G1-inspired Thunderwing custom

[M-bot]

Another WIP thread. It's an idea that's been done before, using a TLK Nitro body and the Thunderwing Titan Master from the Siege on Cybertron set, but unlike some others I've seen, I've gone with a very G1 inspired colour scheme.

And what a colour scheme it is! Thunderwing has off-white/light grey, blue, purple, orange, gold, silver, red, and 2 shades of green. As far as TFs go, he looks a bit like he survived an explosion on a Dulux factory.

So, to start with, I disassembled him, washed all the pieces. I stripped all the factory paint apps off him (sacrilege!) with isopropyl alcohol and plenty of elbow grease, which took a couple of hours.

A very naked Nitro:


With the Thunderwing head:


Then, the first layers of paint via the airbrush. In order, primer, then sanding, then gloss lacquer, then more sanding, then white lacquer, then another gloss layer, sanding a few pieces again, then a metallic silver lacquer, then an incredibly thin layer of light grey, so it retains the light grey colour but with a slight metallic silver sheen. Once the detail work is done, I'll add a protective gloss coat.

After the primer layer:


After the white layer:


Once the base coats had cured, I masked up several pieces and started adding colour.

Masked with Tamiya tape and a cheap Blutak-like product from office works (cheaper than Blutak):


Adding colour:





I used a new product I'd not used before - flexible masking tape. Results were good, clean lines and no paint lifting. The only downside is that the tension on the stretched bit of tape tends to move it if you leave it on too long, so it's best if you paint immediately after applying the tape.



Here's where I'm at now, partial reassembly to check for rub points and to hand-paint the detail work:


More pics of the finished product soon I hope.