"Shatter" Weathering

[Darth Nurse]

Has anyone done a shatter type weathering? I've seen a few around, and if done right it looks really cool.

[jt_trouble]

Talk to this guy!

http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/member.php?17092-DarthMario95 also on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ShameemMoshrefzadeh?fref=ts

He's done a few of them and superb works of art.

[Darth Nurse]

Thank you, I will. I plan to do the work myself, and am wondering if anyone has tips or tricks?

[Sevinzol]

Do you have a picture or description of the weathering? I might have seen it, just not by that name.

[Darth Nurse]

12029Basically it is cracking of the metal along with the weathering. Here is a sketch of the pattern I may go with. Overall the saber would be more weathered.

[methos2523]

think your best bet for that, rather than actually damaging the metal, would be to print the 'damage' out on a transparent adhesive sheet and manually line it up... it won't have the 3D feel of the damage, but will give the right look on the saber without actually damaging the structure itself

[darth_chasm]

If you do want the actual damage on the pieces you could use hobby files and a dremel with engraving bits at a low speed. I would mask of the areas around the damage in several layers to protect against the dremel accidentally getting away from you.

Go slow, start small. I won't get into the weathering as info on that is all over the forums.

Good Luck!

EDIT: You'll want to be careful on placement, how big and how deep you go. You don't want to make the walls too thin and lose structural strength.

[Sevinzol]

I've seen people use dremels and I'm sure etching would give a similar look. Darth chasm is right you don't have to go very deep to get the effect. You can use some dark paint to 'stain' the groves afterwards.

If you want to simulate plasma damage (i.e. a blaster hit or saber strike) you can use a propane or MAPP gas torch to melt and slag the hilt BUT I would say that takes a lot of practice. It would be kind of like trying to weld Aluminum and doing it wrong on purpose. Aluminum conducts heat real well and it won't change color (like steel) to indicate hot it is. One second its all shiny and the next its crystalline structure fails, it looks all gritty and slumps into a puddle -- on second thought, forget the fire just use a dremel to carve out what you want

[Darth Nurse]

I plan to go the Dremel route. I will be using aluminum black that will fill the cracks once completed.