Here's a Classics Hauler that I made from a junker RTS Grapple I bought on Ebay that was missing his arms and crane. I added Universe Inferno arms and a crane from Cybertron Mudflap that attaches to the figure in both modes using LEGO parts. Wrist cannon is from the Maiden Japan Inferno/Grapple upgrade kit. I was hoping that the TFCC or Takara would eventually make him to finish off this mold but so far he doesn't appear to be in the cards from either...


Back view (I know his arm flaps should be flipped around - I left them like that to differentiate him from Inferno and Grapple):


Vehicle mode:


Vehicle mode with crane extended:


Crane with LEGO parts (two black posts on bottom of crane go into robot fists in vehicle mode, and can connect to the other piece to go into his back in robot mode):


With his fellow mold mates:


Vehicle modes:


Thanks for checking out my custom!

 

great job. i can see some of the yellow a bit. but i know green on yellow is kinda hard from my own projects.

i do really like this and have been wanting to do this myself. just 1 question, why no purple? i thought hauler was constructicon colored and part of their team but the missing member that wasnt robo smashered thus still autobot.

 

That's a beautiful lineup of this mold. Nice work!

 

Paintwork on the crane looks fairly muddy, especially when compared to the very nice paintwork on the figure itself, but looks lovely otherwise.

 

I like it but agree that he should maybe have some purple.

 

Thanks for the comments and critiques guys!

I did consider using clear purple paint on Inferno's windshield and siren lights to put into this custom, I'll try to incorporate that when I'm revising this custom.

The camera definitely doesn't lie, the crane was the last thing I painted and I think I got a little lazy/tired with that part compared to the body - I didn't take it apart or strip off the old paint (it was used for another custom before) or paint in some of the details - instead I was just slathering on the green paint when I got to the crane. I'll re-tackle that part in the future, appreciate the suggestion!

Thanks, it's one of my quirks I love a good group shot.

 

That's sweet mate! I love him!

 

1-That's really good.
2-I thought I liked that mold a lot!

 

Damn. I didn't know I needed Universe Inferno as Road Hauler until now! I own Inferno and Hot Spot and Spark already.

The big crane arm looks nice. He's clearly more of a hauler than Grapple, since he's built for it.
A shame about the part-forming for that, but that could be resolved. I think there was a "Masterpiece Inferno" custom that resolves this problem. I don't remember if he started producing the kits yet though.

Yup. He needs to take the classical rule of thinning his paints. I can even see it to a lesser degree on the non crane parts, though I can only be certain from the photos where the light reflects and shows the uneven surface.

I wonder if repainting Hot Spot into this would be easier. ... or any more or less expensive.
Well, a crane arm would still be needed, and Hoist comes with one already, but his forearms and head are different from Inferno, whom Load Hauler was a repaint of. then again, so was Grapple, but Grapple's got a different cartoon model while Load Hauler has no cartoon appearance to contradict this.