First time customizer questions

[VortexVFX]

I was considering customizing a galaxy defender 1/55 valkyrie.

And I am a first time customizer since I have never custom did a valkyrie before, bootleg or otherwise.

are there any parts compatable?

Any way to replace said part incase if it was compatible?

What type of paint should I use.

I plan on going for a decepticon theme or a camoflage military look.

If all else fales, are there anyone out there that can custom for me?

[promethuem5]

Well, I don't that specific bootleg, but I did have another one ages ago that I tried somehting similar on... the quality is decent, you jsut can't knock them around as much as a real 1/55... for paints and such, you'll want to use primer first on the plastic to make the paint stick, and then either acrylic or enamel paints... do you have any experience in modeling or painting and such? Basically what you;re going to want to do is just unscrew everyhting and disassemble everything to at least lay down the base colors and such... and do the details either built or unbuilt., depends on which you feel more comforatable with.

I;m not sure what parts you would be looking for tho... what were you considering? I'm honestly not sure which accessories would fit bc/ I thought the Galaxy Defender had some modifications amde to it... someone else ycould probably help you out more there.

[Skull-1]

I'm not much of a believer in primer. The panel lines wind up obscured by primer in my opinion. Those painted without primer appear much crisper for my money. If you sand the parts before you paint them you can just use paint.

I tend to use automotive paint by Duplicolor or regular paint by Rustoleum. Touchups can be accomplished with a brush to hide wear blemishes caused by transformation.

The most important thing you must do is to sand sand sand sand sand any parts that rub together, especially legs, wings, and arms. Otherwise you'll have scuffs everywhere.

Edited February 10, 2007 by Skull-1

[mitch]

I wouldn't recommend acrylics. In my experience they tend to scratch easily unless thoroughly primed and sealed, which can lead to the obscuring of detail and causing parts to rub together, etc.

I'm getting ready to do some customs of my own and I plan to use Krylon Fusion (which is fine if you can find the colour you are after from their limited pallette), or Plasticote. Krylon do a series of camouflage paint which might work well depending on how you use it.

I've got a Galaxy Defender at home in theUK (which to be fair I found to be a prettey good quality knock-off considering what it cost), and there are are some sculpting discrepancies which would need to be corrected if you're really picky about how close it should look to the original. It is, however, perfectly in scale with the 1/55 Bandai and Takatoku valks, so if you need spares they are really good (They even have the same die-cast parts if I remember correctly).

[promethuem5]

You two raise some good points I forgot... sanding down the surface a bit to give it some extra tooth and Krylon Fusion or Plasticote are great, but I still stand by primer and sealer... It's just how I persoanlly ahve always done it. I've found that with some finesse and good high quality materials, you can prime a surface, paint it, and seal it using acrylics and have no detail loss... but for a beginner such a fanciful goal might not be the best.

However you end up doing it, let us know!

Cheers

[MechTech]

I actually got one for my son. It seems to just be ABS. I don't know about inter-compatabilitiy between parts, but I will agree with the preperations required for painting. Wash the parts with hand dishwashing soap and water first and then let them dry. ABS is semi-absorbent so dry sand it or wet sand and let it dry thoroughly. Like Skull-1 said, sand the parts in friction areas. Paint with Krylon Fusion or other enamels.

Normally I agree with priming, except on plastic moving parts. The top coat wears and reveals the primer. If you can get simular colored primer, then I'm all for it. Primer picks up surface flaws and makes paint stick better, so it definitely has it's place with models/custom toys. Primer is also designed to fill minor flaws, and so some of your fine detail will get covered gradually too.

US Plastics sells ABS sheet if you feel confident and want to make your own custom parts US Plastics - ABS Styrene cement is alright for ABS, BUT, Plastruct Weld is much stronger. Just use it with GREAT ventilation, the same as spray paint requires. There's nothing stronger I've found.

That's my two cents (two pence). - MT

Edited February 12, 2007 by MechTech

[RDClip]

I was considering customizing a galaxy defender 1/55 valkyrie.

I'm considering getting one of these to screw around with. Anyway, have you tried to take it apart, yet. If so is it easy to do?