Hello there, I'm currently putting together a Season 1 Ark cast so Combiner Wars Optimus Prime and the upcoming Wave 4 deluxes have been a bit of a boon. The thing is, I was a little disappointed by Sunstreaker's lack of a re-moulded faux car canopy chest so, on the off chance we either don't get a CW Sideswipe or he ends up with an identical body to SS, I decided to reconsider using Classics Sideswipe for my crew as I prefer to have the brothers in similar-but-different bodies and alt. modes as a nod to G1. I never liked the Classics Sideswipe head though, it misses the mark entirely and doesn't say Sideswipe to me - it had to GO. At first I considered copying Hired Goons's FOC headswap but drilling out a ball socket and ruining an FOC Sideswipe in the process was a bit daunting, fortunately SteamShield came to the rescue with his Masquerade head designs. After a not-quite-as-daunting (but still a bit daunting) ball joint alteration, removing the blue paint from his clear thigh components and the addition of TrentTroop's Action Master-style Sideswipe weapon modified to be his shoulder cannon I now have the G1-ish Sideswipe I wanted. As well as SteamShield and Trent, I'd like to thank Pumpkingonzo, Nellie, Stevil and Tigerblade of the TFW UK thread who have inspired me to take the plunge on doing some more ambitious TF modding, thank you all! Drum roll please... TAH DA!
These are great pictures, I love them. Works surprisingly well on that body - I assume you had to reduce the size of the original neck joint?
Yes, I cut down the original ball joint, then used layers of nail varnish to 'fine tune' the re-size. It's a bit of a bodge job to be honest but (touch wood) it's holding up. I'd recommend use of a dremel for anyone else wanting to try it, hand sanding didn't seem to dent it no matter which grade I used.
Yes, Steamshield's Lambo head from Shapeways. Fair warning you have to adapt Classics Swipe's neck ball joint for the head to fit him.
