Movie Optimus Prime build

[kingbob]

Yeah if they can go old school for Bumblebee, they should have gone old school for Optimus too.

[cosworth34677]

Originally Posted by kingbob

Isnt the idea to "hide in plain sight"? Not stand out like a drag queen.

Originally Posted by 404

Oh no! It's the western star "fart cab"! Seriously maybe it'll get smashed into a bazillion fiberglass chunks, Peterbilt all day 'erry day.

Originally Posted by Espeefan

Dang, Bumblebee turned into a SS Pro-touring Camaro? Prime should have become a COE Peterbilt Pacemaker, Kenworth C100, or one of those old Freightshaker COEs! From what I recall of my Hasbro G1 Optimus Prime, a Freightliner seemed to be best match for the look of the toy. For shame. I thought Transformers 3 was going to be the last one we'd see. Kind of glad they kept it going, but not in this direction....

geez i am with all of you!! in the old comics, prime was a old worn beat up truck, with a fat guy hologram driving. i never really got why they never made him a cab over truck? there are so many out there. scania, man ,mack.... its not like they are trying to keep the all u.s car thing with a merc , Ferrari , audi in the last film. i really hope they get a writer for the next movie and not kill off the stars of the comics and cartoon in the first five min(arcee iron hide jazz)

[kingbob]

And it looks like they pinched the Bumblebee design from a car restorer!
Link

[Radio Control Trucker]

I always thought that O.P. was best thought of as a Marmon truck



Just my thought

- RCT

[1985 kenworth]

Good eye my friend ,this truck would be perfect for the cartoon cabover version of optimus...got the square box look and even the colour pops out at you as optimus

[kingbob]

Back on topic a bit... I'm aiming to start laying down paint this weekend. I want to try and get the rear fenders done, they're simpler to paint than the body.

[kingbob]

Well, the flash makes the pinstripes look thicker than they are (they're 0.3mm), but i'm not sure i'm happy with the colours.

Thoughts?

[tc1cat]

Looks great to me

[Espeefan]

Wow! Great job on the masking, Bob! That is incredible. Are you thinking the pinstripes are to light of a blue? It's really hard to tell. I've looked at some photos of the 1:1 Optimis Prime Peterbilt, and I think it's actually really close to matching, but in the end it's up to you to decide if you are happy with it. I'm a perfectionist too, so I know how little things can be annoying when I know they aren't right.

[kingbob]

The flash lightens the pinstripe, but its about right to the eye. I actually cheated with the pinstripe, its not paint. I found some 1/64" blue pinstripe tape online, so used that.
Covers small flaws in the paint from when the mask was removed too.

Its more the red and blue, they're close, but i dunno, hard to explain. They just sort of feel a bit off compared to the real thing..




That being said, i read an article somewhere ages ago on a military modelling forum about the guys who will match paint chips from the real thing, to a model colour. But then when painted, the model doesnt look right.

Apparently there is something in the way the eye sees things that doesnt see the same colour when something is scaled down. Ie: a real red truck and a model truck in the same red, look like different colours because of how we percieve the scale.

And to add to the mayhem, there seem to be multiple shades of red on the truck.
The rear fenders, the sleeper flames, and the cab flames are different. Not to mention the orange/red faded hood.

[kingbob]

I'm toying with the idea of redoing them in an Anodized Candy red color like this:


Which is actually pretty close to the paint around the cab on the real thing.
Not quite true to the movie truck, but will make it look less "toyish" than the bright red and blue do.

Comments?

[kingbob]

Here it is test fitted in late afternoon sun.
I dont think the colours are right.

[1985 kenworth]

bob what i think is the problem is that the pinstripe is way too large and it is taking away from the actual flame paint.when i see that the first thing i notice is the pinstripe and it makes the paint look cartoon like..just my opinion.the pinstripe has to be real suttle and blend in ,it is too bright .the colours are probably right because don't forget the camera doesn't see colours as well as the human eye .i have taken pictures of my kw Zeus and the pictures come out almost a dark blue look but the truck is metalflake purple,also do you have a clear coat over it to protect it and make it shine ,it comes off as a matte(flat) look ,at least your pictures

[1985 kenworth]

what shade of red are you using for your paint?see if you look at the pics of the real optimus the pinstripe is so small and blends in you hardly notice it unless you are right up close ..yours is BAM!!! right in your face no matter how far away or close you are ,on the real optimus the pinstripe is a shade of blue not white...thats what i think

[tc1cat]

After looking at all of the pics here is my opinion: Your pin striping does not blend into the fender flames as the real paint does. Might be the fact that its is tape and not paint. Your shade of red for the fenders seems too light. Your paint is fantastic on the fenders but the tape pin striping seems to be the main problem.

[kingbob]

The pinstripe actually is light blue, but looks almost white in the pics, so is a little deceptive.
I havent clearcoated it yet, wanted to wait until i'd decided i'm sure on it.

But you're right, the pinstripe stands out too much. Looking at the real pics at an equivalent distance its barely visible, in scale it must be hairline, which is practically unpaintable so will leave them off.
I used standard tamiya gloss red, but it is a very in your face bright. I have a couple of bottles of Autoair airbrush paint in some different reds, and some other makes. So i'm gonna spray a piece of styrene in the various reds to see which i like best. Also have a couple of blues to try.

But, pretty sure its gonna be a re-paint. Again. lol

[Bigrigger]

This truck is looking fantastic! The paint looks spot-on to me! Your attention to detail is astounding! Keep up the great work, and lets see some pics!!!

[kingbob]

Will be painting this weekend. I think ive got the right colours now.

[kingbob]

So I sat down with the airbrush yesterday and sprayed some scrap plastic. Did 4 different base colors, black, white, silver, and flat aluminum. The auto-air paints are semi opaque so the base color makes a big difference.
None of the paints I tried came out how I wanted. A couple were OK but didn't quite have the look I wanted.
Going through my paint box I noticed a bottle of a deep red that I forgot I had. Tried it out and its exactly what I wanted!
The rear fenders have now been painted red, leaving them to cure for a couple of days before I mask up the flames, but I think I'm finally happyb with the color.

I swear these fenders must have as much putty and primer as they do plastic!

[kingbob]

I need to get a daylight pic, this just doesnt do it justice.