12/30 This little project has acctually been done for a little while, but Ive been to busy to take any pics and post them. I just couldnt wait till after christmas to paint her, so I spray painter her with Krylon Satin white, and Outdoor spaces Pink. Sadly she was curing in the room where my parents were staying, and I swear they managed to knock over every single one of my transformers, some directly on to her. So there is some touch up to be done, but will probably wait till I take a second attempt on this project. This has come close, and I learned alot of stuff, and I think spending some more time on this will help it go to the next level. Thanks for all the help and support throughout the way, and may all of you have happy bashing in the new year! PS I know right side rear fender didnt get pushed all the way in in alt mode, it does, I just didnt notice till right now. 12/15 I got the seams filled in and sanded down so they look less boxy, after I prime Ill be able to see a bit better where needs more sanding. I have most of the heavy work done. Quick note to you impovisers, Your dremel tool does not make a good mini lathe, you will do some serious damage! After trimming off some bits and pegs on the feet, fixing some damage while trying to round off the foramrs, and doing a bit of head modifications; Im willing to say Im done the modding! Ive got the new head on, and even though it is bigger than they mirage head, it still looks a little bit small >.> It also doesnt completly fit in the cockpit, but its not the ponytail getting in the way, its the crest of her head, and I really dont want to make it smaller. Id love to here some ideas on this little problem, but as she will stay in bot mode 99% of the time, I may not even mess with it. A huge round of thanks to eveyone who has commented and helped me with ideas for this. Ive had a lot of fun and headaches working with this project, but I couldnt have brought this from a werid idea to a mostly completed project with out you! 12/14 After working most of the day on a step that I thought would take like 2-3 hours tops, Im pooped. I have a new found respect for you scratchbuilders. I knew it was difficult, but Im good with measuring and cutting. Though I am more used to carpentry and working on a larger scale, and screw cutting irregular curves! Anyway I have finished the rough work on my front quarter panels. Now to do some finishing work and get these guys attached! Here is what they are mostly gonna look like, I tried to keep as much curve as I could. There will be less of a seam when they are attached via magnets, as they need to move and slide just a bit as to not hinder transformation. Thanks for all the help and comments so far, Im starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel! 12/13 Yay another long week of work is over and christmas shopping is done and wrapped, its time to blow off some steam! Last weekend I got my feet almost like I liked them, and with a lttle more fandangaling I achieved more of a high heel effect. I also worked a bit on the chest area, though I think I think the original look of this mold gave off a sense of curves in that area anyway. Ive moved on to the front quarter panels. Ive never scratchbuilt anything before so I am heading into this part with a bit of trepidation. Thinking it would be easier to add on to an existing piece, I went through quite a few things to find something to work with. I tore apart a robotech SD alpha fighter to fix my jetfires shoulder awhile back and his intakes shoulders seem perfect for the job Thanks so much for all the comments, suggestions, and help so far. And please dont stop now! 12/08 Well this is being turned into a WIP thread after getting a new figure to tear into. I am probably going to need alot of help/input from everyone to get this close to what I have in mind, so thank you in advance! Im going to try to do this in stages/problems to keep from worrying about too much at once. First is the legs/feet. Using some parts I have laying around Ive mocked up a couple of different ideas. Some work 100% right out but look kinda werid. Once I get the look right Ill delve into making it work. So please comment with which of these mock ups you like, or if you have some differnet ideas of your own. Thanks again! Later that day . . . I think Ive decided on what to do with the legs. I wanted to removed the lower legs but that seem super feasible with out completly removing them in bot mode and keeping a slighly femine build. So I am using the sides of the lower legs as the feet to slim that down and so I dont have to any extra pieces. These will attach magnetically as the feet and the back sides of the alt mode. Also, boobs have been achieved . . . mostly. 11/24 Hey guys, I recently did some work with the mirage mold (cant belive I thought I wouldnt like it) and torwards the end of it I started to see something else. Has anyone thought about making it into a classics Arcee? I did some REALLY ROUGH editing as to what it sorta of looks like in my head, Im no good at editing at all. But if you took the wheels off and added bits to the front part to be a cybertronian car. That would be her shoulder thingies. Maybe sand down the boxy edges of the forarms and thighs to make a bit more feminine. I also see in my head, some sort of 1/2 turbine on the shoulders to add to the alt mode. The only thing that I think would look really werid and out of place are the feet. If anyone kinda sees what Im seeing and can show it off better visually or has an idea to get some better feet in there please post it here! Thanks in advance!
Purty in pink! I could see an Arcee there, the feet would give me concern as well, but the rest of your ideas seem to be feasible and make sense!
that could work really well. My only problem with is is that the shins would be decidedly un-feminine.
Not a bad idea. If you think if the shins as bell-bottom type pants I think it looks fine. Honestly Energon Arcee is already pretty good and is somewhat in scale for bike mode. But if you are set on a car mode arcee maybe the E. Arcee's head would at least work for you
Energon Arcee's head and perhaps replace the spoilers with some smaller feet such as the ones from RID Sideburn, the red version. Trim down the shins some and perhaps angle the upper body to force a more "femme" appearance and you'd have a pretty decent Arcee. Of course thats just my opinon.
As small as Mirage's head is, I think E. Arcee's would be a good choice. Still not totally sold on the lower legs, but you onto something good here!
I think one would have to reshape the shins, and make the torso more feminine, and I would kill that entire front wheel sections and mount them the shoulders somehow, and a head swap. Hmmm.....
I loke this idea. i wouldn't try and shave the legs at all, I' dreplace them with something like Cyb overdrive's legs, tubular. the head actually isnt too bad on its own. I wonder if modding it could work. try and make the front wheels attach to the underside of alt mode, so they flip back wards and become those shoulder pads Arcee is sportin'
Thanks of all of the ideas. This is something that will be moved into a WIP thread later because I really want to do it. Arcee as a motorcycle is nice, but in my head she will always be a car. The energon Acree head is the right size to fit in there, but she will have to lose her ponytail in the back. Still thinking about her legs. I'm thinking of a couple different things here. Most of them include a little bit of bit of parts forming and the current feet becoming a backpack of sorts. E. Arcees lower legs could become boots for this incarnation. I dont have an Override(yet) to look into that avenue. This would be going a bit easier if I had an extra mold to work with. I stopped at almost every walmart I passed during my thanksgiving traveling but came up with no fractures, but I did find a movie Acree that might be losing her legs. Im pretty sure this is going to be a cybertronian mode car so she probably wont even have wheels. Ive never worked with sytrene before ( and no one locallly seems to know what it even is) So Im might be going the For Sale sign route for raw materials. After I chop off the front wheel assembly Ill build out the front quarter panels, similar to the shape of the second picture so that when transformed she'll have her shoulder pads. Well Im off to the junkion exchange and ebay. Ill have more info coming soon!
I think this mold has been used WAY too many times to make 3-4 different characters...The only thing I can see this car as is the Go-Bot Crasher...
Honestly Go-Bot Crasher is probably the worst character to have made from this mold since she was a completely different style of race car (not saying I don't love that they did the character cuz I do and own 2 of them). Mirage = perfect for this mold and Drag Strip is a close second minus the four front wheels he had waaay back in G1. As far as I can tell the car will look very different from the original mold based on the mods he's talking about doing anyway. Either way, good luck and I will be watching for this project to mature into a WIP and finally a finished project. I honestly might work on doing something similar if you don't mind. Mine would be more of a repaint with the e. Arcee transplant like I suggested for you to use
I ordered two mirage figures from toyrocket.com the other day and got my package in the mail yesterday. When I opened it up there was only 1 inside, boo to that. They were really nice on the phone and my escaped mirage is currently on its way from across the country. There was a second package on my door step yesterday and I totally ruined a suprise gift of an airbrush/compressor for christmas. So I might get some modding done before, but this is probably going to be the first figure I use my new gadget on after the holidays.
I just bought Fracture fully intending to leave her as such. But I think I might take a queue from this idea and makes me an Arcee. (Sucks that it'll be even one less 'Con on that side though.)
I think the first picture using Mirage's thighs and Arcee's calves and feet is the way to go. They look a bit short now, but if you can lower the shoulders a bit and make them look narrower it will make the figure seem more feminine.
I agree, keep Mirages thighs and lengthen the E.Arcee's shins some if you can. I have a little something else in mind, but it's not fully thought through yet, I'll get back to you on it.
Thanks for the comments so far! Kusanagi Id love to hear your ideas, either post it here or pm me and maybe we can brain storm a bit. on the other hand . . . Acctually seeing these ideas in person is a lot different than in my head. While my cat was trying to distract me I think Ive come up with something that works just as well if not better than the rest. This little bit of parts forming slenderizers the leg, and prevents a whole lot of chunky parts forming later. If I go this route the feet will reattach to the sides in alt mode, but I will cut down the pegs and screw holes so it will be sleeker in bot mode.
