Since Energon Downshift was so blatantly Wheeljack, I decided to take a slightly different route for his Cybertron counterpart. Slicer was a Euro-exclusive Action Master, equipped with a motorised exo-suit vehicle. More importantly, he was a straight redeco of the Wheeljack figure. Since he'd never been seen since, and especially not with a vehicle mode, I figured this'd be a great opportunity, and as a big strongbot, a muscle car like this was a good match. I actually started him a good couple of years ago, basically when I first got hold of the fig, but he was on the backburner for a long time while I got distracted. I recently picked him back up, and decided to start from scratch, making a couple of mods to improve him. First off, I gave him his waist articulation back, by removing that extra screw and filing away some clearance. More significantly, I pulled my trick of removing the Cyber Key port. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to do it in his case because of the obstructing flap, but I realised eventually I could use it to my advantage. I removed the flip-up panel, exposing the trigger switch that the Key pushes, and built up the surface of the switch by cementing in small pieces of styrene. This provided me with a bigger button to push. Then I took the flip-up panel, and carefully ground it down so that just the top surface (the part that's exposed as a window) remained. After trimming it slightly for clearance, I glued that to the styrene on the button, so that the window piece itself served as the trigger button for the capture claw. Paints used were Inscribe Soldier Blue, Hollyberry (red), Raven (black) and Cold Steel Flat, Citadel Brazen Brass, and Tamiya Clear Red. So he's not showing off his allegiance in vehicle mode, I used a couple of small Reprolabels insignias on his shoulders, and a rubsign on his vehicle mode boot (the back of his leg). [att]7380[/att] [att]7381[/att] [att]7382[/att] [att]7383[/att] [att]7384[/att] [att]7385[/att] [att]7386[/att] [att]7387[/att] [att]7388[/att] [att]7389[/att]
when someone does the head and waist mode, he become such a killer toy. Fun to transform, and barely limited in articulation (arm rotation is nearly all he lacks at that point). I have to say that your solution to absolve the need to keep track of a silly planet key is literally ingenious. Very clever! I love the paint job too, your stripes are very clean and nicely done. Great to see you starting to finish some of the massive pile of WIPs you have
That's totally wicked. I love those stripes. As for the disposal of the cyber key and change to button, INGENIOUS!!!
Man, this piece is sweet! The paint apps are slick (love those stripes), and the key activation port idea is ingenious and executed very well. GREAT work Character choice rocks too! I've had this guy planned as an Alt Wheeljack repaint for nearly 3 years now . . . Your piece is further urging me to get mine made! Curses to you Ramrider and your cool customs! CURSES!
did you hand paint all the lines and stripes? or are those decals? they look almost too perfect to be hand done, but they have that little bit of a painted on feel to
Thanks, all! He took long enough to finish (over two years, on and (mostly) off), so I'm glad he's going down well! You're not kidding. There's a ton of half-finished bashes in the basement... I would have said it's doubtful since they've already used the Downshift mould for Big Daddy now... but then they're just now using the Cyb Evac mould twice right next to each other, so I s'pose there's still a chance... Even though I've got my own now, I'd love to see it. *bows courteously* I'm not sure about the noble part, but I know I've never played baseball in my life, so you'd have to be pretty darned awful. Still, I did used to be pretty good at rounders back in the day, so who knows..? Bring it, mate! The Alt Mustang's got a pretty similar aesthetic, really, so that'll likely work really well... especially with you working on it! They are indeed hand-painted. It takes some practice, but with a fine brush and a steady hand, it's actually not too hard. I find the trick is to follow near panel lines as much as possible; you can use them as guidelines so you can see when you start to veer off-course and correct yourself. Since the Key-abolition mod seems so well received, I'll have to open him back up and take a pic or two of the insides...
Man, you need to get those things finished! Go paint boy!! Thanks man; I appreciate the kind words I had originally ordered some custom heads from Transrepro, but Ken became ill the same week I sent my order off. Admittedly, I've had a hard time coming back to the custom. I had first tried to be patient, thinking he would eventually come through. After about a year and a half goes by, I just gave up. I worked on many other projects in the meantime anyways. I was really excited about it when Wheeljack came out, and I bought an extra for that custom specifically. Waiting and moving on has pretty much ended though (and especially with Allyosha potentially hooking me up with a head ). Awesome! I hope you can write a tutorial on the modification so we can have it posted in our resources section!
hehehe make a quick 5 second video of it in action. Would look good in its gallery ...btw, fixed the FP to have your images show up fullsize.
Ramrider, this is a kick @$$ custom!! The push button, the waist articulation, but ESPECIALLY the color/paint apps. Nice one, bro!!
Thanks, guys! I should be able to... I just snapped a few pics of the insides. Wasn't easy to get shots that show the bits under the button, but I think I got 'em. Frankly, though, it's actually such a simple mod it shouldn't take a lot of describing. Brilliant... that's the kind of thing I like to hear...
