Following up from http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/radicons-customs/724903-super-easy-foc-brawl-repaint.html I finally got my hands on Onslaught and Swindle. So here's what Tamiya smoke does to them. I might have overcooked Swindle... The smoke paint doesn't do well on him. His lighter base colour makes the unevenness really stand out, especially on the very detailed parts like his forearms. Also, he wasn't as easy to coat as Brawl was. Had to break out the screwdriver and masking tape to take apart as much of him as I could because of all the grooves in his design, especially his legs. I think I will go over his purple details with a brighter shade. ******************************************************* Onslaught, on the other hand, turned into this sexy beast. I love the darker tone of the blues and greens that came out of the smoking. If Hasbro had made him in these colours he'd be a day 1 purchase for me. Again, the screwdriver had some work to do. The Bruticus head had to come off, and I also took apart his shoulders (2 screws behind) and his entire waist. His legs and head pop apart fairly easily so no problems there. One awesome bonus to the smoking is that his elbow pegs now no longer fall out easily. The extra coating has made them pretty secure. I can pose his arms without them popping off. ******************************************************* Here's the gang so far, with nothing but Tamiya smoke sprayed on them. With some additional touch-ups and new decals they should look pretty good. But already with just this simple mod, I think they are aces over the default Hasbro colours.
The smoke works well for the figures. While I like the idea, I would have liked to see them completely repainted and then smoked.
I am going for the Takara Blastoff so you won't see that from me. Still undecided about which Vortex to get...
Thanks. That's a great thing to keep in mind for figures or even just accessories that could use a little toning down.
I really like how Swindle came out. He might be my favorite of the three. Off to Amazon. Wish I had a weather friendly place to use sprays.
Try to detach as many parts as you can so it's easier to coat the surfaces. The 3 Combaticons I smoked have a lot of black parts so they don't need a lot of masking. Can't say how it'll be for the last 2. Spray in thin layers, 3-6 coats depending on how dark you want them. Tamiya spray dries FAST, like in 2-3 minutes, so it isn't a long process. Go slow, because you don't really realise how dark they can get until the paint dries (see Swindle).
Man this is so awesome, you pulled off something that we all complained about with the hasbro release and its so simple!! Man this is full of win!! Thanks so much for sharing dude!
Nice. A total improvement. I think I'll be following suit when I get mine. I used to do this with Gundam models... you can achieve similar effects with a spray can of flat black, held at a safe distance to just "dust" the parts with a fine mist. The specialized "smoke" spray is probably more reliable though. zmog
Oh these really do look nice, bravo! I see your point, but for customizers without the skills, or even for those who have the skills but don't want to make these (or any other "neon" toys) a priority to put in complete-make-over time, this is a GREAT low-effort, low-failure-rate, highly-effective project. QFT!
Hi, thanks for the great idea, I was linked here from the Military Titans thread and this technique should work as well for their Onslaught as the HasTak Combaticons. This might be a dumb question, but does Tamiya smoke spray paint come in a ready-to-apply aerosol can, as I've only seen the kind you use with a spraygun?
to me swindle looks fine the smoke efect makes it look like he is the show acurate mustard color as apoused to yellow
Tamiya America Item #85071 | TS-71 Smoke - 100ml Spray Can Bam. A spray can about the size of a pop can.
