I finally got mine assembled but the paint is flaking off of the chest piece. I contacted TF Source where I purchased the kit, and they wanted to charge me $20 plus shipping just for the chest piece! Any advise on stripping the paint and paint matching to fix it?

 

If it were mine I might use some silver or gunmetal paint and maybe a little black and try to go with a battle damaged look to cover up those spots.

 

My friend had this issue pretty bad. He just repainted it. Not sure what he used but the color match was spot on. BBTS was going to replace it but their last kit had the same issue.

I read about it before I got mine and used Future on both my kits right out if the box.

 

Is anyone willing to sell the gun that comes with the kit?

 

I would have too, but it was flaking in the box. Frankly, there was no paint in the packaging, so I think it was like that before it was even shipped from the manufacturer. Such a shame. The kit looks fantastic except the left pectoral piece.

Does anyone else think that $20 is way too much to replace that piece? I have never bought replacement parts for my Transformers, but it just feels like too much for a small piece of a $50 upgrade kit for a $25 figure.

 

I ordered from TFSource and paint has come off just the chest piece for me as well. Its a blue transclearant plastic, but thats no excuse for sub par production...

Cool Bonhamtron kit. Though wayyyyyyy overdue...

 

I would just paint it myself.

 

That's what I am planning to do. I am just worried about making the paint match and stripping the flaking paint off. I have no experience in customizing and generally only paint weapons and accessories for my figures, mostly from Shapeways.

 

I added some paint to OP before I got the kit. It's a tamiya paint. I'll look at the number when I get home.

 

If you can put this kit together you shouldn't have any issue painting this. You're selling yourself short. An hour in the Radicons and you'll have no troubles I'd wager.

 

I would greatly appreciate that!

I am mostly worried about color matching and scraping the flaking paint off without scuffing the clear plastic underneath. I paint all the time, it's just usually 3d printed weapons and accessories, though I did do some silver paint on Generations Bombshell and Skrapnel. That turned out pretty good.

 

Ok, the red I used was Tamiya Red x-7

 

Just a quick bump,

How bad and wide spread is the paint flaking? I found a Prime for sale with this kit which looks to be in great condition and i'm thinking about getting it. But not if it's a time bomb.

 

My experience is that the paint flaking is related to transformation. If I'd done a top coat, or maybe aggressively sanded some of the parts, I'd probably be fine, but also I shouldn't have to do that. So if you just want an impressive looking Prime (which it is!) you're good, but transform with caution (and just get OP EX if that's what you want).

 

Same here. And I also ordered from TFS.

Sucks for us...

 

So far, I haven't had any issues with my paint chipping after several transformations. I've had mine since they first shipped, and I bought it from TFSource. The only issues I've had were strictly due to the faults of the base figure construction, NOT the upgrade kit. I'm also very careful with my things, so that can make a difference, I'd imagine.

Still definitely a worthwhile upgrade to make a mediocre figure into an awesome one. If you have fears about paint chipping, then I'd advise just applying a couple very light coats of polish to your kit before installing...no big deal, and certainly not worth missing out on an incredible upgraded Optimus Prime, because of having to do a tiny bit of additional prep.

 

As far as I'm concerned, this kit is only to make a non-transforming Optimus. The alt mode and combined mode look kind of crappy IMO, so there is absolutely no reason to transform it. Bot mode is glorious, so that's how it's going to stay for all eternity.

 

I took the chance and bought it. I haven't seen this kit pop up for sale much so I decided now was the time. And it was already assembled into the base figure so that saves stress of installing myself. Once it gets here i'm definitely going to apply a clear coat on that chest just to be safe. Thanks for feedback folks! Much appreciated as always!

 

Hey, are the Nova Prime (white and black) and God Ginrai variants of this still planned for release? I hope so, they looked pretty good.

 

Nova Prime for sure, and I'm assuming the others may still be in the pipeline as well, but only jonbonhamatron knows for sure!