Minor/Repaint: Cartoon-accurate Masterpiece Bluestreak

Discussion in 'Radicons Customs' started by Sam, Sep 28, 2014.

  1. ambitron

    ambitron Well-Known Member

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    Sorry, a very late reply! The back is from Silverstreak, I just masked off the silver part around the windscreen as I wanted to keep it silver (MP-18 has silver around the sunroof parts too, but I didn't want that, and I also wanted to make sure the black matched).

    I have to say that I really love this version of Bluestreak - much kudos to you for coming up with the idea!
     
  2. TheCyndaquilMan

    TheCyndaquilMan Wrecker Commando

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    That Bluestreak looks like it popped out of the screen during a G1 episode. Good job!
     
  3. Sam

    Sam Arrival

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    Had this idea perculating round my mind for a few months now, just waiting for nicer weather to have a go...

    Basically I wasn't happy with the use of a decal and a sticker on the hood. Plus I'm no expert painter and my black spray paint was never going to be as glossy as Takara's. So...

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    I'm going to use the bonnet/hood plate from MP-18 and paint the silver stripes on the sides and a sliver of silver on the front.

    Already swapped over the car roofs (in hindsight it would have been easier to just swap the torsos). Swapped over the bumpers too (which are fortunately attached to the headlights and the shoulders cannons).

    The doors are an easy swap. Not going to try and disconnect the little hinges that connect the doors to the hood/bonnet so I'm just going to paint them the lighter silver too.

    Currently researching the best silver spray paint that will match MP-18S's silver.

    If this is successful then I may have a go at another one from scratch. The drawback of this way is that you're left with a mismatched second car instead of a vehicle-accurate Bluestreak. But I think the final custom is going to look a lot nicer with the glossy paint and the original autobot and car badges.

    More to follow in a few days...
     
  4. cheetor71

    cheetor71 Autobot

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    Sweet job
     
  5. Sam

    Sam Arrival

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    Version 2.0:

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    Stripe on the hood isn't 100% perfect but it still looks so much better with the glossy stock black and autobot badge. A lot happier with this guy now.
     
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  6. Alpha Matrix

    Alpha Matrix "King of Combiners!"

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    Looks fantastic! :thumb 
     
  7. Sam

    Sam Arrival

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    Thanks a lot :thumb 
     
  8. shadowfall1976

    shadowfall1976 The Alpha and the Optimus

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    Wouldn't using Silverstreak as the base be just a tad easier? There's a KO of him too.
     
  9. Sam

    Sam Arrival

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    Easier? No. Less expensive? Yes.

    The aim was to make a cartoon-accurate Bluestreak with as little modifications as possible to the stock transformers. Painting the shoulders and head of a Silverstreak are of course possible, but not easy. The wheels seem particularly difficult to remove from the shoulders in order to paint them, and it's hard to take apart the head in order to properly paint the helmet without breaking anything.

    My way (particularly version 2.0) uses as many of the stock parts as possible. Even the roof of the car is from MP-18. The only thing painted is the silver around the hood/bonnet. You would also have to use a sticker if you were just going to repaint a Silverstreak, and part of the reason of doing a v2.0 was to avoid that.

    As far as KOs are concerned, as I said in my original post from what I've seen the KOs of Bluestreak have quite distorted faces. For this reason I wouldn't recommend using a KO. My own experience with an MP Red Alert KO that I bought for customising was disappointing enough that in general I wouldn't recommend KOs for much at all. The plastic quality compared to the originals is so poor that it seems unfair to be putting so much work, time and money and applying it to an inferior product.
     
    Last edited: Apr 19, 2015
  10. BattleUpSaber

    BattleUpSaber Result.

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    Outstanding! Wish MP-18 actually looked like this.
     
  11. JoeHavok

    JoeHavok Well-Known Member

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    Have to bump this thread because I'm thinking of doing this soon.
     
  12. Sam

    Sam Arrival

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    Let me know if you need a hand with anything, and post your progress here if you like!
     
  13. ambitron

    ambitron Well-Known Member

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    What silver paint did you end up using out of interest? (Just in case I ever decide to update my v1.0 to a v2.0. :)  )
     
  14. Sam

    Sam Arrival

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    I ended up using TS-30 Tamiya Silver Leaf. It's not a perfect match (in fact it looks more like the silver on MP-18B), but for the amount that you actually need for the v2.0 recipe it's definitely good enough.

    I wanted to add that a great finishing touch to this custom is stealing the rear side of the doors from MP-18B - it's actually one of the first things I thought when I saw MP-18B's paint job.

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    Obviously MP-18B would look a bit silly with the red ones from MP-18, but I had a spare black set from a disassembled Smokescreen to give to MP-18B.


    The other paint I tried out was TS-83 I believe. Definitely too dark a silver. If you wanted to play around with trying out other silvers then let me know of your results :) 
     
  15. Sixo

    Sixo Canonical

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    Never seen this thread before, but obviously I'm a massive fan, despite already knowing about your custom. Really interesting to see how it was done! Amazing work, RedTr... er, Sam. :wink: 
     
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  16. Sam

    Sam Arrival

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    Thanks a lot! I've gotta say for anyone even thinking about doing this custom, it's really a great way to get into the minor customising area. Assembly isn't too tough, there isn't too much painting involved.


    Also, this is Bluestreak. I really, really love the original paint job on MP-18 (I'd actually like to pick one up just to have an original one). But the lighter silver of MP-18S (which I bought on a whim) really screams Bluestreak to me, and combined with certain parts from MP-18 this is the definitive Bluestreak.


    Now there's only one question left in my collection:

    "If I'm Bluestreak, who the heck is this other guy?"

    [​IMG]
     
  17. Bugste81

    Bugste81 Ste

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    [​IMG]
    Cheers for the Tutorial. Here is how my attempt turned out. Pretty Pleased with it.
     
  18. Bugste81

    Bugste81 Ste

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    [​IMG]
    And not bad in car mode either.
     
  19. Sam

    Sam Arrival

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    Looking good :thumb 
     
  20. Zeke1

    Zeke1 Well-Known Member

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    Beautiful. Love the extra touch of the license plate. :lol