Do not grieve... soon my legs will be all blue like the cartoon again. WIP - I’ve honestly hated the idea of silver vents on the legs ever since MP-01 made them popular and for some reason every Prime since seems to have to have them. I disliked it on Siege so I started cannibalizing him for parts but then discovered that they remolded all the back parts of the legs. These were stressful to get apart non-destructively but I made it work. You can definitely get all the pins out of Siege but for Earthrise some were never meant to come out again. This is inspired by Shepard Prime: Minor/Repaint: - Seige/Earthrise Hybrid Optimus Prime. I’ll keep updating my findings. He went for the unscrew and pry apart the thighs route. I went for the unpinning route as I wanted to break it down to every component piece. I wanted to attach the legs of Siege but the transformation won’t work as the legs are flipped in orientation to get the wheels to hit the ground. However, if you orient the legs the same was as Siege for truck mode, the angle rockers end up on the outside - Prime's feet can never make a flat stance again unless it's straight up G1 style. The simple conclusion may be to simply paint the interior parts all blue - this was a good learning exercise as I don’t like the idea of masking and overspray - parts separation is always the best way. The ultimate fix would be to replace the entire leg with a 3D print that is smooth and doesn't have any of the kibble detail so that it looks more like G1 cartoon Optimus which is my long-term goal. The legs don't do any transformation in the Earthrise mold - they simply peg together so a 3D print may work well.
Testors modelmasters dark blue is a pretty good match. I just brushed it on the inner lower legs, but it could go in an airbrush if you are so inclined. I didn't mind brushing this one because there is so much detail. Big flat areas are more difficult to brush evenly, but the little details hold the paint really well.
Y'know, untill you mentioned it, I'd forgotten Optimus was all blue because I've gotten so used to the metal plates being some type of silver or grey. Yup, that's why I feared doing it. That you actually did it on ER is absolutely amazing to me, moreso that you did it cleanly. My hats off to your skill. Fantastic job. In hindsight, I wish I'd just done it like my new one. My new one I kept the ER legs and just added the Siege covers since the leg transformation is so different. Because yeah, my Op has incorrect ankle tilt. I've been trying to get up the nerve to cut and switch the feet but I keep getting cold feet. One thing I am happy about keeping the Siege legs is that I get knee twist and thigh twist because ER's knees are locked. You did a far more fantastic and clean job.
