Now then, of course this was originally ROTF Sideswipe. He was painted using actual car paint from a local store. I then went to work on the details using my faorite paint, Testor's Model Master Acryl. Using various dry brushing, you see how much detail this figure truly has.
I love the copper colored details on the movie-formers, and using Tamiya flesh wash over silver produces that color, which you can see on the leg springs and other details. A light clearcoat was used to protect the decals. Speaking of which, I had to choose whether or not to put a big Autobot symbol in the hood flames like the G1 character. Since the Bay movie transformers are focused so much on hiding, I decided to go with the more traditional car flames, which match Optimus Prime from the movies, which looks great and provides some visual continuity. I opted to go with the G1 rub-symbol on the roof, as a classic nod and to provide an autobot symbol in vehicle mode while remaining along the theme of being hidden. Also Tracks has an attack mode, with the G1-themed white wings and guns. A random cool thing that happened was in the course of painting the chest panels; the white in front of his head looks kind of like a tie...which is hilarious considering the G1 Tracks attitude.
The face and taillights were painted silver, then given a coat of translucent red to provide an awesome metallic effect, including the eyes. I'm not sure that the pics convey how metallic they look. Think of the vac-metal look of Beast Wars or RID but way more durable.
I loved returning to Transformers, and had alot of fun re-making one of my childhood favorites into the movie style!
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