just look like clear coat over metal paint. The floor finish will also protect it.

Also the Gold can be mixed with the Aluminum, to make Champaign, or in metal terms a nickle finish. As with this concept IG-88. I just had to go a little heavier on the gold.maybe as much as three parts gold one part aluminum. I need to get silver, to see if it's any different from Aluminum. 

[Tamer]

Thanks for sharing how it turned out. Much better than the regular Hasbro gold, but not the vac metal. I am thinking we may never get another good vac metal figure as they don't want to use the good hard plastic that it would take for the paint to adhere too. Could be wrong.

Off to the front pages with this.

[Darth More]

JD, I can't put in words how brilliant I find your hint at the meme you recreated with young Lando and his droid...genius! I updated the table of contents on page 1 with your latest ideas.
Thank you so much for adding to this thread! I had never expected that it adds so much fun to the community on here - thanks to your brilliance!

[Darth More]

Profiles, Treads & Stencils











Click here to see how I store my loose collection.

[Starchaser]

Someone took a trip to the DIY store! Good to hear from you Philipp. What are you planning to do with your DIY supplies?

[Darth More]

Indeed, and it was horrible. So crowded with people and nobody kept distance to each other.

Thanks for the warm welcome Starchaser! It's good to be back because I feel miserable.
Thanks for asking. I ordered 6 new cabinets, which I'll share shortly here.
Unfortunately the compartments are under 4" high so I have to either cut the floors in half and support them with L-profiles or I'll take acrylic glass floors which also need L-profiles. I take it as occasion to modify some cabinets.

[Tamer]

I am interested to see what you do with all of these items!

[Darth More]

A little exercise in dry-brushing for beginners, custom prop or inventory for your Jedi/Sith Temple

Since I've been working with metal colors quite a bit in the past couple weeks, I decided to grab this project out of my project box. I started working on this ancient Sith holocron about 6 years ago...

Remember when computers were the size of entire wardrobes? I thought why should it be different with holocrons?

When I found these balls in a home decoration store, I immediately thought of giving them a dry-brush in a brass color. So of you find something like this and got about 60 minutes of spare time after work, you can even use these as a custom prop for your cosplay.
Thought this was appropiate to share here along with JDeck's latest projects.

These balls were available in 3 different sizes for 1 to 3€:
1. I spray-painted them in black.
2. After the primer had dried I simply dry-brushed it wiith humbrol's metallic Brass.
Only took me 6 years to finish. Good luck.


A quarter Dollar and a 3.75" figure for size comparison. Diameter of the balls is 9-12 cm.







This custom Sith is not made by me. I got it with a lot from eBay. This one reminds me of Darth Andeddu.

Forum member [url=http://stronoxcustoms.blogspot.com/2012/11/star-wars-darth-andeddu.html]Stronox Customs made a darn impressive custom figure of him!

Also make sure to check out the latest customs of The Old Republic by CloneTroopr!


This was also a test for my custom Neimoidian Commander which I finished repainting recently.