For Transport…
I need a way to transport my armor, so I’ll make an Armor Crate…
I was pressed for time to get this thing finished, so I didn’t have time to document all of what I did through photos. I started with a Sterilite foot locker that was big enough to hold my entire kit. The base color of the plastic was a silver-grey. I sanded all of the surfaces and then used black primer for plastic to try and create a good paint bond.
For the design of my crate, I wanted to make it look like it would be something that Scout Troopers would use in the field. And, I wanted it to look like something “dangerous” as well. So, for the base color I went with a coffee bean brown that’s similar to the color of the Speeder Bikes in Return of the Jedi.
For the “dangerous” part, I chose to use some red markings to make it look “scary”.
To really try and make my crate look like it belongs in the “Star Wars Universe” I needed to add greebles. I had a bunch of old electronics laying around that no longer worked, so I pulled the circuit boards out and used a bunch of small plastic pieces from some old printers along with some plumbing parts I picked up at Menards to build up a few small groups of greebles. I also picked up an old GE 1970’s clock radio that had a perfect “Star Wars style” key pad.
After painting all of the greebles, and masking off and painting the red markings I attached everything to the crate where I though it need to go. Then, I used vinyl stencils to spray some Empire logos, and my 501st ID number in grey.
Since paint has a VERY tough time sticking to the type of plastic these crates are made of, I did have some paint pull off here and there. But, since the base plastic is a silver-grey it just kind of looks like the “metal” has been exposed. To help make it look even more like real damage, I first applied a bit of silver paint pen into the areas. Then, I used some latex masking fluid to create some flecks, etc. When that was dry, I sprayed over the silver areas with flat black paint from quite a ways away. I was going for a laser bolt scoring effect. Once the black was dry, and I peeled off the masking fluid, it really looked nice…
The four photos above show how it looks at this point…