Custom swords (well, painted...)

[Starwars4J]

Anyway, I had to do something with the four golden katanas from the Golden Tower set, and I've had this idea kicking around for awhile. They're just painted with a coat of Testors dullcoat to make them look "worn"

Anyway, here's the backstory:

One of the most famous swords is the Muramasa from Japanese legend, on par with the Excalibur from English myth. What isn't told is the story of its sister sword, the Masamura. The Muramasa is said to drain the life out of anyone who it comes in contact with, taking their life power for itself. While this makes the Muramasa an extremely powerful sword, it also makes it impossible to wield by any normal means. It was created eons ago as the physical manifestation of a woman, by the name of Muramasa. She had a sister by the name of Masamura who, like her, has a physical manifestation. While the Muramasa gains strength from anyone who attempts to wield it, the Masamura keeps the Muramasa in check by sharing the power it steals, so that the two swords are always the same. Unlike her sister, Masamura does not steal life by contact, but rather can restore it. Therefore, the only safe way to wield the Muramasa is to also wield the Masamura, so that while one sword steals the life from you, the other restores it. However it can only restore half of what was taken, so use is still very limited.

These swords, and the full story behind them have been lost to the ages...however recently it was re-discovered by malevolent forces.

Here they are:

I'm thinking about putting another thin layer of white over the Masamura, what do you think?

Edit: Repainted the Masamura

And now, the lovely Masamura *wub* Okay, so she's that female fig from Avatar, but she's easily my favorite fig, and I don't think I could improve on her if I tried.

Fleshies are figs that are not alive, either from heaven or hell. Color in the eyes indicate heaven. Anything else comes from the other place :-P

Edited June 24, 2007 by Starwars4J

[Asuka]

Those golden

[zouave]

Great paint job. *y* Nice background story also.

[snefroe]

one question though: doesn't the hand of the fig scratch the paint off?

[Starwars4J]

one question though: doesn't the hand of the fig scratch the paint off?

Nope, the paint is in the little crevasses (which is where the leather would be), so it's low enough not to come in contact with the hand

[Hinckley]

So S4J did you make up that story? I love how you and your paint are considered "malevolent forces". X-D

Do you have a lot of experience painting pieces? I painted a piece once and unfortunately I painted a light gray 75 2 x 2 x 3 Double Convex black. Oh well, live and learn. I can actually still use it, it just looks shinier than the other pieces.

What kind of paint do you use to match the finish of the abs?

[Starwars4J]

So S4J did you make up that story? I love how you and your paint are considered "malevolent forces". X-D

Do you have a lot of experience painting pieces? I painted a piece once and unfortunately I painted a light gray 75 2 x 2 x 3 Double Convex black. Oh well, live and learn. I can actually still use it, it just looks shinier than the other pieces.

What kind of paint do you use to match the finish of the abs?

Actually I did. I love making stories for a cohesive universe for all my MOCs...whether purist or customized X-D

For paint I used Testors. I ended up re-doing the Masamura so the white looks nicer, and cleaned the Muramasa up a bit (I'll post pics in the first post at the bottom). Classic Black and Classic white are what I used, and they seem to match official Lego.

You can always remove the paint on the 2x2x3 double convex with some Formula 409 which, according to Deathstickman from MCN, should remove the paint without harming the plastic at all! Further information can be found at the link he provided me in the past.

If you're having troubles with shiny parts though, try applying some Testors Dullcote to it.