Ok, so my illustrious customization career spans six completed projects. Two of which involved the Classics Bumblebee mold, so I'm clearly no pro. But oh my god I cannot crack the nut that is RiD Knockout. Ran him through the dishwasher. Testor's acrylics. Brushed on with future thinning. Couldn't get paint to stick. Put down a coat of Elmer's paint marker, got uneven blobs. Sanded him back down to his crappy plastic color. Back to being unable to get paint to stick. To say nothing of a complete inability to get an appropriate color contrast in my red/maroon hood (or red/red hood, as it stands). And all this before I even begin to consider the fade and decorations that are supposed to be on his doors. Or his venting. Or...you know what, you get it. Has anyone who has had any success got any advice? Better yet, anyone who failed the same way got anything to share? I wouldn't have thought it possible, but I've actually succeeded in making this toy's paint worse.
I have two of the Knock Out mold, one for customizing & one to leave as-is (for now). I haven't had time to try painting him or anything, but I do have experience with Testors acrylics & with using Future to both thin paints & use as a clear coat. I would have thought Testors acrylics would hold great on it, but now I'm wondering why they don't. Have you tried any Tamiya paints? I use those also & they usually go on smooth & stick well. The only thing I could really suggest is using a primer (I use Krylon Ultra Flat Camo Black) to spray on in thin mists. Then hand paint or spray the red & so on. I will say that I've also used Krylon Satin White & painted straight up on a washed Generations Jazz & Universe Ratchet--the paint stuck perfectly without any need for primers or adhesion promoters. So that may be another option. Just cleaning the figure well, then finding a nice red spray that would work for you, then maybe hand paint the details or smaller areas.
Ok, so a brush on primer worked to get color to stick. Not evenly, but that's mainly my fault I think. The nastiest, roughest looking surface? His hood/chest. Naturally. But there are some other areas that came out looking quite nice. In all, a good learning experience. For how much help this figure needs, I wish I had started painting a little while ago. Like, during Armada or some such.
I'd at this point suggest moving onto sprays. Most of the problems you seem to have come across are from using brushes. A primer, colour and top coat system could really help you make the painting better. Hope to see knockout finished soon!
I should be able to get some up tomorrow. I'm worse with a camera than with a brush, but I can get my point across. Don't you need a lot of space, ventilation, and ability to remove pins in order to use sprays? If I'm wrong, I'll gladly experiment.
Apparently, this is the best I can get on my cell phone camera. I'll try to get more up later, as I really thought the light setup I had would work better than this. Still, I feel it illustrates the hood problem fairly well.
It looks to me like you're using a red with low pigmentation. As I look at the photo, I'm getting a semi-clear vibe from it.
Maybe. It's Testor's gloss red for the light parts. A mix of Gloss Red, Chrome Yellow, International orange, and a single drop of flat black for the maroon.
Are any one of the paints you mentioned in your custom mix enamels? Because, if they are, that could explain why it's not adhering properly or why the coverage doesn't look as thick as it should.
Nope. All acrylic. All mystery. When I have a chance to post some other protects you'll see that this is a somewhat unique problem.
I would try incorporating a paint with a higher pigmentation. Something that not only covers, but also gives things a little more tooth.
Well it depends on what you are spraying. Seeing as its just a deluxe figure you wont need so much space, just an open area with ventilation a windo or something. I do all my spraying (can only) outside and dry inside. If you plan to spray indoors, than yes you need a lot of ventilation but you can just do it your backyard or in your garage with the door open. Removing pins is NOT ALWAYS necessary. You can remove a lot of peices with just a screw driver and mask the other areas off that are tricky to remove. In some cases its easier NOT to remove the pin. Spraying with can or airbrush in my opinion and experience always gets smoother more even results. Its a pain in the arse to mask (I absolutely hate it!) but when done well, with patience and care the results are excellent! Give it a go, it really isnt that difficult and there are plenty of tutorials on how to spray propery in the radicons section!
I've no experience with the mold, but there are some figures that don't require total disassembly to paint. I think using a good spray-on primer would help substantially. Krylon Camouflage is the best as it's durable and sprays on cleanly and evenly. But at this point, you might as well just shoot for the total repaint.
Yeah, it looks that way. I think I'll be magic erasering him one last time and then maybe seeing what I can achieve with a spray. At least for a primer. Does the Krylon Camo come in a lighter shade than that olive I see? Or does it matter when you start applying the color over it. I've usually heard that lighter colors are best placed over a lighter primer. Also, I'll be trying to find another Knockout and waiting for Reprolabels to save me from myself.
Krylon offers it in Khakhi as well. Krylon: Products: Camouflage Paint with Fusion Technology If you end up giving up on this, I'd be happy to buy KO off of you, but I consider that a last resort. I'd like to see you get better at this sort of thing with the end result being a satisfying one.
