Starscream gets his Crown.....and Missiles!

Oh great, yet another Starscream review......haven't you written enough? Well yes, but this one is with a twist. It has less to do with the actual toy or toys but something that is an addition to already two fun toys.

Recently I took the dive and ordered some parts from Shapeways. What I ordered was a weapons pack for Transformers Prime Starscream. as well I ordered a crown for Fall of Cybertron Starscream. Now with this being my first voyage into the world of 3D printing I began the process by researching into the process, the product and it is here I shall share some of my thoughts.

The two kits I purchased were both designed by fakebusker83, so here is a shout out for the work you did! With being my first purchase I went with the safe bet and ordered these parts in White, Strong and Flexible. In my research I found that these parts while strong will arrive with a rough or sandy texture, so some prep work will be required. Once ordered they arrived in about two weeks, with one week to be printed (an odd way to call it) as their order portal shows you the process. They arrived in a box larger than I thought and once opened I see two bubble wrapped rolls. Once unrolled two individual zip lock bags were inside with the parts I order and phew they all arrived in one piece.

As I am inspecting these parts for the first time, and I was surprised that the rough texture was not as "rough" as I thought it would be. Now don't get me wrong, the parts do require some clean up but as as much as I suspected. The first step will need to be to wash off the dust created during the process. A simple dunk inside warm water and dish soap and a gentle rub I was able to remove the dust. Switching to clean, warm water, I washed off the soap residue that might have been left behind and placed the parts out to dry. It is this drying process that I first came across the porous nature of the material. Within the first hour after being washed the parts felt dry to the touch, but not completely. The surface was dry but the parts felt bloated. It was very evident that the material adsorbed quite a bit of water, so I allowed them to air dry for an entire day.

The next day the parts were feeling the way they were when removed from the zip lock bags but of course less dusty. Now began the process on assisting with the removing the roughness of the parts. This step should not be rushed and if all possible done by hand. Now I will admit I have not tried but using any form of a powered tool may cause damage that can be easily avoided. With a quick visit to a local hardware store I grabbed myself a sheet of 600 grit sandpaper. I have used this grit before in model building and I find the versatility of working both dry and wet comes in handy. The crown came by itself, but the missiles packs came attached together, so with gentle pressure with an x-acto knife I separated the pieces.

Starting slowly as I have never dealt with the material before, I began to sand the pieces. As I work on them I find the layer of roughness is only on the surface and so the pieces are getting smoother quicker than I had anticipated. The crown itself needed more attention as I was concern with retaining the details, but with keeping a watchful eye I was able to maintain them. There were some parts that required my trusty hobby knife again, to "dig out" any of the built up material in the edges and ridges. Once I felt I worked my way down to the base model, I used a new piece of 600 grit and dampened it slightly. Going over the parts one more time I finished them off with more of a polished sanding.

After one more dunk in water to remove any remaining dust from the sanding process and a full day to dry, next came painting. In my town there is a local hobby shop that specializes in miniature figures as I figured they were they were the best resource to ask further questions. The Shapeways store itself has quite a few table top game figures, so why not? They recommended to use a Water Based paint because of the overall porous material. With that suggestion I looked to match the colours I required. Going back to my days working in model shops, painting and building model kits I already knew some of the basic. The first being is to make sure your brushes, no matter how cheap of expensive they might be is to make sure that all loose hairs are removed. The next few steps are pretty self explanatory, gather all your materials needed, brushes, water, paints and make sure you are wearing clothes that you don't care if you ruin as accidents can happen. Now once the paints are mixed, shaken or stirred, when applying directly to the brush do not glop on the paint, the less paint the better. You can always go back for more. Utilizing another trick I learned, paper clips are a great tool for holding small parts, if unbent correctly you can apply just enough pressure to hold the part to avoid finger prints and an easier way to manoeuvre the pieces.

Now that you have the basics the rest really only comes with experience to which thankfully I have. The main trick to remember when hand painting any model part is to look at your piece and choose in which direction you will apply the paint. The real trick is to run the brush in one direction when at all possible, doing so eliminates brush stokes and applies each coat evenly. With a light amount of paint on my brush I started to apply the first coat. Due to the prep work I took with these pieces the paint application went smoothly and much to my surprise that it did not soak in as much as I thought it would. The missiles have 3 different colours that needed to be applied, while the crown has only two, but between each colour I allowed all parts to fully dry. The water based paint dried very quickly with the expected matte finish. For the red on the missile warheads and the jewels on the crown I use a oil based paint I had from my G1 Starscream Restoration that was perfect for those parts. If you are going to mix water and oil based paints a word of caution. Yes, it can be done, but make sure it is Oil on top of Water not the other way around as you may have a possible disastrous outcome. The missiles had a detail separating the warhead from the body, but I was not so lucky with the crown, so I had used the gold paint as a base coat or primer for the red jewels.

Once all the touch ups were completed, I set the pieces aside to dry. In my opinion this is the worse part of model painting as they are all completed but you should not touch. I have been testing fitting the parts all throughout the sanding process, but now that they have a coat of paint I wanted to see the fruits of my labours. After waiting impatiently for a day the time had come to places the pieces on their respective figures.

First I will start with FoC Starscream. When the crown is attached it will need to be removed before any transformations, but it really helps set him aside from his mould mates, Thundercracker and Skywarp. I wished I had some clear finish to spray on the crown to add some shine and gloss, but for such a small part it can wait till I borrow some. The crown is very well designed as it fits of the head beautifully. It clips in to the back of the head and yet can be easily removed for transformation.

Moving on to Transformers Prime Starscream, he now has screen accurate single missiles, versus the rubber cluster pack. Now if you are a fan of the cluster pack, the weapons kit does include them along with replacement head and knee spikes. I am in no rush to replace those parts, as the soft rubber works for me, but those clusters just had to go!

Fitting in the same ports as the originals, they easily slip on and like the crown can be removed for transformation. The posts on the forearms later become part of the rear tail section but there are matching ports under the wings. Now this is where you need to be careful as the wing posts seem to be just slightly bigger than those on the forearms.
When placing them under the wings, apply the pressure directly above the post and missile. Anywhere may cause warping or even worse cause the part to break. I guess that is score one for the useless rubber pods because they flex to the posts easier. Unlike the crown I will not be applying any clear coats to the missiles. To keep with the screen accurate look of a matte finish fins, bracket and body of the missile, while the warhead tends to be glossy, to which was accomplished with the oil based paint.

For my first ever purchase on Shapeways, I will say I am quite impressed and all my preconceived notions were quickly quieted once I began to work with the material. If you are planning to get some parts for yourself, you will need to consider what material you wish to work with. WS&F is the cheaper and strongest material they offer, but it does dilute some of the details and does require quite a bit of prep work. Other materials like Polished come in a variety of colours and eliminate the majority of the prep work, but that comes at a slightly higher price. The Detailed material is by far for capturing details the best to choose, but the costs can add up and the material has a rubbery, or as some of the information I read can be slightly more brittle in nature.

I have shared just some of my experiences with my first ever walk into the future. There is another piece that I have been eyeing for a bit, and if I do order it, I will either select the Polished material, or even take the full on plunge and go with the Detailed material. I bet you can guess which piece if you have had a look at fakebusker83's page, and the one photo I have added on what piece I will be look into getting. If you have a guess, leave a comment below and see if you are correct. 

Also a shout out to the boys at Transmissions Podcast in helping with the final pieces in my research and learning of 3D Printed parts as well the folks and puppy at Imperial Hobbies for leading me in the right direction for paint. All your efforts are greatly appreciated and I thank-you.

 
TheRealRonin
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