Update 3/29/09 For Part 1, click here For Part 2, click here I got a little more done on Bumblebee. For starters, I added a little more detail to the shin area. Just Apoxie-Sculpt to define the dash area. I also removed to roof and added the attachment points for connecting it to the body. The roof was split into 3 sections, the windshield, the roof, and the rear window. The windshield mounts to the dash and hooks to the roof via the sun-shades. The rear window mounts to the car on a sliding rail so it can fold up on the back and the roof is on a hinge connected to the rear window section. Honestly, I don't really like the system but it's all I could come up with at the time. The problem is that the rear window, as it fold down, is slightly wider then the gap in the back of the robot. The back kibble in the concept drawing can not be done as shown. Also to complicate things further, the windshield is wider than the gap. To fix that, I'm making some changes to the mounting arm so the windshield will sit about where the rocker panels are in bot mode. Here's a pic of all the roof connections. The next step was to build the arms. They're made completely out of styrene. I basically started at the shoulders and worked my way down and I gave them 5 points of articulation. For the hands I pretty much copied other Alternator hands in that the thumb does not move, the index finger is free and the other 4 fingers are joined. Here's a pic. And here's and exploded view. And one connected to the shoulder joint. IMO, the arms are a tad small but they had to be to fit in car mode like this. Here is some shots of the car mode so far. I changed the tires because I could only find 2 tires from the original kit that I bought almost 4 years ago. The new tires are from a Tamiya kit. They're the same size but quite a bit wider that the first tires. And here's the bot mode. Alt Jazz's head is just there for sizing things up. It's not mounted. As you can see, there is a lot of back kibble. It's going to get redone a little to bring everything in closer to the bot. And here's a picture of the front. The arms do look a little small IMO compared to the concept drawing. The only real thing I could do is buff up the forearms and make the fists larger. The shoulders and upper arms are as big as I can make them and still fit in car mode. I may or may not change them, haven't decided yet. I also added the piece in the rear trunk under the head. And one last picture with Alt Prime for size comparison. Thanks for the compliments everyone!
Outstanding work!! I don't think the arms are too small actually, looks great to me! Keep us posted step by step, I'm sure I'm not the only one learning a ton from your work!
When comparing him to Prime there the arms don't seem small. Primes arms are also pretty skinny and this is especially true when comparing his arms to his legs. Overall I think this will become less noticeable once you get the doors onto BB. IMO if you slimmed the lower legs (the portion between the seats/thighs and the front fascia/feet) down a bit it would help tie the arms in and make them look a bit more normal. With that said, if this were mine I wouldn't change a thing. I love it
Outstanding skills! The arms look great, and scalled properly. His fists come down mid theigh, maybe bulk them up a tad, but only because hes got a fairly thick torso. Lobo, you are the man...
Damn...I hate you! Seriously, that is so beyond awesome. The amount of planning for the engineering of this is spectacular. Amazing!
I'm jealous beyond words. That is soo cool. DAMN VOLVO FROM KEEPING THIS FROM US!!!! Darn you for making it anyway.
may I recommend you use a recast of the henkei/classics bumblebee head? it's quite to scale and you don't have to sculpt one from scratch.
Unfortunately I won't be able to go this year. From the start of the project I had a goal of no recycling from other Tranformers. Thanks for the compliments!
look at the thread title, man. Lobo, it certainly feels like you are absolutely FLYING through this project! I am loving it too. So great to see you in the saddle again.
This is just plain fantastic. I love the bulkiness of the bot and kinda agree that the arms are a bit narrow but it still works and is up to you where you want to go with it as I am sure once painted it will look great either way.
This is awesome beyond words. I can't believe it's almost done already. The engineering going into this is by far the best I've seen (even if there's some guidance from the existing design sketch).
