[armysgt1]

Hi guys I am wondering what the best way to dull my paint job a little would be. I used Rustoleum satin black and it is way too shiny. I really don't feel like spraying another coat of paint because I need to start reassembling everything to try and finish by Halloween. Maybe even throwing some type of powder on it might help. I don't have any fullers earth and don't know where to find it besides ebay which is cutting it pretty close at this point. Any suggestions? If someone has a close alternative to fullers earth that would also be great to weather it. Thanks guys.

[likesjellydonuts]

You can put dust on it. Even baby powder for that matter. You could also use some steel wool on it and dull it down. But being honest, these are all lazy solutions, repainting it is really the right way to go

[Randallace]

I would dust it with flat black spray paint

[PssdffJay]

Do you have photos? I used satin black for my paint and I think it looks great. Flat black is too black in my opinion for a pack nice seen both side by side with another pack next to mine and I prefer the satin.

[likesjellydonuts]

I'd also like to note, that I used rustoleum satin canyon black, and I thought it was too shinny at first, but after a while thought it had just the right sheen

[Demon Vice Commander]

I prefer the Rustoleum Painters' Touch Canyon Black Satin.

[armysgt1]

Damn that pack looks good! Yeah I can post a pic tomorrow but not sure how. I think I may have sprayed the layers on too thick now that i think about it.

[EJLambert]

You could try GENTLY rubbing steel wool over the paint.

[armysgt1]

I am going to try spraying a very light coat tomorrow and if that doesn't work I'll try steel wool. Thanks!

[PssdffJay]

Do the steel wool first. If that doesn't look good enough then maybe paint, but you can't remove paint if you don't like it.

[Demon Vice Commander]

I am going to try spraying a very light coat tomorrow...

You want avoid letting the spray paint pool on the pack, as that will create shiny spots. Just lightly spray it from a few feet away, and take your time with it. You can also spray primer on the inside of the shell - if your shell is fiberglass, this will prevent light from shining through on some of the spots that are tricky to hit with spray paint.

[Lowberg]

As everyone else said, try steel wool. Get #0000 grit, the finest. It may leave super tiny marks but it will definitely dull it down.
I've had the same issues with the Rustoleum satin, spray it too thick and it looks shiny.


Also, Demon Vice Commander! That bumper freakin looks so good. I wish I stuck with my gut and went with the volguus. The seam and stuff totally adds to the grittyness. Looks so legit!

[JoeLuna33]

I use the Rustoleum Satin black myself for my builds. It seems to vary can to can. I've painted 2 packs in the last 2 weeks with 2 different cans of paint. One came out with a perfect satin finish the other is too shiny for my taste. Once it gets some dust on it it will dull down. Also after the paint 100% cures, which takes quite a while, it will dull down as well. If your paint hasn't cured for about 2 weeks I'd be careful doing any sanding as I've found that steel wool or sand paper on a fresh finish end up caking off and ruining the finish.

[PssdffJay]

Good advice. ^

[armysgt1]

So upon further inspection it seems like the non-textured parts are acceptable in my eyes. Too bad that's only about 10 percent of the shell. My shell was molded with texture already from Karniverous Creations. Would spraying a very light coat of the same paint cut down on the some of the gloss? I'm also not opposed to spraying a VERY light coat of the painters touch satin black or even flat black if that might help. It's just all that texture catching the light is way too much for my liking. Here's the paint I used.

[OCP_Model-001]

Yeah your right, it's the heavy texture that's really bringing out the shine! Maybe a light coat of dullcote or something.. to take the edge off, that satin is indeed very shiny.

[bishopdonmiguel]

Try a light coat of clear matte...

Rustoleum Clear Matte

If it's still too shiny, you'll need to buff it with steel wool, wipe it down and apply a coat of another less shiny paint.

[JoeLuna33]

You can even spray the same Satin Black again but don't spray it directly on the shell. Let it fall on the shell as a mist and it will dull it down. It also won't take long to dry since it's just a mist.

[armysgt1]

Yeah I hit it with about 4 extremely light coats and it was perfect except for one spot about 3 inches on the side of the cyclotron. I hit that with a few light sprays of flat primer and it's perfect. I'll post pics when it dries. Looks awesome now! Thanks guys!

[robandliv]

Can't wait to see the pictures. I also think mine looks to shiny as well.

[CPU64]

I find that rubbed flat black yields the best results, so a light coat of flat could tone down that shine.

[armysgt1]

Alright guys, finally got time to post some pics. This is after the few very light coats of the same paint and some progress pics.

[PssdffJay]

Woah, I thought you were exaggerating on the shine. Looks much better now. Nice progress so far.

[Venkman's Swagger]

Nice job. You've taken the shine right down and its looking awesome

[armysgt1]

Thanks a lot guys! You've all been great help.

[Batfly]

Woo! Now that's how it's stopped to look! Good job.

[armysgt1]

Yeah I'm very extremely pleased with the pack so far. I'm sure a lot of others have sat back and said the same thing I did and that's "I can't believe I actually made that!" Now I know it didn't make it from scratch but still.... Maybe that will happen in the future. I still need to do a few things including adding the blue tubing on the ion arm. I tried heating the blue tubing I had yesterday with a heat gun to make it more pliable and it ended up bending and looking like crap so I threw it away and now I have no more blue tubing. The other thing is that I'm absolutely terrified to start weathering it. It just looks so beautiful to me! I actually put a nice coat of aluminum paint on before the black so it should be pretty easy to do. Anyways, thanks for the kind words guys. I will post more pics later on as I progress.

[Venkman's Swagger]

If you are happy with how it looks now why not let it weather naturally? You get the best of both worlds that way

[armysgt1]

Yeah that's very true.

[Batfly]

I think that's what I'm going to do with mine as well, natural weathering! Just more justification to wear it while shopping, family functions, dates, standing in line to vote, everywhere.