I just masked mine off with tape to spray them. I had trouble removing the pins too and didn't want to chance breaking them.

 

Mine were a beast to remove. I'd read they're knurled to the inside but one of mine was knurled to the out and one to the in.
And yes we actually make headlights at work so those are metallized just like a chromed blinker back. The material of these is a polypropylene so even with the metallizing it doesnt shine like the reflectors behind a taillight. But it's waaaaaaaaaay batter and quite close to the thighs IRL.

 

Anyone know what color plastic was used for the thighs? If they're white I'd like to remove the silver paint.

 

The thighs are diecast and quite well coated on top of their silver paint.

 

Exactly what I'm hoping to do myself some day.

 

Nice job.

If it ever arrives, mine's going to look like a shampoo bottle after seeing this.  

Do you airbrush the clear coat or is it a spray can. Not sure I'll ever find the time to try this but it looks excellent.

 

How does one even remove thigh to paint them? There are pins too on them, not just screws.

Anyways, I did used model master chrome silver paint in enamel form. Decided to take out my old cheap testor air brush, and all the parts I could disassemble went very well. Now, the grey bits on the leg, that are pinned, I could not remove no matter how hard I pushed.

Taped the bits in a rush, and wel, total mess, a lot of cleanup on the figure, and I was spraying too much, and got some on the rest of the figure, and well. I was pretty mad with mt.... anyways, removed the paint eventually, and now took my sweet time first dis assembling the legs from the hips, and then taping each like crazy, and redid it after practicing on paper a few times to get much lighter coats. Went so well, that I added silver to the knees (taped it first), then jumped to another figure I had that my silver paint wasn't too great, sever x. Anyways, can't wait to put figure back together tomorrow.

 

This. They are well coated. And by that, I mean they are actually done very well. Sure, they're not white, whatever. The silver is done well and the clear is shiny and deep. The thighs really look good despite not being cartoon accurate. As a result I'm on the fence about painting them white and going through the hassle.

 

Too late to help you now but I trick I recently learned is to use a clear sealant on the edge of masking tape. The post I read was talking about some fancy sealer but I've had good experiences with just using Future polish. One quick coat of that along the masked edge, 10 minutes or so to dry, and then I can paint without leakage.

 

Just got done making this out of a few pieces of styrene

 

Before or after masking?

 

After. The idea is the clear coat fills in any leaks in the masking tape. You still want to do a good job masking because you don't want a major clear coat leak either and you want to lightly brush it on so it's not swimming in it because, again, you don't want a bunch of it leaking in and creating a glossy finish where you don't intend it.
I used this technique when I was repainting the pauldrons from the coronation set that came with KBB thundercracker and it's the first time I've ever gotten perfect lines from masking that I didn't have to clean up afterward.

 

Awesome. So to clarify, you mask off the figure as normal then do a quick light coat of Future over the edge of the mask (presumably coating both the tape and the area to be painted). Allow to dry, then airbrush the colour and then remove the mask? Do you airbrush the future or use a normal brush? Have to give this a go.

 

Thanks. Did you use future floor as protective coat on the whole figure too after finishing? I am thinking of air brushing the whole thing (well, at least the silver parts, and then the whole figure after decals.

 

I've done a LOT of masking. In my personal experience I get great results with 3M painter's tape (blue stuff, you've likely seen it) I've used some other hobby-specific tapes but I like the way the 3M stuff works.

It is important to go over every edge and make sure it's burnished down. Check panels lines, gaps, etc. and use a tool to push the tape into them. Press that edge good so the tape is in there. Sometimes one solid piece of tape won't make a good seal so you've got to cut and use 2 pieces of tape (or multiple) to make a good edge.

 

Just a few more of my metallized feet now with his arkmates

 

I use a normal brush. Future is self leveling so you don't have to worry about brush strokes. I just use a light coat along the edge of the tape: doesn't need to cover the whole area to be painted.

Burnishing the masking tape is of course a good idea but you may need to be careful. If you're going over a painted or stickered area you're probably better off with low tack tape rather than blue painters tape. Also it probably does without saying but if you've painted the area and then want to mask over top of your paint, give it at least a few days to cure. I've peeled up my paint before and had to start from scratch. Not fun.

I've used future on the small pieces I've painted and I go over stickers with it to gloss then up and to protect the sticker and make it look more like it belongs but I've never futured an entire figure before. I've heard of plenty of purple using it in place of a clear coat and they say they get good results. I like how it looks in the places I've used it and I plan on giving downbeat a coat of future after I give him some decals. For a full coat over a large area I wouldn use my airbrush.

 

What is this process, metalized? Is this vacuum chrome or paint?

 

Vacuum. He stated in an earlier post that he works at a place that does it for taillights and stuff.

 

Still waiting on mine. Ordered 1/26/17. Tracking hasn't updated in 18 days. Damn CNY. It's probably buried under a backlog pile.

Someone I know on the boards ordered his same day and has it. Has for a few weeks. Good for him. Just venting. Can't wait to join the discussion.