The "ask Jin Saotome" Thread

[Jin Saotome]

Updated 07/10/07! I'm pretty much done with all the crazy stuff that was taking up my time and can answer questions about customizing again. So get to askin!

I've been noticing there's a lot of seperate posts asking about paints, customizing something, what parts to use, etc. Well to help cut down on the clutter, I offer my services here in the "Ask Jin Saotome Thread"!

 

Need to know how to customize something? What are the best paints to use and where to buy them? How to make small metal swords? What's the best way to glue something together? I'll answer any question about Customization and I promise to reply to every single one! I offer my extensive knowledge on customization and creation to all you out there on the TNI boards so feel free to take advantage. Thanks for making these Forums feel like home to me, I'm always having a blast here!

 

Ok then, ask away!

[Unicrons Head]

Well let see. I plan on doing a repaint of Transformer Altenator Smokescreen. I have model paint and lots of brushes for detailing. Now, Should I take him apart and paint each peice? Or leve him whole and be extreamly carful?

[Jin Saotome]

Ooh here's my FIRST question!

 

Ok, I own Smokescreen and know how he moves and such. What are you going to do when you say repaint him, do you mean change his color completely from blue to something else? You're working with the right plastics for enamel paints in this case and I sugguest an air brush or Spray paint for this task. Hand-paint the small stuff like the windowframe on his knees and his head. (although I think even his head comes apart with a screw!) The high quality Krylon colors have always worked for me, but you may have a preference when it comes to Spray paint.

 

You'll want to take him apart and mask off surfaces you don't want painted such as the windows. You can use masking tape or silly putty for this task, tho the enamel paint my react with the silly putty, not sure. From what I see on my Smokescreen EVERYTHING comes apart with screws. This includes the silver grill and headlights. Just save yourself the trouble and disassemble him. Get some refrigerator magnets and put the screws on them, remembering what section goes to what magnent. This is the easy way of catogorizing screws when you take something apart.

 

The only problem I see ahead is that the lithographed words and symbols on him are slightly raised. Run your finger along the surface and you'll feel them. You may end up seeing them beneath the paint, I'd suggest lightly sanding across them to get them flush.

[Unicrons Head]

Thank you. Pretty much yes repaint the whole thing. Im doing my own L.A.P.D version of Prowl.

[psymount]

Great idea about catagorizing the screw with magnets. I usually get a peice of corrigated cardboard, lightly screw them into that and label exactly where it came from. I'm not 100% sure about this, but Crayola model magic might work better than silly putty. I used it one time to mask the windows on a model I was working on. I wasn't using spray paint thoug- so you'll want to experiment first.

[los]

i was thinking of swapping kyushi of heroclIx shadowrun head to ml electar's body but not sure if to scale?

[Jin Saotome]

Hehe, geeze I see you've asked this one EVERYWHERE! Wrong scale tho, I've seen em and they're a wee bit smaller. You know if you want to putty up the hole in the back of the X-Men Evolution Storm's hair, her head would make a pretty decent Psylocke.

[Massasoit]

After seeing Marvel Legends 8 Iceman, I was severely disappointed so I decided that I should take matters into my own hands. I am planning on making my own Iceman and using a x2 Movie Iceman figure for the base. What would be the easiest and best-looking way to "ice over" the figure, costume and all?

[Jin Saotome]

Have you seen how I did my Iceman figure? Check it first because it's way easier to do than repainting the X2 figure. Check my main site and you'll see 2 different versions of him. If you still want to go with the X2 figure I can describe the best "ice-look" I've come up with but make sure you want him like that first, hehe.

[Massasoit]

Have you seen how I did my Iceman figure? Check it first because it's way easier to do than repainting the X2 figure. Check my main site and you'll see 2 different versions of him. If you still want to go with the X2 figure I can describe the best "ice-look" I've come up with but make sure you want him like that first, hehe.

 

Hmm... I am by no means an expert customizer. I have checked your site before and love both the Icemans (Icemen?) but I just thought it would be cool to do one of the X2 figure. I will probably end up going with your method on the site for convience purposes, but how would you suggest icing the X2 figure? just out of curiousity.

[Mr.Sci-Fi]

Thank you. Pretty much yes repaint the whole thing. Im doing my own L.A.P.D version of Prowl.

I wouldn't sand the tampos, I'd goo gone them off.

[Spidey2007]

hmm, i dont have anything to ask!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

i already know basically everything....

[Black Convoy D-012]

hmm, i dont have anything to ask!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

i already know basically everything....

Arrogant little punk @pow@

Jin mister I pmed you.

[RequieM]

Oke here we go:

 

A lot of toys have that nice blinking chrome look, usually to mimic a metal look. like on Transformers the grill of a truck (optimus Prime) or gun.

 

How can I get that look? And if that's not possible, what can I do to get near that quality?

 

thnx

[edbomber]

I'm interested in duplicating weapons on a toy. How do i make a mold and what materials would i need? thanks

[Jin Saotome]

What you're talking about there is vac-metalized chrome plating, and in some cases electroplating. There's a couple products on the market that can duplicate this effect to some extent, but currently there's no real "mirror" chrome paint. One is the leaf-foil-rubbing you find at craft stores. You apply a clear adhesive of sorts and rub the thin metal leaf on, and it sticks, poof. It's not seamless however, and the surface ends up looking like real metal, but with a somewhat textured surface. Another is the buffable metal paint you also get at craft stores for painting around picture frames. After you paint it on, you rub it with this cloth they give you in the kit (or something like that) and it brightens up like real metal. It's a seamless paint, just not as bright as the foil.

 

Also check Hobby Link Japan, and their paints/kits section. There use to be some kind of Gundam paint that was used to make really good silver/metal color, I just can't remember what it's called or if they even sell it aymore.

 

If I find anything else that resembles a good shiny Chrome, I'll be the first one to post about it! Hope this helped!

[Jin Saotome]

Duplicating linear items (like a gun or arm, nothing too complex) can be done in way of a spiffy Resin Casting kit available at most hobby stores and craft stores. The mold makes a 3D object, but what they don't tell you however is there's no back to the object. To get a complete mold you have to tweak the design a little by making 2 resin molds that come together.

 

Buy an egg of Silly Putty and make a ribbon out of the stuff. Layer the ribbon around the seam of the part you're duplicating (or wherever it can be halved into two pieces and look good) and set that end face down in the mixed resin casting, only use half of the resin in a shallow container.

 

After it's cured, take off the silly putty off from around the weapon And paint the resin wall around that with some gloss paint. (Some people even use vasaline or a light oil, this is to make sure you can seperate the two halves of the mold.) Flip the side you just painted face down into the other half of the mixed resin, and let it cure making a block. After it's dry, crack the mold in half and take out your weapon/part. Drill a hole through to an inconspicuous part of the mold so you can fill it and you're ready to make parts!

[los5o7]

awesome.

how does he do it?

is it the shoes?

is it the socks?

is it the shirts?

gotta be the shoes!!!

[los]

what is the consistancy of crayola magic clay after its dried? would you recomend sculptey instead? the reasoni ask is that i am worried over the whole baking part of scpuptey. does it warp or melt the base figures?

[Opticon]

Ok Jin, here's my question for ya:

Have you ever used 'DAS modelling compound' for customizing, or have you heard any positive/negative comments about it?

 

I picked some up from the local craft store a few weeks ago (was planning on doing some scultping, plus it was cheap) and was jsut wondering if i could kill 2 birds with 1 stone.

[CHA]

When sanding joints to prevent paint rub (especially with Marvel Legends) whats the best method to doing it. I've tried your super glue trick but it didn't work (still rubbed off) so now I want to try sanding the shoulder joints, knees, elbows, etc...

 

If you can provide an answer I'd appreciate it.

[los5o7]

what is the consistancy of crayola magic clay after its dried? would you recomend sculptey instead? the reasoni ask is that i am worried over the whole baking part of scpuptey. does it warp or melt the base figures?

baking of the sculpey is easy, just follow the instructions on the package,

 

when i 'bake' mine I set the oven to 275, and then 'cook' them for about 5 minutes at at time for 15 minutes, so i can check how it's curing, or you could just set it in there for 15 minutes straight, but I do it the other way to ensure that it doesn't warp...

 

 

by the way.. nice to meet you los.... i'm los too..

[Jin Saotome]

Ok, sorry I've been slacking here for a bit, been busy!

 

1st question: Yup, it's the shoes.

 

2nd question: Are you talking about that Crayola lightweight foam-clay stuff they sell in the foil packs? If so that stuff is air-dryable, but it really holds no definition, and tears like syrafoam peanuts when dry. If you're talking about a heavier clay product, then I really haven't ever tried that. I'll have to go look for some.

 

I honestly do NOT support using super-sculpty on your figures or sticking them in the oven! I mean if you sculpt a head and put that in the oven seperatly, that's cool. But I HIGHLY reccomend you picking up some Milliput or MagicSculpt 2-part epoxy putty. It's easy to shape like sculpty, can be sculpted with water, and cures without heat.

 

3rd question: DAS compound, heard it mentioned by people before, but they don't sell it in my area so I've never used it. Experiment with it and tell us how it works!

 

4th question: The super glue trick has never failed me.... save for the center plastic part in the universal joints of a figure. That center part is made of a harder plastic that is virtually UNTOUCHABLE by moral means. I found out the way they make the uinversal joints is to insert that piece into the mold and inject the rest of the plastic AROUND it!! That means it wistands extreme heat and pressure as well! The best I have been able to come up with is to sand it lightly so it doesn't rub, paint a light coat of paint on there, and later seal it with superglue. Sometimes I have to repeat this step five times, cutting on the opposite side of the part and sanding stuff down before the paint finally stops peeling off.

 

If you're just having problems with normal parts of the joints wearing, my sand and seal method has never failed me yet. Just keep at it, and make sure you're using Games Workshop or Citadel paints! Superglue doesn't help craft paints like Apple Barrel to stay on very good.

[CHA]

But I HIGHLY reccomend you picking up some Milliput or MagicSculpt 2-part epoxy putty. It's easy to shape like sculpty, can be sculpted with water, and cures without heat.

Can you show some pics/or names of this stuff so I know what to look for. I've seen like 2 part Epoxy stuff at walmart in the super glue aisle but I was never sure if was the right stuff.

 

If you sculpt using epoxy/milliput does it like chip like super sculpey if you accidently touch it or is it like plastic. If you can help I'd appreciate it.

[Jin Saotome]

Here's Milliput's website Milliput.com and here's the Magic Sculpt stuff Magicsculpt.com

 

Both sites have pics and instructions on how to use the stuff. Both products work great, but you're going to have to experiment with them yourself in order to find out if they'll suit your needs.