My very good friend is a huge Transformers fan and I picked up this chess set to customize and give to him. I actually dont know if he likes chess but I'm sure it will be a good addition to his collection anyways. I'm sure some of you have seen the set before since it was released a while ago. I recently purchased it on clearance at Toys R Us for about $12. First picture is what I started with, everything was just black with a heavy dry brush of silver or gold, not very exciting... The rest of the pics are how they look at the moment. The decepticons are basically finished, just some touch up, final detailing, and clear coats remain. I'm still not totally happy with Starscream(Queen) or the Bonecrushers(Rook) but they dont look bad so I can deal. I'm really happy with how the two Barricades turned out, the lettering and logos are all hand painted and turned out much better than I expected. I just started on the Autobots last night. The color schemes and detailing for these guys its taking much longer. Last is a quick shot of Jazz(Bishop) after applying the first layer of gray. As shown here there are about 4hrs of work into this one figure and I'm sure there is just as much more to go. and of course there are the other seven Autobots... Thats about it for now, I'll update when I finish up a few more. Everyone seems to want to see Bumblebee(Knight) so I guess I should do that one soon, lol. Let me know what you think...
I have that same set, picked it up in '07 on clearance and have thought about doing this ever since. Every time I look at the detailed pieces I lose my cool and decide against it. You're more patient than I, great work!
I love chess. I saw it on sale at the TRU website and decided against it...but now...I think you convinced me. It will go great with my Lord of the Rings set, anyways.
I love Chess....it's the thinking mans game. I have this set....I just wish mine looked this good!!....fantastic job
Hey guys, sorry this took so long... I didnt want to bore you guys with countless random updates. The pawns are all finished and clear coated The Decepticons have received their final detailing and they are out in the garage with a fresh coat of clear. Only minor touch up and selective dullcoating left to do. The Autobots are FINALLY done!! By FAR they took the longest, averaging 6hrs per figure. Jazz actually took the longest because each small piece of armor was painted separately. However I think Optimus turned out the best, the colors are a little off but I really like how they look on the board ...and I am NOT repainting these guys! All the fine detailing on the figures is done with a small paint brush or sharpened tooth pick. Someone asked about the paints I used.. the black primer is just a straight acrylic flat black primer. All of the solid base colors are Citadel acrylics and the metallics are testors enamels. The enamels did not agree with the plastic the figures are molded from and would not properly cure unless the area was primed first. The gloss clear coat I am using is Future Acrylic floor wax and will be followed up with model master acrylic flat clear to tone down certain areas of the figures. Overall I tried very hard to be as movie accurate as possible since these are going to a collector but since I did not mold the figures I found many inaccuracies that simply could not be corrected so there is a lot of creative freedoms on the figures. I would have liked to paint Optimus accurately but between the time crunch and my sanity I decided to leave it at two colors. When I wake up in a few hours it will be the Autobots' turn for clear and then basically, everything will be done. Just in time for everything to be properly cured for the big reveal on sunday! I really cant wait to see my friend's reaction when I give him this set. I know he has seen the set before so he had better appreciate the effort it has taken to customize it just for him. I also discovered that he is a member on this forum so watch out guys, there is a slim chance this set will be yours! and for those of you not receiving this set just know that I have considered doing another set for sale but quickly realized that with almost 100hrs into these figures it is honestly not worth it to repaint another set. btw, if some of my paint work looks a little rough, and I will freely admit that it is, remember that none of these figures are over 3 inches tall! and no, I dont need a magnifying glass ...yet.
