Becoming Captain America: Part 3 Finishing!

Part 1: Stripping
Part 2: Painting

OK, so here we are. You've got a great shield, its got some awesome colors down, and it looks super sweet right? How could you possibly make it better? Clear coat it. Why? because it makes the finish look even better, it protects it and it feels like a new car when you're done. Lets go!


So the first thing you should do is pull up that last little bit of tape you've left down. You left it down right? right?! good. Hopefully, it looks like this. It might not, and thats ok. I mean you've probably got to start over, but the painting part is the easiest bit to do. One thing I've learned over the years is don't skimp and by cheap tape.  I don't buy the fancy frog tape, but I do at least buy the 3M painters tape, the generic stuff just doesn't stick as well and that will cause you problems with stuff seeping under the edges. Now if you rushed and didn't let the red paint dry long enough you may have marks in your red paint from where you taped over to do the blue. You can take the chance and move on, sometimes those work out once the clear coat is over it, but there's no promise so you're taking a bit of a chance.

When it comes to clear coat you can use just about anything. Some people will use lacquer, some take it to an autobody shop and pay them to spray it like a car and finish it off for them. I like doing the work myself. My personal favorite clear is Rustoleum 2X clear. No real reason other than I had it and it works well. Just like before, read the directions on the can, but usually I'll spray down about 10 coats about 10 minutes apart from each other. That leaves just enough time for the previous coat to get dry to the touch. You can also determine the overall sheen a bit at this stage. LOTS of layers mean there's more to sand through which means a glossier finish at the end. A few layers means there's less to sand through which means a slightly more satin finish at the end. Both are nice, its just personal preference.

THE BIGGEST TIP that I can give for this section is take your time and don't go too heavy. If you work to fast or hover and spray too much clear on and area it will drip and run causing a nasty sag that you can't do anything about till it dries. They are best avoided because it means more work. Here's one now!

Once you've done a bunch you have to play the waiting game and let that all cure and cook through. I won't lie, I don't wait a week on this process either, I usually move on in a day or two because I get momentum and (knock on wood) so far it hasn't bitten me. Some people would be happy to stop at this point. It looks great, its glossy its nice, BUT 90% of the time you'll have whats called orange peel from the way the spray lands, it'll be a texture just like orange skin, still smooth, but not perfect. If you make this picture large you can see it in the reflections where the lights are. If you're ok with it, move on to step 5 now.

Here's where things get fun. Once things have cooked through, take some wet sandpaper. Some start at a rougher grit and work up, 1000 and then 2000. I usually do just one grit, it works just fine. I keep a spray bottle of water around. Wet down the paper and the shield, rewetting as needed to keep things moving and work your way around the shield. With the water you can feel how smooth the surface is and you can tell if you need to hit an area more to even it out. IF you got to heavy and had sags during the clear coat, this is where you can sand them down and even them out. When you finish, don't be discouraged. I know the first time I did it I immediately regretted it because I thought I had ruined everything. I'll leave off today with the sad state of things that you'll have after wet sanding because step 5 is what I call the "restoring the finish" stage where you use products and elbow grease and it pays off.

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Becoming Captain America Part 1

Part 2: Painting
Part 3: Finishing
Part 4: The Back
Here we go the tutorial you've all been waiting for.  Since this is a budget build, it all starts with a little thing you might know from your childhood. A metal saucer sled, that is IF you can find one. These have been increasingly hard to get a hold of because they're great metal sleds and there's a growing number of people who use them for cap shields. The company pretty much sells out each year and I think(I don't know for sure) They are having a tough time keeping up with the strange new demand.

So step one is to take those holes that the rope handles are going through and connect them to the opposite corner. I use a sharpie since you're going to strip the paint anyway. This gives you an X that marks the center. Drill a hole there and then slather on paint stripper. I get the most caustic nasty stuff I can and usually let it sit on there over night, but it'll start working in about 15 minutes.

I won't lie, scraping it off is probably the worst part of this project and technically you need to do it to the front AND the back.  This is some heavy duty paint so you probably won't get it all over. Here's what I usually end up with.

Now this picture is pretty important because it shows 3 things. The left over red. Some of the are I've cleaned up, and the rust. Now if you're lucky there won't be any rust when you strip the paint, BUT because these saucers are steel they are exceptionally prone to flash rusting. I took too long stripping this but it showed up in about a day or two. If you don't get all the paint off and the sled cleaned up you may have to clean it again to remove the rust.

As you can see here. I used a wire wheel in a corded drill to remove the rest of the paint and the rust. It cleans and polishes as it goes.  Once I've got the whole thing cleaned up I tape the whole thing. I THINK this keeps it from rusting and once you hit this stage you've got a lot more time to work and can stop rushing. I don't know for sure if it prevents rust but it keeps moisture and air away from the surface and I haven't had the metal rust while taped yet so... *knock on wood*

This example is missing the center hole (I forgot it). I have a ruler with holes drilled to lay out the rings and I use that next with some rough sand paper. I took steel wool and polished things up so it wasn't so wire brushy and then I used the ruler as a propeller. It spins around the saucer and you can gouge in the circular lines that are oh so important later once the paint goes on.

Those spun, ground in lines are what make this budget build look similar to the spun aluminum look the movie shields have. I forgot to take a few pictures in this process but have another shield coming up so I'll go back and fill in with those pictures later. One other thing that I find important is I spray the back of the shield with a clear coat at this point because I'm leaving it bare and that keeps it from rusting. It gets the same treatment as the front to get that spun aluminum look.

I usually call this day one, or day one and two if I'm being lazy. At the end of this step you should end up with this. Or at least taped. The rings are pretty quick to draw if you've got your cheat ruler so they can wait until step 2.

If you're reading these write ups and don't know how I got from one point to another, let me know! leave a comment and let me clarify because I get wrapped up in the process and know that sometimes I forget pieces and would love for these to be super clear at the end. Feel free to share and let your friends see and at the end show off the skills you've picked up and make your own!

Check back next week for Step 2 Painting!

As always, follow The Wooden Forge on Facebook to get day to day updates and check out the Etsy shop for new products!

Captain America Redux

Well, its been far to long since I've updated this and a lot has changed in my world. Since my last post my etsy store transformed into "The Wooden Forge" if you know me, you're well aware of this. But what that means is I'm also more active not only selling things, but making things as well. It has become this sort of nerd haven for me to indulge my need to work with my hands while doing it all with a nerd flair. Its my outlet, my freedom, my "thing" that pushes me to keep trying and learning about more things.

About a year ago I finally tackled what I've decided is THE project for me (at least for now). A Captain America shield, just like in the original Avengers. It has changed some now as the movies have progressed but I still love this original design. SO what that means is I'll be taking my posts on the Facebook page (www.facebook.com/TheWoodenForge) and expanding  the process into a real tutorial so all of you adventurous types can try to make one for yourself.

For now, a teaser of some of the in process shots to tide you over till later. You can see some more at the Facebook page, or my Etsy shop where I have shots of a finished shield.
www.etsy.com/shop/thewoodenforge