Customizing Q&A Thread

[Benzo]

I want to paint my Onslaught like what Vangelus did in his video review. would Testors model paint work as good as Tamiya paint?

[Nemesis Predaking]

Originally Posted by Benzo

I want to paint my Onslaught like what Vangelus did in his video review. would Testors model paint work as good as Tamiya paint?

Testors is Enamel, Tamiya is acrylic.
Tamiya is easy to clean up, you can just use water, Testors you will need some thinner or brush cleaner.
Enamels are also more durable then acrylics.
So if you just looking to "paint & forget", I'd go with Testors Enamels.

[Scrapper6]

Now that I have my three Coneheads in Classics form and with the abundance at TRU of Generations Dirge I started thinking, what steps would I need to take if I wanted to pick up a second Dirge and turn him into his Movieverse Counterpart Mold-Mate Jetblade?

In other words, take Classics Dirge to make Classics Jetblade.

Has any other customizer made a Classics Jetblade out of Dirge before? What wisdom can you share? Think TRU might have a BOGO sale soon so I can score a free Dirge for customizing purposes?

Here's a more specific question. How much priming would I need to do to take the dark blue of Dirge and hide it under the Bone White of Jetblade?

[strag]

So after the customizing class at TFCon I've been bitten by the bug so to speak and have started working on something with a spare Animated Arcee I had kicking around. I've managed to pull almost all the paint off her, but the silver seems to be really resilient for some reason. Everything else came off really easily in 99% isopropanol, but even after soaking it for two hours I can't make a dent in the silver. Is there something else I should be trying or should I just bust out the sandpaper?

[racerguy76]

strag - Soaking it helps, but the metalics need some elbow grease too. Cotton swabs soaked in iso and rub till you can't rub no more.

Sandpaper is a good way to go as well. It will help the paint adhere to the plastic. But, once you sand one part it's a good idea to sand all the rest. It will give it a more uniform paint finish.


Scapper6 - With a good sand job it shouldn't take more than a couple light coats to cover the blue on dirge. Use a lighter primer gray, and don't put it on too think, you can get white to cover any color. I have more trouble keeping them white after I've painted than I do with coverage. Very light coats are the key. The first coat should look like it has overspray on it from being behind something you've painted. The other nice thing about light coats is you can spray more often. Instead of 2 or 3 heavy coats in an hour I would do 10-20 very light coats in an hour. Every couple of minutes. Practice makes perfect.

[strag]

Another question(s)! I've picked up some Testor's acrylics just to be on the safe side, but I've also accumulated a decent collection of good quality artist's acrylics, is there any reason why they shouldn't work?

Also, is there any special prep that should be done when painting over translucent plastics? I'm planning on painting over the windshield on that Arcee and the plastic seems a lot smoother, should it be scuffed up w/ sandpaper to give the paint something to stick to?

[brr-icy]

scuffing helps a lot in that case, but make sure it is very fine, you don't want to leave it too rough that it shows through.

[chans formers]

@strag: for both questions in your last 2 posts,the grey scuffing pad i gave everyone in the customs class works wonders.

for the silver,dip the pad in iso and then scrub.it should come off super easy.

and yeah, like brr-icy said,you want something for the paint to bite/stick too.too smooth and it'll come off too easy.

[UltraPrimal]

What's the best way to remove paint from clear plastic? If anyone has seen Cyberfire Bumblebee you know the scary orange eyes he has. Fireburst Optimus Prime would have the same scary blazing eyes, but Hasbro painted over the light-piping on the eyes with blue paint. Is there any way to remove the paint without clouding the color or anything?

[Nemesis Predaking]

Originally Posted by UltraPrimal

What's the best way to remove paint from clear plastic? If anyone has seen Cyberfire Bumblebee you know the scary orange eyes he has. Fireburst Optimus Prime would have the same scary blazing eyes, but Hasbro painted over the light-piping on the eyes with blue paint. Is there any way to remove the paint without clouding the color or anything?

Any clear plastic you run a very high risk of damaging the part. Get some iso alcohol & use a qtip to remove to paint. Being that is such a small part that should work just fine.