Trying to find a professional painter in the bay area

[Biggiecheese63]

Hi I’ve recently bought this ROTK armor from jimmiroquai and I’m trying to look for someone to professionally paint my armor and since it’s made out of fiberglass it’s going to be a pain for me to do it myself. I have no experience in painting and building armor so I’m trying to pay some someone to do it so I won’t mess it up

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Many just use spray cans to paint, you can get a nice finish this way. I would recommend reaching out to some automotive spray painters, some have had luck in the past, no real difference to painting a car  

 

You could also reach out to your local garrison, you can find a list of units here https://www.501st.com/members/displayUnits.php

[BigJasoni[TK]]

17 hours ago, Biggiecheese63 said:

I have no experience in painting and building armor so I’m trying to pay some someone to do it so I won’t mess it up

Sebastian,
Having your armor painted professionally is a great option, but there's pros and cons you need to consider. First, Jim's fiberglass is incredibly easy to finish and paint. The pulls do have their flaws, but it's nothing extraordinary and stuff that's common to fiberglass, i.e. pinholes. Honestly, all it takes to prepare an excellent surface is a small tube of glaze and spot putty and a can of sandable primer. Trust me, trimming the armor is way more difficult than painting this kit.

Next, if you get the kit painted professionally, they will use a 2k (2 component) paint. This is great because the paint has a hardened finish and isn't prone to damaging the same as 1k rattle can. The paint job always looks superior and holds up incredibly well to the bumping and banging we're all prone to. Think about how durable a car finish is. The problem is repairing the paint when it does get damaged. Think about the touch up kits they sell at Autozone; the paint might be the same color, but it never has the same finish and touch ups stick out. Fixing professional paint jobs typically takes a professional painter.
Now, I say this knowing that I am planning on painting my own armor with 2k paint. Several of us have done this and I think most people are pleased with the results. However there's another option that provides you the ease of rattle can painting with the durability of a 2k finish and that's simply using a 2K clear.

You can actually paint your armor with Rustoleum, Dupli Color etc. then grab a can of Spray Max or Eastwood 2k clear and give it a phenomenal finish. Here's a great video showing how this is done. This video has some great prep instructions, but if you don't want to watch that, just fast forward to 8:36. Also, you can ignore the part where he tests the Dupli-Color clear, the 2K Clear part starts at 15:42. 

 

Justin @TheRascalKing painted his armor similarly using Rustoleum 2X paint and Spray Max 2k clear. The Spray Max clear is incredible and while I try not to "endorse" any specific product, it costs about $10 per can less than the Eastwood and I can't tell the difference. This reminds me of my final point about paint; professional jobs have professional prices. You might be able to talk a small paint shop into doing this for you "on the cheap," but it'll likely still cost you more than doing the work yourself. Yes, they'll typically do a better job than what we can do in our garage, but not always.

Professional paint jobs are great and look incredible, but a lot of this is simply the product they're using and those products are now being made available to the general public in rattle can form. If I could, every one of my armor kits would be painted this way, but, I've had to fix armor on the fly way too many times to justify the cost. Ultimately I think you'd be happy either way.

[Biggiecheese63]

Thank you so much for your help!