Finished: my custom leader class Megatron!

[Timstuff]

After hours of laborious work, I've finally finished my re-paint project of Leader class Megatron! This was the first time I've ever attempted customizing an action figure, and boy, was it an undertaking. I had a lot of fun, and hopefully I got good results! Tell me what you think! :)

http://img451.imageshack.us/img451/4959/n6521023281264476668mc6.jpg

http://img451.imageshack.us/img451/7884/n6521023281264486930jh8.jpg

http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/5140/n6521023281264497155ka7.jpg

http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/7868/n6521023281264538063rl8.jpg

[nosebleed.]

Oh man!! If and when you eBay him...can you PM me the link?

[MEXBONE]

nice work, looks way better that way

[Timstuff]

Oh man!! If and when you eBay him...can you PM me the link?

I'll probably be posting the link in this thread if and when I put him up.

[PROLIFIK1]

Good stuff!

[Colossal Spoons]

Nice work man :up:

[Duppy]

GREAT WORK!!! I was considering going for the paintjob, but I recently bought the Takara Masterpiece Megatron and fell in love with it. I finally got the perfect g1 megatron...I still wanna go for the repaint so I could have the perfect movie megatron

[Nivek]

What type of paints and technique did you use? Did you take him apart to get good coverage, or do it all in one piece?

[Syn (Mercenary)]

Great work. Better paint job than the toy. More movie realistic.

[Timstuff]

What type of paints and technique did you use? Did you take him apart to get good coverage, or do it all in one piece?

I used good ol' Testors brand model enamel paints. I disassembled as much of him as I could to get good paint coverage, although I avoided getting paint where joints would be directly touching. Not all of the parts were willing to be disassembled easily though, so in some cases, like with the arms, I left them assembled while painting. I also made sure to only work on one "section" at a time, because that way none of the screws and small parts got mixed up. I.E., I'd take apart one leg, paint it, put it back together, and then do the next one. Once the enamel paint was dry, I went over the small details with slightly water-diluted black acrylic paint for a wash, and then when that had dried for a few minutes, I'd wipe up the excess with a wet Q-tip. There are better wash techniques out there I'm sure, but that's what I used.

[Psionic Force]

This is freakin' awesome! Great job!

[Colossal Spoons]

I used good ol' Testors brand model enamel paints. I disassembled as much of him as I could to get good paint coverage, although I avoided getting paint where joints would be directly touching. Not all of the parts were willing to be disassembled easily though, so in some cases, like with the arms, I left them assembled while painting. I also made sure to only work on one "section" at a time, because that way none of the screws and small parts got mixed up. I.E., I'd take apart one leg, paint it, put it back together, and then do the next one. Once the enamel paint was dry, I went over the small details with slightly water-diluted black acrylic paint for a wash, and then when that had dried for a few minutes, I'd wipe up the excess with a wet Q-tip. There are better wash techniques out there I'm sure, but that's what I used.


How intricate lol

[VaderRISE]

I'll probably do this when I pick up my Leader Megs, I consider myself a good customizer since I do it often.....but I don't know about this. Taking it apart freaks me out a bit.

Someone needs to write up a "how to" take apart guide, quick. :p

[Timstuff]

It's not hard in this case. Anything you'd need to take apart can be taken apart with just a small phillips head screwdriver, and you'll only need one size. The only really tricky part will be re-attaching his legs, and putting the mechanics in his chest back together. The "auto morph" gimmick with the chest plates might not work as well when your done (with mine, the chest plates only compress part way when I'm changing to alt mode, unless I push them in the rest of the way w/ my finger), which actually is a common defect with a lot of the ones from the store anyway. It's okay though, because you'll want to keep him in robot mode anyway!

[k0uger]

Awesome job!

I would love to see your work on some of the other figures (especially Ironhide)

[Colossal Spoons]

Heh, Leader Megatron needed work the most.

[Syn (Mercenary)]

Edit Nvm

[Timstuff]

Just to give you all a heads up, I'm hoping to put this guy on ebay sometime tonight, hopefully before midnight eastern time. I'm planning to put the starting bid at 59.99, plus shipping and insurance. The auction will probably be one week long.

[Timstuff]

Auction is up! :)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110148874791

[Timstuff]

Today, I picked up two more Leader Megatrons. One will be re-painted for myself, and the other will be re-painted to go on eBay for a second auction.

This time, I'm not going to stop at just re-painting. I'm also going to move the spring in the "gun" arm over to the "flail" arm, so that the gun arm can be left in "gun mode" without your hand holding the swithc, and so that the flail hand can fire out instead of having to be pulled out. I've seen someone on Youtube who did this and had great success (you really have to wonder why the toy doesn't [I]ship[I] that way...). Also, upon taking Megatron apart the first time, I discovered that he is supposed to have lights in his alt mode when the button is pressed. HOWEVER, they do not work, because with most Megatron figures, the LEDs for vehicle mode do not work, because the wires leading to them actually get [I]severed[I] during the manufacturing process. I'm going to try patching up the circuits with some extra wire, a soldering iron, and some electrical tape to see if I can get them to work.

So basically, the store bought Megatron not only has an aweful paint job, but he's very poorly assembled as well. Oh well, that just means more money for blokes like me. :word:

[Eternalzero]

Today, I picked up two more Leader Megatrons. One will be re-painted for myself, and the other will be re-painted to go on eBay for a second auction.

This time, I'm not going to stop at just re-painting. I'm also going to move the spring in the "gun" arm over to the "flail" arm, so that the gun arm can be left in "gun mode" without your hand holding the swithc, and so that the flail hand can fire out instead of having to be pulled out. I've seen someone on Youtube who did this and had great success (you really have to wonder why the toy doesn't [i]ship[i] that way...). Also, upon taking Megatron apart the first time, I discovered that he is supposed to have lights in his alt mode when the button is pressed. HOWEVER, they do not work, because with most Megatron figures, the LEDs for vehicle mode do not work, because the wires leading to them actually get [i]severed[i] during the manufacturing process. I'm going to try patching up the circuits with some extra wire, a soldering iron, and some electrical tape to see if I can get them to work.

So basically, the store bought Megatron not only has an aweful paint job, but he's very poorly assembled as well. Oh well, that just means more money for blokes like me. :word:

nice, congrats on the offers, seems like your hardwork has paid off!

[Timstuff]

After testing the two I bought yesterday, I discovered that the secondary lights do in fact work already. But wiring for the secondary lights being damaged during manufacturing does seem to be a semi-common problem with this figure.

[Timstuff]

Well, last night my auction ended, and today I'm shipping Megs to the lucky high-bidder. Yesterday, I also did the spring transfer on Megatron #2's arms, however it may be a little pre-mature since I'm going to be taking his arms apart again when I paint him anyway. But at least now, I know that the process is very easy to accomplish.

There are a few things I'm going to do differently with the paint job this time around. First of all, I'm going to prime all the parts with Testors primer. I'm not sure how much difference this will make, but it should give the paint a little extra something to stick to this time, hopefully resulting in better overall coverage. Secondly, I'm going to be coating the finished paint job with some clear matte lacquer (it's the Testors kind that's formulated to work with enamel), so that the paint job will be well protected and be less likely to rub off. And lastly, I'm going to be adding some custom decals. I took one of the movie posters into Photoshop and carefully traced some of the "tattoos" that were on Megatron, and I'm going to place them on various parts of his body. Hopefully it will look cool and add even more visual luster to him!

Here's a preview of the symbols.

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/7254/megatronstattooscopytp4.jpg

Also, I'm considering putting a little Decepticon logo on him somewhere, even though I'm not sure if he had one in the film. I was going to put it on the right wing that's visible when you're looking at him from the front in Robot mode, but I'd like to get some of your opinions before making any final decisions as to where it should go. I want it to be visible in Robot mode, but I don't want to stray too far from how he looks in the movie.

http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/2631/decepticonlogocopyyc2.jpg

[Timstuff]

Well, Megatron 2.0 is nearing completion. The only thing really holding up the works is that I ran out paint, and I'm still waiting for my re-supply to come in the mail! Also, I've decided that I'm going to replace all of his yellow LEDs with red ones, to give him an extra layer of intimidation factor.

Overall, I think that my second attempt is coming along way better than my first. And ontop of that, the paint is a lot more durable thanks to the lacquer, so it's not going to rub off if I play with him. Using sprays is a lot more expensive, but the results I'm getting are definately worth it.

[Danger Mouse]

Will this be on eBay as well?

If I give you a Leader Megs, will you be able to repaint it for a price?

[Timstuff]

This one isn't going on eBay, it's for my personal collection. For now, I am not doing any commercial re-paints, simply because I've got a lot of classes I'm going to this fall, and I don't really have the time to spend on these kinds of projects for other people. Heck, I'm barely finding time for my own projects these days. :(

[Colossal Spoons]

I went to a ton of places in hopes of getting Leader or Voyager class Optimus. Anyway, I happened to see Voyager class Megatron at a ToysRUs the other day.....that is the ugliest thing I've ever laid eyes on. I'm thinking my collection will have to be Megatron-less cuz the Leader class ain't much better. :(

[Timstuff]

I just finished painting all the parts today. The only reason I haven't re-assembled him yet is because I'm waiting for the red LEDs to arrive in the mail! :cmad:

[Timstuff]

I got so tired of waiting for the LED lamps to arrive that I started customizing Optimus Prime.

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/9167/p8220121re0.jpg

[Colossal Spoons]

What are you changing about the LED lamps?

[Timstuff]

Currently they are yellow, and I am going to swap them out for red ones. I'm also planning on switching Optimus Prime's yellow LEDS with blue ones.

[Timstuff]

I finished Prime today. Hopefully pics will be up soon! :D

[Danger Mouse]

Looking forward to see it. :) :up:

[Colossal Spoons]

Yeah :D