Beginner's Starter Kit

[CrazySteve]

Hi guys, I'm started to get bored of my Transformers figures and so I want to sell them, but unfortunately they're all loose and some of them are missing certain items like pieces or missiles or whatever, which really means I'd be losing some dough if I sold them on eBay in that condition... So what I would really like to do is simply bring the figures to life. No serious modifications (well maybe just some) just really nice paint details to get rid of the plain gray or whatever plastic. But I don't know where to start, I don't know what materials I need to get to work. Here's an idea of what I think I need

TESTORS acrylic model paint
Creatix Airbrush colors
Paint thinner
Dremel

What I'm trying to do...

Repaint Voyager Megatron silver and get rid of the wing backpack but I don't know what to use to unscrew the pins.

Tear off the the rubber tires of the 07 Prime and replace the tires on the 09 Prime. Although I'm not 100% sure on this as those tires are huge, I'm afraid it might look ugly and not roll so well in his truck mode. Also can't see to take out the 07 Prime's LED cuz that'll be my experiment in case I screw up trying to replace the 09 Prime's LED. Also trying to add magnets to the swords, a dremel and super glued magnets would do the trick right?

Other than those two mods, I'm just trying to repaint Jetfire, Jolt, Longhaul and Soundwave.

So yea, just trying to get a check list of stuff I'd need and maybe some tips and tricks would be nice...

[mswi]

well you came to the right place, theres a lot of great TF customizers here. I've only done a few basic repaints on TF, no extensive mods.
the bdetails in these things are great, if you want to really bring them out, I would just base paint in a flat black and then layering some greys and silvers, by dry brushing darker to lighter, really gives it that real metal look. Then paint in some of the other details. Thats just me, I'm sure some of the other TF customizers will have some more tips for you. good luck

[FREED]

Get some Testor's Gold and Silver Metallic enamel markers for fine and quick detailing. For painting, get Spray paints from Testors, for better metal finishes, go with what the guys here suggest to ya.

[Hotwire]

I've done the ROTF sword mod. It is fairly easy.

1. Find the magnets. Your local hobby shop should have them. You want the ones that are about 1/4 inch across.
2. Pick up some sort of apoxy putty, i use Milliput because that's all my store carries.
3. Take Prime's forearm apart. I recommend doing this one at a time to avoid part confusion. The forearm comes apart pretty easily, but you may need to pry it a bit with a thin flat screwdriver.
4. Remove the sword. Once the arm is apart, you can see how to do this.
5. Mod the sword. To do this, I cut off the shaft that went into the arm. Then drilled a hole all the way through the sword, right where the shaft was. The hole should be just big enough for the magnet to fit.
6. Mix the apoxy putty per it's instructions. Wrap a magnet in the putty and slip it into the hole you drilled. Let dry overnight.
7. Repeat steps 3-6 with the other arm.
8. Now that the putty is dry, sand it smooth.
9. These magnets have poles, so you need to figure out which pole you are dealing with, so test a sword on a magnet placed loosely in the forearm, once you have it right, move to step 10.
10. Mix more putty and set magnet in place in forearm. Test again to make sure the poles are right, or else the arm will repell the sword.
11. After letting the putty dry overnight again, reassemble the arm, and paint to cover the putty.

Hope this helps. Sorry I don't have any pics, but I think I nailed it. Before you ask, the reason I used apoxy instead of super glue is the apoxy completely encases the magnet so it can't pull free. These are VERY strong magnets. One can hold another through a solid inch of wood! Again, hope this helps.

[Hotwire]

Also, pick up some Krylon Camoflauge Ultra-Flat Black. This has Krylon's Fusion technology and will bond to VERY well to plastic. Just let it dry for a week once you have an even coat before you do anything else with it.

[CrazySteve]

Wow those are some good tips. I can't wait to start shopping for these... Thanks for the help guys.

One more question I have though. I've bought several customs on ebay. Some of them were great and the paint wasn't sticky or interfered with the transformation. Some of them rubbed off or felt sticky and couldn't transform or lock into place and had poor articulation due to paint. Is that cuz they bought bad paint instead of the Testors stuff or is it necessary to paint a layer of something over the paint job?

[mampy]

One more question I have though. I've bought several customs on ebay. Some of them were great and the paint wasn't sticky or interfered with the transformation. Some of them rubbed off or felt sticky and couldn't transform or lock into place and had poor articulation due to paint. Is that cuz they bought bad paint instead of the Testors stuff or is it necessary to paint a layer of something over the paint job?

Sticky/easily removed paint can be caused by a lot of things, like:
- Enamel paints on soft, rubbery plastic parts
- Paint coats are too thick (not properly thinned) or not properly layered.
- Used cheap, weak paints like acrylics meant for paper, etc.
- Surface of the figure wasn't properly prepped for painting (forgot to wash in soap, sand, use primer, etc.)

I also recommend reading through our tutorial section for more info :)