The shelfwarmer sits there, week after week, unloved and unwanted. In this case, a Generations Skywarp. I don't know about you but my Target and Walmart shelves were stacked thick with the damn things. As Leader waves appeared and then sold out elsewhere, my contempt for those worthless hunks of plastic grew.
RRCo member Leigh faced the same situation, but he actually DID something about it. He took that worthless hunk of plastic and elevated it! I love Skywarp, but between the Classics and Masterpiece molds I wasn't exactly clamoring for this particular repaint/remold. But a scrapyard, post-war vision of the iconic Roy Fokker VF-1S? Yes please!
As you can see, this is not your typical custom. The idea was not to produce a slick and polished product, right off the assembly line but instead something unique, something raw and handmade. Every inch of this thing is a riot of color and texture, telling a story and establishing a sense of reality and scale far beyond anything a retail product could achieve
The best part of this technique? The result is intended to be asymmetrical, rough, and random, so even someone who has never customized can dive right in.
So for those brave souls who want to try for themselves, I present some basic instructions from Leigh:
"Give the piece a light sand to get off any thick paint or plastic flash. Quick wash and dry. Using acrylic paint give it a messy coat of browns and textured rust tones, few oranges, light blue etc.Then give this coat a very gentle sand to remove brushstrokes but not pull the paint tone.
Let it dry, hit the piece with a thickish coat of hairspray, then sprinkle some crushed rocksalt (a mix of small and large pieces) onto the piece so it creates little lumps and shapes. Let it dry, a gentle hairdryer can assist but don't get too close and blow the salt off.
Apply your layers now of Tamiya rattle can white or airbrush if you have one. Let the white layer sit.
Come back in with a toothbrush and brush away the salt clumps to reveal the underpinning rust colour, you can use a cotton bud with some water to give parts a scrub and remove the white but not the brown. (the hairspray layer gets wet and dissolves removing the top layer). Experiment on something else first maybe, it's a fun process"
Paralysis by analysis.To me it's a phrase that reeks of corporate malfeasance, but also a perfect way to describe 90% of the customs I have ever attempted. And to be honest "attempted" would imply that I had started at all, which is sadly not true in most cases. I pick up that spare figure, part, or paint, and spend hours looking at pictures online, strategizing, and then it just never happens. I'm sure most of us are this way. But Leigh shows how a lack of fear can turn trash into treasure. Get out your paints, your hairspray, salt, and of course your toothbrush and try it yourself.
And as always, thanks for keeping it #refined
Contact Dan on Twitter @mantisninenines
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