Lordmylar's 2012 Nickelodeon TMNT repaints
 

I plan on doing all four, and the other 2 are in the works... but here are Raph and Leo! Enjoy!

http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/s...6/DSC_0300.jpg

http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/s...6/DSC_0299.jpg

http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/s...6/DSC_0295.jpg

http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/s...6/DSC_0297.jpg

http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/s...6/DSC_0301.jpg

http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/s...6/DSC_0298.jpg

Gritty and dirty, I love it. Great job!

Awesome stuff!

Is Raph's head a shade lighter than his body, or is that a trick of the light/camera?

My logic in making his head a teensy shade lighter was that it was the part of the body most exposed to an overhead light source. The darker base color is still there... I just got a little more dry-brush happy up there. Thanks!

Thanks! After seeing that Don on ebay, I decided I was going to have to start working on my set!

These are sick and I so wish I could do this. The only thing is, and you already talked about it, but I think you should make Raph's head and body the same color. Either way, great work.

Good work so far

good job. they did look weary good. cant wait to the 2 other are done so we can see the full set. keep them coming

Man, you did an Amaizing job, just when I thought these figures coudn't get better!:)

You dirty dog, you got to these before I did. Lol. They look great! Raph's head color could use a slight adjustment, but still a wonderful job :)

Thanks guys! The more I look at him in person, the more I think the head color being off is a trick of the camera's flash. Instead of changing the head, I think I'm going to hit the rest with another pass of dry-brushing.
I'll post updated pics as soon as I can!

very cool. i did kraang but been on the fence bout doing the turts :) you have inspired me to do mine as well. do you clearcoat them or just paint and leave as is? great job :) wet wash and dry brush are magical :)

I did a light coat of acrylic seal on each piece before putting the figures back together... I suppose I can explain a little more in depth.

*I use a hairdryer to heat the peg joints and pull apart at each point of articulation.
*I start with the dark base coat color, then use black as a basecoat for the wrist wraps/ankle wraps/knee and elbow pads.
*I dry brush the lighter colors on top of the dark. Just different enough colors to not cause too harsh of a difference, while trying to match the base color of the figure to some extent. The elbow pads etc. get a medium brown color dry brush. If paint rub occurs at the joints, I don't want a harsh difference.
*I apply a clear acrylic matte sealant. If you can spare the extra few bucks, the spray kind is less of a mess to deal with than the paint on kind(at least in my experience)
*Put the figure back together. Again I use the hairdryer. Once the figure is back together I look at things like areas I may have missed or overlooked.
*Weapons are easier, but take a LOT of patience. Raph and Leo's grips are now painted, and when placing those into their hands, YOU WILL HAVE PAINT RUB ISSUES, unless you do something to seal the grips(and in Raph's case, part of the guards on the sai) I prefer to use clear fingernail polish on the grips as it's tough to crack once it's completely dry.
*Other pieces like the shell and the belt undergo a very similar process as stated above... they are of course removed before undergoing any paint work.

yeah that'll do the trick. in the pics, it looked like the wash didnt settle as well on the head as it did in the other areas.

Did you pop out the pins at the shoulders? And if so, how tricky were they to remove/replace? They look like they could be tricky, what with them being recessed and all.

Got any updates on the other 2? I'm sure you're busy, these are just awesome and can't wait to see the others.

The shoulders and groin were left in the base of the figure while I painted. I just disconnected them at the elbows, wrists, and knees.
I will say that putting them back together was more of a pain. Especially the hands. I recommend heating the hand, but leaving that wrist peg that goes into it cool, and a drop of water on the peg to get it to squeeze back in once you heated the hand up.

It will likely be Friday night at the soonest before I have updates on the other 2 guys. I can't wait to see them done either. I will be updating Raph before then also, so I'll update ASAP!

They look great

Pretty swag stuff, Raph in particular.

Don't wanna sound pushy, but any updates?

Fully intended to finish these last weekend, but I had some things come up that I had to attend to. I have Mike and Don near complete on paint, just going to go the extra mile and make real chain chucks and kusarigama, and also on Don's san setsu-kon(3 piece chucks). Those are just a little more work than the repaints, so hopefully this weekend I'll get around to them. I also have an art commission that I need to knockout first, but I promise these guys are a high priority!

Awesome man. Can't wait.

Update with loads of pics.
I've run into a problem with the weapons. It seems that I'm going to have to find a new way to have painted weapons, every time a turtle grabs one the paint chips. This is even with my method of using clear fingernail polish as a protection layer. I'm likely going to make custom grips for the weapons out of small wooden dow rods, or bamboo skewers. The rest of the work with the weapons is going smoothly though. Don's weapon grips will go through a repaint, as well as his main staff altogether. Mike's kusarigma is awesome with real chains, not to mention his 'chucks. I drybrushed Raph's skintone to even him out a bit more as well.
The 4 brothers are near complete!!!!
Enjoy!

http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/s...6/DSC_0402.jpg

http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/s...6/DSC_0399.jpg

http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/s...6/DSC_0401.jpg

http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/s...6/DSC_0395.jpg

http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/s...6/DSC_0397.jpg

http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/s...6/DSC_0398.jpg

http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/s...6/DSC_0391.jpg

http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/s...6/DSC_0394.jpg

http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/s...6/DSC_0388.jpg

Awesome. Those look fantastic. Great job man.

Lordmylar: Since you're painting them black, try black electrical tape for the weapon handles. There's also a sealer called JW's Right-Step that's pretty damned resilient -- if you do multiple coats it'll hold up even to deliberate scratching. Or you could just widen the figures' hands so they don't grip the weapons as tightly, thereby cutting down on the friction that causes paint rub. Plenty of options, friend! :)

Those are some pretty damn good customs my friend, they blow Mine out of the water.

The electrical tape is exactly what I was about to try! I found some electrical tape in color, I'm hoping I can find brown, then I'm going to cut it into thin strips to resemble straps and wrap around the handles. I might look into some of the "Right-Step" you speak of first though. That way it wouldn't add extra bulk to the handles and keeps the original look exactly.

Thanks for the info!

And as always, thanks for the feedback fellow 'dromers!

Speaking of friction, did you do any sanding to prevent paint rub? I just put down a basecoat on the Slash I'm working on and moved the joints -- MAJOR paint rub at the shoulders. Took some pretty extensive sanding and drilling to eliminate it, too... so much that whereas before I was thinking of getting multiples to repaint, I might just finish Slash and be done with them.

I'm finding to be a problem as well. The shoulder disc especially has this problem. What I do with the disc is use a sharpie to make the disc black, then apply a coat of paint on top, if the paint rubs, the color underneath is black, so it's not too much of an eyesore.
As for the exterior shoulder I hate having to sand areas near it down, but even after doing the acrylic sealer it still rubs a bit. I'm going to try to not pose mine excessively.
I just really wish Playmates had made a "deluxe" sort of figure line of fully painted figures to resemble the prototypes we got to see a while back... but then I'd have fewer hobbies I suppose. :P

Your re-paints are quite impressive, but I'm geeking out over the chains you've added. can you explain how you were able to do that? I've done it before with keychains, but your method looks far more... authentic.

Thanks! I got the chains from necklaces at hobby lobby.
First using an exacto knife I cut the factory plastic 'chucks where the plastic chain meets. Then using the smallest drill bit that fits my dremel, I drilled directly into the top making a small hole. Then I cut the chains to the desired length, then on the last ring of the chain, I use some needle nose pliers to bend it to where it will fit the hole in the 'chucks. Before inserting I like to add some super glue gel. Let it sit long enough to take hold and there ya go.

Good repaints

nice improvement :)

That's exactly what I did- parts and all. They look great. I went with a more golden color for the tops and bottoms of the chucks and left the handles the stock color which eliminates the paint rub issue. Mikey and orange seem to go together anyways.

Yeah, it's not so much the disc that I'm worried about -- discs tend to be pretty easy to grind down (especially if one pops the arm off). That exterior shoulder area rubs pretty severely, though! If you're not inclined to sand down the areas near it (and it would take a LOT of sanding and probably a full repaint of the area), not posing the figures excessively seems like a good idea.

awesome repaints, i look forward to trying some of my own on this new toy line

These are really looking nice. I especially like the color tone of mikey.
Can't wait to seethem with their finished weapons.

~S~

Looks good! The detail in these sculpts makes a custom paint job really pop.

god job like your customs.yee i know the paint wear on the weapons/joint are paint in the ass sometime i wish i did have the same paint the toy companys got hade made my day i know enabel destroys the plastic but regular paint to cars etc do that destoy the plastic enybody know???

I didnt see the pics on page two. The turtles and the weapons, especially the real chains, look great..

This repainted figure looks terrific!