I decided to not call these "classics ___" anymore, after realizing that the classics line has an aesthetic of its own that energon and cybertron repaints will just never have. anyway, part 1 was gears, as seen in this thread http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/showthread.php?t=129513&highlight=gears+minibots swerve definitely didn't turn out as well, I think mostly because I couldn't find tamiya paint in a good enough color. the testors acrylic that I used was a crimson that goes on really thick, which is good, but is really fragile and scratches right off, which is bad. so I had to clear coat him, which I really hate doing. this is probably the minibot I was most worried about, since the mold just barely works, and the maroon is only a close match. so what do you all think--does it work?
Looks good--------Except, why did you paint the center of the hood and windshield, white. I think it would look better if it was all one color. As for the paint, why not mix your own. Get some extra jars (even old, plastic, 35mm film canisters will work, you just can't see what color it is) and add small amounts until you get the color you want. Thats what I did with my Swindle and the color came out almost exactly the same as G1. I look forward to your next, minibot.
I did the legs the way I did because TECHNICALLY, the original bot has white as a main color of the legs, even though the front of the truck is red. it was basically a compromise I made to get both the aesthetic of the alt and bot modes. I really would like to be able to mix my paints more, and your swindle does look awesome. the problem is I can only pick up paint once a year when I visit my dad in florida, since he lives around the corner from a great hobby shop. I'm in the mountains of western mass, and there's not a store to be found that has GOOD paint, nor are there any easily accessible ones towards the east. I have to be real careful how much paint I use on things to make sure that I have enough for future projects.
Sometimes the new toy that is being used, doesn't always have the ability to have the same colors at all the same places, but as long as the same colors are used for the primary colors, the origonal character can still be achieved. As always, YOU have to be happy with it but IMO you could just tilt the legs, outward, and let the interior white show but still have the hood all one color. Or maybe make a stripe down the middle but the window and the rotating joints are too much white. You have plenty of white showing in bot mode to look like Swerve even if the legs are not white. You don't have to mix a large amount of paint unless your planning on doing more repaints of the same character. But sometimes, it ends up being a larger amount when you have to keep adding different amounts because you can't get the color just right. (I'm guessing you don't do much online shopping for supplies) Your doing a great job. Don't let my opinons discourage you. It always takes more typing to suggest changes than it does to say "good job" so it seems like people don't like it.
yeah, with the shipping, paints online end up being a bundle, and I like being able to see it in the store to gauge the color. I really appreciate your criticisms, because it makes me have to expand my thinking. I wish I had sent you a wip, because I like the idea of just doing the insides of swerve's legs white. oh well. I'm sitting here looking at your powerglide in your sig, and warpath, both of whom I was going to paint the same color as swerve, as that's all I have that isn't shocking bright red. any specific suggestions for powerglide? and do you spray your paint on or do it by hand?
Most of my painting is done by hand. Someone made the comment about Powerglide (in the origonal thread that he was shown) that "it looked like he was diecast" because of the way the gloss paint looked. Powerglide is just red Tamiya paint. He is the only one that I didn't mix flat and gloss to get a semigloss finish. The color you used for Swerve would work okay for Warpath. I use mostly Tamiya paints but a few areas get enamel on occasion. I stopped using enamel because certain plastic mixes won't let the paint dry and it does flake off easily, but certain colors of acrylic flake off too(it might have been the plastic). (I don't know how well the enamel will work with the shoulders and biceps of Warpath/Kickback). I started dyeing some and then painting over the dye just so the joints would be a different color than the origonal. (Vortex/Stormcloud I just did) The ones that I have airbrushed have had small spots of overspray were it was hard to mask off. I don't like to dissassemble them if I made any modifications that are held together with glue. I also had to use gloss paint and less thinner since the thinner seemed to flatten out the finish. I am going to try a laquer overcoat of semigloss on my next project to seal it in and eliminate the mixing of paints for the semigloss look. (does anyone know if laquer will harden on the same plastic mixes that enamels won't?) You could ask Superquad7 (or others)for more paint tips though since he seems to do alot of repaints. I actually like the modifying process more and then I tend to slow down on enthusiasum (<spell check?) during the paint process even though the character comes out with the paint usually. I hope this was helpfull and not more confusing.
