BELDAR, A Build Thread

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It’s finally nice enough to get busy with painting Beldar. The fins looked pretty good after the accidental painting they got a while back. During the prime sessions, I was going for a final and grabbed the Winter Gray by accident. Well, it looked like it might be an OK mistake on the undetermined color scheme, so I gave it a second coat of gray. A few weeks passed and I got around to cutting the vinyl I designed and applied those a couple days ago.

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This weekend made for some great painting if I dodged the winds a bit and got a few more rockets finished. Beldar’s color had to be mixed and matched so I grabbed the leftover yellow, white and cranberry red I had in the leftover bin of auto paints and went at it. I got reasonably close to the face print I have and there will have to be a little blending after I get the face applied. Once it was somewhat dry enough, I peeled back some of the mask and applied the black to the back. I know that pic doesn’t show you much but nonetheless, the progress is in motion. Once that dries, I’ll apply the face and start doing the touch-ups with the remaining “flesh” color and airbrush the back of his coat in.

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After the paper masking came off, you can see where I left an unpainted surface for the spray adhesive to adhere. I taped one side of the print to the rocket to insure the alignment, turned it on it side and shielded everything that didn’t need to be sprayed. I figured on doing ½ at a time and once I got the first side applied, I took off the tape and finished spraying and applied the other side. All the while, working the print flat and using a squeegee to level out the entire print.

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Small cuts just above Beldar’s eyebrows were needed as it starts to curve up the cone there. That worked out pretty good. And of course, as I predicted, there are border areas that aren’t stuck very well that will have to be addressed.

In the profile shot, I’ll have to mask off the print and airbrush the back of his coat in, starting just above the ear. I’ll prolly mask off the edge of the coat line to insure an even curve. It’s pretty obvious at this point that my color matching on the flesh colors is off, but it’s kinda hard when the paint dries darker than you mixed it. It’s no biggie tho. I can blend it all in since I still have some of the flesh blend to play with. I’ll have to be prompt tho. That stuff is already setting up even though it’s sealed in a jar.

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Beldar’s face looks a bit skewed here and that’s almost totally unavoidable. Unless you so some serious math or skew & print, skew & print till the ink runs dry. It’s still a 2D picture wrapped around a 3D object and I’ve never had any luck making that work right.

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That looks hilarious. The flesh-toned cone really came out good.

I printed that face shot 6-7 times before I got it right. Most of them were too small or just plain bad looking. I wish I could have found a hi res photo. This would have looked much better. I did doctor it up in Corel Photo best I could. And I'm reasonably happy with the flesh tone. Be easy to touch up and blend.
 
What kind of clear coat can you use over the face? Something like an artist fixative would probably be best. You may want to keep those print failures to test your clear coat options.
 
What kind of clear coat can you use over the face? Something like an artist fixative would probably be best. You may want to keep those print failures to test your clear coat options.

I used clear Rusto 2X on the face right after I printed it. That's what I use on any print. I plan to give the entire head a couple coats once I am finished with it. 2X works with the auto paint as well.
 
The only thing left now is some clear coat. That happens tomorrow. I can safely say, Beldar will fly next weekend. That is providing Mother Nature cooperates. It's been a long dragged out build. It was somewhat complicated but the weather also played a hand in setting me back. It oughta get a good laugh or 10. Oh....Final weight on this "Friend From France" 2 pounds & 1 oz.

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Spectacular result. Great job with the paint!

Thanks. Looking at it, I really wish I could have lightened up the face shot. But when I tried that, it washed everything out. Making the head skin darker would have been an option, but then he might look more like he was from Mexico than France....LMAO.
 
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