TFARCHIVE FORUMS

Searchlight was made from RTS Bumblebee, and that's not a choice I would make again if I had it to do all over. The dark, intense yellow made my work much harder that it would have been if I'd used one of the lighter Classics versions of the mold, and it seemed like I needed to put on a hundred coats on the bugger before it stopped showing through. In fact, there are a couple spots where it still does...but since I literally used up my entire supply of white paint on him, I just shrugged my shoulders and said, "**** it, good enough". Things probably would've went better if I'd used the enamel sprays I'm more familiar with, instead of hand-painting him with acrylics. Oh, well...lesson learned.

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Searchlight's head came from a Generations Red Alert (specifically, the one that I turned into Rage a few months ago). I dremmeled his horns off to give it a nice, Throttlebotty silhouette, and aside from the lack of a visor I'm really happy with how his head turned out (though not as happy about how much yellow and trans-blue I can see in his close-up).

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The original Searchlight is about the most plain Transformer ever created, which works OK for a tiny figure but would look horribly boring for a Deluxe. Because of that, I embellished his deco a bit. The baby-blue front bumper now extends all the way around the car, covering it's fenders and spoiler as well as the rear bumper. I left Bumblebee's black robot-mode parts intact, painted the forearms dark blue, the headlights silver, and added a splash of gold on his front grille and the scoop on his hood. The end result is a Searchlight that's a lot more colourful than the original, but I think he still looks pretty close to the original.

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Searchlight's unique strobe-light feet were pretty much the original toy's only standout feature, so I felt obliged to replicate them here. At first I had no idea how, but one day I was walking through the crafts aisle at Walmart on the way to the shoes and a set of 'crystal' stickers caught my eye. They looked like they'd fit the bill as "full-spectrum blinding strobes", so I gave them a try. They look a little silly, but so did the original so that was OK. I'm not entirely sure I like how they turned out, though, and I'm debating whether or not I want to slap some silver or gold paint on them.

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He looks pretty good beside Bumblebee. The Classics 'Bee mold is generic enough that it would work just fine for Chase or Freeway (or Glodbug, or Hubcap, or Bumper) as easily as Searchlight, since it's got no real distinguishing features other than the distinctive Bumblebee head. It's easy to understand why there are so many after-market heads available for the mold. A lineup of half a dozen of these guys, in different colours, wouldn't look much different than a lineup of Throttlebots and Minibots.

You may have noticed that there's no alt-mode pics, and there's a good reason for that. You see, the Red Alert head that I used doesn't fold up as neatly as the original one does. Because of that, when you try to transform him, it wants to occupy the same space as a chunk of plastic attached to the robot's main 'spine'. I knew that. I checked when I was first planning the kitbash, and I made sure that I would be able to remove the support without damaging the figure. I made a note to remove it before doing anything. And so, of course, when I actually started disassembling him I forgot about it entirely. D'oh!

So at some point, I'm going to dremel that part down so that he can actually transform. I'll touch up the paint at the same time, too, but I want to take some time to figure out exactly what I need to do to him. As it stands, he's OK but not exactly my best work.

Nice idea and nice work. I can sort of imagine how his alt mode looks like.

Yeah, white color isn't exactly easy to be used to cover the large area. Spraying is easier although I had really bad experience using enamel spray (too thick, damage and soften plastic, and if you are too lazy to remove the original paint, enamel spray will remove them for you and totally ruined, well, these are my lesson learned, maybe you master them better). I much prefer use lacquer spray and the white can cover yellow pretty well. For even better result, I apply another thin layer of white after the spray and it works pretty good.

Paul053 wrote:Yeah, white color isn't exactly easy to be used to cover the large area. Spraying is easier although I had really bad experience using enamel spray (too thick, damage and soften plastic, and if you are too lazy to remove the original paint, enamel spray will remove them for you and totally ruined, well, these are my lesson learned, maybe you master them better). I much prefer use lacquer spray and the white can cover yellow pretty well. For even better result, I apply another thin layer of white after the spray and it works pretty good.

I've never used lacquer...always been put off because I've heard it's really bad for your lungs. But you definitely need to be careful what you use enamels on. Styrene (like model kits are made of) or ABS (the hard plastic that most of your average TF is made of) are fine, but it won't cure properly on some softer plastics so it'll either turn into a gummy mess or damage the plastic itself. It definitely isn't as easy to get the hang of as acrylics, but I've been using enamels since I was a kid so it's what I'm used to.

Warcry wrote:I've never used lacquer...always been put off because I've heard it's really bad for your lungs. But you definitely need to be careful what you use enamels on. Styrene (like model kits are made of) or ABS (the hard plastic that most of your average TF is made of) are fine, but it won't cure properly on some softer plastics so it'll either turn into a gummy mess or damage the plastic itself. It definitely isn't as easy to get the hang of as acrylics, but I've been using enamels since I was a kid so it's what I'm used to.

Actually, you should never use enamels on styrene. The solvents in enamels can dissolve the styrene. That's how it cures and bonds with the plastic. The higher density of ABS inhibits this to a degree in that plastic, but it's still an issue. Lacquer paint is even worse. Acrylics are best for plastics because they don't use harsh petroleum-based solvents to chemically bond to the plastics. IF you have to use enamels, use primer under them to give the paint something besides the plastic to bond to.

You're totally right -- primer makes working with enamels much safer and easier. I don't know why I didn't think to mention that. I don't know if I'd risk using it on softer plastics even with a primer coat, but that might just be my paranoia talking.

I've never seen it damage styrene, and honestly that surprises me since it's marketed heavily at the model-building community. But then, I've probably never run into it myself because I've usually used primer underneath it.

Warcry wrote:You're totally right -- primer makes working with enamels much safer and easier. I don't know why I didn't think to mention that. I don't know if I'd risk using it on softer plastics even with a primer coat, but that might just be my paranoia talking.

I've never seen it damage styrene, and honestly that surprises me since it's marketed heavily at the model-building community. But then, I've probably never run into it myself because I've usually used primer underneath it.

I've known several people on Sector 70 and other boards who have had it happen, and the instructor I had when I took a Movie Miniature Model making course at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh also strongly warned us against using enamels on Styrene. the styrene plastic we use on models is the same plastic used to make Styrofoam cups (which is aerated polystyrene), and if you've ever tried putting petroleum solvents, or even paint in one of them, they cause the cups to quickly melt. Sheet styrene is not aerated and as a result denser, and thus the dissolving is lessened, but not eliminated. This ultimately weakens the structural integrity of the plastic and can, over time, destroy the plastic.

This is why I always use acrylics. Yes, acrylics can chip, but that's because they cure on the surface of the plastic rather than eating into it. They also cure on any type of surface, be it plastic, metal, wood, etc, and any type of plastic regardless if it's ABS, Polystyrene, Polyurethane, PVC, Rubber, etc. And it won't damage the plastic. Acrylics clean up with water, or, if hardened, can be stripped off with rubbing alcohol, neither of which will harm the plastic either, unlike petroleum solvents.

Tramp wrote:I've known several people on Sector 70 and other boards who have had it happen, and the instructor I had when I took a Movie Miniature Model making course at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh also strongly warned us against using enamels on Styrene. the styrene plastic we use on models is the same plastic used to make Styrofoam cups (which is aerated polystyrene), and if you've ever tried putting petroleum solvents, or even paint in one of them, they cause the cups to quickly melt. Sheet styrene is not aerated and as a result denser, and thus the dissolving is lessened, but not eliminated. This ultimately weakens the structural integrity of the plastic and can, over time, destroy the plastic.

That might have something to do with why so many of the model kits I built as a kid seem to be so very, very fragile now, I'll bet. I'll definitely keep that in mind for future projects.
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After a date with some power tools and a a hobby knife, Searchlight's transformation cog is working again.

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I have to say, the alt-mode makes me feel a lot happier with the project in general. Even moreso than the robot mode, I'm happy with how well he contrasts with Bumblebee (that's probably helped a bit by the fact that I've long-since removed Bee's spoiler). The overall look is cute, though probably a bit too sporty for the little sub-compact that he turns into. If he was a real car, the person who drove him would probably be an asshole.

Overall, I think I'd call him a good learning experience. I think the biggest thing to take away from this is that I need to find a better way to evenly apply white paint onto a figure before I try another white custom, lest I wind up tearing my hair out completely.

Warcry wrote:That might have something to do with why so many of the model kits I built as a kid seem to be so very, very fragile now, I'll bet. I'll definitely keep that in mind for future projects.

Yep, that's exactly why.

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After a date with some power tools and a a hobby knife, Searchlight's transformation cog is working again.

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I have to say, the alt-mode makes me feel a lot happier with the project in general. Even moreso than the robot mode, I'm happy with how well he contrasts with Bumblebee (that's probably helped a bit by the fact that I've long-since removed Bee's spoiler). The overall look is cute, though probably a bit too sporty for the little sub-compact that he turns into. If he was a real car, the person who drove him would probably be an asshole.

Overall, I think I'd call him a good learning experience. I think the biggest thing to take away from this is that I need to find a better way to evenly apply white paint onto a figure before I try another white custom, lest I wind up tearing my hair out completely.

Looks good.

Searchlight EEEEEEEEEEEE