Hi Everyone. This was not my idea- I saw someone else had done something similar and I loved the idea so I wanted to do my own. The Leader class Beast Hunters Optimus is really a great figure on its own but it is great as Grimlock! Basically this is a Beast Hunters prime with a MP Grimlock head, MP-01 Hands and I articulated his ankles. Im really happy with how he came out especially since this was my first real paint job on a figure. He is fully transformable into the Prime Truck. The wings on his back are basically the truck grill that used to tuck into the feet- Since I Articulated the ankles they no longer fit so they work good as Grimmy's wings. They just clip on to the rail that used to hold Prime's weird dragon shooter thing in his back.
For anyone wanting to know how I articulated the akles- It was done using some goodwill parts- Bionicles or hero factory or something.... Cut the feet off the legs, epoxy the parts into the feet and legs and that was basically it. I cut a small notch in the edge of the trucks front fenders and when folded into the legs for Robot mode, they snap onto a lip of the bioncle part in the leg and they hold secure. There are pretty tight and allow quite a bit of articulation.
Beautiful work for a first-time shot. Heck, this would be beautiful for a pro! The sword is easily my favorite part of the paint work. It looks so brutal in 'well-used' colors.
There's something quite ironic about the Decepticons having a beastformer-Predaking-as their most powerful asset but the Autobots' resident beastformer bruiser actually loses his beast mode to fight against him.
Thanks Everyone for the Kind words! I have done drybrushing on small parts before but this was the first time I did a wash. I didnt feel I could get the mix right- it was either too watery or too dark... I finally just went with it. It works on this figure but it is a bit dark. I didnt think the sword was going to turn out- after I started cutting notches in it I thought I blew it, but the after paint it turned out good too. Overall I am really happy- Gives me the confidence to start painting a custom Superion I started a few years ago but never finished because I thought I would screw the paint up.