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?

[Doubledealer]

Thanks for the kind words guys. kgb2005, primer is just another word for undercoat (so it's what goes on before applying the 'real' paint).

Just applied the black paint around his face, come on paint...Dry damn you!

[kgb2005]

Ohh okay lol, so umm what is it you guys use to stop the paint from scratching then Because I have been looking at some of my old toys that I found and was thinking man this would look cool with racing stripes on it or what not and well I would love to repaint them but I don't want to damage the hard work that I put into them.

[Doubledealer]

Ohh okay lol, so umm what is it you guys use to stop the paint from scratching then Because I have been looking at some of my old toys that I found and was thinking man this would look cool with racing stripes on it or what not and well I would love to repaint them but I don't want to damage the hard work that I put into them.

The preparation (washing, sanding, priming), multiple layers of paint and clear coat all help to prevent chipping.

[kgb2005]

washing? Wait you mean like scrubbing the figure in water, won't that make the screws rust?