I am so very, very close to completing this guy, and despite the fact that silver paint is the devil, I'm generally pleased with how it's turned out so far. I still need to do some detail painting (paint and attach the wheels, paint the headlights, brush in/clean up the silver border I painted around the windows, do everything on the shoulder cannons, probably retouch the silver because again, it's the devil), but it's mostly done at this point, I think. I've really been meaning to start repainting for years (it's been about six or seven since I last tried), and I've never finished a figure before. Let's hope this works out in the home stretch.
Well. Funny story. As I was taking him out of robot mode last night, it turned out the transformation made some HUGE GOUGES in the silver paint on the hood. So I used the silver leaf spray to touch it up, and I thought I had masked enough, but I didn't. So there was some overspray on the doors. Rather than removing the doors, my stupid ass tried to remove the paint with the doors still attached, which caused some nasty streaks. So tonight I'm removing the doors, stripping them down, and redoing the paint from scratch. On top of that, I had misjudged the clearance on the hinge above the shoulders, and the silver paint on that was all torn up, which to me says that the hinges (and therefore the bits of hood around it), should be blue, because that seems to have a more even, solid coat while being thin enough to not be destroyed by the joint. So I probably should sand that off and realign the edge of the blue and silver paint on the hood to account for that. Anyway, I'm back down to about 75% complete. I'm learning as I go, so this whole project has been one step forward, two steps back. This is actually my second Prowl (third if you count the one I'm not painting), because the first one partially melted as I tried to remove the paint with rubbing alcohol. There's a reason I decided to post as Dr. Breakstuff. The Tamiya rattle cans. Which are great for everything. Except silver. The major cause of all my headaches on this project has been the silver. Basically, it comes out too thick, it scratches hella easily, you can't sand or polish it without ruining it, it basically refuses to cure, and I have had at least two occasions on which I've sprayed it on, waited more than 24 hours, masked the painted area, and found it dimpled and torn up when I removed the mask. The devil.
Use this my friend! (Tamiya acrylic chrome x11) It cures and looks the same as the one you are using. U will need to hand paint. Typically two to theee layers does the trick.
Thanks! I had bought a Tamiya silver brush-on that I didn't end up liking (I'm at work, so I can't recall which one), but I'll get a pot of the X-11 to see how it works on touch-ups.
The Tamiya rattle cans. Which are great for everything. Except silver. The major cause of all my headaches on this project has been the silver. Basically, it comes out too thick, it scratches hella easily, you can't sand or polish it without ruining it, it basically refuses to cure, and I have had at least two occasions on which I've sprayed it on, waited more than 24 hours, masked the painted area, and found it dimpled and torn up when I removed the mask. The devil.[/QUOTE] As someone who has been looking for a silver spray paint which doesn't fell terrible, *FUCK*
That sucks. I'm not sure why it's giving you such a hard time. I have always had great results using the Tamiya spray paints. Silver is no exception. The trick to using it is veeeeerrrry thin coats. You almost need to mist it on. I have never needed to sand it down either. Just let it cure and give it a nice clear coat (TS-13) and off you go. You can tape over it, put washes on it, etc. and it always works for me.
I'm going to give it another shot, from further away, and just a few droplets per coat. Hasn't been necessary on the blue, but since I need to re-do the silver anyway after sanding it all back down last night, I might as well try a more conservative technique. It's likely I was just getting overzealous. I mean, I did eventually manage to figure out how to do thin, durable coats on the legs and upper arms. It's the hood that's giving me fits. That said, I really do love this stuff. The blue coat, the smoke mist on the clear plastic, the black undercoat, it all went on so easily that I'm sure I've found my tool. At least until I can save up for an airbrush (if even then)
Tamiya rattles are great but I had a time keeping bubbles off the edges of my figures. You think I was over spraying?
I'm gonna go ahead and postulate that most problems with rattlecans (or paint in general) stem from too much applied too quickly. I mean, yeah, if I spray from too far, or too light, I get a slight orange peel (tiny bumps), but I'm willing to live with it because it's only visible super up close and I definitely plan on using some polishing compound when all is said and done. But all my major problems, from dripping to failing to cure, to uneven finishes, seem to mostly happen when I'm too close or hold the spray button for too long.
This was a straight repaint of Siege Prowl. The only bits I got from Shapeways were the shoulder cannons.
I had some nice results with a silver/aluminum color in a rattle can. I wanna say it was krylon brand?? I can check in the morning if anyone really wants to know. I think what added to my success was that those parts were separated from the main bot. Sure sometimes this isn't always possible. I've been lucky. I also want to say I've heard that paint may be dry to the touch but may take several days to fully bond/cure. It's really hard not to transformer your project I know but a few days helps. Great work!
