I recently purchased a complete Jetfire which is still a nice bright white. However the inner calf panels that are made of metal are very corroded and the paint is peeling and flaking off. Because of this I am considering taking them off and stripping them down to bare metal and repainting them a nice bright white used for model cars. I will be putting a coat of white primer down first to stop this from happening again. The red on the wings and forearms has also just rubbed off like it was put on with a marker. I plan on removing these pieces, masking these areas off and painting them with Tamiya Italian red since I believe this will be a nice match to the original red.
I feel confident that I will do this properly since I have been building model cars for most of my life. Below are a couple of pics of some models I have built to give you an idea of my painting skills.
I'm also wondering if this is done would it make it less collectible? I mean would you buy it if you knew the restoration work had been done right?
BTW sorry if this is in the wrong forum I just didnt think it would belong in the customs.
172 and counting. :)_
Newest addition to my collection: Generations Blitzwing
Looking for packaging for 20th Anni. Masterpiece Optimus Prime and his axe and Megatron gun. PM me if you have any of these at a reasonable price.
Personally, I would be less inclined to pay a higher pricer for a figure that has been restored. I like to spend my money on an original figure, including all the imperfections that age brings, giving more character. However I will say that I have restored several TFs in the past, but I have no intention of ever selling them off again so the loss of value is un-important to me.
Looking at the cars you have made in the past it looks as if you have the skills to pull this off to a high standard so I imagine re-sell wouldn't be as badly affected as it could be.
If your going to keep the figures and want them looking better I say go for it, return them to their former glory.
Rumble.
R.I.P, Menasor.
I can't believe I thought Cassettes were the way of the future.
Thanks for your thoughts Rumble. I really dont like to restore them but Jetfires paint is pretty bad. His right calf is about 60% bare corroded metal. I guess I should have stated that I dont plan on ever selling my collection but you never know what may happen one day. Also I wouldnt expect to get more money I just dont want it to make it worth nothing.
172 and counting. :)_
Newest addition to my collection: Generations Blitzwing
Looking for packaging for 20th Anni. Masterpiece Optimus Prime and his axe and Megatron gun. PM me if you have any of these at a reasonable price.
I agree with Rumble.
I prefer to keep my figures 100% original, but when I but I don't intend to sell them I usually go ahead and restore them, as long as I'm convinced that I'll be able to do a really good job of course.
You seem to know what you're doing when it comes to painting, so that shouldn't be a problem.
Good luck!
As long as you disclose, if you ever sell that Jetfire, all the details which have been fixed, I see no harm and maybe will fetch a good price if the job is well made. The bad thing is when someone sneaks in a restored figure as original.
