The Energon Pub

You've done a fantastic job!

You're a lucky guy to get all 3 Leaders! Some can only dream of getting all 3 of them. (That's me)

Your paintings are amazing!

Although i don't quite agree completely to your review.

Actually not agree only on the points system.

Here's mine.

Prime: 9/10
Brawl: 9/10
Megatron: 3/10

Paint job on all 3: 9.5/10 (Hey, nobody's perfect!)

Crappy Megatron!

Kingplay wrote:Thanks for answering

Few more questions though!

Thanks in advance also

1) Did you apply a layer of black to the actual painted areas too?

2) I noticed that brawl's colors seem to be more rich in your picture, is that the effect of just applying a thin layer of black to it? Or did you add some other effect?

3)Also did you need to take the toy apart, or you just painted it?

4) Last question! For the megatron, after you repainted it with silver, did you use the shading effect on the newly applied silver paint? Just wondering if you start smudging the newly applied silver paint with thinner wouldn't it sorta come off?

Much thx mpchi!

1) Yup. Black was on top of painted areas as well. The stock paint job is very durable, using industry level grade paint that won't wears off easy. A thin enamel wash won't damage it at all, not unless you sand it down with sandpaper LOL.

2) Yup. Pretty much just the shading & smudging helped the bare plastic looks that much better.

3) No, I didn't take the toy apart at all. And I did the black paint wash very rough too, since its just to get paint wash covering areas and grooves I need them to. Most of it will be smudged off later. So just get some cheap brush and paint away, reaching all areas you want to look a bit dirty.

4) For Megatron, the flow goes like this: Silver paint on almost the entire thing, minus some black bits and gold bits. Then do my thin black enamel wash, a nit on the light side, since the wash will mix with the silver paint thats already on it. So unless you want Megatron to look very dirty, don't overdo the wash. So now Megatron is dirty silver. Then I go in and repaint some panels (head, chest plates, some parts of arms & legs) with clean silver, to make those feature shapes & areas pop. The rest, then I use dry brush with little silver paint and dry brush the rest of the dirty areas, make them look more worn, and less dirty. When everything is done. Then spray the clear coat and seal the whole thing. Mind you, for doing the dry brush part, make sure you don't use your favorite brush to do all the smudging. That brush will be ruined big time.

Hope that helps, and good luck on the paint job. Bet yours can look better than mine.

Auto Bot wrote:You've done a fantastic job!

You're a lucky guy to get all 3 Leaders! Some can only dream of getting all 3 of them. (That's me)

Your paintings are amazing!

Although i don't quite agree completely to your review.

Actually not agree only on the points system.

Here's mine.

Prime: 9/10
Brawl: 9/10
Megatron: 3/10

Paint job on all 3: 9.5/10 (Hey, nobody's perfect!)

Crappy Megatron!

Haha. Cool man. Megatron did suck.

Finding all 3 suckers took some effort. But I did get lucky on Megatron. I got Prime way back on the first release in early June. But Brawl took me 2 days of hunting to find it. Megatron then came in last as a surprise, as I didn't expect to see a loner lying in the section with a pile of discounted paper towel rolls at Target. I wasn't planning to get him, thinking I want to wait for a nicer repaint version. But knowing how hard he comes by nowadays, I end up decided to bring it to the cashier and do the paint job myself. Taking matters into my own hand LOL.

How much did they cost?

What clear coat do you use?

MPCHI! A big thank you for sharing

Just had a few more questions about roughly how much paint I need to buy

Roughly how many ounces of:
1) Table Black paint did you use for all three,
2) and how many ounces of Thinner,
3) and how many ounces of Silver for the Megatron,
4) and how many ounces of High Gloss Clear Coating or did you just use normal clear coating for all three?

Thank you for your responses!

Auto Bot wrote:How much did they cost?

What clear coat do you use?

The figures? Just normal retail price.

I used the Model Master Lacquer Overcoat spray can, semi-gloss clear. Some prefer to make the toy very glossy, but I try to match the shininess of the original plastic, so picked semi-gloss instead. Since mine is not so much a full paint job with paint covered every corner of the figure. A good portion of the plastic still shows, especially when there is dirt weathered. Dirt just don't look right when its all glossy and shiny.

Ok after looking at yur pics I see what u mean about prime's legs/feet thx!

Kingplay wrote:MPCHI! A big thank you for sharing

Just had a few more questions about roughly how much paint I need to buy

Roughly how many ounces of:
1) Table Black paint did you use for all three,
2) and how many ounces of Thinner,
3) and how many ounces of Silver for the Megatron,
4) and how many ounces of High Gloss Clear Coating or did you just use normal clear coating for all three?

Thank you for your responses!

I think you just need to buy the smallest can of each paint. Usually, it will last several bots, plus several car model kits.

The paints i've bought were never used up yet. After several cars and a Megatron. Most mini bottles didn't even go halfway. The only colors that went down to halfway are those accidentally spilled.

mpchi wrote:

Auto Bot wrote:How much did they cost?

What clear coat do you use?

The figures? Just normal retail price.

I used the Model Master Lacquer Overcoat spray can, semi-gloss clear. Some prefer to make the toy very glossy, but I try to match the shininess of the original plastic, so picked semi-gloss instead. Since mine is not so much a full paint job with paint covered every corner of the figure. A good portion of the plastic still shows, especially when there is dirt weathered. Dirt just don't look right when its all glossy and shiny.

Semi-gloss is a very good idea. Less gloss, less noticeable for the minor imperfections.

You gave me a great idea!

Just wow! Amazing paintjobs right there. Shame's there's no more Leader Class models planned to make it look like an even better collection.

Wow, looks really nice. I'm going to have to try and weather my Brawl. I've never done it before but I'm sure I could if I took my time.

The natural method is to leave it out in the sun and wind.
But not the rain. Ok?

Auto Bot wrote:The natural method is to leave it out in the sun and wind.
But not the rain. Ok?

I'll resist the temptation to do that unless I send him outside with an umbrella.

Excellent paint work there, thanks for the pics!

Mpchi!

I am going to try to do this next month after I get my job! Hope I can come close to what you did

One more question!
Are there any problems when you try to transform them?
I heard from Jin, that he doesn't like to put clear coat on his masterpieces because it makes it harder to transform.

Best Regards,
ed

We're going to see another Leader repaint. Cool!

Kingplay wrote:Mpchi!

I am going to try to do this next month after I get my job! Hope I can come close to what you did

One more question!
Are there any problems when you try to transform them?
I heard from Jin, that he doesn't like to put clear coat on his masterpieces because it makes it harder to transform.

Best Regards,
ed

No problem on transforming with clear coat at all. Its still very thin, unless someone overdo it dramatically and it got so thick it start to clog. And from what I see from Jin's, there are already a lot of paint on the figure. So I don't think its the clear coat. Its the paint build up PLUS the clear coat. For the Prime I did, with weathering only on the robot parts but not the truck panels, no clear coat is fine, so you keep the shininess of the truck plastic, while leaving you clean plastic panels to handle or grab the figure with out smearing the dirt much. Brawl is bother line, but I didn't use clear coat either because he has the beat up dirty look. But for megatron, you kind of have to, since he got silver paint all over. Silver paint always flakes off silver powder and smears when you hold the figure. So it needs clearcoat to seal it for sure. Otherwise, you'll lose a lot of the nice drybrush detail you put in after a transformation or two, and need to wash your hands a lot.

For the paint, like Auto Bot said. Just a small bottle of the paint you need. You usually don't run out on paint. Thinner, just get a standard bottle size from model shop. The bottle size usually like 3-4 times bigger than your paint bottle. The clearcoat is the one that needs bigger, especially you do more than one bot. I got a can with the size of my palm, and that only last 1 Megatron with nothing left (Sorry, forgot what oz size). So get a bigger can if you plan to do more.

Hm, so you used drybrush to apply the Silver to Megatron.
If we use Airbrush would it turn out even better? or about the same?

In other words... I am wondering if Airbrush would make a significant difference.

-ed

awesome work, but you should have posted this in the kitbash forum.

Kingplay wrote:Hm, so you used drybrush to apply the Silver to Megatron.
If we use Airbrush would it turn out even better? or about the same?

In other words... I am wondering if Airbrush would make a significant difference.

-ed

Dry brush is my second layer of silver, after the first layer, and the black wash. and only on some parts. Not the whole guy. Once you start tinkering with Airbrush, its a whole new level of custom painting, with equipments, skills, lots of masking and disassembling. Of course airbrush would look better.

Does "drybrush" means application by ordinary brush?

Auto Bot wrote:Does "drybrush" means application by ordinary brush?

Dry brush means brushing/smudging some 'almost dried' paint on with a brush by hand. Looks very different from applying 'wet' paint normally. Good for metal wear & blending.

mpchi wrote:

Auto Bot wrote:Does "drybrush" means application by ordinary brush?

Dry brush means brushing/smudging some 'almost dried' paint on with a brush by hand. Looks very different from applying 'wet' paint normally. Good for metal wear & blending.

I get the idea. But doing it almost dried, means less adhesion.

Auto Bot wrote:

mpchi wrote:

Auto Bot wrote:Does "drybrush" means application by ordinary brush?

Dry brush means brushing/smudging some 'almost dried' paint on with a brush by hand. Looks very different from applying 'wet' paint normally. Good for metal wear & blending.

I get the idea. But doing it almost dried, means less adhesion.

i never had a problem with adhesion.

Sonray wrote:

Auto Bot wrote:

mpchi wrote:

Auto Bot wrote:Does "drybrush" means application by ordinary brush?

Dry brush means brushing/smudging some 'almost dried' paint on with a brush by hand. Looks very different from applying 'wet' paint normally. Good for metal wear & blending.

I get the idea. But doing it almost dried, means less adhesion.

i never had a problem with adhesion.

Less adhesion can lead to chipping off.