Hi, I've been reading this site and Seibertron for years and have gotten so much out of everyone's knowledge on our shared hobby here. So for that, thank you all. Never had a point to post until now I guess.

I just got my Universe Nemesis Prime and am annoyed with the paint on the truck's wind vane ("disruptor cannon"). There's a spot that looks like someone sneezed silver paint on it and to the right about a centimeter another blob between stripes. My question is can I fix this? It really stands out to me and I'd rather not send it back to HTS for an exchange just to get one that has a bunch of blemishes in other places (as it seems like paint QC has been lacking lately with Hasbro). This Prime is perfectly fine to me otherwise, just the top removable wind vane. Does Hasbro exchange just parts in anyone's experience?

I'm not sure how well the picture portrays this, but let me know what you think.

 

From what I've heard, they won't exchange single parts. I'd run it by some of the more experienced painters here first, but it might be worth a shot to try sanding that off.

 

I thought about giving sanding a try, though I have no idea how to go about doing it (what kind of abrasive, etc). I'm also afraid of scratching it, but I'm sure someone experienced in painting can offer some pointers. I thought I heard someone mention once using a pencil eraser for this type of thing and I tried that, but it did nothing.

 

I've painted 3 figures myself, so I have a little experience but not a lot. When I needed to sand off excess paint on them I used this sanding film that I got from the model/model painting aisle at the craft store. The package I got was from testors and it had about 6 different films of varying grits. I think one of those would probably do the trick if you're careful. If you wrap the sanding film around the back end of a pencil you can aim the sanding pretty well and that's probably what you saw someone talking about. The only worry I have is that you'll end up dulling the finish on the windscreen in the spots that you sand. Depending on how much you want to spend fixing this, you could sand down those spots until they're flush with the rest of it but not enough that you take the paint off and if that ends up leaving some spots with a matte finish then you could get some Tamiya clear coat spray and coat the entire roof in it and that would solve that.

If I had that problem with mine and it bugged me enough to do something about it, that's what I'd do. Also, you can use that clear coat stuff to make sure the paint on universe Prowl's doors doesn't smudge if you have one of those.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, it seems like a definite place to start. I'll try a craft store for the Testors grit and the clear coat. It is worth it to me since I love the Classics Prime mold so much and wanted the Nemesis Prime since it was announced (who didn't have fun at HTS.com last Monday?). With the rest of the figure perfect I just don't want to chance it with an exchange. And yes, the spots do degrade it for me enough to try fixing it. I'll probably try this on another "less loved" figure first for practice.

Also, thanks for the advice on Prowl, I'm certainly going to get him and also have heard of the paint problem there.

 

My craft store didn't actually have the clear coat spray stuff. I had to get that at a hobby store. The chain I went to was called Hobbytown USA. If you have one of those they should have everything you'd ever want to modify transformers. Then again, I don't know how well varied and stocked your local craft store is.

In regards to testing on other transformers, you could also test it in an obscure place on the actual figure itself since paint can vary between figures. From looking at my classics prime mold, I'm thinking the underside of the arms would be a good spot since they aren't seen in either mode.

Good luck! Keep us posted on your results!

 

All good info thanks. I've got a local Hobbytown USA I'll try for the supplies. And the underside of the arm makes good sense to. If I'm successful, I'll post my triumph, otherwise I'll consider giving into an exchange...

 

This Hastak paint always dissolves with isopropyl alcohol... I know you could use it, like dampened onto a cotton swab, to remove the splatters on solid molded color plastic.... but I don't know what effect it would have on attempting to "Smooth out" the splotches. You might very well end up removing way more paint than you meant to, but it's the only option I see other than sanding and risking scratching the plastic.

And after the splotches are evened out...you could always use silver paint or a silver sharpie to touch up any areas where the paint is accidentally removed, since the metallic ink in silver sharpies matches the silver paint HasTak uses on their figures almost perfectly.

Anyways, That's what *I* would do, if mine arrived like that.

 

This is also a valid idea you should look at/consider. What you really aught to do is make a "Help wanted" Thread in the radicons forum. The guys there will know exactly what to do.

 

Thanks to you both unicronsupreme & ShadowStitch! I take it Hastak is the actual brand and/or type of paint used on (all?) Transformers. Is there a alcohol concentration (ie: 65%, 90%?) you'd recommend? That alone could get rid of the splotch in between the stripes which would make a big difference. As for the sanding of the "silver sneeze" blob I never knew about the silver sharpies being the same silver. That could act as a passable substitution for any oversanding I may incur.

 

Man that was stupid of me . "HasTak" for some reason was completely lost on me for a second when I wrote that. It makes so much more sense now. I will also consult the Radicons section before I make my move.

 

Hahaha, yeah, Has/tak being...well...you know.

Silver Sharpie is more like a paint than an ink -- it's good for a lot of things. I've used them to repair scratches on my Henkei Megatron, they're good for repainting almost every half-assed painted silver face (like Classics Sunstreaker) or adding details like missing rear-view mirrors on Alternators, missing silver headlights or accents like those on Animated Bee and Prime, ...and also for adding custom additions like silver hubs on figures with flat black molded wheels, etc.

There are also some markers you might look for, (specifically in the pens aisle at Wal-Mart) called Roseart Colorsharp, which will also give you a slightly less opaque silver and gold, as well as metallic blue, purple, and green...which work very well for eyes or gunbarrels or whatnot.

But I'm getting off-topic.

As for alcohol concentration, the stronger the concentration, the quicker the paint comes off. If you don't mind exhausting some elbow grease, you can minimize the risk of accidentally removing paint apps by getting lower concentration. Getting sharp-pointed cotton swabs is also useful, since you can specifically target the areas between stripes -- you don't want to press too hard, lest you abrase and scuff the plastic, and you don't want the swab so soaked that pushing hard causes a puddle of alcohol to drip off onto your toy. Just steady gentle rubbing with a damp swab will eventually get the excess paint off, and in the end it shouldn't damage the plastic at all. I've removed entire paint apps from figures like Night Watch Prime and Alternators Skids without any evidence whatsoever.

Also, if you want to scrape off paint but retain some sharp lines, you can soak the end of a toothpick with alcohol and use it to very gently scrape off the excess until you have a nice sharp edge. Please don't use tape to mask off an area though, as alcohol has a nasty habit of getting under the tape and destroying any paint apps it was supposed to be protecting.

I haven't gotten my Nemesis Prime in the mail yet, so I'm not sure what sorts of repairs will need to be made, but hopefully this will help you make yours look exactly the way you want.  

 

Well, again thanks for the help. I went out and found the Metallics silver Sharpie pen you mentioned at Wal-Mart. Seeing how it was a two pack, there'll be lots left over so I'll try some of your ideas on customizing other figures with it. While there, I also picked up the cheapest TF I could find, a universe legends Onslaught, to use as my guinea pig for the sanding, alcohol stripping (91%) and Sharpie application. Legends have never had a place in my heart, so no loss there. If I run out of room on that, I'll take unicronsupreme's advice and trial & error the inside of Nemmy Prime's arm, as it shouldn't be noticeable in either mode. I didn't read your message till after I got back so I missed the heads up on the Roseart Colorsharps but they'll be on my list. My customization prowess up till now culminates in a painted mini-Scorponok from the voyager (non-premium) Blackout so I'll be cautious. I have a plan for a G1 Soundwave mod, but w/o painting, but I would like to reshell an Alternator with a car model body. Thanks also for the tips on the toothpick, no tape and the pointed cotton swab.

Hope you get your Nemesis soon. I love that mold and really like how it turned out with the color scheme they used. I know some people were disappointed in the blue not red windows but I'm pretty happy (besides the point of this post of course).