La Chupacabra Posted December 23, 2015 Posted December 23, 2015 (edited) Original Trilogy Stormies (sw585 on Bricklink) are still quite expensive, so when I have seen news about 75134 set I was very pleased. How dissapointed I was when I saw "Battle damaged" Stormies on picture which leaked. I'm huge SW Fan but only OT so I have decided to wipe off "damages"... I bought Brasso and strong, waterproof masking tape and started my work: First try: Before: After: Before: After: Almost finished (comparison): Edited December 23, 2015 by Hinckley Quote
Junior Shark Posted December 23, 2015 Posted December 23, 2015 Ho....ly.... Cow. So nothing left? The Brasso doesn't warp or disfigure the plastic in any way? This looks awesome, but I can see some of those smaller marks that touch regular printing presenting a problem (like that one below the mouth). But is that gonna stop me from trying this? Heck no. Keep us informed! Quote
La Chupacabra Posted December 23, 2015 Author Posted December 23, 2015 (edited) No. Plastic is "as new". That "mark thing" under the mouth is original printing. I will wipe that thing also. Those pictures were a quick try to check Brasso and my skills ;) That wiped off head have a lot of missprints... Edited December 23, 2015 by La Chupacabra Quote
Crossbones Posted December 23, 2015 Posted December 23, 2015 Nice job salvaging those parts. The tip about using tape to protect the markings you want to keep is great. Quote
TheBear Posted December 23, 2015 Posted December 23, 2015 You can also do this with a simple pencil eraser. There was no doubt that those two bigger marks could be removed, but the real question is whether you can remove the one on the air vent (not a mouth). If that one won't come off cleanly then they won't be good replacements for the normal stormtrooper. Also the torso looks a bit more difficult. Quote
La Chupacabra Posted December 23, 2015 Author Posted December 23, 2015 It is possible - you must use masking tape with extreme precision. Quote
AFOLguy1970 Posted December 23, 2015 Posted December 23, 2015 (edited) Looks good! Keep us posted as you attempt the torso. It appears that masking tape is very beneficial. Edited December 23, 2015 by AFOLguy1970 Quote
Mr Greeble Posted December 23, 2015 Posted December 23, 2015 I would not be brave enough to try that. Quote
Darkdragon Posted December 23, 2015 Posted December 23, 2015 It is possible - you must use masking tape with extreme precision. The most precise method I've found is to use a toothpick dipped into brasso to remove very small or precise areas of printing. Quote
La Chupacabra Posted December 24, 2015 Author Posted December 24, 2015 (edited) My wife told me that And yes I was using it Edited December 24, 2015 by La Chupacabra Quote
La Chupacabra Posted December 24, 2015 Author Posted December 24, 2015 (edited) Small steps to OT: Before: After: Edited December 24, 2015 by La Chupacabra Quote
Slurpifier Posted December 24, 2015 Posted December 24, 2015 Dang this looks really good! I am almost definitely going to be trying this when they are released! Quote
makoy Posted December 24, 2015 Posted December 24, 2015 Kudos to your efforts. I have tried using this technique on some of my custom minifigs. It seems that the most challenging is the printing on air vents. Hope to see the complete make over with every battle damage removed soon. Quote
Junior Shark Posted December 24, 2015 Posted December 24, 2015 You're braver than I.... I don't know if I would try to remove some of those smaller marks. I'm still gonna try, though! Quote
Only Sinner Posted December 25, 2015 Posted December 25, 2015 Good effort, man. I applaud your courage to attempt this project. Fifteen BPs would give me thirty white Stormies, but I don't know if I want to go through all this trouble thirty times over. See what you have reduced us to, TLG? Why is it so hard to give us what we want? Your'e good at everything else, but for Pete's sake, would it kill you to include some AFOL input for market research? Maybe have some grownup LEGO fans in your focus groups once in a while? I understand ten-year-old boys make up your LSW target demographic, but ten-year-old boys don't have any money, either. Quote
La Chupacabra Posted December 25, 2015 Author Posted December 25, 2015 I need about one hour for minifigure maybe less but I don't have time now to do it with one single work. My one year son want to help me too much Quote
Cody Startale Posted December 26, 2015 Posted December 26, 2015 (edited) Great effort! I tried print removal before and I know how hard and time consuming this is. You are doing a great job here. Might I ask, though... if you are doing this for army building's sake and to add to your stormtrooper collection, why not simply buy set 75078 – Imperial Troop Transport instead? It's the same price and it comes with four regular stormtroopers which you don't need to remove the battle damages from. Is this set not available in Poland? Because here in Austria, there's plenty of them. /* Hooray, after years of lurking, it's my first post here today! Edited December 26, 2015 by Poe Dameron Quote
La Chupacabra Posted December 26, 2015 Author Posted December 26, 2015 (edited) Thank you for your kind words. Yes, Im doing it for army building purpose. Set 75078 don't exists for me I don't like Rebels, only OT counts for me Edited December 26, 2015 by La Chupacabra Quote
Cody Startale Posted December 26, 2015 Posted December 26, 2015 I can well understand and respect that, I am not too fond of the animated series myself But as far as I see, the minifigs seem to be identical. TBH, I didn't even realize that it is labeled as rebels until now So I am quite happy with the purchase More on-topic: after removing the print, did you notice any change in the plastic's surface at all? Because when I did print removal from torsos and faces, I ended up with the plastic looking less shiny and a little dull and I don't know how to work around that Quote
Darth Caedus Posted December 26, 2015 Posted December 26, 2015 (edited) I can well understand and respect that, I am not too fond of the animated series myself But as far as I see, the minifigs seem to be identical. TBH, I didn't even realize that it is labeled as rebels until now The Rebels Stormies are drastically different- they have an ugly exaggerated Frowny Face to reflect the goofy way they are portrayed in the animation. This makes them useless as army builders. The only "True Stormtrooper" comes in the Slave I, the ISD, and the 2015 Advent Calendar. Odds are January 2017 will bring us a Rogue One battlepack with at least one normal Stormie in there. But for folks who want to expand their army now, Brasso modification of the EA troopers is the best foot forward. Many have discussed and speculated on this modification process, but Mr. Chupacabra is the first to actually post the step-by-step Brasso cleanup procedure in detail. Edited December 26, 2015 by Darth Caedus Quote
Cody Startale Posted December 26, 2015 Posted December 26, 2015 I see! That's some interesting details right there... I guess I am not that much of a "purist" person in that regard. I don't reall care about the facial expressions... they are wearing helmets after all :D Quote
Nom Carver Posted December 26, 2015 Posted December 26, 2015 With your technique, you could also build up a wide variety of troopers with a lot of battle damage variants, that way you wouldn't need to remove all of the damage from each fig. Quote
Calanon Posted December 26, 2015 Posted December 26, 2015 (edited) I see! That's some interesting details right there... I guess I am not that much of a "purist" person in that regard. I don't reall care about the facial expressions... they are wearing helmets after all :D It's not their expression on the face, but rather the mouth vent on the helmet is exaggerated downwards significantly. Lego also chose to do this with TIE fighter helmets. The other Rebels minifigs are fine and don't have cartoony features, unlike TCW minifigs. Edited December 26, 2015 by Calanon Quote
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