Hey guys. I am working on getting paint off a g1 Megatron that has a broken arm and head, which I have replacement pieces coming in for. Who ever owned this last painted basically the whole thing in purple paint. I have been using 90% isopropyl alcohol and q tips or toothbrush to get a lot of the paint off, but I am having issues getting it out of the small nooks and crannies. I figured this was the best forum to ask about how to get all that paint off and try to bring him to his semi former glory. Any tips or tricks would be most appreciated! Thanks guys!
I've used purple power to remove paint before. I'm pretty sure your chrome is shot, though. You'll either need to paint those parts silver, or try to rechrome them which is no trivial task. If you do decide to rechrome them, alclad is probably your best bet. Nothing will match his original chrome, though, so you'll need to do the same to your replacement parts. Honestly at this point, I'd just try to find another Megatron in better condition but that's only if the chrome is important to you.
No Idea on how to get the paint off, any method will take the chrome with it. For chrome restoration. Take one of the liquid chrome refills and use it to airbrush the chrome back on.
I figured the chrome was toast, I just want to get all that purple paint off. I'll try the purple power. And I'll try the liquid chrome once I get it good and clean. Should I try soaking it in alcohol? I know the chrome will come off, but will it ruin the plastic?
There are serious disadvantages to Molotow. It takes ~two months to fully cure to the point you can handle it without destroying its shine and even then I feel like it's a bit dodgy. Any sort of clear coat dulls the chrome look (even after the two months), though alclad's clear coat seems to have the best results. It doesn't have the same look as the original chrome - I tried patching one of my Megatrons with Molotow and it wasn't even close. I would say that a better approach is to spray him a glossy black (the glossier, the better) then hit him with Alclad chrome. After that, use Alclad's clear coat (making sure to follow Alclad's directions for curing times). Because Alclad is slightly transparent chrome over black, it should look closer to the original. Honestly, though, no solution is as good as the factory chrome. If you can find one in better condition, that would still be your best bet. And the factory chrome can take a clear coat with no problem so you can protect it from wear - with my Megatron figures, the clear coat also helped diminish the appearance of chrome wear by filling in the minor scuffs and adding a high shine all over, though the chrome was in pretty decent condition to begin with so there's that. I wouldn't soak it in alcohol. Not all plastics seem to react unfavorably to alcohol but a lot do - there's a good chance your parts will end up much more brittle. That's why purple power is recommended.
You can also try aluminum HVAC tape for problem spots; it will need burnishing down and marks easy though.
Frankly, it's a lost cause. It will NEVER look even close to new again, unless you get the parts professionally re-chromed. Homegrown chrome fixes aren't going to cut it on all the large flat surfaces he has.
Unless you REALLY want a multi year project... this is going to cost you more to restore than to replace in both time and cash. This megs is pretty bad off. If you get into very carefully soaking with some more aggressive solvents, you might be able to remove more of the paint and strip the chrome and start from scratch, but there is a pretty big risk of melting the plastic You can very gently use a toothpick wrapped with a little paper towel along with isopropyl or other solvent and a lot of patience to get in the nooks and crannies that a soft toothbrush can't get. The original chrome is a lost cause. Actual re-plating is a pain... will likely never look original with non-professional hardware. You can send the parts for professional plating but they usually do not deal with parts this small, it can be expensive and there is no guarantees. But you can get pretty close with a gloss black enamel base and to top of some of Gia chrome via a really good airbrush and a lot of practice. There are a lot of tutorials on youtube if you search for gundam custom paint or something like that but nearly all are in korean or chinese with only a few being subtitled. A good condition Takara Encore edition (even without the orange barrel plug, in box, complete with sticker sheet and instructions), can be found for about $120 USD if you look. I found one at a local ComicCon 2 years ago and saw several at TFCon Reston just this past October. Restoring this one will cost you way more than that just getting a good airbrush to redo the chrome. Let alone getting all the missing parts and the risk of damaging the parts you have just to strip the paint.. Sorry to be so negative... But short of Unicron steppin in and reformatting him, he's dead.
As you noted, it marks very easily. Like seriously so freaking easily. And you'd also have trouble getting it to fit into all the shapes and recesses. It's not impossible but it would take some serious skill with an xacto - enough that I know better than to even try it. But if you had the skill to pull it off (and I cannot stress enough just how difficult it would be and how even the tiniest mistake would completely ruin it) and if you used a decent clear coat to protect it from marking and scuffing... you'd have an ok'ish looking Megatron when you were done. And you'd still lose some detail, particularly the ridges near the back of the slide and the Walther lettering. A crappy "chrome" spray paint would be a better solution than hvac tape. I suppose there is one last option to mention. You could electroplate it with nickel. There are kits you can get where you spray paint your parts with a conductive spray paint, then follow that up by electoplating copper onto the paint, followed by electroplating nickel onto the copper. You have to buff the copper like crazy before you do the nickel and then you have to buff it again when you apply the nickel but it actually comes out pretty good looking when it's done. I've never tried because my wife is allergic to nickel and I figure that the electroplating process would almost certainly put some of it into the air and cause problems for her.
That is my guess as well. Also someone's mother or sister was probably wounder where all their purple nail polish went.
That depends on how well you burnish the tape down, on all counts. "Mistakes" can be burnished into near-nonexistence with a bit of effort (wrinkles, tears and repairs). As for spray paint: one scuff and you end up having to respray it. To repair scuffed tape, simply reburnish it and polish with a soft cloth. But clearcoat isn't going to do much on it other than peel off (tried it already). As for the fine details, I use a burnishing tool made by xacto that helps get into the corners and crevices; not much (if any ) detail is lost. I'm currently using Foil tape on my MP Megatron rebuild as we speak; I just need to do final polishing on it. I saw that vid, and the layer of conductive paint they lay down in it ends up obscuring and softening a lot of the radiator detail. And yeah: my mom had nickel allergies. Boy does it suck!
Yep, sorry, I too do the alcohol thing and it does take loads of time and effort. Total respect for doing this, it is so fulfilling to 'save' another old toy, as an example my (good enough for display for me) G1 Shockwave is held together by a replacement groin made out of whittled bathroom tile! well done dude.
