Help needed

styx · **on:** May 26, 2013, 09:34:05 PM

I've got an Farmer that has gotten a lot of love and only thing that I really want to change on it is to add a bit of character to the plain silver Alox.
What ways are there to color Alox scales more permanently?

enki_ck · **Reply #1 on:** May 26, 2013, 09:54:32 PM

Yes, there is, hard anodizing them or cerakoting (offers a wider choice of colors), but for both of those you'd need to disassemble the SAK.

I can't remember any method that doesn't require disassembly.

What color would you like?

styx · **Reply #2 on:** May 26, 2013, 10:28:43 PM

Considering my neck is red and I hail from the hills, I was thinking some version of mossy oak.

Those are interesting techniques. gotta see which I can use

kirk13 · **Reply #3 on:** May 27, 2013, 12:11:37 AM

Won't help with mossy oak,but I've got an experiment running for a cheap effect....

papercut · **Reply #4 on:** May 27, 2013, 02:27:56 PM

How would spray paint work?

Serious question actually.

styx · **Reply #5 on:** May 27, 2013, 02:43:55 PM

Well lets start simple so kirk tell us the experiment

kirk13 · **Reply #6 on:** May 27, 2013, 03:17:38 PM

I remember somebody using a Sharpie to add some colour...what I've done is layer in some Citadel Minitures ink...let it dry,then removed the top layer...pix in a minute

kirk13 · **Reply #7 on:** May 27, 2013, 03:22:38 PM

I'll pop it into my pocket for a few days and see how it wares

styx · **Reply #8 on:** May 27, 2013, 03:46:50 PM

Looks good. Hopefully it stays on

Syph007 · **Reply #9 on:** May 27, 2013, 03:58:56 PM

If you want to try painting aluminum your best bet for ashesion is a self etching primer. Its slightly acidic I belive and eats into the metal a bit. Nirmal paint I think would flake off eventually.

papercut · **Reply #10 on:** May 28, 2013, 04:48:10 AM

Interesting technique with the miniatures paint. I need to pick some up anyhow with the Bones coming soon.

papercut · **Reply #11 on:** May 28, 2013, 05:03:48 AM

What would happen if you threw an entire sak into the anodizing process? Would it affect the steel and brass? Would the unexposed areas of aluminum be affected? It could be cool to recolor damaged color; although the shade would be different (might be cool). Can you anodize over anodize? Would it only stick to exposed areas?

Two tone Bluejean !

Syph007 · **Reply #12 on:** May 28, 2013, 05:12:59 AM

Quote from: papercut on May 28, 2013, 05:03:48 AM

What would happen if you threw an entire sak into the anodizing process? Would it affect the steel and brass? Would the unexposed areas of aluminum be affected? It could be cool to recolor damaged color; although the shade would be different (might be cool). Can you anodize over anodize? Would it only stick to exposed areas?

Two tone Bluejean !

It would only anodize where the aluminum was bare. It wouldn't be a good idea to put a whole SAK in, since the medium is sulfuric acid.. the liners and steel wouldn't look nice after that.

papercut · **Reply #13 on:** May 28, 2013, 07:59:48 AM

That is a cool idea though- a blue jeansed up red pionner with yellow or blue accents (on the battle damaged areas). It effect it would have x color highlights with red relief!

Of course one would need to take the sak apart to do this, making a more than basic job.

crackout · **Reply #14 on:** May 28, 2013, 08:47:38 AM

Quote from: Syph007 on May 28, 2013, 05:12:59 AM

the liners and steel wouldn't look nice after that.

Aside from that I think it will be hard to find a shop that's willing to throw non-aluminum parts in their baths.

papercut · **Reply #15 on:** May 29, 2013, 04:32:38 PM

Following Kirk's idea, I have done the following (in the middle between PTR mods):

Instead of using ink I used another material from the model community- acrylic floor wax mixed with ultramarine acrylic paint (both crappy but what I had on hand). The cool thing about acrylic floor wax is that it is very tough, transparent, and has a compound that breaks surface tension (so it goes in grooves). A higher intensity pigment like Phtalo Blue or Prussian Blue would have been a bit more vibrant too. I could see some cool stuff being done with higher intensity colors like Quinacridones or Pyrolles or other organic pigments.

Apparently the best floor wax for this purpose is Futura (Now called Pledge with Futura), it is not available here, so I used the best wax I fould find locally. The "paint" gives the scales a slightly different feel, once it cures 100% percent tomorrow I'll let you know how it feels. Then we'll see how it holds up ye olde pocket!

Syph007 · **Reply #16 on:** May 29, 2013, 06:22:49 PM

That look alright doenst it now. Should stay there pretty well since its in the grooves too.

styx · **Reply #17 on:** May 29, 2013, 08:28:25 PM

The more we experiment the more good answers we'll have. I wonder how a light peroxide rubbing would work before trying to apply any kind of coloring

papercut · **Reply #18 on:** May 30, 2013, 07:30:41 AM

Ok, since this idea is in concept testing phase, I must report that the acrylic floor wax dried very well, and it gave the scale a bit more "grip" which was nice. Unfortunately, the materials on hand are junk, so it did not dry as hard as I wanted. As you can see in the pics, running a thumbnail through the grooves firmly pulled up the material.

I think the correct acrylic wax (Pledge with Futura Shine) dies glossier and harder. Futura is clear in the bottle and dries to a high gloss, the stuff I have on hand is milky and dries to a matte finish, plus the acrylics I have are Korean junk. Futura plus good acrylics may work better.

I think the "makeover" is kinda cool either way, it is a change of pace that is fun to remove (in an OCD kind of way). One week blue the next red :p

I also have some oil based special art materials that I will try next. In the meantime, anyone in the First World have any Futura and Acrylics?

papercut · **Reply #19 on:** May 30, 2013, 09:36:03 AM

Acutually, as the surface treament comes off, it gets this cool 8 bit pixelation thing going on.

Cheer

papercut · **Reply #20 on:** June 11, 2013, 04:29:57 PM

Sneak peak on a new process I am working on:

New

Before

After

papercut · **Reply #21 on:** September 02, 2013, 03:44:37 AM

After trying different materials- acrylic floor wax (not strong enough) and special grade linseed oil (way too long to dry and after a while seems unsanitary), I have now found that glossy nail polish works well as a coating to get the color "blue jeans look." I have only done a messy proof of concept, but it seems to be very durable and fast drying. The surface areas wear off but the recesses remain. One thing I have done to improve mechanical adhesion is to lightly score the alox grooves with a hobby knife.

Give it a shot! It even comes with its own brush!

styx · **Reply #22 on:** September 02, 2013, 11:54:56 AM

those are some really nice results

papercut · **Reply #23 on:** September 04, 2013, 04:12:27 AM

I want to first state that this is still a rough proof of concept. The initial surfaces I painted were the checkered areas and after a week of carry and scuffing I got the blue jeans look. The I roughly painted the sides and still not sure how it will work out, but seems ok. It might be that the blue jeans looks is the optimal final result. Multiple layers might also be worth exploring.

A few places were touched up, but i expect the wear to normalize.

papercut · **Reply #24 on:** September 04, 2013, 07:14:04 AM

I might have to get some opaque orange nail polish and paint up my silver farmer. That would be pretty sweet!

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