Finally, I have that toy of the body Devcon ditched within about fifteen minutes.
This is what I was gonna do with that extra Beast Machines Mirage I wanted. I ordered one off eBay shortly after getting home from Sunday’s toy convention, and I realized the next day that, hey, I could proooobably paint the one I have while I wait for the new one to get here. Plus, well, the roommate who owns the table is getting her own place tomorrow, so it might be a good idea to get him done before then.
So here he is! Devcon! Renowned Autobot bounty hunter, temporarily inhabiting a Vehicon body. I’m going to say an unpopular thing and say that I liked Wreckers Devcon. Yeah, he was a jerk, and people say he wasn’t that jerky in his original cartoon appearances, but if I have to choose between watching The Gambler or reading the 3H Wreckers comic books, I’m gonna choose the latter every time. The Gambler is a terrible episode. Terrible. If I had to live through that episode, like Devcon did, I’d be kind of a jerk, too. (And I am.)
And, frankly, the common wisdom that Devcon wasn’t as big a jerk in The Gambler versus Wreckers is a bit overinflated. That episode’s so uneven, and original Devcon is indeed a jerk at moments while he’s nicer in a sparingly few other moments. Watch as much as you can stand some time, and you’ll see what I mean.
I'm slowly recreating this artwork: http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Image:Wreckers3hlineup.jpg
I am not a good painter. In fact, I’m a terrible painter. But sometimes I luck out. I think I lucked out as much as I’m able to with Devcon. He looks pretty okay! And he’s all the right colors, as far as I can discern. I tell you, the red was a bitch, since it goes over black plastic. I put a coat of, ahem, silver Sharpie marker on the legs first before painting red over them. There was kind of a weird chemical reaction in places between the two kinds of coloring, but after going over the bad parts a few times, I was able to get a good smooth, bright red on the black plastic without having to put like fifty layers over everything and burying too much detail.
The ball joints are silver Sharpie, too, though the attached limbs are the proper light gray paint color. Silver Sharpie coats pretty thinly and fuses almost immediately to the plastic, so I figgered it’d withstand wear and tear better. And without painting the balljoints, they’re kind of obviously Mirage’s yellow. I’d hate to look at the thing.
Anyway, I’m pretty happy with the results. And now he can go in my Wreckers display.
How does it look in vehicle mode?
I will never know!
Hey cool! He looks pretty damn good man. Invest in a can of Tamiya Lacquers flat light gray or flat white. It’s probably the best primer-ish type of paint I’ve used and perfect for covering up black plastic. Best of all, BALLJOINTS. So easy, just pop the parts off (wash them with warm soapy water first) and stick them on the ends of bamboo skewers to paint them.
Hell, a couple of cans of Tamiya in the colors you need usually completes the project. It’s actually quicker than hand-painting the parts and dries factory smooth in minutes, cured fully in just a few hours.
The problem with spraypaint is that it’s not possible for me to disassemble riveted joints. I know it IS possible, but it’s not possible for ME. I am a stupid boy.
Oh naw, that’s what tinfoil is for. Just mask off those sections. I never have removed pins/rivets for the purposes of painting. And you can just repaint tires black. Use regular scotch tape to mask off windows
Neat! You’re only two non-existent toys away from finishing the set. I personally mourn the lack of Alpha Lion in this universal stream. *sniff*
Gotta try that sharpie trick for balljoints some time…
Three toys from finishing the set if I include Alpha Trion. (I probably won’t do Alpha Trion. I cross the line at doing extensive customization work for guys who were teased but never actually showed up in fiction except for as a big blurr in like two panels.)
But I’ve still Fractyl and Rotorbolt to do. Rotorbolt, aka Universe Obsidian Who Just Needs More Purple, is in the mail. Some day I’ll need to get another Terrorsaur. Armada or Beast Wars? Hmmm.
Terranotron!
Being that Armada Terrorsaur is already green, that would probably make a good starting point.
True, but it’s the wrong kind of green, I’d have to paint over it regardless, and BW Terrorsaur already has the gold chrome I need. On the other hand, it’s probably easier to paint over green with darker green.
And then I have to decide if it matters to me that it has Mini-Con pegs.
Why is he carrying two hockey sticks? One for ice and one for street? ;p
(But, seriously, what are those?)
Turn em’ up-side down and they’re more like golf clubs. But alas, those are just staffs.
But The Wreckers wasn’t that good of a comic.
You have to have been there to appreciate it in context– it existed to make Beast Machines suck less.
Willis, next time you try to paint red, invest in some GW Foundation Mechrite red. It’s a little pricy at $3.70 USD, but it’s a liquid pigment red designed to cover primer as a good base. Here’s what GW’s Blood Red look like on black undercoat after a layer of Mechrite used as base:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/232159-.html
I got a lil’ Rattrap like that in the picture/mural recreation, in sweet cherry red… well, it was. That the little fellow is pushing fourteen years old, I’m surprised the mettallic paint hadn’t flaked off far earlier than it has!
Maybe it’s from all the nine-year-old-me’s grubby hands playing with him all the time! He looks good in blue, too!
I have repurposed ROTF Breacher as Devcon. Kind of a stretch, I know, but its the first thing i thought of when I first saw Breacher. I am also way more familiar with cartoon Devcon. “The Gambler” is one of my favorite G1 episodes even though it’s terrible. I’m sucker for Autobots who cheat and episodes named after Kenny Rogers songs. Too bad “Microbots” or “The Ultimate Weapon” weren’t named “Coward of the County.”