As I mentioned before, I've read that many people have had a terrible time painting Smooth Cast resins. I however, have not had any problems whatsoever. In fact, I don't even prime the surface before painting.
Powder coating the mold seems to have worked just as Smooth-On said it would. As an additional precaution, I experimented with acetone, mineral paint thinner, and even dish soap to give all the surfaces that would be painted a good rub to get rid of any oils that may inhibit adhesion. (Also, resin tends to "sweat" a little oil when curing, so it is a good ideal to clean it off before painting). All three worked equally well having no damaging effects on the resin. (DO NOT however, try to put acetone on ABS plastic. Acetone eats ABS for breakfast).
To paint the silver details on, I used Testors brush on enamel "Steel Grey".
I then mixed it with some "Fat Black" to created the "wear and tear" effect.
One of the added benefits of using the Smooth-On SO-Strong black colour paste is that I don't have to paint the black areas in the end! See? Thinking ahead!
To clean off any paint that may have smeared onto the black parts of the mask, I used the same mineral paint thinner as before, with some q-tips.
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- Painting