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WFC Optimus Prime with Scratchbuilt Axe

by Mykltron » Wed Jun 15, 2011 8:22 pm

Motto: "If I win again I'm still the champion. If you win HAH! that's just impossible.

Weapon: tea cup."

When I watched first saw the trailer for the game War For Cybertron I immediately noticed how battered Optimus Prime looked. When I got the toy it almost seemed a travesty to turn this bright, shiny toy with it's lightly sparkling blue and red into a damaged war machine with chipped paint everywhere. Some people like their figures to look pristine, new and perfect but I prefer a touch of realism on my customs and I used just about every trick I know to make this look as close to what I see in the trailer as possible:

fine detailing with a tiny brush
drybrushing
paint chipping
washes
colour blending to get the glow effect
decals (for the faction symbles)
drilling a hole in the barrel of the gun (thanks to Vegetacron for the idea)
scratchbuildling an axe from... can you guess? Like any other custom figure of mine needing extra parts I used cuttings from an ice cream tub. This time, however, I branched out and used a strawberry punnet as well because I needed transparent plastic for the blade. For the shaft I used parts of missiles and a leftover cog from DotM Ratchet's Mechtech weapon.

As well as a time consuming and challenging paint job and scratchbuild I used a variety of techniques for the photoshoot such as using a bright light (my 300 lumen bicycle light) and a diffuser (a piece of paper held over the light) so give bright ambient light. Different techniques allowed me to make the axe appear to glow in some shots and bring out the crackle details in others. The result: my best custom so far and my best photogallery yet.
























These details are hand painted.



There are LOADS more pictures of him here so be sure to take a look. Of course, there are also plenty of my other customs to be seen if you follow the link in my sig.

Thanks for looking!

Why not take a look at My TF Repaints? Updated 31st May

TFs for sale (TFA, Classics, Movie, PCC)

Re: WFC Optimus Prime with Scratchbuilt Axe

by Skyfire77 » Wed Jun 15, 2011 10:08 pm

Motto: "Science can't move forward without heaps!"

Weapon: Particle Beam Cannon

Damn. Just... damn.



That ax is the coolest thing I've seen in forever, and that paint job! I can practically smell burnt, rusty metal through my screen. I'm impressed and jealous.

Re: WFC Optimus Prime with Scratchbuilt Axe

by paul053 » Thu Jun 16, 2011 9:10 am

My TF collection, review, and custom site

Re: WFC Optimus Prime with Scratchbuilt Axe

by Mykltron » Fri Jun 17, 2011 6:03 pm

Motto: "If I win again I'm still the champion. If you win HAH! that's just impossible.

Weapon: tea cup."

Why not take a look at My TF Repaints? Updated 31st May

TFs for sale (TFA, Classics, Movie, PCC)

Transtopia Masterclass - War For Cybertron Optimus Prime

by Blurrz » Sat Jun 18, 2011 3:45 pm

Motto: "The Wreckers. Weird brain bullets. Impossible odds... It doesn't get much better than this."

Weapon: Sniper Rifle

dA/tA/twitter/tumblr

Re: WFC Optimus Prime with Scratchbuilt Axe

by starwarrior1227 » Sat Jun 18, 2011 3:52 pm

Motto: "''How you use that knowledge is the other half of the battle.''"

Weapon: Twin Concussion Blasters

how did you chip the paint without harming the plastic!?

image from: " blast-the-music "

LOL.

"the only opinions that count are the ones that will be fought for in battle"

Re: Transtopia Masterclass - War For Cybertron Optimus Prime

by Mykltron » Sat Jun 18, 2011 5:14 pm

Motto: "If I win again I'm still the champion. If you win HAH! that's just impossible.

Weapon: tea cup."

Blurrz wrote:Front page, well deserved ^_^

Thanks! That was a nice surprise! I didn't think I'd ever get spotlighted, especially after the last one said about how Transtopia looks for original and unusual ideas, which I don't have. I just take figures and make them look more real rather than repurposing figures.

starwarrior1227 wrote:how did you chip the paint without harming the plastic!?

I probably didn't. I scratched the paint off most corners with a blade and then attacked him with a nailfile. That's why there are scratches there. Finally I retouched the chips with metallic drybrushing.

Here I am, giving all my secrets away. I should start charging.

Why not take a look at My TF Repaints? Updated 31st May

TFs for sale (TFA, Classics, Movie, PCC)

Re: WFC Optimus Prime with Scratchbuilt Axe

by vegetacron » Sat Jun 18, 2011 6:02 pm

Weapon: Spinning Augers

Only 2 things set this apart from a truly "master class' rating:

1.) The Eyes - They could have been done alot differently. Either by using a brighter blue, or by adding some depth to them by using 3 different hues of blue

2.) Drilled Holes - if you could have drilled out the holes for the 2 exhausts and the gun barrel and then painted the insides. Also, you could have made the figure truly unique by adding gun barrel holes to the exhaust. For example:


Don't take this as flamming, as this is far, far from it. The piece you have here is extremely nice and by no means is it bad, i just wanted to give you that extra mile of advice to keep in mind for your next project.

EDIT: 3.) Also adding a brown or flesh colored ink wash to the tips of the exhaust would have been pretty wicked too.

Also, if you're not a fan of it, you may want to check out Games Workshops' Warhammer 40k Miniature line and all the media and articles out there on how they paint their miniatures, as the same rules kind of apply to modding your Transformer toys. They put out a magazine called "White Dwarf" that has some really nice painting articles in it.

Re: WFC Optimus Prime with Scratchbuilt Axe

by f-primus-unicron » Sat Jun 18, 2011 6:23 pm

Motto: ""Destruction its the only true way to wisdom""

Weapon: Dark Saber Sword

Re: WFC Optimus Prime with Scratchbuilt Axe

by craggy » Sat Jun 18, 2011 6:54 pm