The vehicle mode is a little underwhelming, but this is one of my favorite Ultra Magnus toys ever made by Hasbro. Shame that he shipped looking like a blue lego block. Inspired by a few people's customs, I did a little detailing of my own. Not enough to noticably help the vehicle mode, however. Note that Elmer's paint pens were the primary coloring agent. They stick nicely to plastic, but even when thinned don't go on factory smooth. I choose to interpret that as battle wear. Now if one of you had a secret for how to get that to look smoother, I could run a junkion-style repair on him. Some other time.
Nice! You would have to buy some 1500 - 2000 grit sandpaper and sand the paint apps you did down (light pressure to smooth out). Then paint again. If you do this, each new paint layer will go down smoother and smoother...almost like future floor polish does.
Awesome suggestion, guys. I'll totally try this tonight, and probably on a few other projects. The goal obviously isn't to strip the paint, so how much pressure for how long is about right? Or is there a look I'm going for between coats?
Well, with 1500 grit you don't have to apply much pressure and even if you did, it's such a high grit that it would take a bit of time before you started to eat through your paint. I'd say a total of a minute to do the whole figure would be enough between layers (maybe even a tad less). If you can, try to practice on a piece of scrap plastic. That helps. Also, it doesn't really show that you need to do that to your UM, he looks fine by the pics
The main thing that's turned me off from this figure is the complete lack of white. Just a suggestion, but yours looks good as-is.
