The Energon Pub

[inturnmike]

Hello All!

I believe this is my first post to this board, so...be gentle! A few weeks ago, I saw the MP Menasor that was on ebay that went for over $3,000 and loved it. I'd never tried repainting before, but I though that it would be a cool thing to try (especially w/ the $7.77 sale at Wal-Mart). I also wanted to get myself a Thundercracker, since I didn't want to pay absurd amounts of money for the Henkei one. Lastly, I have also started on a Sunstorm.

Here is what I have done so far:

I went out and bought a bunch of different colors of Krylon Fusion spray paint, and a roll of blue painter's masking tape. I started off with Breakaway. I took anything that had screws apart and sanded each piece with 220 grade paper. I then masked off anything that wasn't supposed to be painted white, and sprayed away. After a few coats, I noticed that many areas had bled under the taped areas, and the paint was uneven. I tried spraying the windows with black and the same thing happened. After that, I bought a bunch of Testors model paint from Michael's. That paint seems to not bleed as much, though it seems that the brush strokes really show, and sometimes a brush hair gets stuck in the paint.

I finished Wildrider 1st, and proceeded to spray him with the clear gloss to seal it. However, I think I was spraying too closely, or too much, because it seemed to eat away at some of the gray modeling paint, showing the original yellow plastic underneath. So, I applied more gray paint in areas and sprayed it again from much further away. It now has a very rough texture to it, and looks pretty grainy. (The paint bleeding looks pretty good on this one though).

Thundercracker has the blue flakey paint from Testors. I think he lookes kind of cool right now. Definitely better than Wildrider. He still isn't finished, as I am waiting on reprolabels for him, and I need to touch him up in a few little spots. One really bad thing that happend...Paint dried up in the area around the nosecone that houses his head. When I was working it so that the cone folds down and exposes the head, the plastic "beam" that holds it together snapped cleanly apart! WHAT CAN I USE THAT WILL CLEANLY AND SECURELY FASTEN THAT PIECE BACK TOGETHER?

Breakaway is getting there. I need to go back and give him some touchups, and then use the glossy coat on him (sparingly), I think. One question I have about his head (and Wildrider's): WHAT CAN I USE TO FILL IN THE GAPS LEFT BY SUNSTREAKER'S SPRINGY EARS??? ALSO, WHAT CAN I USE TO COVER UP THE BIG HOLE (WHERE THE PEG WAS FOR THE POLICE LIGHTS) IN THE ROOF OF PROWL/DEAD END?

Sunstorm is a mess right now. I have sanded each area I was going to paint. I have used almost a full (little) bottle of Testors regular Yellow paint on him so far, and cannot get many of the green areas of Acid Storm to be covered smoothly or at all. Acid Storm worked pretty well for thundercracker, so I am wondering why this isn't working. One thing I DID do for Thundercracker that I didn't for this was: Before I bought the testors paints, I tried spraying him with the Krylon Fusion paint. He looked okay, but I wanted the blue flake painty instead, so I sanded him back down and THEN re-painted with the Testors. Maybe that acted like a primer and the blue attached better than the yellow is? I do not know, becuase I sprayed a maroon on a Prowl as well (to make a Dead End), then tried to paint over it w/ Testors Dark Red, and it is doing the same thing. WHAT CAN YOU SUGGEST HERE?

One last thing...for Dead End's clear plastic headlights and windows, I sprayed them w/ black Krylon Fusion, but then tried to paint over it with Testors black. It also looks like areas that got missed with the spray paint are not gelling with the Testors. I tried sanding the window and re-painting, but it didn't seem to be working.

I appreciate all feedback, as (again) this is my very 1st attempt at repainting!

P.S.- I read somewhere that people use soapy water to "wash" their TF pieces before painting. i would have thought that would wreck the plastic. Is this a good idea? I still have a Red Alert and a Dragstrip to do, so maybe I should do that with them?

Thank you!!!!!!!