The Energon Pub

So here is my take on Fall of Cybertron Huffer. I always liked Huffer and wanted to try to do a Cybertronian version of him with this mold. The most important elements of Huffer I wanted to capture were the all silver arms with cylindrical sections that give the feel of smokestacks and of course his bot mode hood. I ended up deciding to go the partsformer route and use magnets to attach his hood in bot mode and in alt mode it turns into an armored weapons platform. I sort of figured Huffer for the support type in a skirmish so I figured giving him an anti-Seeker turret works and added magnets to mount it. Apart from the base FoC Optimus used I also used a modded Generations Black Shadow head, piece from a crossovers Hulk, and bits from a Kreo Battleship set(lets hear it for clearance aisles!) and a CD spindle for the shoulders. Weapon comes from an Iron Man movie figure with a shapeways handle added. Also, lots of little magnets. Airbrushed him with Tamiya primer and then used Model Masters and Testors enamels, topped off with a Reprolabels faction symbol and a coat of Future. All in all, he has some blemishes from mistakes I made, but I am really pleased with him. I have to give thanks to my friend Krenger99 for all his tips and suggestions during this custom's creation that were extremely helpful. Hope you all like him!

















Rest of the pics can be seen here http://s1092.photobucket.com/user/Knightstryke/library/FoC%20Huffer%20Custom

Why does this mold look so good with every other character except Optimus?

Seriously, that's a beautiful custom. I'm surprised how suitable the body is for Huffer, considering the buff and bulky nature of the design.

Honestly, I don't see any blemishes or problems with the paint job; it looks perfect to me. I really like the matte black wheels.

BTW, you said you airbrushed Tamiya primer onto it. Did you "decant" the primer from a can or use liquid primer from a bottle? If it's the latter, how much did you thin it?

I've always been a little apprehensive about AB'ing primer, for fear of it drying on the needle.

SKYWARPED_128 wrote:Why does this mold look so good with every other character except Optimus?

Seriously, that's a beautiful custom. I'm surprised how suitable the body is for Huffer, considering the buff and bulky nature of the design.

Honestly, I don't see any blemishes or problems with the paint job; it looks perfect to me. I really like the matte black wheels.

BTW, you said you airbrushed Tamiya primer onto it. Did you "decant" the primer from a can or use liquid primer from a bottle? If it's the latter, how much did you thin it?

I've always been a little apprehensive about AB'ing primer, for fear of it drying on the needle.

Thanks for the kind words! Glad you like him and I know what you mean about this mold. So many people have done some fantastic customs with it.
As for the primer, I used the liquid primer from a bottle. I am bad about not really measuring and eyeballing things so I can't give you an exact ratio on the thinner, but I basically added just a small amount of primer to my jar and then put in thinner with a dropper until I got it about the same consistency I like paint to be, I would say about 5 drops or so. It took more than the paints I usually use did, but covered well in one coat. It was more difficult to get cleaned out of the airbrush, ended up using pipe cleaners to get the tube in my jar clear, but well worth it for the finish it gave.

KnightStrike wrote:

SKYWARPED_128 wrote:Why does this mold look so good with every other character except Optimus?

Seriously, that's a beautiful custom. I'm surprised how suitable the body is for Huffer, considering the buff and bulky nature of the design.

Honestly, I don't see any blemishes or problems with the paint job; it looks perfect to me. I really like the matte black wheels.

BTW, you said you airbrushed Tamiya primer onto it. Did you "decant" the primer from a can or use liquid primer from a bottle? If it's the latter, how much did you thin it?

I've always been a little apprehensive about AB'ing primer, for fear of it drying on the needle.

Thanks for the kind words! Glad you like him and I know what you mean about this mold. So many people have done some fantastic customs with it.
As for the primer, I used the liquid primer from a bottle. I am bad about not really measuring and eyeballing things so I can't give you an exact ratio on the thinner, but I basically added just a small amount of primer to my jar and then put in thinner with a dropper until I got it about the same consistency I like paint to be, I would say about 5 drops or so. It took more than the paints I usually use did, but covered well in one coat. It was more difficult to get cleaned out of the airbrush, ended up using pipe cleaners to get the tube in my jar clear, but well worth it for the finish it gave.

Thanks for the walkthrough on the primer! Sounds like the primer really does stick just about anything, although it's not exactly good news for the airbrush.

I recommend using Tamiya's airbrush cleaner if you're having trouble cleaning the primer from your AB. It's a little expensive, but works VERY well. On acrylics, just one wipe is all it takes to clean needles, center blocks and nozzles. The fumes are noxious though, so I'd recommend back-flushing in front of a spray booth or doing it outdoors if you have a portable compressor.

Excellent looks really good

Awesome ! Thia is what Hasbro should have used the mold for in the first place. I dont understand why they needed to revisit Optimus when they already had one.

SKYWARPED_128 wrote:

KnightStrike wrote:

SKYWARPED_128 wrote:Why does this mold look so good with every other character except Optimus?

Seriously, that's a beautiful custom. I'm surprised how suitable the body is for Huffer, considering the buff and bulky nature of the design.

Honestly, I don't see any blemishes or problems with the paint job; it looks perfect to me. I really like the matte black wheels.

BTW, you said you airbrushed Tamiya primer onto it. Did you "decant" the primer from a can or use liquid primer from a bottle? If it's the latter, how much did you thin it?

I've always been a little apprehensive about AB'ing primer, for fear of it drying on the needle.

Thanks for the kind words! Glad you like him and I know what you mean about this mold. So many people have done some fantastic customs with it.
As for the primer, I used the liquid primer from a bottle. I am bad about not really measuring and eyeballing things so I can't give you an exact ratio on the thinner, but I basically added just a small amount of primer to my jar and then put in thinner with a dropper until I got it about the same consistency I like paint to be, I would say about 5 drops or so. It took more than the paints I usually use did, but covered well in one coat. It was more difficult to get cleaned out of the airbrush, ended up using pipe cleaners to get the tube in my jar clear, but well worth it for the finish it gave.

Thanks for the walkthrough on the primer! Sounds like the primer really does stick just about anything, although it's not exactly good news for the airbrush.

I recommend using Tamiya's airbrush cleaner if you're having trouble cleaning the primer from your AB. It's a little expensive, but works VERY well. On acrylics, just one wipe is all it takes to clean needles, center blocks and nozzles. The fumes are noxious though, so I'd recommend back-flushing in front of a spray booth or doing it outdoors if you have a portable compressor.

Thanks I may try it out! Since you mentioned the odor I should also say that the Tamiya primer also reeks when airbrushed. It smells like Kilz, the primer used in houses for sealing water spots and other stains, and I ended up deciding to use a respirator even in a well ventilated garage.

Autobot Genocide wrote:Excellent looks really good

Thanks! He was a lot of fun to make

Rated X wrote:Awesome ! Thia is what Hasbro should have used the mold for in the first place. I dont understand why they needed to revisit Optimus when they already had one.

Thanks! This mold seems to work really well for so many other characters. I have a couple other projects lined up next, but I eventually want to do a Pipes with this mold to go alongside Huffer.

I also have to say thanks to Mykltron for pointing me towards using magnets in customs. That opened up a whole new avenue of possibilities for how i wanted to do this project

KnightStrike wrote:

SKYWARPED_128 wrote:

KnightStrike wrote:

SKYWARPED_128 wrote:Why does this mold look so good with every other character except Optimus?

Seriously, that's a beautiful custom. I'm surprised how suitable the body is for Huffer, considering the buff and bulky nature of the design.

Honestly, I don't see any blemishes or problems with the paint job; it looks perfect to me. I really like the matte black wheels.

BTW, you said you airbrushed Tamiya primer onto it. Did you "decant" the primer from a can or use liquid primer from a bottle? If it's the latter, how much did you thin it?

I've always been a little apprehensive about AB'ing primer, for fear of it drying on the needle.

Thanks for the kind words! Glad you like him and I know what you mean about this mold. So many people have done some fantastic customs with it.
As for the primer, I used the liquid primer from a bottle. I am bad about not really measuring and eyeballing things so I can't give you an exact ratio on the thinner, but I basically added just a small amount of primer to my jar and then put in thinner with a dropper until I got it about the same consistency I like paint to be, I would say about 5 drops or so. It took more than the paints I usually use did, but covered well in one coat. It was more difficult to get cleaned out of the airbrush, ended up using pipe cleaners to get the tube in my jar clear, but well worth it for the finish it gave.

Thanks for the walkthrough on the primer! Sounds like the primer really does stick just about anything, although it's not exactly good news for the airbrush.

I recommend using Tamiya's airbrush cleaner if you're having trouble cleaning the primer from your AB. It's a little expensive, but works VERY well. On acrylics, just one wipe is all it takes to clean needles, center blocks and nozzles. The fumes are noxious though, so I'd recommend back-flushing in front of a spray booth or doing it outdoors if you have a portable compressor.

Thanks I may try it out! Since you mentioned the odor I should also say that the Tamiya primer also reeks when airbrushed. It smells like Kilz, the primer used in houses for sealing water spots and other stains, and I ended up deciding to use a respirator even in a well ventilated garage.

I do all my airbrushing in front of a spray booth. Even when using acrylics, inhaling paints in aerosol form can't be good for your health.

The can-form Tamiya primer doesn't smell any better either. I don't have the luxury of a respirator, so I do any spray-can painting outdoors.

Awesome!

This is a much better Huffer than the Cyberverse Commander Hasbro is making.

RAcast wrote:Awesome!

Thanks!

GuyIncognito wrote:This is a much better Huffer than the Cyberverse Commander Hasbro is making.

Thanks! I was really hoping they would make a deluxe class Huffer in the generations line at some point, but this one fills that void in my collection and now I don't have to wait

Im a Huffer fan ...are you selling and FOC Huffer I really like it if so how much?

Huffer Mane Hogan wrote:Im a Huffer fan ...are you selling and FOC Huffer I really like it if so how much?

Thanks for your interest, but this one is for my personal collection and I really don't want to part with him. Glad you like him though