K.O. Prime

This year I fell into Knockoff figures. They have so many smaller or larger flaws you can spend days with repairing them. I bought him on a sunny autumn day, and from the Chinese market I went straight to my favorite hobby shop to get glue and metallic paints for him. I started with carving the molding feathers and seams and checked the joints. I only had to oil one and nail polish another one, I think that's quite good rate for a knockoff.
Then I filled the huge holes in his thigh, feet, lower arm and palm. I had good quality filler resin (A+B Araldite) but I didn't want to use all of it. I found a piece of styrofoam and I ground that - cheap, light and just perfect to fill the space. As a first step I always mixed the resin - it became a honey-like mass. Then I put a very thin and irregular layer of the resin into the hole, by using the same rectified paper clip I used for mixing the resin. Handy, easy to use, and disposable. I filled about the half of the hole with the styrofoam, then added a little resin by stirring first the resin and then the styrofoam in the hole with the same paperclip. Slowly, I added the styrofoam and the resin again and again, careful not to fill in more than needed. It solidified in 4-5 hours, and about 12 hours later I could even turn the hole downwards, the resin was holding the mixture extremely well.
I loved the way he pushes his "abdominal wall" up into his chest while transforming from robot mode, and I couldn't help thinking of a holodriver for him. So I printed two small pictures, 1.5 cm x 1.5 cm each, the portraits of Peter Cullen and Frank Welker, the two most adored fleshlings of Transformers. I glued the pics on paperboard and slightly glued it to the back of his chest. In robot mode, the pictures are hanging horizontally, glued to the chestplate, but in truck mode, the abdominal wall comes and props them up. When transforming into robot mode again, the abdominal wall tilts down, so do the pictures and disappear behind his windscreen.
I used DEKA disco-light "champagne" colour, metallic red, silver and blue. Originally the hind half of his head was extremely faint blue to let light though, but I didn't like it that way so I painted his whole head. On the faint blue parts I applied the paint in one, thin layer which is enough for the solid colour but still lets the light through. On the larger surfaces (e.g. the legs) I used the brush 30 degrees diagonally to increase the metallic effect. Now it gives the impression of a polished metal plate instead of the plastic painted with metallic paints. I used "disco champagne" paint on all his reflectors - it glows in the dark for minutes. Looks damn good when I switch off the lamp and Optimus Prime's reflectors light up.
I mixed "disco champagne" and white paint for his insignia. The knockoff didn't have any, just the empty silhouette was heaving at its place. I carved the Autobot pattern on his shoulder and I used a 000 brush.
I put a mini rubsignia from Reprolabels on him, right where Bayformers Optimus wears his insignia. The windscreen-wipers are real rubber, taken from a thrown-away rubber tyre.
I loved working on him and I'm truly thankful for and to him. Maybe he is, too....