automaton Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 I have been reading a ton of old posts about the grey used for the snout and am currently trying to find a place in California that carries the Humbrol paints. If anyone knows of a place please let me know. I do however also have the following question. I managed to get a set of the 3M bolt covers. I also have a set of decals from MC. The grey on the decals is much darker than the grey of the bolts. Which of these greys should the snout match and if I'm matching the decals should I then also paint the bolts to match or leave them the lighter grey they already are? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TB-8719 Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 I have been reading a ton of old posts about the grey used for the snout and am currently trying to find a place in California that carries the Humbrol paints. If anyone knows of a place please let me know. I do however also have the following question. I managed to get a set of the 3M bolt covers. I also have a set of decals from MC. The grey on the decals is much darker than the grey of the bolts. Which of these greys should the snout match and if I'm matching the decals should I then also paint the bolts to match or leave them the lighter grey they already are? The snout should match the bolt cover colour, the decals are a tad darkerd gray. So your good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonewolf Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Hi Alex, the Humbrol No.5 grey , the commonly assumed colour for the Stormtrooper frown and indents is not necessarily correct for even the Stormtroopers. The Biker Scout noseplate and engine detail is most certainly not Humbrol, the Biker Scout helmets were made and assembled in America, the nose detail is not a gloss paint, judging by the original helmets on Star Wars helmets and BS.N gallery. Yes the 3M bolts are very light grey, the colour match is not necessary as the originals did not match either. Do not paint the bolts! I use a grey undercoat to paint the nose detail and snout piece, all the different greys will look fine. If you don't like the MC decal grey I can supply a set in a light grey. Unfortunately I don'y know if the MC grey is any lighter or darker than mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
automaton Posted August 22, 2011 Author Share Posted August 22, 2011 Hi Alex, the Humbrol No.5 grey , the commonly assumed colour for the Stormtrooper frown and indents is not necessarily correct for even the Stormtroopers. The Biker Scout noseplate and engine detail is most certainly not Humbrol, the Biker Scout helmets were made and assembled in America, the nose detail is not a gloss paint, judging by the original helmets on Star Wars helmets and BS.N gallery. Yes the 3M bolts are very light grey, the colour match is not necessary as the originals did not match either. Do not paint the bolts! I use a grey undercoat to paint the nose detail and snout piece, all the different greys will look fine. If you don't like the MC decal grey I can supply a set in a light grey. Unfortunately I don'y know if the MC grey is any lighter or darker than mine. Thanks John, I'm glad to hear that. I really didn't want to paint the bolts. I'm already going to have to chop off the back of the bolt to make it fit to the MLC helmet. I have a grey primer I was going to use on the snout but I sprayed it on a test piece of plastic and held it up to the bolt and it looked so dark. It was actually darker than the grey on the decals. I guess I'll just go look for a lighter flat grey paint but not necessarily as light as the bolts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonewolf Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Can you cut a hole in the lid the same diameter as the shank of the black nut diameter, this should allow the bolt to reach. I always cut the visor hole in the square shape of the rear of the grey bolt, keeps the bolt neat and gives the bolt a bit more length.Sorry if none of this makes any sense. The bolt thread is the same as UK numberplate bolts, you could use the plastic nut from these if it helps. I am not sure if they are the same as American license plate bolts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
automaton Posted August 22, 2011 Author Share Posted August 22, 2011 Can you cut a hole in the lid the same diameter as the shank of the black nut diameter, this should allow the bolt to reach. I always cut the visor hole in the square shape of the rear of the grey bolt, keeps the bolt neat and gives the bolt a bit more length.Sorry if none of this makes any sense. The bolt thread is the same as UK numberplate bolts, you could use the plastic nut from these if it helps. I am not sure if they are the same as American license plate bolts. I was just going to cut the bolt off of the disk head and sand it down to almost a flat disk and glue that to the bolt that came with the lid. I decided I'd rather alter the bolts than drill and cut into the lid if I didn't need to. What did you use to cut a square hole? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonewolf Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 You need a square hole bit, over here in Ireland they are beside the tins of tartan paint! Seriously now, I use a fine flat file and lots of patience! I hate to see the 3M speedglas bolts being cut, good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyber Scout Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Top job John we have some near the Sky hooks lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
automaton Posted August 28, 2011 Author Share Posted August 28, 2011 I'm ready to paint the snout piece grey. I did some test strips to see how the different greys look with the bolts and decals. Those are the MC decals and the 3M bolt between the two test strips. I'm gonna go with the grey on the right. I think the one on the left is too dark. I remember reading a post that I now can't find that was talking about warming the can of paint before spraying to get a nicer even spray. Does anyone have more info on this method? I'm concerned about spraying into the little crevices of the snout piece. I'm worried about either not getting full coverage or on the other end gumming it all up with paint. Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
automaton Posted August 30, 2011 Author Share Posted August 30, 2011 Painted it grey. Here is a pic. Gonna let it dry over night and then add the black. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimei Posted October 23, 2011 Share Posted October 23, 2011 so i can use the primer grey (krylon) for the nose plate and leave it? no need to paint it another grey? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
automaton Posted October 24, 2011 Author Share Posted October 24, 2011 so i can use the primer grey (krylon) for the nose plate and leave it? no need to paint it another grey? That's what I did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BananoPower22 Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 krylon? primer light gray or just plain gray? i'll go and see if there's a can in my local Home depot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
automaton Posted October 24, 2011 Author Share Posted October 24, 2011 krylon? primer light gray or just plain gray? i'll go and see if there's a can in my local Home depot I tested out a bunch of different primers. You can see some in the pictures above. I went with the spray primer for Testors model paints. The other ones I tried seemed too dark to me or had some weird green or yellow tints to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BananoPower22 Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 Do you have any idea if Trooperbay's decals match the Krylon gray you used? I think I might go with them just because it's the only decals I've found so far. I ruined my KS decals since I kept removing them and placing them over and over again. :/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
automaton Posted October 24, 2011 Author Share Posted October 24, 2011 Do you have any idea if Trooperbay's decals match the Krylon gray you used? I think I might go with them just because it's the only decals I've found so far. I ruined my KS decals since I kept removing them and placing them over and over again. :/ I didn't use Krylon. I went with this primer. http://www.testors.com/product/0/2937/_/Gray_Primer_MM_-_3_oz._Spray_Semi-Gloss I have no idea about the trooper bay decals. I have decals from MC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffin-X Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 I used Tester's gray for my snout and it matches the Trooperbay decals pretty well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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