Lockdowns got me bustin' open $150 toys and fixing them. Stressful but unexplainably better.

 

Part of me wonders if someone at Hasbro got Energon Ironhide confused with Cybertron Hotshot and ended up creating a weird mix of the two.

 

They still have 5 Megatrons for 5 bucks each

 

If i were you I'd buy them all then you could keep them for customizing or sell them for like 20$ a piece

 

My find of today.. I had zero interest in this figure, but for 5$... why not.



For your question, I started doing custom last year, and Siege has been my canvas.

Here's a few examples (the biggest project I did: that Redwing started off being Starscream) here below.. I've been using Tamiya paint (acrylic) and getting really amazing results. Got some basics paintbrushes from a dollar store, but eventually got some Tamiya brushes for precision. It does take a bit of time and patience but the results are simply worth it.

 

Hasbro Primes! by ricemaster76, on Flickr

 

The seeker mold

 

that's hand painted? TEACH ME

 

Optimus and Sideswipe ready to Roll Out  
Been wanting to try toy photography, just love siege Optimus.
Any thought or critics are very welcome.

PS: Oh first time joining, been looking at great Photo here. Finally Jump in and try it my self  

 

Welcome to the boards! It's a great photo

 

Thx  , not really confident posting here. lots of great post here.

 

Be confident posting here that's a great photo

 

really appreciate those words. Will try my best  

 

Welcome, and it's a great photo! For what ever it's worth, don't worry about what others may think of the photos - just do it for the fun and enjoyment. That will come through regardless  

 

Hey Thx  . Still playing with the background, also my lighting still need improvement.

 

If you haven't "played" with modern acrylic paints of decent quality, you'll be amazed.

When I considered painting some details, I remembered my experience from 40+ years ago using Testor brand, and I was very afraid to even try as I remember the mess they were, how thick and just horrible to work with, slow to dry, and would glop a lot.

Then I came across a "hobby shop " stall at a "flea market" and talked for a few minutes with the guy. He stated that while he hadn't done any such paint work with TFs, he knew of someone that did, and his store carried just about only Tamiya paint due to his own experience of many years, and this friend had tried and tested and been very happy with the results, so he did recommend it very highly.

My experience is that it's a very liquid and opaque paint... it really covers very well, dries very fast (about 10-15 minutes for a proper thin layer, and then 24 hours to really be 100% cured), and cleans up easily. The only colour that gave me grief is white, as for some reason it's much thicker. Note that it can be diluted with regular alcohol (50%) very easily, and mixing the colours works very well.

I've made a black and a silver wash simply by having a tiny bottle that I add half of it with alcohol, then a few drops of colour (black or silver) and mix it well.

Depending on what you're painting, a larger brush makes it easy to spread across large areas, and then fine brushes for the details.

It really is a case of taking your time and having a steady hand.

Note that I'd do a large area one night, then another area the next night... then would recheck to ensure that I didn't miss anything, and if yes, do retouches as needed. The most important thing was to not put heavy coats. I'd grab a good load of paint, and start in an area and "pull" the paint to cover as much as I could. The wonderful thing about this paint is that it mixes well together, wet with dry, once all dry, you can't see any difference due to layers, etc. I redid the tip of the plane (that are red in this image) to make them silver (and much better) and it came out perfect.

The paint itself, with proper thin layer does end up "flattening" itself (so no brush marks) .



The gun metal is kinda fun to do and I take different approaches to do it, depending on the final look I'm aiming for.

Darker look,
1) Full black first, then silver over it, which I let dry half way then wipe gently with a non fibrous paper towel or such.
2) full black first, then silver wash.

Example of 1) with Sideswipe's gun:


Brighter look, just reversed the back and silver for a brighter
3) Full silver then black which is wipe after a few moments
4) full silver with black wash.

Example of 4) with Moojnir :



Note that washes can do used two ways.

1) once your primary colour is really dry, you simply paint all over your part with the wash... let it dry as much as you want to balance the effect that you're aiming for, then wipe dry with lint free paper or cloth.

2) get the brush loaded with the wash, and then touch the details and the wash will "leak" and fill the gaps/lines of the details. Again, wipe dry as/if needed... (the OP trailer images on my previous post, is a great example of that approach)

 

Welcome!

 

Astrotrain looks great. His design is based on his G1 cartoon model.

In the fact, Astrotrain is actually Voyager class, not leader class like TR Sixshot.

 

A scene from the IDW Doubledealer spotlight

 

Sixgun, Sixgun, you're mah Sixgun; and you-can-give-it-to-me-when-ah-need-to-come-a-long

It is the year 1986...
...the Channel Tunnel is announced, cementing Britain's warm relationship with Europe forever...
... In the USA the senate makes the remarkable decision that genocide should probably be illegal...
... and in the Transformers, guns are taking on a life of their own...



Yeah, I don't have a Metroplex. I've never been all that enamoured with how it turned out - a nice big robot to be sure, but very lacklustre on the alt modes. Less a city, more a fella splaying his legs out like a slob. That's just not on. But Sixgun, ah well, that's a different story altogether.

I had completely forgotten that Sixgun appears in the G1 cartoon, voiced by The Brain himself, Maurice LaMarche, and while it is hardly a standout moment from a not-especially great episode, it's nice when minor characters get even a brief moment in the sun. He accuses Sky Lynx of being dirty rotten thieving scum, incidentally, which you'd think would be taken rather seriously when you're a cop made entirely out of guns.

What I do remember was seeing a friend with a Metroplex, and while the main toy was interesting enough, it was the ability to combine all the guns into a whole separate robot that caught my attention. I loved it, despite the rather clumpy look of the thing. Yeah, once again my love of small guys partnered with large vehicles and bases comes into play. I'm a simple soul. And if you ever tire of having a literal Magnum PI wander around, you can just break him up and give your other bots a bit of extra firepower.



Step forward Siege Sixgun, who does... exactly the same, only more so. As a Weaponiser, Sixgun doesn't transform like the rest of his brethren, but rather splits apart into a bunch of accessories and is then recombined into an alt mode. Of the three Weaponisers, Sixgun sits somewhere in the middle. Brunt manages to come off best, with a mostly-coherent alt mode and a startling Cylon-esque robot mode, and Cog works fine as a robot but isn't much cop turning into what I can only describe as A Sort Of Thing On Wheels. Sixgun is a rather blocky and ungainly flying thingamajig, not exactly noteworthy but serviceable enough in its own right. The big square lump underneath is somewhat unsightly, but not a deal-breaker. And of course, the real fun starts when you get a little creative.

If you only ever use the Weaponisers as robots or vehicles, that'd be fine, but the real joy comes in taking them apart. Just like his G1 forefather, Siege Sixgun is literally made of guns, but unlike the G1 bot, there isn't a bit of Metroplex's kibble in the middle for them to hang from. Rather, the torso becomes a sort of shield, the hips can be a giant fist or a four-barrelled organ gun, while the arms become hover turbines. The rest is guns. Guns, guns, guns. It's a great way to show off just how deep War for Cybertron goes with the weapon compatibility - every joint works on a 5mm peg or hole, and almost every single pointy bit is topped with a 3mm nub to attach a blast effect. Hell, even the hip joints can have blast effects on the end, so even they count as weird-looking gun barrels. The sheer number of potential gun ports is hilariously vast.

It would be a disservice, too, to only use the pieces individually. Much more fun can be had finding new and inventive ways to combine the various weapons. Sixgun's legs are probably my favourite accessories so far, due to their fabulous adaptability. Use them facing forwards, backwards, with the toe up or down, with extra barrels jammed in one end or the other, or angle the knee downwards to make a giant energon tap. You know, be creative. And if I could get my hands on an Ironworks, you can bet that Sixgun and his Weaponiser friends will be mixing things up by getting their own pieces in the mix.

It's nice that Sixgun is pretty free and clear from Metroplex's shadow. You can still match the two together, if you want, but it's hardly necessary. The little guy has grown up, he's moved on, he's meeting new people and helping them out. With murdering. Because he's guns, just guns.