Started with just getting the silver face back around the eyes and decided not to stop there. Ended up putting silver on the sides of the head, the front wheels, the butt of the ion blaster, waist, thighs, and the back half of the silver stripe on the abdomen. I was skeptical about the mix between metallic blue paint and molded blue parts, so I painted over the blue plastic with some metallic acrylic. As a finishing touch, I gave the middle of the waist a yellow panel to match the hips. Now THAT's just Prime if I do say so myself!
how difficult was it to paint the face and did you have to take the head apart for it? Also this looks absolutely stellar.
Unfortunately I couldn't split the head apart even if I wanted to. The two halves are molded together at the horns, and either way the eyes and faceplate are on the same half. Painting it wasn't hard per se, just very precise when it came to not accidentally painting over the eyes. Any silver residue left on the sides I just painted over with the blue of the helmet. Glad you like how it turned out!
I could be wrong as to whether it's acrylic, but GM17 Metallic Blue Gundam Marker matched with Hasbro's coat surprisingly well once it dried. I wouldn't recommend applying it straight form the pen though, as metallic Gundam Markers usually contain thinner that can easily eat through plastic, so what I did was push some paint onto a palette, which makes the thinner stick to the bottom and the rest of the paint safe to apply by brush. The silver bits were done with Sakura Pen Touch Silver, and the yellow was a GM08 mixed with MG05 Silver to de-saturate it enough to match the rest of the yellow paint apps.
Now if Hasbro had done this i wouldnt have my gripes so much about the figure. Its a good figure but why the hell would you mold blue plastic and paint that which isnt metallic? that is fudging stupid. But this, this is something i would have been behind. The silver rather than grey is just so sexy. Now all i say you need to make this great is paint that dark grey arm bits and the grey leg bits. If you choose not to go that extra mile i still say what you have done is remarkable and it makes me want to do it too.
Methinks the molding process is to blame. We saw plenty of different production changes in promo shots, most prominently Prime sporting blue biceps, so I have the faint impression that those share the same mold as the painted blue parts. I haven't taken the liberty to purposely scratch or remove the paint myself, but those who did say that the plastic is actually red underneath, which may just prove my theory. Nevertheless, to hear changes like mine managed to win you over is flattering to say the least! Thanks!
Yup, that's not acrylic. It's either lacquer paint or enamel from what I've read, but it's definitely not acrylic.
Makes sense. All I know for sure is that its erasure is pure poison for HasTak plastics so I try to stick with water or acrylic based paint whenever I can
Like what does it do to the plastic exactly? Does it just craze it, make it soft/gummy, or just straight up melt it?
I wish that's all it did. Depending on the dosage of the thinner and the density of the plastic (usually black and dark color plastics are the safest; white, yellow and clear are the most fragile), it immediately turns brittle and starts cracking. I attempted to use it to remove Sharpie off a used LEGO minifig and it practically crumbled to dust. In other words if you wanna use something like GM eraser, make sure you protect the plastic with a clear coat first.
Oh yikes, didn’t know that theres use of breakage in even using the magic eraser! And I just was about to remove some factory paint too. Now I need to find some god-damn clear coat
Love it! Only other thing I did on mine was paint the yellow spots gold (as well as the lights above his chest). It feels more like movie Prime that way.
