Cybertron

 Right now it's time to finally start putting stuff away. A 10L box, an old towel and we are ready to go. I'm enjoying this project way too much! I never ever thought I'd be able to create Cybertronic armies to game with...but here they are.

Early war Bots exchange pleasantries.

A couple of very a apt structures for Cybertron. These are 3D printed from eBay. I thought they looked just the job for the futuristic landscape.

Messing around

 Tonight I sketched up  a very quick pencil picture and practiced my new watercolour set. This is a very cheap set but I kind of like that. I sketched what was in my mind, which ended up being an American homestead. It's very over worked but it's all about practice with this technique.

Seeker variant

I found a variant of the Starscream model on eBay. This looks to me to be the same mould that has been reposed. Also there are some very slight sculpting details, like the jet intakes that are different.

It's of course a perfect match scale wise so I had to buy a few.

This colouration is a generic Seeker that was used in the first season. A lot of these robots have been given names by the sea of fans out there, although, I think this one is still unnamed. Part of the fun of this project is naming the bots are painting them.
 

Generic Seekers. I will try to work my way through all these...

UPDATE:

After posting this last night I noticed I had coloured his legs the wrong colour, this was quickly tweaked. He now joins the ranks of Starscream's dreaded aerial assault forces.

It's nice to have a slightly different pose for this troop type. Although, thinking about it, there's nothing to stop me cutting up the rubber models and reposing them myself. I might give that a go later.

Preventing Lead Rot

After stripping these miniatures and finding a few that were pitted, I thought it best to give them a dip in the anti rot mixture.

I had to type in lead rot to find my old post on the internet. Useful thing this blog. I had thought it was three parts to one, but it turns out it's just a straight 50/50 mix. Half pure turpentine and half white mineral oil. That's much easier to remember.

The really great thing is the figures look so much better when dipped in this mixture. I didn't bother towling them down as the solution will evaluate.

One little pot managed to dip all these figures, so it goes a long way.

I swopped between using tweezers and gloves to dunk the masses. It was also the time to scrub off any last minute paint that had survived the purge of the last few days.

This old chieftain is lead rot waiting to happen. The Dettol has eaten into him and he could be vulnerable. A dip in the magic elixir is definitely needed I think.

This extra coat should keep him safe. Also some silicone packets in his storage box should just help too.

This is interesting... I did think I had two of the same figure. Only not quite. I know the Perry's made multiple sculpts using different heads, but here is the same figure with an extended fur cloak.

I've always liked this guy as he looks like a natural chieftain. The slight variant is almost odd but I like it just the same. Maybe they started with a fur cowl, then thought to extend it into a cloak...who knows.

Here is everything from the last few days. It started off being a toxic nightmare with Dettol. Things got easier with paint stripper, then even easier with nail varnish remover.

All the pots are now empty and their contents cleaned and logged. I've found a few great Dwarf figures I knew I had somewhere and everything is coated against lead rot.

 Here is the medical team again. 50/50 mix of both of these bottles in a little tub. Dip the figures in to coat them then shake and leave to dry. I didn't need to do this but as I said, some of the minis looked a little fragile. Better safe than sorry I say, especially after the three days in the toxic wasteland of cleaning. I hope these posts help you out if you are planning your own trip into the wastelands.

I didn't mention eye protection with these nasty solutions. However, I was wearing a pair of glasses with another pair of extra lenses for close up work on top. So I felt pretty safe in that department.

Close ups

Starwars Battle

I had another battle with my nine year old this evening. Simple stats and dice rolls proved to be a big hit.

He even came up with some cracking rules himself...proud!

 Republic forces smash a Separatist base.

Paint stripping final

It's with great pleasure that I can announce that all of the historic Dettol jars have finally been emptied. 

The new nail varnish remover solution made it a dream to breeze through these toxic jars. I didn't write off any more jeans or toothbrushes either which is a bonus.

 The 1 litre bottle cost around £8 from eBay and was totally worth it.

I loooovvve this old Dwarf figure. I knew I had him somewhere in the toxic jars so was delighted to find him again.

He deserves to be a hero like Balin or someone.

Another beautiful old figure, pretty sure this is an old Perry Citadel sculpt.

Lone wolf citadel captain.

These old figures have a charm long forgotten.

This is a great Nick Lund Dwarf. It has his hallmark stamped all over it and has a great character.

An Asgard Dwarf with the characteristic stunning detail.

 

It was now time to start on the last jar...the Dark elves.

The Perry's did an amazing job designing these figures. The aesthetic of these characters would set the style of this race, that can still be seen even to this day.

Witch elf berserker with a two handed sword.

An evil wizard.

A classic! Mengel Manhide.

More stunning Dark elves. I fell in love with these figures as a teenager. Later in life I made it my goal to collect a force of them.

Before the Dark elves came the Night elf box set. It was in this box that the blue print for the later Dark elves was formed.

Here it can be clearly seen how the earlier Night elves became the later Dark elves. Armour and stylewize these figures are very close.

Also the use of crossbows that would become the Dark elf staple, first appeared in these earlier sculpts.

This was a real delight, these metal Transformers when stripped, revealed much more detail. The thick enamel covered all the tiny face details. This led to me grabbing all of the others and throwing them into the solution.

The gun detail too is good, definitely worth a dip.

This Dark elf musician brings back a lot of memories from a more carefree age.

A mucky couple of days but worth it. All the Dettol jars are now empty.

The big rubber gloves were such a good buy from eBay. They really made a difference when scrubbing these sharp little metal pieces. It's not wise to get any of the solutions on your skin and with thinner gloves, this tends to happen. They soon become holed and ware away exposing the skin.

Sideswipe in his thick enamel coat. This stuff covered his detailed head and gun details.

More improved Autobots.

Arcee shows an amazing improvement after the varnish remover. Tiny, faint details can now be made out.

Great figure showing newly revieled detail.

After the success of the others, prowl and Wheeljack were thrown into the solution. Once in, I topped up the solution so it just covered the figures.

They started to peel after a few moments.

Enamel covered figures...before their swim.

The field of battle.

The Dark elf masses.