Well I tried, and now the leg screws are pretty beat up and my index finger is just sure from the attempts. I can either do the cross screw driver trick, or just fuckitall and just drill into them and get new ones of which I have no idea.

Damnit Hasbro ruined a good third party product with their own shoddy equipment!

 

Pretty sure the black screws that came with the kit are meant as replacements for potentially stripped screws.

 

Heya. If you end up murdering your figure on accident, let me know. I have a junker BC Optimus I'll send to you for shipping costs.

 

I absolutely love this addon. It is so impressive that blocky uninteresting figure can evolve into intimidating, huge, one hell of a beast. I was not looking for this addon at all, but bought it after viewing this thread and man, I am happy! Pretty much it is the best version of Nova we have. I also have MakeToys version, it was not bad at all, but a bit on the smaller side. MMC's offering was just not good at all, unfortunately (their weakest release, I'd say), Iron Factory looks good, but again, it is small.
I enjoy the look of SND's Nova so much, head and wings are just perfect, again, really happy about this kit and can't recommend it enough.

As for the assembly, I was careful and the only issue I had is with getting back the smaller pin, damn it wasn't easy  

 

No kidding. I feel embarrassed even having MMC's Nova in the same collection.

 

As much as I've liked all the other kits SND has released before (Vitalis and Praefectus) and am looking forward to getting my hands on this kit, I wouldn't sell MMC Nova short. He's still a pretty great bot!

 

Hey guys I need some feed back on this Kit I am on the fence about it and after seeing some reviews I am leaning against it. Any one else have experience with this It is the SND-04 X-Mortis Upgrade Kit? Nova Prime Kit.
Thanks for letting me know.
Lordtigerhawk

 

I don't have it myself but I found an Emgo review for it and simply put, I trust Emgo. He won't come right out and say "this is garbage" but it's pretty clear when he's not happy with something so you'll be able to tell. Might be worth a watch for you to see if it's good or not.  

Also how to install it:

and how to go truck mode. Wow...lots of Emgo on this guy:

 

I think the kit is fantastic and I have no connection to the character. I thought the Primo Vitalis kit was great which is why I picked this one up. If you take your time and look through this thread and prepare yourself for the installation that should save any frustration during assembly. The combine mode has some stability issues, if that's a priority you might want to shy away. But the main bot is fantastic, the wings are super impressive (so very poseable). It's very hard to look away from once it's displayed. The new ratchets are stellar and the fact you can have a backpack of this size and have him posed in a variety of poses without assistance is extremely impressive. I love the kit and can't recommend it enough.

 

It is a very good kit, but need to have patience, pin punch(even a nail will work), and a good set of precision screwdrivers. The biggest issues with it are installing the new hip ratchets and removing & installing 2 pins. Also the Hasbro screws can be easily stripped if your not careful and not using the proper kind of philips screwdriver.
It can look daunting to someone who has never taken a figure apart before or delt with pin removal. Just need to take your time and keep calm.
If you do decide to get it, you have a bunch of friends here that will help you with it step by step.

 

Finally got this kit in and put it together today. Went pretty well except for some trouble with putting the smaller pin back in but he's holding together. Looks awesome and the wings are just so cool and poseable.



Here he is with the Optimus Kit. They look pretty cool together.

'

 

After a MASSIVE struggle with the waist pin, I finally managed to get a longer pin in, probably one leftover from the Primo Vitalis kit. Need some heavy-duty wire cutters to snip it, but I've got him together and he is GORGEOUS.

Next step: pulverize the hands down to mushroom pegs to hold the KFC black MP hands. He needs to be making "go forth and conquer the galaxy" hand motions. A few more gold and teal accents wouldn't hurt.

A quick shot with the FP Dinos because that's what I have at work.

 

yea the smaller pin would not go in for me either. said screw it, went and used a thinner pin that went through instead

comparing him to mmc... yea mmc is smaller, had mmc's been the same height, id easily say that mmc is better

however in terms of things like transformation and gimmicks, mmc wins. seraphicus is just better in articulation as well and balances better

color, size, cost, mortis. i prefer the darker colors than the blues.

 

I'm pretty experienced when it comes to toy disassembly and repair, and this kit was a P.I.A., particularly the waist piece, which I needed to carve out in order to accommodate the toy's metal pin since the original holes were too tiny (and half punched out).

My biggest issue with this kit and a word of warning is that it doesn't take into account the weakness of the original plastic used on the Hasbro toy. I tried installing the new hip ratchets, but the factory butt-piece and the thigh rear plastic is so soft that the screws actually went through the plastic itself. After some swearing, I left the original hip joints in and sealed it up, but now its a floppy mess that can't stand on its own. This thread has inspired me to reopen it though and see about maybe gluing the pieces together or something, because he really can't stand at all right now.

It's a nice kit, but the cheap foundation (Battle Core Prime itself) really hinders it. I would have gladly paid more for SND to make this a stand-alone figure. Probably would have been cheaper in the long run as well.

 

Yeah, I'm waiting for the screw in the butt (I know what I just said heh) to pull through and his hips to explode at some time in the future. There was a serious stress mark by the time I got that section put together. For now, though, it's holding together and looks great.

 

I ended up taking the figure apart and installing the new hip assembly - it's MUCH better now! Really makes me appreciate the figure a lot more. Transformation to vehicle mode is a bit wonky, and I really wish the wings pegged in to the truck more securely to keep them level, but this kit is the textbook definition of making lemonade out of a lemon.

 

I ended up over torquing the top screw and actually popped the head off the screw. Should have used the replacement screws in the package. I ended up taking everything back apart and I glued the hip pieces together in addition to using the replacement screw on the bottom of his butt. Seems to be holding together. Cheap Hasbro screws were by far the worst part of the upgrade process.

 

This guy is pretty amazing. Such a good job

 

Anyone got any tips for the ratchet waist after putting the new waist in? every time I seem to screw them in place the legs end up super loose and impossible to stand straight. This was the same issue with IDW Prime and I REALLY want to make sure it does not happen here.

 

A lot of dremel today, mostly by my friend who is better at this shit, and we have ARTICULATED KFC HANDS! Oh, sure, they don't hold the sword all that well, but hey. And some more gold accents.