You guys are doing awesome work out there, and it has inspired me to throw my hat in the ring once again. Alright, I posted this before when it was much less finished a few months ago. I had to take a break and get a job painting motorcycles, then I had to take a break from that to work some more on this. I felt that he no longer qualified as a "Minor" repaint, as there is scarcely any of his original paint left. Takes me back to the Nightwatch repaint I did for TFTM Prime. Anyway, I did so much rebuilding, I thought that "Heavy" was more appropriate since this has been quite labor intensive. (Still, if I am mistaken about the tagging, I apologize, and wouldn't mind if this thread moved somewhere more appropriate) Here's the rundown: -Replaced and dremeled room for a new brilliant blue head LED -Replaced hands with TFTM hands for articulation -Added some details that were noticeably absent from the mold, including the shoulder tank whoozits and crotch dealy -Shaved down parts allowing for more clearance in robot mode or during transformation. -Tightened all of the springs for a more instantaneous action on the swords -(I will be adding chains soon to the sleeper rack for the finished truck mode) -Airbrushed new flames on the entire bodywork for truck and robot mode and hand-painted blue pinstripes -Detailed and weathered all of the hidden parts which appear in robot mode for a clean look in truck mode -Extensive handpainted body work for all of the robot mode bits. I seriously had about 6 different brushes and 7 or 8 different shades of metallic paint -And of course CHROME Most of my time spent on this project has been in prep-time, like 80%. I certainly have a new appreciation for the craftsmanship that went into the design of the new Optimus. He remains to be Clear Coated, some minor touch up on the oopsies, and I have to get him a decent gun. There are a few more finishing touches until I feel he is truly done, and I'll post more photos once that happens. For now, please enjoy, and your comments and critiques are welcome.
That's an excellent job you did there May I ask what type of Gold color you used for the figure? I used Tamiya Titanium Gold on mine, didn't find any other type at the shop
Mindblowing attention to detail - adding those little detail pieces to his crotch and shoulder tanks. You even added dirt to the windshield where the wipers can't reach it! Those flames look great and the pinstriping is unbelievably thin - did you handpaint those? My only crit is that the paintjob seems a little dirty or lumpy in some places - and not in a nice, coherently weathered sort of way. I believe that the movie 'bots need to be weathered and stuff especially in 'bot mode, but yours seems just a little over the top in some areas. Hard to explain why I feel that way, so I apologize that the comment isn't all that constructive. You did say that you're not done with him yet.
pay no attention to mampy hes crazy lol jpz.. ya werd i didnt even notice the windshield dirt lol, awesome detail.. but i do agree with mampy on the lumps.. it seems like there are some random spots of paint that either shouldn't be there are just there by accident.. however ya it is a WIP so who are we to criticize but ya it is coming out great! u do have alot of places that i can tell u worked on alot that may be small details but look really good on ur part
Nice work, I was wondering what had happened to this project. Glad to see that you finished it. Flames look great man, especially seeing how you hand cut them if I remember right. And how'd you do the chrome if ya don't mind my asking. Great job, but I'd have to say I agree with mampy about the lumpiness of the paint in some places, but maybe once you clear coat it, that will disperse a bit. Make sure to post the clear coated pictures as well. And great touch with the grit on the windshield, that's a definite first in the customs.
I love this. All the little nicks an scrapes you simulated with silver paint really adds a lot to this.
0so, I hope you don't mind to muc, but I copied your flame design on a scrapped prime part, and I was wondering what type of tape you were using for the masking. I used Scotch's medium tack painters tape, but it left some residue from the tape itself. wondering if you had some type of trick to remove the tape glue without ruining your tap masking.
Those flames look great! I noticed that you put the cybertronian glyph on Prime's face. Nice attention to detail
He truly looks great! The only issue I have is the misunderstanding that some seem to have about "Minor mods and repaints". Its not "minor repaints". It is as stated allready, "Minor MODS! and repaints". No offence, but people, please read what is written. I love looking at both "Heavy mods" and " Minor mods and repaints". But no matter how extensive the repaint is it still belongs in! "Minor mods and repaints". I'm not a moderator and am not trying to offend. Just analy trying to help people see the light. Thank you for your attention and once again very nice REPAINT.
Updated pics - Good News/Bad News So yeah, mis-labeled thread, my bad. It won't happen again. Also, thanks for your input and critiques, it's been very helpful. Here are some more pics I took after adding the finishing touches. Still waiting on the clear coat to dry to see if it affects the chrome. I haven't had much luck with it in the past so I'm trying some new mixes. Here's hoping. To answer some questions: -Some of the gold is Tamiya Clear Yellow over whatever type of Tamiya metal color I used, including Gun Metal, Chrome Silver, Metallic Blue, Flat Aluminum, Metallic Grey, Copper, and various mixes of the above. Other parts are the straight up Tamiya Gold Leaf, which results in that rich gold looking color as on the elbow rings. -The pinstripes are hand-painted using a water-borne technique while the airbrushing masks are still applied. I wet-sanded the edges with 1500 grit after to clean up the bleeding errors. -After some of the comments, I also sanded out some of the lumpy looking areas where the effect wasn't intentional and added another light coat to some patchy looking bits. -I bought the head LED from Radio Shack, all they had was a 3mm 3.5v for the blue, but I figured I could make room for it. I had to dremel out the neck (which was somewhat difficult to disassemble) and head so that it would fit. I wired and soldered the new LED in after testing it (diodes have to be wired correctly, they only work one way), and reassembled the head. I painted the eyes so that only select parts shine through, and they still look okay when they are unlit. -The Chrome I'm experimenting with is the Montana Gold spray cans. They're low-pressure and laquer, and I've had good experience with both while painting motorcycle bodywork, so I decided to give it a try. I primed with a light coat of gloss black paint, followed by a very thin layer of chrome, a second coat, and one coat of clear so far. The stacks are still a bit tacky, but the rest of the chrome looks good (see updated pics). Still not alclad, but I am liking the results. I'm still having problems with fogging on the chrome if it's handled too much, but we'll see how the clear coat handles it. -I use a combination of medium tack painters masking tape and the Tamiya hobby masking tape. I've been thinking of moving over to custom cut vinyl, but it's a bit expensive for small projects. I find that a mild ammonia based cleaner or any kind of spray on surface prep helps take off the residue without messing out the paint job. I just happened to have a can of Dupli-color Surface Prep on hand from work and used it between coats to make sure fingerprints, oils, etc. don't mess with coat adhesion. I don't know if they make hobby grade stuff like this. Now for the Bad News: -After all this hard work, I can't keep this Optimus. I have some unforseen personal expenses that came up this month, and I have to part with my 6 month project to help make ends meet. It makes me sad, but there's an upside. The Good News: -Check out my ebay for this Optimus. If you win the auction and mention "Radicons" in the comments box, I'll throw in something extra special! It would make me feel much better knowing that I can make some Transfan very happy this holiday season, especially if its you guys or someone you know. Anyway, thanks again for the views. Hopefully my future projects won't be so dramatic!
Looks awesome dude. Mine has taken me about the same amount of time. Its nearly done but im having issues with the chrome also. I just cant seem to get it to stay on. Bloody alclad comes off with a light breeze unless you protect it, which then dulls it. *sigh* Wish i had a V.C.
nicely recovered, to bad you cant keep him though, but think of it this way, atleast with an ebay auction, all should go very well with this, and you could make another faster and better.
