The Energon Pub

I have been a fan of transformers since 1988-1989 and so on. As long as i have been a fan and collected, I never did a kitbash before. I was wondering if some of you can give me some tips on what type of paint brand, brushes, tools etc. I should use. Should i apply a base coat of paint first or what. Thanks in advance for the info.

ive not done a kitbash myself as of yet.. but ive got some experiance with gamesworkshop conversions... some if not most of the principals are the same..

http://www.jinsaotomesdangeroustoys.com/guides.html

Jin Saotome is fantastic at what he does in my opinion.. i found alot of his how-to guides and such very helpful, such as what tools i might need.. how to do certain mods, what paints to use etc... but as he well says.. his guides arent gospel.. just a guide..

and if theres anything Jin doesnt cover... just ask around here theres always someone with some kind of answer.

did you have a particular kitbash in mind? or just wanting to give it a go?

zero-kaiser wrote:ive not done a kitbash myself as of yet.. but ive got some experiance with gamesworkshop conversions... some if not most of the principals are the same..

http://www.jinsaotomesdangeroustoys.com/guides.html

Jin Saotome is fantastic at what he does in my opinion.. i found alot of his how-to guides and such very helpful, such as what tools i might need.. how to do certain mods, what paints to use etc... but as he well says.. his guides arent gospel.. just a guide..

and if theres anything Jin doesnt cover... just ask around here theres always someone with some kind of answer.

did you have a particular kitbash in mind? or just wanting to give it a go?

Kind of both, I want to give it a go, And i was thinking of turning 1 of my 2 voyager movie starscreams into sunstorm.

oooh Sunstorm? ...cant say ive seen movie a Starscream repainted like that yet should be good!!..

the best advice i could perhaps give would be with regards to the paint application.. you asked about what brand of paint earlier? alot of people use alot of different brands.. some of the more popular ones seem to be games workshops citadel range... they do a tonne of different colours and inks and things, not overly expensive either, last time i checked anyway.. another ive heard alot about is Tamiya.. though ive yet to use it myself.. (come back in a week and i will have,. lol) but i know Tamiya makes model kits to, so it would make sense that their paints are well suited for this.

brushes, depends if your intending to do alot of painting.. the brushes ive got ive had about 6 or 7 years now, they cost a couple of pounds each when i first picked them up, but theyve more than paid for themselves by now.. think they were either from hobby craft or games workshop... not sure..

as for base coats, it would depend on the paint job.. for Sunstorm (being quite a bright orange if i recall) id probably say yes for a base coat.. personally the paints ive used and the things ive painted in the past... ive rarely used a base coat... just make sure the paints nice and even.. if you decide to use a base coat on starscream, you could do it either with or without taking him apart.. again its a case of each to their own, some people do take figures apart before painting, some dont.. if you decide you do want to take starscream apart to paint, then youll need tools, check Jin's site out on the link i posted last for a rough guide on what he uses, ive not done anything more than taking a couple of screws out so far.. lol

ive yet to paint a transformer.. but i can honestly say from what experiance i have with model painting.. id probibally take any obstructive or detailed parts off. then i can really pay attention to them..

i think that covers everything so far.. lol.. sorry if this reply seemed abit long winded, just wanted to at least try and cover all the bases but if youve any more questions, dont hesistate to ask..

Thanks a lot for all the info. It was all helpful. One more thing. What kind of tools do you take it apart with?

ahh dont mention it, like i said, if you dont know, ask and as for tools it entirely depends what needs taking apart dude..

a phillips head screwdriver works fine on all screws ive come across.. but pins can be a lil tricky... pins more often than not tend to be found in hinges.. you should be able to see afew on starscream infact... in robot mode on the upper body where the chest automorphs..

ive never done it myself.. and i could be wrong, but i understand that to remove said pins.. you need a small hammer and another pin, or a nail thats had its point flattened.. something the same diameter of the pin your removing.. the tricky bit is working out which end of the pin your removing to start tapping at, one end is plain where as the other end has a cross hatching pattern on it... i think its the plain end you need to work on to remove the pin but im not certain on that :s lol..

just remember if you take pins out to paint the figure, paint that gets in the holes can make it harder to get the pin back in...

personally.. unless removing a pin is crucial to a mod or repaint.. i wouldnt do it, mostly for fear i wouldnt be able to get it back in.. lol

Thanks. Now that i think about it, I dont think i will be removing any pins.

no worries megatron-ron.. if thats the case then i think you just saved yourself half a job

Another good source of paint for TFs is Krylon Fusion spray paints.

These are available at most hardware stores, Wal mart etc.

They offer excellent coverage and (obviously) don't have any brush strokes.

Just be careful to mask off the bits you don't wish to spray, and any rubber parts (the Krylon Paint does NOT stick to rubberized parts, like Movie Screamer's claws or wheels).

As for base coating, that depends a lot on the look you are going for, and if you need to normalize any paint (if you combined parts from a green and red figure, you may want to primer with a gray, for example).

If you are going for a "real world" look, painting with flat black and drybrushing will give a nice weathered feel.

If you want a "factory fresh" look, drybrushing is NOT your best bet. Spray paints and airbrushes work best for that look IMO. Jin offers some great tips for using brushes and avoiding brush strokes. His tutorials are very good for the beginner.

Another place for tutorials is over at figurerealm:
http://www.figurerealm.com/customtutorial.php

I'm a fan of the Tamiya acrylics, but have used Games workshop and other paints as well.

Some people swear by enamels. I've used them, and they give a great factory fresh look. Personally, I find them harder to work with. If you are new to painting start with Acrylics, they are water soluble which means they thin and clean up with water. Once you have a better feel for painting then venture into enamels.

I would also start by repainting a cheap figure you don't care about before starting with one you do like. Dollar store KO transformers are a good place to start.

Good luck and happy customizing.