When I finished my Black Panther build, I realized that there was a relatively non-invasive modification I could do that just had to be done. I had to “beat him up” so that his suit could store up some energy. So I ordered some glow-in-the-dark purple paint, and carefully, precisely, and delicately reminded myself of why I appreciate not having to paint Metal Earth models. I’m just not good at it. It didn’t turn out that bad. But I definitely would not describe it as a great success. Though I do like the glowing effect.
Now, I have to admit something about the photos. They are somewhat faked. I say that because it’s near impossible to take a “natural” photo of something glow-in-the-dark with a phone’s camera. I learned that quickly. Not only does it have trouble focusing, but the only thing you see is a blurry mess based on the lines of glow. And it doesn’t get the color right… it somehow sees blue when it’s glowing purple. So I had to get creative.
Which is how I ended up using a recompiled-for-my-phone version of the Camera app for Pixel phones. It does the “magic” Night Sight mode in code, and was able to get me a better focus, and include some of the details on the model. A lot of the details on the model. Enough to make it seem like the glow is almost radioactive. And so, I must tell you, it doesn’t actually glow that much. But it does glow.
Then I had to use a few filters and some hue-correction to get it to the appropriate purple color. I hope I got an appropriate purple color. Anyways, this was a fun mod, and I like the results. It does leave a little bit of a Purple overtone to the trace lines on the suit, even when not glowing in the dark, but I don’t really mind it, it’s like the suit has a subtle charge in it.
P.S. Don’t forget about the Metal Earth Newsletter! Turns out this months challenge is to make a Metal Earth Mod! I’d already completed this bad boy when I got the newsletter, but you can jump in with your own creative modification entry! The deadline is November 14th. Find the full details in the Newsletter, or visit the web-version of it here.
Your glow in the dark puts my little build to shame. Very ingenious coming up with the glow in the dark. I applaud your patience securing the right filters to complete the shot. It all looks great here. To do the hot rod challenge, are they going to release them soon? Thanks CodeWookiee.
Hot Rod challenge? Do you mean the mod challenge? Or are you thinking of modding one of the classic Fords into a hot rod for the contest? I don’t know when the Fords are releasing, unfortunately, but they did just add a bunch of additional photos to all of the Ford models recently, and they released the ICONX Artoo and X-Wing shortly after updating the posts in a similar fashion. So… maybe soon? I don’t know.