Palpatine1977 Posted April 29, 2014 Report Posted April 29, 2014 Ok so I am very pleased, seems my hours of research and searching has paid off! My boots finally came in today (shipped from the UK), these are a black pair of size 45 (US 10) Shires Woodstock Jodphur Boots. Now these are by no means easy to come by, unless you happen to have very small feet, I have found that sizes 45, 46, 47 are very hard to get, and if you do happen to find a pair.. getting them to ship them internationally lol. In my opinion, from scouring these boards and also my own Blu-ray captures, these are the most accurate stormtrooper boots you can find without actually having an original screen worn pair haha.. Anyways, this thread is to show the complete before, after, and everything in-between for making black boots look like the ones worn on screen. So without further ado here are the boots as I received them. Notice on the backs how they have the correct "v" pattern sewn into them.. This will not be seen when you are wearing them, but just a nice detail. And the soles have to be the least important part, but another detail I like is that they don't have any sort of ridiculous tread on them like a lot of the boots I came across did, and because of that the also make a lovely clicking sound when you are walking on a flat surface.. kinda like a stormtrooper xD So overall I am extremely pleased with these, and would definitely recommend them to anyone who wishes to get just a little bit more accurate than buying white leather boots (also there is a long wait list for those as I understand). These type of boots generally run about 25.00 - 40.00 GBP so they're not too bad Will be updating this thread with my progress, hopefully starting today! Quote
Palpatine1977 Posted April 30, 2014 Author Report Posted April 30, 2014 Okay so I had time today to strip the boots, here are the steps it took to take the finish off. Firstly, on a beautiful day like today, it's important to remember to stay hydrated Any fellow Canadians will know what this is lol. But seriously, it is very important to do this either in a very well ventilated room, or outside... I attempted to do this in my bathroom (because it can get messy) but that stuff is powerful haha, quickly moved it outside xD Here is the stripper I used, called Fiebing's Deglazer.. Picked it up on ebay for like 8 bucks, works great. Also make sure you wear gloves at all times, and keep in mind you will definitely not be using these rags again, so don't use your grandmothers embroidered kitchen towels, I just picked up a whole bunch from the dollar store, like 0.25 each lol. So with a ton of elbow grease, and a lot of deglazer, your towels should look something like... This. That's a sure way to tell you're doing something right haha.. I actually decided to go ahead and use the entire bottle of deglazer, seeing as I will never use it again. This is what the shoes came out like after vigorous scrubbing... It may be a bit difficult to see anything because of the lighting, but as you can clearly see in this comparison pic, the pretty sheen that was there is but a memory now haha (notice on the after picture, the shoe almost looks greyish) After using a lot of deglazer, and destroying six towels, I let them air dry in the sun for about an hour, and then brought them inside.. I used hot water mixed with household detergent and another clean towel to scrub the daylights out of them once again, this was to ensure that here is no residual leather stripper on them (for obvious reasons) and bonus; they now smell pretty haha. There was a little bit more dye that came off with this, as the water was a nasty grey colour afterwards... So then just rinsed any remaining soap off them and dry scrubbed them really good with a clean towel. Tomorrow I will begin to dye them, but I'm going to let them completely dry overnight at least before starting that. Quote
SorenM[TK] Posted April 30, 2014 Report Posted April 30, 2014 they look quite good and accurate..looking forward to seeing the result Quote
smitty451 Posted April 30, 2014 Report Posted April 30, 2014 Can't wait to see the rest of this...just got a pair of boots in, and will have to go through the same steps...Good luck to you! Quote
Palpatine1977 Posted April 30, 2014 Author Report Posted April 30, 2014 Haha you go first! xD I will begin painting today, nervous Quote
Palpatine1977 Posted May 1, 2014 Author Report Posted May 1, 2014 (edited) Alrighty, soooo.. first coat done! First, I used this green tape to cover the entire sole area of the shoes.. that was 45 mins of my life i'm never getting back lol.. but according to the cute little frog on the package it keeps paint out, and lines sharp O: we'll see. This is what the result was. The paint I am using is Angelus white leather paint, and I decided to go with sponge brushes because I feel you get less brush streaks and no chances of a stray bristle becoming a permanent part of your shoe lol (also, easier to get in all the nooks and crannies). I plan on doing 5 or 6 very light coats because if you just did it all at once, it would probably crack and peel like a mofo.... end results for tonight! Going to let these dry fully overnight an will be doing a second coat tomorrow Edited May 1, 2014 by Palpatine1977 Quote
Palpatine1977 Posted May 2, 2014 Author Report Posted May 2, 2014 Second coat done! You can really see a difference on the shoe that has two coats This stuff is weird, goes on and seems to dry extremely quickly and almost has a chalky appearance to it.. but it is very nice stuff to work with, definitely recommend it. Quote
Grimez Posted May 4, 2014 Report Posted May 4, 2014 You should have used half of the deglazer and sent the rest to me! I'm super broke right now and I will take spares! Quote
usaeatt2 Posted May 4, 2014 Report Posted May 4, 2014 Great work, Brandon. If TK boots doesn't come up with something soon, I may be following your lead. I'm curious to see how the frog tape works - I've seen that stuff several times, but I'm skeptical. Has anyone ever used the vinyl dye in spray cans? Seems like it would be a heck of a lot easier than brushes. I've dyed many car seats and that stuff holds up great. In fact, I dyed the whole interior of a 1968 Cadillac white. "White an impolite person white" is what I called it. I'd post a picture of the completed interior (it's like a living room), but I don't want to detract from your thread with an off-topic picture. 1 Quote
I'm Batman[501st] Posted May 4, 2014 Report Posted May 4, 2014 Yeah, I've done the whole car interior thing aswell. Held up real good. I'm just about to buy my boots and dye/paint them but the store owner said DON'T use the spray USE the liquid. So dunno..... You should be our guinea pig Aaron! Quote
Palpatine1977 Posted May 4, 2014 Author Report Posted May 4, 2014 Hmmmm, well my friend did say to me "why the hell didn't you just use spray paint" lol.. I've thought about it but I couldn't see it holding up as well, but that's of course just speculation I've never tried lol. And by all means you should post that pic BTW I did put on the third coat today, but didn't have time to take pics, will post some after Spider-Man tonight Quote
usaeatt2 Posted May 4, 2014 Report Posted May 4, 2014 DON'T use spray paint - it will crack. I'm talking about vinyl spray dye or SEM flexible Color Coat. I've done 3 whole car interiors and to my knowledge, none of it has ever cracked or lifted. The driver's front seat usually takes the most abuse and the material flexes A LOT. As long as you get the final coating smooth, it really doesn't matter. I suppose less chance of brush marks is the only advantage. The Cadillac interior I did was TRASHED. Car was outside for years with a ripped convertible top. Seats were YELLOW and moldy. My friend was on a serious budget, so I replaced all the nasty foam, then put the original covers back on and used white vinyl spray dye...like 6 cans. Here's the front seat before installation (it's seriously like a small couch): Quote
Palpatine1977 Posted May 4, 2014 Author Report Posted May 4, 2014 You should have used half of the deglazer and sent the rest to me! I'm super broke right now and I will take spares! Haha, sorry about that! xD Quote
Palpatine1977 Posted May 4, 2014 Author Report Posted May 4, 2014 DON'T use spray paint - it will crack. I'm talking about vinyl spray dye or SEM flexible Color Coat. I've done 3 whole car interiors and to my knowledge, none of it has ever cracked or lifted. The driver's front seat usually takes the most abuse and the material flexes A LOT. As long as you get the final coating smooth, it really doesn't matter. I suppose less chance of brush marks is the only advantage. The Cadillac interior I did was TRASHED. Car was outside for years with a ripped convertible top. Seats were YELLOW and moldy. My friend was on a serious budget, so I replaced all the nasty foam, then put the original covers back on and used white vinyl spray dye...like 6 cans. Here's the front seat before installation (it's seriously like a small couch): Wow, very nice job thanks for sharing And for the heads up for anyone who wants to go that route! Quote
Palpatine1977 Posted May 4, 2014 Author Report Posted May 4, 2014 Third coat done! Starting to actually look white now haha, this really tests my patience (or lack thereof ). But I am not going to give in haha, at least three more light coats! And then, possibly some sort of sealer or something of the sort to add some protection... any suggestions regarding that would be much appreciated Quote
usaeatt2 Posted May 4, 2014 Report Posted May 4, 2014 Looking incredibly good! Heck, no point in spraying if the next few coats look this smooth! What are you planning to do on the black elastic sides? Quote
Palpatine1977 Posted May 4, 2014 Author Report Posted May 4, 2014 Thank you!! I have some white fabric paint that I got locally for those. Quote
Palpatine1977 Posted May 4, 2014 Author Report Posted May 4, 2014 Which fabric paint are you going to use? Oh it's called Tulip white fabric paint lol, just from a local craft store.. supposed to be permanent. Quote
Grimez Posted May 5, 2014 Report Posted May 5, 2014 Was it this http://www.amazon.com/Tulip-Dimensional-Fabric-Paint-Slick/dp/B00114M278/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399256626&sr=8-1&keywords=white+fabric+paint or http://www.amazon.com/Tulip-Fabric-Paint-Matte-Glacier/dp/B00EFIRN44/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1399256626&sr=8-2&keywords=white+fabric+paint ? Quote
Palpatine1977 Posted May 5, 2014 Author Report Posted May 5, 2014 Was it this http://www.amazon.com/Tulip-Dimensional-Fabric-Paint-Slick/dp/B00114M278/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399256626&sr=8-1&keywords=white+fabric+paint or http://www.amazon.com/Tulip-Fabric-Paint-Matte-Glacier/dp/B00EFIRN44/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1399256626&sr=8-2&keywords=white+fabric+paint ? First one Quote
Palpatine1977 Posted May 5, 2014 Author Report Posted May 5, 2014 Coat number 4! Lookin' spiffy Planning to do AT LEAST two more coats... we'll see how it goes Quote
Frank4vt[TK] Posted May 5, 2014 Report Posted May 5, 2014 Hey Brandon! Awesome job, they look great!!! I keep getting the same seemingly generated email from TK boots when I inquire about a timeframe for boots, so I might be going this route as well. Most of the UK sites I've looked on say they won't ship internationally, any advice? I'm gonna be a barefoot trooper soon!! Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.