ROTF Leader Starscream hands (Shapeways)

Fakebusker's Shapeways Store

I'm proud to present my design for posable leader movie Starscream hands, now available on Shapeways! This project came about while I was trying to build posable hands for my first custom leader Starscream. They worked fine, except the material I casted them in and the styrene add-ons leave much to be desired in terms of strength and paint absorption.

These hands are designed to have fully posable fingers that bend in 2 places, as well as thumbs, all on ball joints. Also, the wrist connector is a ball joint too, allowing full 360 degrees of movement.

Most importantly, these hands are designed to fill the same amount of space as the original hands so transformation is still possible.

You can purchase the hands here at ROTF Leader Starscream posable hands on Shapeways.


Issues

I have presently tested a sample in Strong, Flexible material and all the joints work beautifully. You might find that some joints will become loose pretty fast; that's normal as the friction has grounded the powdery surface smooth. A remedy is to coat the ball joint lightly with superglue. Do that for any joint with that problem.

I have also tested these hands in Detail material and they can withstand the assembly process. However, the material is too weak and/or unreliable for consistent posing, plus you have to spend time cleaning them up. I will not recommend this type of material and I suggest sticking to Strong Flexible instead.

Assembly Instructions
Note: Samples shown are drybrushed to make the details stand out better.

Note note: You have to be somewhat experienced to install these hands, as you need to remove the originals and mount the new ones in solidly enough. You will need a dremel, epoxy sculpt, cutting knife, among other things.


You will receive them in sprues. Cut out the pieces, trim away excess bits and put them together. Take care when popping the balls in; be firm but gentle too avoid breaking the pieces.


Hands assembled. You will notice there are interchangeable cores. The one with the hole is 5mm wide to mount his weapon, just like the stock hands.


Bite the bullet and slice of SS's hands at the wrist. Take care not to cut off too much from the forearm!


Dremel a hole at the spot marked X. Make the hole about 5mm wide to fit in the wrist post.


The hole should be about 10mm deep, or enough that the hands are just touching the wrist.


Use epoxy to secure the post inside the forearm. Once the sculpt is cured, feel free to tidy up surfaces. (For demonstration purposes, I used Blu-tack instead. You get the idea)


And you're done! But not just yet...


The most important test of all...the transformation test! And from the look of things, seems like I've passed!

Yep, so that's the tutorial, hope it's straightforward enough. Comments, critiques and feedback on problems faced will be very much appreciated!

Regards,
fb

Fakebusker's Shapeways Store

Attached Thumbnails

 

wow...awesome of you to share,looks great

That's awesome!
Now if only someone would do this for the ROTF Voyager mold...

Deathwing's biggest fan - check out his mods here.

If I may, what's with the knuckle claws? Otherwise, looks great! Definitely ordering a pair in the near future.

So he does! I stand corrected. Nice work!

i love them. keep us aprised. id love to use thows hands on a custom.

Awesome!

Really interested in this item. But what's the different between 'strong flexible', 'detail' & 'ultra detail'? More details in the design & stronger material?

Thunder = Stolen

These are really awesome. I'd be hopping mad and start a mob to get you off the market, if it weren't for the fact i hate leader SS anyways. j/k

I just hope those hold up, though. They seem quite thin. Aside from that, they look great!

Facebook || Crescent Combat Cache || Shapeways Store || DeviantART

^THIS...AND.....If only someone could make the steps on Leader Prime's legs swing down to hide behind his legs like the original prototype did...AND hands with poseable fingers...AND truck tires that split...then he'd be just like the prototype.