It's Easy M'Kay (Threepio)

Hasbro, the toy company, is renowned for doing cheap repaints of their figures, in order to maximize a return on investment.*  Often, these are extremely lame or ill-advised.  But sometimes, like with the various Prequels clones, or the assorted droids, it's not only expected, but encouraged by the fans.

A very minor character in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (technically, an extra) is K-3PO, a white protocol droid killed during the attack on Echo Base.  Or "killed," if you want to be that guy. 

It's a figure that would be very easy for Hasbro to do (in their 6 Inch line), but one they never have bothered to make (there's also a red protocol droid called U-3PO that I'll set my sights on later).  So, when I saw a very cheap C-3PO for sale a few weeks back, I scooped it up with a quick repaint in mind.

Unaltered TFA figure

Three weeks later, I finally finished it.

The above pic was my first try, using one white paint on one arm, one on the other (the pearlier white did not coat at all, so I ended up using the other white, then doing a recoat in the pearly, almost glue-like white).

I did the whole upper half, and I thought it looked pretty good (still do, even though when I used that same white on a different figure, it looked like I had tried painting the darn thing with a piece of chalk).

This is the whole thing painted white (first coat).  Am I taking too many pictures?

And here it is with the second coat.

I took a picture of it with all the paint covered, including the stomach, but the flash was on and the photo's unusable, but here's one I took out in the snow with my Mandalorian repaint.

(I realize the snow looks fake)

And here's the finished product:

Big thinks I need to do a black or grey wash, to bring out the detail, and he may be right, but I'm not sure it will work in this case.  In the past, I've used an oil-based wash that is essentially paint thinner, and I worry it will just undo the white paint layers I've laid on.  I could experiment with another item, but in the meantime, I'm happy with my K-3PO.

Which means Hasbro will announce one tomorrow.

*The molds from which their figures are made cost a fortune, so if they can reuse them over and over again, the toys become exponentially cheaper to produce the more they do it.