EDIT: Pretty much finished for now! I haven't looked at his truck mode, but until I do, there's nothing else to do here. This is a great mold, I really like it. So let's kick off the TLK customs. I'll be working on this guy and Drift (when ever he becomes available- I had a blast doing the AOE version and can't wait to work on this as well). Not sure if I'll bother with anyone else (at least of the presently anounced toys). If I get Squeeks he'll need work- but I'm only getting him if I end up loving the character. He's a WIP and I'm not sure how far I'll take him since I'm sure Takara will anounce a far superior paint job to Hasbro's at some point. But for now there's this.
Looks excellent so far. I knew there was a quality headsculpt hidden underneath those globbed-on eyes!
I'd be happy to walk you through what I did and what I used. Fair warning, I have some bad news. The flames are all water slide decals that I bought from a board member 4-5 years ago (I'm down to my last sheet). So I have no useful advice there other than that board members seem to be successfully making their own decals more and more, so you can probably solve it if you want to put in the effort. The paints I used are: all bottle paints Tamiya Gunmetal- I LOVE this stuff. It's incredibly easy to apply. Tesstors- Chrome Silver (this is an enamel- so you need paint thinner to clean your brush)- it doesn't look like chrome, but it's one of the best silvers I've seen. Lumiere- pearlescent blue- almost a perfect match for Prime's blue plastic/paint. Tamiya Red- this stuff applied kind of so-so. Brass- I used testors but I wasn't pleased with the final result. ****IMPORTANT****** I really didn't like the way his red chest panels looked until I applied the stickers. Unless you have a way of pulling off the flames you may want to consider leaving them the factory Blue and not painting them red. Optimus' head- -For the most part that is just straight Chrome Silver. Pretty straightforward and not that hard, but practice somewhere first if you aren't sure you can do it. -His eyes have some slight ridges, I painted the ridges. I used Gunmetal, but the chrome would have been fine too. I just wanted to cut down the amount of blue visible. Smokestacks- -straight Chrome Silver Truck back leg panels - mostly just gunmetal Parts I painted blue - self explanitory, just look for things blue on mine that aren't on the released toy and paint them. very simple. -I also added chrome silver lines to the raised lines on his knuckles Collar, shield and feet -basecoat of gunmetal - I then drybrushthe chrome silver over it sparingly. A tutorial on drybrushing is suggested. Basically I dip my brush in the paint and paint it on a papertowel until very little paint comes out, the paint my surface with what's left giving me a spotty, warn metal appearance. -I also do this with the silver to edges all over the toy to similate scuffing and wear when I'm finished. Parts I painted Red - self explanitory, but again you may want to leave the chest blue if you can't do the flames. Detail work on breast panels -paint everything gunmetal -go over raised parts with chrome silver Hopefully this covers most of it and is somewhat helpful. Thanks guys!
so i found most of the paint except for chrome silver its like a bomb on my amazon any alternate paints ?
That is BEAUTIFUL! I've been waiting to see someone do this with this mold. Congrats on the great job!!!!
Not sure I'm following. Here's a link: Amazon.com: Testors Model Master Automotive Enamel Silver Chrome Trim by Testor Corp.: Toys & Games If you're just wanting a different option for what ever reason, I imagine many silver paints will work pretty well. There's probably good acrylic options as well (which will be much easier to work with and clean up). I tend to favor Testors over Tamiya for paint I want to look like metal, but Tamiya almost certainly has good options and is generally much easier to work with.
i found all the paints you listed on you listed i found them on my amazon at a sensible price but the Tesstors- Chrome Silver cost about £35 on my amazon is there alternative silvers i can i could use ?
Sorry for the slow reply. I can't tell you for sure what to use. But Tamiya paints are great in general. I would think anything silver by Tamiya or testors will probably give you respectable results. I really love the chrome silver, but that price is absolutely stupid.
