The Energon Pub

I finally started building some of these FT model kits, and they are rather nice. Easy to build with quite alot of articulation and enough details. Though the articulation gets a bit hindered, if you paint it like I did. Some paints are more durable than others, but there are still some areas that chafe and rub no matter what, like kneejoints and elbows. So if you paint these, you should be mindfull about that. But the good thing is, that you don't have to paint it. Just put it together and pose it, since its made of colored plastic.

This was all in all rather pleasant to paint save those forementioned joint areas. You can pretty much paint many of the different "modules" or parts separately, though some dry-fitting is advised before painting and possibly glueing parts together.

And yes, I know that the hues are not exactly like SG-Optimus should have, but I like it that way. Perhaps later I build and paint one with metallic paints and lot darker shades. This was just rather clean straightforward paintjob, with some modulation and panel lining. I save weathering and others effects for future FT models.

That's seriously nice! The purple is really good, how did you apply the darker purple shading? Also what paints do you use?

Evil Eye wrote:That's seriously nice! The purple is really good, how did you apply the darker purple shading? Also what paints do you use?

Thanks. I applied all the colors with an airbrush. Layer after layer so that parts facing the imaginary light source are the lightest. The basecolor is rather dark, so I didn't have to apply much shading. But I just simply airbrush ed some of it to those deeper areas and panels that are facing the ground. There are many good youtube videos that explain for example this method if you type "color modulation", or "zenithal highlightning".

As for basecolor, I mixed Army Painter Alien purple and Screamer Pink by Games Workshop, both being acrylics. Though the latter is not really a pink, but rather purple/magenta. So you could basically buy brand x purple and magenta and mix those. For lighter highlights layers I added first some Vallejo Light skintone to the purple mix and for final highlights some white as well.

Rest of the paints are all acrylics as well. For metal parts GW Ironbreaker over black primer (where possible), and highlights with Vallejo Air Silver. Blues are Vallejo model colors Blue and Dark Blue.

Panel lining was done with a basic artist oil colors, like dark purple, dark blue and black, thinned with odorless thinner. Mind you, that if you paint oils over acrylics, let the acrylic color dry at least 24h.

Dorkimus wrote:

Evil Eye wrote:That's seriously nice! The purple is really good, how did you apply the darker purple shading? Also what paints do you use?

Thanks. I applied all the colors with an airbrush. Layer after layer so that parts facing the imaginary light source are the lightest. The basecolor is rather dark, so I didn't have to apply much shading. But I just simply airbrush ed some of it to those deeper areas and panels that are facing the ground. There are many good youtube videos that explain for example this method if you type "color modulation", or "zenithal highlightning".

As for basecolor, I mixed Army Painter Alien purple and Screamer Pink by Games Workshop, both being acrylics. Though the latter is not really a pink, but rather purple/magenta. So you could basically buy brand x purple and magenta and mix those. For lighter highlights layers I added first some Vallejo Light skintone to the purple mix and for final highlights some white as well.

Rest of the paints are all acrylics as well. For metal parts GW Ironbreaker over black primer (where possible), and highlights with Vallejo Air Silver. Blues are Vallejo model colors Blue and Dark Blue.

Panel lining was done with a basic artist oil colors, like dark purple, dark blue and black, thinned with odorless thinner. Mind you, that if you paint oils over acrylics, let the acrylic color dry at least 24h.

Nice, I was wondering if you used zenithal priming. And good to see I'm not the only one who likes oils for panel lining!
Slight protip: Whilst your finished result is absolutely fantastic, if you want a more durable finish on parts such as the joints I'd highly recommend using lacquer-based paints if you can get them (Mr. Hobby's paints are some of my favourites for airbrushing). They're generally much tougher than acrylics, and also you can get some really high-shine metallics. Not criticizing your paintjob at all, of course, just an idea really.

Evil Eye wrote:Nice, I was wondering if you used zenithal priming. And good to see I'm not the only one who likes oils for panel lining!
Slight protip: Whilst your finished result is absolutely fantastic, if you want a more durable finish on parts such as the joints I'd highly recommend using lacquer-based paints if you can get them (Mr. Hobby's paints are some of my favourites for airbrushing). They're generally much tougher than acrylics, and also you can get some really high-shine metallics. Not criticizing your paintjob at all, of course, just an idea really.

Yes, I later noticed that you have also done some custom painted figures with an airbrush etc. So you are already most likely aware of those things I explained

I do have some lacquer paints like AK interactive Real Colors. The problem with those is that their line seems to be rather limited to very "earthly" and "militaristic" tones, designed for scale modellers who paint mainly WW2 and cold war/modern era fighting vehicles and planes etc. Most likely useful if painting Combaticons, Hound or maybe the good old boomer like Kup, who don't mind fancy colors , but there aren't really that many "flashy" or bright colors. Mr Hobby might have a better selection, and I'll have to see if I can find those. It is true that (acrylic) lacquers form a much harder coat that might not only resist enamels/oils but rubbing as well.