Mixing plastics..

[bloodandtears]

hey guys.. so here's the story..

 

My TK is AP and I wanted some spare shoulder bells, so I picked some up from my local garrison however it appears they may be HIPS.

 

The new bells are notably larger than my AP bells however, more importantly, they are a brilliant white whereas my AP bells are a blue-ish white.

 

I'd be grateful if anyone here could please educate me on the whole mixing plastics. Does my situation ring true? Should I simply source some AP bells to guarantee a better colour match?

 

I'm unsettled on this and am unsure if I should simply sell the new bells and source a better match (if possible). They are a great size and shape but I feel the colour mismatch will always niggle me...

[matt black]

There will always be a colour issue when mixing different makes of armour. Some will match better than others but will never be a perfect match. I would have thought that the bells being a different material would not help either. Even by getting new AP bells there is no guarantee that the colour will be the same as each batch of plastic is a slightly different colour. Mt suggestion is to contact AP and see if sending him a small piece of your armour for him to try and match would work.

 

 

Rob.

[Dazauto[TK]]

Hi James, im afraid once you start to mix and match different armours you will find that this will happen, I had the exact same problem with my old FX armour trying to make it a bit more accurate I bought new shoulder bells and biceps that were a brilliant white against the blue-ish white of the FX armour.

Although this was a niggle in my mind I still used them as most people didnt really notice the difference.

The options you have here are :

 

1: Try and replace them with the original armour in your case AP

 

2: Take a piece of your armour to a spray shop and try and get a colour match paint spray and repaint your spare bells.

 

3: If the spare bells are for priviate troops (ie without the decal) keep them for that as most people will not notice the colour difference.

 

Hope this helps

 

Darren

[Sonnenschein]

What the 2 gents said

 

The best would be painting the parts. Original armor was painted at one point too

[JoeR]

Or you could weather the armour. I've mixed hips and ABS and with decent weathering you couldn't spot the difference.

[bloodandtears]

Or you could weather the armour. I've mixed hips and ABS and with decent weathering you couldn't spot the difference.

 

please expand..

[bigironvault]

Even plastics within each vendor can be different shades. To get a replacement sniper plate from AP, I had to send a strip of my current ABS to Mark to get a good match. It's not entirely as simple as asking for new bells from the same vendor. Takes a little of going back and forth.

[RogueTrooper[TK]]

Or you could weather the armour. I've mixed hips and ABS and with decent weathering you couldn't spot the difference.

please expand..

 

I think Joe is saying, is that you could do a TD (sandtrooper) with the mixed and matched colored toned armor. With weathering the armor it would mask it color tone differences. Some people will do this to there TK when they see the color tone turning yellow-ish. Or now making Death Troopers.

 

This way you do not lose a set of armor, but gain a TD. Then you can buy a new kit and start fresh with a new TK...... Just my 2 cents.

[troopermaster]

You don't have to be a Sandtrooper to have weathered armour.

 

You can apply weathering to Stormtrooper armour to give it a used look. That doesn't mean you have to blast it with sand and dirt, just rub some grey pastel dust into the plastic and then wipe most of it off to leave a weathered look. That should at least hide the different colour plastic a bit but I don't think completely. A few black marks on the armour will add to the weathered look.

Edited August 30, 2012 by troopermaster

[Sonnenschein]

You can also achieve subtle weathering by rubbing a newspaper against it,

[RogueTrooper[TK]]

You don't have to be a Sandtrooper to have weathered armour.

 

You can apply weathering to Stormtrooper armour to give it a used look. That doesn't mean you have to blast it with sand and dirt, just rub some grey pastel dust into the plastic and then wipe most of it off to leave a weathered look. That should at least hide the different colour plastic a bit but I don't think completely. A few black marks on the armour will add to the weathered look.

 

We are using the term "Battle Wear" for the TKs when aging their armor, so members do not take the wording "weathering" that is used on the MEPD as to mean the same effect as the Sandtroopers.

[troopermaster]

Oh. I see

[Elegance[TK]]

Hey guys

 

Im looking at mixing some PVC armour with an ABS bucket. Has anyone mixed these two types

of Plastic?

[Locitus[Admin]]

I've seen the reverse done. But as stated above, it's not really the plastic that matter but the colour, and that can be different even with the same plastic from the same supplier. It varies between batches from the factory too.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Have read that some paint all of their armor just to solve this problem, a lot of work and cross fingers there are not runs of flying bugs hanging around while painting