Pin punch set, cheap but breaks easy.
Dasco Pro Small Pin Punch Set (3-Piece)-34 - The Home Depot

Automatic center punch is my fav, but it is more difficult to get into some of the thinner grooves before you actually get to the pin. I used this a bunch tonight for taking the pin out (super-easy) and it helped putting it back in (only took 2 hours yay!)

TEKTON Automatic Center Punch-6580 - The Home Depot

As for the watch band pin removal tool...so many different types! You'll have the best success if you find one that affords you enough room to wedge in those broader parts.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=watch+ba...XBQ&sprefix=watch+band+pi&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_3_13

 

So I opened the kit and started the procedure at about 5:00pm. I took an hour break and finished about 10:00pm.

Everything was smooth-sailing, extracted the pins quite easilly, got everything on the torso just fine, put new pants on palid-prime...

But when it came time to install the new hip ratchets...holy hot dang that part was a @_&#-! I expected the pin reinstallation to be a challenge, but I stripped two screws and the little screwdriver just trying to get the ratchets in and held together.

I used the little screwdriver to carefully, gently, enlarge the bore on the white pelvis back, as well as the gray skirt piece to facilitate clearance. Only then and with the help of my trusrty Auto-CenterPunch, was I able to feed the little pin through.

So...now that the oredeal is passed I gotta say...what a Beaut! I love it! Fantastic and well worth the wait! @johnbonhamatron and SND have really hit this one out of the ball park and I'm very happy I got the opportunity to aquire this icon.

I'll try to take some pics and post them later on this week.

 

@poisoncow - cheers for the tip!

Here's the screwdrivers I used to drive the pins out (edited the original post as I realised I used a small flat head when I got home).



Anyone have problems removing BC Prime's head? Fuck my balls, there's my issue so far, and obviously nowt to do with the kit itself. I practically destroyed it. There was no give, none whatsoever. Couldn't pop that off. Had to take a knife to the top of it and prise it apart at the seam.

- EDIT - Just realised I didn't have to remove the head, did I? It shares the same ballpeg as the combined mode, doesn't it? I've nearly taken my finger off for nothing as well as massacred a now gloriously expensive toy on the aftermarket, haven't I? Patient and cautious? Doing things right? Ahahahaha!

Balls  

 

Am I allowed to laugh?

 

Oh hell no. It's like neither the original screws or the replacement screws had enough hutzpah to keep enough tension on the two pelvic halves. I wound up using a random screw I had from another project that not only had the requisite length and diameter, but had the right thread depth to actually secure both halves together.

After that it was easy to slide the pins in with a pair of pliers.

I can't stress this enough...there are no problems with the kit itself. It's fantastic! The base figure, however, is a mileu of flaws that the kit so wonderfully mitigates and improves upon.

 

90%. All I need now is some suitable joints to connect the additional parts, and something from my junkyard that would work as headlights. Messed up some measurements on the placement of the new feet, so my Nova will now be sportin' some high heels   Here's how it looks atm (attached via rubber bands for now). Goddamn I really love those wings.



Backpack. I've removed the rear armor pieces, which means the wing connectors no longer has the support they need to hold them in place. For that I used the previous prime SND piece to connect them to the two backpegs of the CW figure. More on that when I've finish this mod and make a post on Radicons.

 

My review of this kit and modification to the backpack with lots of holes and screws

 

I like where you're going with this; I personally will have nothing to do with the combiner feature. I simply want a good looking Nova Prime. But you're vid is somewhat vague. Is it possible for you to clean it up with a more specific tutorial of what you've done?

 

I did.

 

First day of installation. I guess I’m ~30% done.

The good: removing the pins is super easy. It’s the first time I ever do it and it took like 3 seconds (that’s what she said? Hope not!   )

The bad: putting the pins back is not that easy. Currently stuck at that

The ugly: was trying to screw the crotch back with the original screws. By the time I realized it’s not the right thing to do they were already quite deep in and completely stripped. Taking them out with a set of pliers was messy. But kinda fun.

 

They included screws in the previous kits. I removed the stock screws a few days before getting the Nova kit and replaced them with those screws. The new screws though seem pretty good too. I had no issues with the crotch screws though.

 

Same!

 

  i cant make the 2 blades fit together in the hand at the same time

 

Is there a tutorial somewhere?

 

Emgo posted a video with the installation of the Prime kit, which is very similar.

 

For now keeping everything together

 

LOVING this guy!



That is a face that just hisses 'sinister bastard'

 

Anyone get the combined mode with the wings on the back to work? What seems to be the biggest issue?

 

And I’m done!

End result is magnificent, but inserting the small pin is a headache, and I ended up tearing a small piece of plastic there. Hopefully it won’t cause any issues in the future.
I don’t think I really ever want to transform it, but I don’t usually transform even easier figures so that’s probably on me

 

I used CW handfootguns. I had to bend the legs so that the weight was more centered over the feet. I think it'd work better if I used feet with actual heels. The biggest problem, besides the weight of the wings itself, is the increased height and the lack of ankle tilt on CW feet. As tall as this is, shifts in the center of gravity get magnified, and the wings are like a Deluxe-sized backpack. The foot anatomy is such that CW feet really only hit the ground on the edge, and CW thumbs really aren't up to the job from that angle.

The other problem is that the hands are open on the bottom, and don't really grasp the short pegs all that firmly.