NECA 2017 Collector Set (1988 Throwback)
 

I have completely re-painted all 8 figures that were in the TMNT NECA 2017 SDCC Exclusive Set. The goal was to resemble the retro classic toy colors from 1988 Playmates TMNT toyline. Sort of a NECA/Playmates fusion lol. Also painted some accessories to blend in with the vintage style. Replaced Shredder's cape with an authentic 1988 Shredder cape and it's a perfect fit. More pictures on Flickr!

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Pretty solid paint job, but Shredders painted shirt looks a bit weird.

I really love how clean the paint looks

That's a fantastic job
I seriously dig em

This is amazing! Krang is probably my favorite! Shredder is also awesome!

TurtleManiac can correct me if I'm wrong but shredders' "shirt" is a floating piece that can be removed. So what you're seeing here is the generic torso underneath that floating piece.

The shirt is still on the custom figure painted in skin color, the torso under the shirt have a torso articulation.

Shirtless Shredder for reference from another post by TurtleManiac:

This. Amazing work, but you should have just removed the shirt entirely. He looks like a wrestling toy.

Ugh...this set is so good it almost makes me upset. I feel like I'm being violated by own nostalgia right now. This is just a tremendous set up. The paints look spot on. Your work is clean and you clearly took your time with each individual figure. Not a single figure looks shoddy in the group. I'm just floored....absolutely floored. This must have taken you months to work on a project like this.

Well done!

If that Krang was removable, I would want it.

Shirtless Shredder will never fail to amuse me, though, no matter what its form. Why did that even happen?

Thank you all for the kind words, much appreciated!

Actually Candy Kappa is right, it is the gray shirt that I painted over. My original plan was to use the base figure without the shirt, but the body looked unfinished and would require sculpting, so I decided to put the shirt back on since it made him look muscular, and the cape covers the collar, after painting it I don’t see the shirt anymore. Also the shoulder armor and belt is attached to the shirt, another reason I chose this method.

Thanks glad you like em!

Thanks! Yeah Shredder is my favorite as well.

Hey thanks! I appreciate the compliments! Yup nostalgia is the whole reason I wanted to paint these, especially with the vintage style collector case. Actually this took about a month and a half, just worked on it in my spare time.

Krang is removable he comes with a tripod roller I just prefer to keep him in the walker. And yes shirtless Shredder is awesome, I too wonder how Playmates came up with that idea.

Ah, I thought he was set in place because of his tentacles going through the holes.

I'm also surprised they didn't try to implement that toy in the show somehow.

Like if Krang attempted to send him out to get a Thing of the Episode™ in the middle of laundry day.
"Shredder! The Technodrome is running out of energy! You need to go to this obscure power plant and retrieve -- blast it all, put a shirt on!"
"It's laundry day and someone forgot to put it in with the rest of the load!"

And thus he spent the entire episode making everyone uncomfortable...except for Irma, who would probably be into it.


Look at us x-Maniac named fellows :D

Well I think I speak for everyone that I appreciate your resolve and dedication to this project. This looks like it was a true labor of love. If I ask though, what kind of paints did you use for this project? Did this require an air brush? Did you have to do any copious amounts of masking or sanding to preserve the paints around the joints?

I can't get over how great the paint jobs on these are! I am no pro at customizing, but I have never been able to paint a figure and have it look that clean. Also love all the vintage toy colors!

Hahaha that would have been hilarious! :tlol:

I used all acrylic paints mostly Tamiya and Model Masters, and had to mix some of the colors. Nope, didn’t use an airbrush or have to sand anything, just cleaned the figures with a brush and soap before painting. However the only downside to painting these highly articulated figures is that paint rub may occur when moving the joints, so I have to be very careful when posing them.


Thanks for the kind words! It was a fun project for sure.

Okay now I have an important question for you, where is your head at right now? I assume you were one of the folks who was able to snag two of these SDCC sets and that's why you customized one, but now that you've put in all of this effort to make these figures look as vintage as possible--how do you feel about the outcome now that you've had a few days to soak all of this in? Are you glad you did it? Do you still feel like a kid again every time you pick them up? Do you prefer these customs to the original unaltered set? Or do these customs give you a slight case of regret and/or melancholy? (i.e. "You can't go home again")

Did you remove the Turtles belts and reattached them after the painting was done?

Awesome.
 

Wow!! Oddly enough you did the inverse way with the Shredder. Until today people (including me) paint with a different color pattern than the Playmates version. The work was very nice. How I wish I had these figures.

beautiful paintwork TurtleManiac!! you really captured the classic playmates look.

I don’t like it. You should have given me that set and painted retro playmates colours on the arcade version lol.