Combiner Wars Strafe paint scraping

[WereDragon EX]

Not sure how prevalent this issue is, since I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere else, but some of my friends have noted that the paint on some parts of their Combiner Wars Strafe, namely the peg where Scrounge attaches (since the hole on the bottom of Scrounge scrapes against the peg) and the raised area of the small wings (which make scrape against the Strafe's sides when the wings are folded back for robot and combiner arm modes), will scrape off through normal use of the figure.

Clearly this is somewhat of an annoyance, since it's never good for a paintjob when a painted surface has to scrape against another surface to facilitate play. Since I haven't seen anyone else complain about this issue in the wider fandom, I was curious to know if anyone else has faced this problem. Of course, as Strafe only comes in a boxset, he's not an easy figure to replace or kitbash, etc.

Regarding fixes, I know that Ulthuan Grey from Citadel paints is an almost perfect color match for the affected areas on Strafe that I mentioned. Though of course, while simply repainting those parts for my friends and adding a layer of Future as a topcoat is easy, how do I make sure the fix actually lasts and won't just come off again the next time one of those friends fiddles with the figure? Any help on this would be appreciated.

[WereDragon EX]

Alright, after some trial and error and brain wracking, I managed to fix the paint scraping issues my friends had with Strafe.

For the small wings, note where the paint scrapes when it happens, and then sand down those areas with sandpaper. Sand down enough so that those points where the paint scraped against Strafe's body barely or no longer touch Strafe's body when you fold the wings in for combiner arm mode. You may wind up removing a little bit more paint with the sandpaper than was initially scraped off through normal play of the figure, but that's fine, since you'll repaint the area. As mentioned, Ulthuan Grey from Citadel paints is a good color match. Apply the paint via dry brushing so that the applied paint isn't too thick and to avoid obvious brushstrokes. After the paint dries, paint over a layer of Future floor polish as a topcoat.

For the peg on which Scrounge attaches to Strafe, repaint any area where the original factory applied paint has previously scraped off. Apply a thin coat of superglue onto the peg. This creates a hard topcoat that will protect the paint from scraping against the front surface of the hole on Scrounge's underside (which folds down to form Scrounge's crotch in robot mode). For Scrounge, separate his top and bottom halves and pop the pin connecting his abdomen to his crotch and legs. Sand down the area on the top of the crotch, which is the part that directly scrapes against Strafe's peg when you connect Scrounge in vehicle mode to Strafe. This is both for the hole to accommodate the peg being slightly larger than before (because of the superglue applied to it), and to ensure that less surface area at the front of the hole scrapes against Strafe's peg when Scrounge is connected. Try not to sand off too much, or else Scrounge's connection to Strafe will become very loose. Once you're done, put Scrounge back together. If you sanded off too much material, apply layers of Future floor polish to the sides of the hole until the connection with Strafe is tight enough so Scrounge won't just fall off if you look at him funny, yet loose enough that you can remove Scrounge from Strafe without too much resistance.

Hope this helps someone with these problems. Haven't had any issues with paint scraping since I tried these fixes.

[WereDragon EX]

As a sidenote, if you newly bought a Computron set, it's probably better to do that fix for Strafe's peg preemptively and apply the thin coat of super glue first before using the peg to affix Scrounge to Computron. That way, you preserve the original paint, which definitely affixed better to the peg than any repainting you might have to do if said original paint ever gets scraped off. Prevention is better than the cure, in this case. One way to make sure the glue is spread evenly over the surface of the peg is to apply a small dab of glue to the peg and use a plastic sheet (like plastic cut from an Ultra-Pro card sleeve) to wipe the glue over the peg's surface, so it goes on thinly and evenly.

Another cool thing you can do if you want the sculpted detail on the peg to "pop" is to paint the peg totally black, then quickly wipe the paint off, leaving only black paint in the sculpted lines on the peg. I find it adds definition to the peg, since on some examples of Strafe, that sculpted detail isn't very obvious unless you look closely. You can do that just before applying the superglue to the peg.

[AutobotCBL01]

On my computron strafe hasn't scraped yet its scattershot and the gun I'm having trouble with.

[WereDragon EX]

Originally Posted by AutobotCBL01

On my computron strafe hasn't scraped yet its scattershot and the gun I'm having trouble with.

What's the issue with Scattershot's gun for you?

[Bruticus82]

Great thread giving a good tip. This is what the community is all about!

[WereDragon EX]

Originally Posted by Bruticus82

Great thread giving a good tip. This is what the community is all about!

Thanks for the compliments. I found something that works for me and thought I'd share it in case anyone has the same problem.

As an addendum, if you apply the superglue preemptively to Strafe's peg, you might also want to do the sanding to Scrounge's hole that I mentioned in an earlier post on this thread, simply because the superglue will make the peg slightly wider and it's best to avoid any clearance issues between the peg and the hole.