Endoskull Roll Call...

[FelMar]

That's how you get it done Did you use Mother's chrome wheel polish or some other brand? I have Flitz...does the same thing.

Great tips, and thank you for the heads up on the base plate and "On/Off" markings.

Meguiars
yea..they all do the same and leave brilliant results!

You make a good point about covering up the letters on the name plate with tape- its tedious but should work

 

[swo77]

Thanks again for the info Fel. Me and my brother are gonna do some serious thinking about this one.

 

[tylerdurden]

That being the case, the only way to effectively preserve the markings is to carefully mask them with low-tack tape (3M painters or similar) and very carefully polish around the writing and border. Problem is the small writing beneath the T2 as it is too hard to mask each letter. You would be better off applying a carefully measured block mask to the small lettering, but you will have dulled/spattered areas under the mask when done polishing around it. Same idea for the "ON/OFF". That might look worse than the actual combat paint spatter. I think leaving the plate alone is a good idea, just apply a low tack mask over the entire plate while polishing and remove when done or just be very careful not to get any cleaning solvent on the plate itself. You also run the risk of having even low-tack tape pulling up the lettering or getting polish remover under the masked areas which will also dissolve the paint.

Final option is to clean the entire plate off and paint your own custom logo or apply a custom logo decal, but that's your call. You have already "ruined" the collector value by stripping the black paint off, so why not personalize it, right?

Mike

Thanks for the tip, swo77/mike!

the affected areas are at the words "T2" and "JUDGMENT". i think T2 will be fairly easy to mask, but not JUDGEMENT. the space betwen letters is too tiny. sigh.


talkin bout customizing, i had this crazy idea about touching up the teeth. it kinda bugs me that the teeth are "fused" together at certain points. might wanna darken those fused areas so they look more like gaps, or at least to create the illusion of separation between each tooth.

 

[swo77]

its tedious but should work

I think your idea of leaving the paint "combat" spattered on the nameplate is the best option, but to each his own. Gives it a bit of a gritty combat look and yes, the alternatives range from tedious to potentially disastrous.

A custom vinyl decal nameplate wouldn't look bad, though (either as standalone lettering or as a mask for your own paint color). I've seen smaller vinyl decal lettering on car windows, it just costs more $$$ to get what you want. The plus side? You could apply the vinyl lettering over the chrome, paint the base plate and remove the vinyl to get chrome lettering on a black (or whatever color) background. You would just need to find some way to scuff the chrome to be painted or the paint won't stick as well as it should.

Lots of options.

 

[FelMar]

I think your idea of leaving the paint "combat" spattered on the nameplate is the best option, but to each his own. Gives it a bit of a gritty combat look and yes, the alternatives range from tedious to potentially disastrous.

A custom vinyl decal nameplate wouldn't look bad, though (either as standalone lettering or as a mask for your own paint color). I've seen smaller vinyl decal lettering on car windows, it just costs more $$$ to get what you want. The plus side? You could apply the vinyl lettering over the chrome, paint the base plate and remove the vinyl to get chrome lettering on a black (or whatever color) background. You would just need to find some way to scuff the chrome to be painted or the paint won't stick as well as it should.

Lots of options.

lots of options indeed !
I guess it all depends on what you're looking for, how much extra time you want to spend on it and amount of money for that matter.

talkin bout customizing, i had this crazy idea about touching up the teeth. it kinda bugs me that the teeth are "fused" together at certain points. might wanna darken those fused areas so they look more like gaps, or at least to create the illusion of separation between each tooth.

speaking of the teeth...I noticed the original clean endo has the best teeth...at least the one I have...they don't look as fused!

 

[swo77]

talkin bout customizing, i had this crazy idea about touching up the teeth. it kinda bugs me that the teeth are "fused" together at certain points. might wanna darken those fused areas so they look more like gaps, or at least to create the illusion of separation between each tooth.

A thinned black (or dark brown/gray) acrylic wash carefully applied with a fine brush would work well.

 

[tylerdurden]

speaking of the teeth...I noticed the original clean endo has the best teeth...at least the one I have...they don't look as fused!

dammit! one more reason to hv gotten the clean version. but having said that, i am pretty happy with my combat version. he just needs a polish and a visit to the dentist.

A thinned black (or dark brown/gray) acrylic wash carefully applied with a fine brush would work well.

yeah, had that in mind too. thanks dude! i'm also toying around with the idea of adding some red at the "gum" area, to give it a more gritty, gory feel. not too much of course, just a touch here and there. i know it's not screen accurate, but i can consider mine an endo that just had his flesh ripped off, and some organic residue remains....

 

[laudel7]

You guys are all very brave doing this stuff . I would be too afraid of damaging mine

 

[Jaycepticon]

I can't wait to start on it this weekend.

 

[YaKoStar]

Lol, the combat damaged actually looks better

 

[Warrior Alien]

Lol, the combat damaged actually looks better

I agree!!! Looks waaaay chromer!

I'm thinking that rainbow effect on the "real" clean version is due to a coating of clear that was applied to it by Sideshow. I bet if you took a nail polish pad to an original clean one (like anyone would actually do that...) you would prob get the same extra clean look as a cleaned combat.

I CANT WAIT TO GET MINE!!!!

 

[Voorhees27]

My GOD do they look amazing cleaned up! ^^^^ I MUST do this then!

 

[Warrior Alien]

Ok people I gotta ask...


What does the bottom of the battle damaged and clean busts look like???

What I mean to find out is if their is any way to tell a clean bust from a cleaned damaged bust? Does it say on the bottom of the bust "battle damaged"?

I'm just wondering if their are scammers out there cleaning their endos and trying to pass them as originals???

 

[ONEYE]

I should have bought stock in EQUATE.

 

[FelMar]

Ok people I gotta ask...


What does the bottom of the battle damaged and clean busts look like???

What I mean to find out is if their is any way to tell a clean bust from a cleaned damaged bust? Does it say on the bottom of the bust "battle damaged"?

I'm just wondering if their are scammers out there cleaning their endos and trying to pass them as originals???

The bottom of the combat version says "combat edition" on the felt..
the original clean version doesn't. Also- the box of the combat one has a sticker card that reads "combat edition". The outer shipping box says "combat veteran endoskeleton bust".

 

[jkno]

As the joker would say...

Here We Go !

I gotta finish uploading the rest

Awesome job!! The Clean combat looks fantastic!! And nice comparison shot!!

 

[Rizob]

That's a great comparison! I'm so tempted to clean my Combat bust now.

I think i'm going to try and hang on a little longer and save up for another Combat one to clean up, just so i have one of each.

 

[sewbacca]

Ok people I gotta ask...


What does the bottom of the battle damaged and clean busts look like???

What I mean to find out is if their is any way to tell a clean bust from a cleaned damaged bust? Does it say on the bottom of the bust "battle damaged"?

I'm just wondering if their are scammers out there cleaning their endos and trying to pass them as originals???

Other than the noticable wordings on the boxes and the print on the bottom of the bust, the Clean Version has the heat scard rainbow on the forehead and the blue nut on the right top neck piston.

 

[jkno]

I'm curious if the Endoskull would be analyzed by a forensics specialist what would its face look like - would it be Arnie? You know: the facial reconstruction method...

 

[jkno]

https://www.globalgear.com.au/category9_1.htm