Fifth Element MultiPass Tutorial

In our previous step, we created a bit of a mess on the back side of the pass when we taped on a popsicle stick to help in the painting. In this step, we clean up that mess.

Here you see the pass as it came out of the last step. Nice mess! The real problem here is the edge between the white styrene and the paint. The paint tends to pool up around the edge of the tape that was holding the popsicle stick in place, creating a good sized ridge that would really stand out if we slapped our graphics on top of it. Our goal is to smooth those ridges down, and blend smoothly from the nake styrene to the plasti-kote paint.
I start in with some 220 grit sandpaper. I really don't want to change the shape of the pass, just eat away that ridge.

I've got a head start here, because there is primer underneath the plasti-kote. I know I've gone far enough when I start to see the grey of the primer.

The only thing you really need to be careful of is sanding off the paint on the adjacent parts. You can go nuts on the flat part of the back, but you don't want to scrape your paper across the arms, or the stepped part. Be careful, and go slowly.

Here I'm all done. Notice the slow progression across the primer into the paint. That won't cause any lumps or bumps once we get the graphics on.