what is ur stormtrooper made of?
if it's vinyl plastic (soft/ flexible type) then i'm sorry coz, u can get a glossy finish.. but not a high shine finishing.

to achieve high shine finishing, u need to polish and wax ur fully cured gloss coat.
a flexible/soft surface will cause ur paint job to crack.

Can't find Tamiya Masking tape today at a hobby shop. Do they have them in Toycity?

The Stormtrooper probably soft material.

Thanks for the responses, madmoz and erh_teo.

I'm not sure what exactly the plastic is called, but it is not soft. It is rather hard, possibly the same material used to make gundam parts. So I guess there is no need to worry about the gloss coat cracking.
I don't require extreme high shine. The stormtrooper isn't entirely flat right now, I only want a bit more shine. That's the reason why I'm still on the fence between choosing Gloss or Semi Gloss. I'm afraid that if I wrongly chose Gloss and it turned out too shiny, then I'm doomed.

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Added on March 16, 2009, 8:55 pmWell, pictures say a thousand words. Here's a picture of the trooper in question, next to a screen grab from the movie.

I'm still undecided between Gloss or Semi Gloss...
Advice?

This post has been edited by Kinster: Mar 16 2009, 08:55 PM

spray it gloss...that looks glossy to me. not car polish shiny...but enuff.

tamiya masking tape can be found at the following places...
Hobby HQ, AF Hobby.

im currently building zaku II shin matsunaga custom ... although its a MG but it kinda good .. almost like semi PG for the finger part.

problem is .. the finger part for right hand very loose .. will the finger will drop off if move too much...

UHU glue / elephant works with this problem?

worse part is there's only 2 hand provided for this unit

I'm pretty sure the stormtrooper armor, or at least parts of them (leg armor) are semi soft. Not as hard as gundam because they have to make it abit elastic to fit the figure in the armor.

The Stormtrooper armor itself has a slight gloss coat already. You can experiment it. I would say go full gloss. But then how you going to apply the coat on the armor without removing the armor from the body. It's not easy to put the armor back u might end up tearing the inner suits.

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Added on March 17, 2009, 9:54 amAlso does Toycity in KLCC carry masking tapes? I'm in KL so AF Hobby too far.

Regarding the finger. You can try applying glue, but make sure you keep articulating the fingers until the glue is dry up. You don't wanna glue the finger but instead use the glue to tighten the fingers.

This post has been edited by advocado: Mar 17 2009, 09:54 AM

TM in Times Square stocks masking tapes too. Might cost a little bit more, but the jam going into ampang itself can be a killer at times.
I think Hobby HQ (iirc) in the old shopping complex diagonally opposite Menara Citibank has them too.

Hobby HQ is no longer in City Square (opposite Ampang Park). They've shifted to Fraser Business park near Jalan Loke Yew/Sungai Besi roundabout.

Not too sure about Toycity and tamiya masking tapes. as far as i know, toycity already lost their distributorship for tamiya products. but then, u can still try. hobby shops in berjaya times square may carry the masking tapes. if not, XL shop in midvalley but not too sure of that either. Hobby HQ is the best bet...

do NOT apply super glue on the finger while it is joint to another part. put 1 small drop of super glue on the ball joint of the finger while it's disassembled. let it dry. the snap it back on. the additional coat of super glue would make the joint slightly bigger. hence make the connection tighter.

This post has been edited by davelcm: Mar 17 2009, 10:18 AM

Hobby HQ shifted... sorry.

my only recommendations is to try the mr.topcoat by gunze (blue color can spray, NOT the gray Mr. SuperClear).
try with the gloss/semi-gloss u prefered.

coz if the effect not nice, u can strip if off with window cleaner (windex, ammonia base cleaner).
but before that, test on ur stoorm trooper if the windex is safe on ur paint, as windex is harmless to plastics.
coz normally it does not affect cured lacquer

...try use Kao Magikleen. much cheaper. i believe it shld remove acrylics just as well...i use that to clean Future.

Thanks advocado. No, every part of the trooper armour is hard, only the belt is soft. I can leave the belt out when spraying the gloss. The figure underneath is a skinny guy, so the armour pieces needn't be elastic. They're quite hard. And it's easy to remove. I've already removed and put back on twice, to fix some loose joints. Like gundam joints, I used superglue on them and keep moving the joint before it cures completely. The dried superglue inside the joints provide a bit of friction to tighten loose joints.

erh_teo: I'm assuming the difference between Mr Topcoat and Mr Superclear is just the brand name? And that Topcoat is removeable with window cleaner. Other than that, they're both basically the same thing?
I think the white parts of the trooper armour isn't painted, it's the colour of the plastic it was cast in. I guess there's no worry about harming any paint. The only painting used are little details on certain parts of the armour - the stomach, the helmet...

One other question, if I tried Semi Gloss and it's not glossy enough, can I spray on a second or third layer to add to the glossiness? If this is possible, then I won't choose Gloss at all, just start with thin layers of Semi Gloss. Will that work?

it's diff btw Mr.Topcoat (blue) and Mr. Super Clear (gray).
u can't strip Mr.Super clear with windex, since it's a lacquer.

u may wanna try with gloss. if u find it's too glossy, spray another thin layer with semi-gloss.

Wah! Then I'll have to buy 2 cans.
My earlier suggestion won't work?
3 layers Semi Gloss = 1 layer Gloss? Cannot? Hehe

guise, for handpainting, do i really have to use those hobby paintbrushes? or i can use the normal paintbrushes? one more thing, for the bottle surfacer, can it be used for handpainting as well? or must it be aibrushed as well?

u can try mist coat wt gloss though..
no need buy 2 can 1 shot la.
just buy the gloss, if too gloss, then miss coat. if cannot, just get another can semi glos lor

yes. normal one oso can.
surfacer nope.. airbrush.

aww man, hehe i have yet to invest money to buy an airbrush , looks like i gotta depend on surfacer spraycans until i buy the set . one more silly question, how bout the super metallic bottle paint & those crome/metallic bottle paint, can they be handpainted too? very much appreciated >.<

i believe surfacer fr bottle can be handpainted...just dilute properly. and use the Surfacer 1200 or 1000. if not, go Hobby HQ n buy the enamel surfacer from Humbrol.

as for the gloss...buy semi-gloss...try spray few layers. it may come out to the gloss level u want. my earlier post of green zaku which is a bit glossy...is fr semi-gloss spray can. sprayed too many layers until become glossy liao...

This post has been edited by davelcm: Mar 17 2009, 02:57 PM

What does "mist coat" mean?
Hmm, one sifu says Gloss, one sifu says several layers of Semi Gloss. Who to trust? Hehe!

I looked at the earlier green zaku. Looks like a nice gloss. But I noticed that direct flash was used. If you look at the zaku under normal light (no camera flash), is it still so glossy?

just go with either one...
if u find the gloss is not up to ur liking, then get the other one type and spray another layer.
simple. no fuss.

ur liking and my liking of gloss my differ...

best is try it urself...



btw.. mist coat is u dun spray until whole thing wet..
just "mist" spray the surface only..