Making It Look Battle-Worn…
With the initial smoothing done, it’s time to add the physical damage…
I printed out the painting templates to use as a placement guide.
Comparing the templates and actual screen shots I marked the damaged area with a pencil.
I then used my soldering iron to heat up the plastic to create the dents.
After more studying of the screen shots, I noticed the dents aren’t just smooth dents, like you see on most of the vac-formed armor. So, I decided to add a bit more detail to the dents to try and make it a bit more screen accurate.
The result:
I then used an Exacto knife and some medium grit sandpaper to smooth it all out:
The damage now has a bit of “character” added to it.