Thanks for the feedback guys. Noted on the Plat Arts Kai stands, will skip those.

Thinking Yetistand is the go (once he makes adapters for these maketoys seekers)... Wonder if he goes a generic connector that'd fit. I'm gonna drop him a msg.

 

Welcome to the club.

 

Wow! That's a nice solution. Thank you very much!

 

Were the paints sprayed or brushed? Acrylic?

 

Acrylic and airbrushed. Most of the Tamiya greys are used for military models so they're a flat finish. Hence the future on top to shine it up a bit .
The hardest part is the eyes as they're not removable. You need a very fine brush and a steady hand.

 

Any recommendations on very fine airbrushes? I'm new to the paint process.

 

I dont use an airbrush for very fine detail. It's just too hard.
I use one of these :
Princeton Select 3750 Synthetic Petite Monogram size 20/0
May be a little bit overkill but it's got a very fine point to it and the bristles are a bit longer than usual, giving a bit more access.
When I was a kid painting miniatures, tiny brushes were 000 or as small as 0000. This brush is the equivalent of twenty "zeros" (the more zeroes the smaller - a 0 brush is pretty big for modelling, a 20/0 is VERY fine)
You can probably pick up a 000 or 0000 from ebay for farily cheap. If it's a one off or a rarely used item you probably don't need anything too fancy.
The other thing with very fine brushes is to look after them, clean them carefully and avoid mashing the point of the brush down, especially when cleaning. To clean, fill a small container with thinner or Isopropyl, tilt it on an angle, and rub the brush agasint the side of the cup, not squish against the bottom - it's scary how quickly the point on one of these fine brushes can get a curl or bend on it, at which point it's a lot harder to paint with.
If you'e just hand painting the face, I'd recommend doing the eyes first with a very fine brush, and then carefully doing the face afterwards. The eye's being a little bit recessed, you should be able to paint the grey over the edges of the eyes without getting it in the socket?
If you want an airbrush, you need the brush itself as well as a compressor or a tine of compressed air. For an occasional touch up, fiune brushes are better. I only use an airbrush when I can remove the part (like the face) and paint it seperately without getting overspray.

 

How does everyone feel about the unpainted c clip on these and Thundercracker nose, Skywarp tail clip? It seems the reasons were cost and laziness but is there a qc reason why we might not want to repaint it. I don't do painting but I keep getting pulled in directions I don't want out of necessity.

 

Yeah, I definitely think I'm going to pick up one of those.

But I'm probably going to want an airbrush, too. It's driving me nuts how similar Zeta's Air Raid and Firefly look in robot mode, and how inaccurate all the silver is. Any model you'd recommend?

 

- Warning - incoming wall of text -

For the airbrush, if your'e just starting out, I personally think almost anything will do. It takes a while to get used to it, and unless you're super religious about disassembling and cleaning up your airbrush every time you use it, there's a reasonable chance you'll end up ruining one with dried out paint or broken seals or the like. MOst of the ones you see on eBay are fine. you want a reasonably fine needle, most come with a .5mm which is okay. Maybe look at a .3mm as well if you are looking to do smaller finer areas (you'll also need an appropriately sized nozzle to match the needle). Go with a Gravity fed over a siphon fed (Gravity has the paint cup on top and you just pour a little paint in as you need it. Siphon has a bottle you attach underneath and you tend to waste more paint filling the bottles - Siphon fed is what you need for big jobs like Cosplay armor or automobile etc)
Something like this is perfectly servicable, and is compatible with pretty much any generic parts, needles nozzles etc if you need to replace bits.
0.3mm Gravity Feed Dual-Action Airbrush Paint Spray Gun Kit with Nozzle T3C0 | eBay
The other big thing is the compressor, if you don't already have one. If you're in the US, I've heard good things about the one they sell at Harbor Frieght? Otherwise look at ebay again and pick one from there. I'd avoid the smaller "cake" or 'Nail" ones that are just small plastic boxes as I've heard they're not very reliable long term and will burn or short out. Go for the more solid. traditional compressor.
Something like this is solid, the only downside is that it lacks an air storage tank so you end up with the motor running constantly when you're using it, which can be a bit loud and annoying.
0.3mm Gravity Feed Dual-Action Airbrush Paint Spray Gun Kit with Nozzle T3C0 | eBay
For an extra $20/$30 you can get pretty much the same model, but with an air storage tank. That means you can turn it on, let it run for a minute or so to fill the tank and then brush in silence. The compressor will crank back on every few minutes for 20-30 seconds to refill the tank. It's a lot better for your peace of mind IMO.
AF 186 Regulator Air Compressor with Holding Tank 3.0L for Spray Gun Air Brush L | eBay
I use one of those compressor's with the tank and my first two airbrushes were pretty identical to the one I linked. I use a slightly more complicated one now, which has a "side feed". Means I can screw in a gravity feed cup for doing small, everyday painting, and then swap it out for a siphon fed bottle for when I'm priming or painting large area's like with a model ship or something.
For paints, Vellejo acrylic is great as are Tamiya. I use Tamiya acrylic because I can buy them from my local hobby shop, and also get them off ebay for a few bucks each. Tamiya can be thined with Isopropyl alcohol (IPA) or distilled water, but I think Vallejo prefers water to thin and doesn't react well to Isopropyl. Both can be cleaned with water or IPA.
If I want something a little more durable, I will sometimes pick up a spray can of Tamiya's Lacquer based paints. They only come in spray cans not bottles and they can only be cleaned and thinned with proper lacquer thinner, but they dry a lot harder and are more resilient. You need to wear a mask though as they're kind of toxic. I just buy a tin of the paint, get a small glass jar with a lid, take a "bendy" straw, tape it over the nozzle of the spray can to funnel the spray into the jar. Wear gloves or use some paper towel as the straw get's really cold! Then allow the jar of paint to sit with the lid off for about 12 hours, so all the propellant outgasses. There's lots of video guides online for "siphoning spray paint"
I normally fill the cup with either IPA or lacquer thinner and blast it through when I finish a painting session and I try and disassemble regulalarly and give everything a really good clean with thinner.

 

Dang, I bought 2 Skycrows and 2 Lightnings (one to open and one to keep MISB). Just saw a refund for one set and no tracking info for the other set...feeling left out :/

 

Im pissed about it but luckily those parts are easy to take off and paint. Matching colors will be the hardest part.

 

The benefit of that joint is that it can be un-clipped with ease and the back panels closed for a kibble free back.

 

And, to be honest, I'd rather it pop off than have a small armature prone to breaking.

 

Agreed, I didn't want to wade into the painting side but that may be unavoidable at some point.

 

Is the nose cone unpainted? From the inside it looks like the same blue plastic as the rest of the jet, so maybe it's painted in that grey colour on the outside and is actually blue underneath?

 

True dat, but I feel like there's probably a middle ground between breakable armature and c-clip that falls apart at the slightest contact.

 

I don't disagree.

 

Oh godammnit, I went ahead and ordered Skycrow and Lightning. I'm just too much of a seeker whore, and wtf would I do with just Meteor by his lonesome?

I will figure a way to paint up Lightning's gray parts silver, since he is my favorite seeker. As for the gray C clip, has anyone tried to cover it with a faction symbol sticker, cut up along the gaps?

 

Lightning arrived, none survived.
Well, besides Downbeat.



Now I'm waiting for Reprolabels