I'm married anyway Plus I don't have Alternator Grimlock, I bought the Wheeljack toy instead Thanks guys, and so do I I tried gluing the Lego pieces on and was having a hard time getting them both to line up properly. I decided to try twist ties instead. (I got the idea from pradhika indra's excellent wire work.) I figure these will be more forgiving and the hood should still hold in place in vehicle mode thanks to the flap behind the head. I'll let them dry overnight and see how they turned out in the morning...
2-24-12 Update I used some Gundam pieces to make some connectors to hold the front of the jeep together. I used Apoxie Sculpt to keep the wires attached to the hood and to keep the front connectors in place. Later on I'll put some on the side connectors as well...
I'm hoping so. I'll have to try and figure out the best place to put the robot mode connector. I may even have to use a whole new one... With the stock arms they probably wouldn't need to be very posable, but I've been considering replacing the arms all together...
Chest/shoulder piece connectors I hope I can come up with something more articulated. I'm thinking of using Bionicle/Hero Factory arms. The hard part will be getting them to fit in alt mode... Update: I just used some Lego Technic pieces to clip onto the bars that Hound's arms are connected to. I then glued those pieces onto the shoulder pieces and taped the chest pieces in place for now. I'm going to let them dry tonight, but I'm sure they'll need some added Apoxie Sculpt and probably more adjusting later...
Added chest twist tie Thanks! I might see if I can add small parts to cover those gaps later on... I added a twist tie to the chest/front pieces. I plan on playing with the twist tie so I can lower both chest panels. The twist tie is currently hanging out the front of vehicle mode, but hopefully some arm mods will allow it to hid better. I'll probably have to paint it black, too. I have to replace one of the shoulder clips that broke, but otherwise it now all stays together in robot mode!
Added new arms, started modding face... I did some work on his head and replaced his arms! I included a pic showing what I did for the arms. The top is Hound's arm. It was on the ball joint really tight, so I had to cut the top of the shoulders to get them off. The middle shows the two Ben 10 Lego pieces I used to make the upper arm. The bottom shows the pieces cut down. The round part with the + hole on the ball piece slid very tightly into the round opening on the socket piece. I could barely get them apart even before gluing! I have each arm on in a different orientation just to see how I'd like them. I'll probably decide for sure once I start decorating them. As you can see, there's plenty of room! Jeep mode fits together very nicely and rolls along smooth as silk! The arms are now much more posable. It's also easier to get the chest pieces on. I still want to add Mech Tech ports to the forearms... He currently has a HA Bee hand taped on, one that Gatchaman made for me. The Bee hands fold up great for alt mode! After I order Fakebusker83's Bee hands, I plan on permanently attaching the old ones to Hound. I'll probably modify them a little... I started working on his head. I drilled holes in his eyes and put in some beads. I also cut away some at his nose and chin and put some new pieces of plastic in there.
Have you thought about modding the doors? They're bugging me for some reason. I see them in the alt mode pics but they just seem to stick out on the figure. Maybe you could compromise and trim them down and make them half doors. I used to have half doors on my Jeep so it wouldn't be too out of place. Otherwise good work so far!
Very interesting indeed....the arms look pretty slick....and totally unexpected. I'm liking what you've done to the face too. good idea here....help make him even more different from an Alternator....
Thanks for the suggestions, but I think I'll leave them intact. In robot mode I'll have them about half way between closed and all the way open. I like that look. I wish there was a way to get rid of or hide the flap behind his head. I was thinking it over and I'm afraid I can't do anything about it without compromising his structure. That flap helps keep the hood in place in vehicle mode... Thanks guys! I'm pretty excited that I got to this point. I think everything else should be pretty straight forward the rest of the way...
New thighs I added a little more to the head and gave him new thighs. At first I just glued some left over Ben Ten pieces on the thighs, but then came up with the idea to replace them with thighs from my junker Battle Blade Bumblebee. This looks much better