TFA Earth Mode Wasp Project

[Doubledealer]

It's another rainy day here in Brisbane so earlier on I plonked myself down on a comfy chair and started flicking through the good ol' Transformers Animated Almanac. I reached page 49 and there he was, my favourite TFA character, Wasp! "Hmm, I wonder if Hasbro will ever release an activator Earth mode Wasp." I thought. Then I remembered, I have a spare activator Bumblebee in the shed (the one that came bundled with purple Shockwave). Hmmm...*strokes imaginary beard* Half an hour later I came back from the nearest hobby shop & Woolworths armed with (hopefully) enough kit to make one of my own.

Note: I realise that eventually we will see a Fugitive Waspinator (yes, not Wasp due to a trademark issue) but I'm not too fond of the deluxe Bumblebee mould and prefer the scale of the activator (not to mention Fugitive Waspinator won't even have a new head and features some non-cartoon accurate colours eg. purple headlights and windows).

So, as you can see below, here is all the kit I'll be needing (I think).

We have:

-Biodegradable rubber gloves (to keep oil from hands off the paint and plastic, and also so fingerprints don't show on the epoxy parts)
-Masking tape (to cover the wheels & a few other parts before spraying the primer)
-Washing detergent (with warm water to thoroughly clean the plastic)
-Medium Toothbrush (to help with the above)
-Tamiya Modeling Brush HF Standard set (3 brushes of varying sizes)
-Tamiya X-20 Enamel Thinner (for washing the brushes and if needing to thin out any of the paints)
-Tamiya X-1 Black Enamel Paint
-Tamiya X-15 Light Green Enamel Paint
-Tamiya X-16 Purple Enamel Paint
-Revell Color SM365 Enamel Paint (main colour of Wasp's body)
-Mr White Surfacer 1000 (primer)
-Tamiya Epoxy Putty - Smooth Surface - 25g
-Tamiya P400, P600, P1000 Finishing Abrasives (I'll just be using the P1000 sandpaper all over the toy prior to spraying the primer - so it grips the paint nicely)
-Small screwdriver set
-Modelling knife (to lop off activator Bumblebee's horns and 'mohawke')
-Scissors (for cutting the masking tape to size)
-Transformers Animated Activator Bumblebee

I'll be updating the thread with pictures as I go, should be a fun little project!

[loophole]

looking forward to the end result of this one, i was planning on doing the exact same thing with my extra bumblebee from the shockwave pack looks like your gonna beat me to it

[Doubledealer]

And the head is done! Well, the hard part anyway. Hardly used any of the epoxy putty leaving quite a bit for possible future projects (unmasked Wasp head and gun perhaps?). Not sure why but the added moulded details looks a bit dodgey in these photo's, in real life they're smooth as silk! Really pleased with the results I achieved here. The last photo is of his new head but showing close to how he'll look when painted.

Steps taken last night:
1. Chop off Bumblebee's horns and mohawke
2. Thoroughly wash Bumblebee's head in soapy water
3. Sand entire head with P1000 sandpaper
4. Using epoxy putty, sculpt antenna thingies by rolling a small section out in a sausage shape, position on Bumblebee's head then gently blend the edges into the plastic using a gateaux fork
5. Leave putty to set overnight

Steps taken this morning:
1. Make antenna thingies symmetrical using P400 sandpaper (don't have a file unfortunately) then smooth it all down with P1000 sandpaper.
2. Take a 0.5cm2 ball of epoxy putty and fashion it into the shape of Wasp's unique jaw
3. Leave for 6 hours until the putty has set then sandpaper as above.

Note: For those wanting to try out the epoxy putty, keep a jar/glass of water nearby as you'll need to occassionally dip your fingers in it get the moulding as smooth as possible - that and it's just too damn sticky to handle if you don't!

[Doubledealer]

Primer applied to head:

[loophole]

thats looking sweet mate!!

[kgb2005]

Ohh sweet! good job there. Just curious this may sound like a stupid question but what is primer?

[kup]

Primer applied to head:

Wow! That looks awesome! Very well sculpted!

[Doubledealer]

Thanks for all the positive remarks guys. Will try to finish off the head after work tonight!

[5FDP]

Looking good there Doubledealer. Can't wait to see the finished toy.