I think part of the problem for me was that the silver I used was a bit too dark against the yellow. A brighter white-silver like on the G1 toy might have worked better. The other problem was that, with the silver being so reflective, it exaggerated the contours of the mouth and made him look like he had duck lips (it looked very similar to the Buzzworthy Bumblebee that came with Spike in fact). For some reason this didn't really show up in the photos I took, though - it looks better in the photo I posted than it did in hand.

 

I usually paint all MP/3P faces in a metallic silver if they had it on the original toy— and if I intend to keep them. If I’m on the fence about a figure I will leave it unmodified for sale potential. I’ve had best luck with one of the lighter Vallejo metal colors, but offhand I don’t remember the name of it.

 

Bit of a scale comparison with other MPs. Trailbreaker fits in very nicely!

 

My wife has demanded that I do a series of Sears Glamour Studio style portraits

 

Brilliant!! I predict this will become an all-time classic series and will be seen in Google searches for years to come.

 

That's slightly terrifying,  

 

I VERY sincerely anticipate ever single shot.

 

Your wife friggin rules! She may stay  
Looking forward to the next entries in this series.

 

Thank you my friends, she's been after me for awhile to use her ideas, I guess I have to begrudgingly admit she was right  

 

She truly is. Now, if you can pull this off with Megatron and Starscream….

 

You are married. Of course the wife is always right.

That is an awesome idea and pulling it off!

 

Wait, wait, wait. Are you SURE she meant photos of your toys and not her and your family? Just doin’ you a solid bro. I’d take some family pics just to be safe.

 

Optimus vs. Megatron Part II

 

What a sharp face is that customised?

 

Only slightly: I repainted the mouth, and I sanded down the back of the face so that it fit more snugly in the helmet. Lighting from above gives the nose a sharper look, so that's probably part of it.

 

Looks great. How did you repaint the mouth?

 

I gently rubbed away any of the old mouth that wasn’t in the right place with a cocktail stick and paint thinner (I think -it might have been diluted isopropyl; it’s been ages). That took a while because rubbing too hard would take away the white/grey too. Then I used a very thin brush to apply some dark grey (black with a dot of white mixed in) between the lips, using a cocktail stick to wipe away any that went over. (I also had some damp kitchen roll to hand to wipe the mouth away if it went wrong - it took a couple of tries as I recall.)

My aim was to get it to look like the reveal photos and videos - it’s a shame they painted a small smile on the final version, often not in the right place!