The Star Cats dino team already has plenty of G1 repaints, so I decided to give the rescue team a little G1 make-over. The biggest modding is obviously on Hot Spot, but each of the remaining team members had a little work done on their heads. The ambulance/helicopter got a head swap, and I molded some angrier eyebrows on Blades with apoxie. The real fun happens in combined mode. I began with a knock-off Defensor which only has half a head when you remove the ladder and really, really wide eyes. I filled in the back half of his head with apoxie, stuck it on a ball joint, and narrowed his eyes a bit so he doesn't look shocked all the time. The chest piece is held on by two styrene rods that plug directly into the existing holes on the Hot Spot mold. The gun is a spare TFC Hercules weapon which conveniently fits perfectly in the TFC-designed Star Cats combined mode hand. All in all, I'm pretty happy with it. Defensor was never a top-tier character for me, so this suffices for a Classics display and means I get to avoid spending $500+ on a legitimate 3rd party offering.
Groovy, wish you did some before and after pics. These look top notch, considering grabbing up some of these non-tf inspired combiners to cobble together the micromaster combiner teams from Operation combination (or would that be combiner wars 1.0?)
Hot damn! I was wondering when someone would finish one of these! Looks great! Without the large red presence to unify the palette, it feels like the yellow details on the limbs are a bit distracting... but otherwise, this is gold! zmog
^^This. Especially with the recent price dropoff. It's going for $49 , down from the $79 it started as. @OP. There's two versions of this too. Is this the smaller version or the really really big one? I like the size of the bigger one but the smaller version has a lot more detail. Sweet job!
I got one for $40 shipped, so I'm looking forward to modding this guy up. I'm just going to make it a different character though, cause I'm figuring on Hasbro giving us an official Defensor sometime next year. Did you leave on all the stars, because I was thinking of taking them off and wondering how that went for anyone else before I attempted it. Excellent job, BTW, I really like the addition of the G1 head and chest parts.
Thanks, everyone! I added a couple more screenshots to the first post showing how I attached the ladder to the back and a comparison to other combiners for those unfamiliar with the mold. I tightened them up using the usual joint tightening tricks, but otherwise nothing special. Its the shoulder joints that tend to give me the most trouble. I may try to do something to lock them in place, but they are not too bad yet. Its the smaller one. The bigger one seemed a little knock-offish. Plus I like the idea of the Autobots being smaller and outmatched against the larger Decepticon combiners. I left all the stars on mine. Gave them more of a team feel. I did, however, attempt to clean up some of the excess red overspray on Streetwise. I got it to be a little better, but I eventually gave up as the paint was tougher to remove than I anticipated.
im diggin it, dude! looks great! i was hoping someone could execute upon this concept! great great work
Sorry was this the Deluxe or the Bigger set? Also I was wondering what part did you use for the chest plate. I was planning to to this myself; glad to see someone made it a reality already though.
Hydrant with the smaller set or larger set? I have all of them and can mix and match in whatever manner you want. I can even throw a dino limb on for ya lol on topic: Nice repaint. I have to agree with you that for the price these definitely are pretty nifty. Cheaply made, but cheaply priced and look decent posing on a shelf. After seeing this I'm really debating giving both of my sets a major overhaul......hate all that red on mine.