Heavy/Scratch: Classics PROWL gets a bodylift

Discussion in 'Radicons Customs' started by Budokhan, Oct 15, 2012.

  1. Budokhan

    Budokhan Wheeljack's apprentice

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    Hey Gang!

    Just wanted to share a little w.i.p. with you all! Okay, so for a long while now Classics PROWL's tiny beetlejuice noggin has been buggin me & I had it my mind to do a resculpt but coming up with ideas to make it not suck were sparse..til I saw the cover & artwork inside of IDW's "TF Spotlight PROWL"!!

    1263936761_April2.jpg

    So,with ref in hand I've started a re-do thats rapidly mutating into a complete makeover! Here's the progress so far!

    The new head will have internally LED lit eyes, a hinged jaw ( for those times when Prowl needs to look miffed :mad  ) & a rather complex new head transformation sequence.

    Thanks for looking an as always, comments & crits more than welcome! :D 

    Cheers!

    ~BK

    UPDATES!!!

    Hey Gang! So I thought Id try to take a couple new, better shots of 'ol Prowl here & put up my usual laundry list of extras:


    Classics "PROWL" upgrades

    1- New Head sculpt (see IDW Prowl spotlight cover)

    2- New neck transformation point

    3- New shoulder joints transformation (slighlty mod existing shoulders to bring arms in closer to body)

    4- Longer, tapered forearms

    5- New hands (1/144 Hobby Base Round Dark Gray poseable)

    6- Pivot point at waist (tbd)

    7- New, american styled litebar for roof

    8- New spoiler on rear deck, made to accommodate targetmaster

    9- Fill in molding pockets where necessary

    10- American styled POLICE markings & paint scheme for car mode and markings to reflect an officer's uniform in 'Bot mode. This includes backwards "police" on hood in white letters with small white outline autobot logo just above it . Reflective style "POLICE" on doors.

    11- LED headlites (tbd)

    12- Wheels swap (tuner styled, aluminum rims)

    13- Upturned edges at back of doors at the windowline. Door handles to be further down & vertical instead of horizontal

    14- Door windows to be hinged so they can flip down & inward to lay flat against inside of doors & include rear view mirrors

    15- 2 large, twin turbo hood scoops ( ea. 1 located on either side of collar/neck ). These will act as "trapezius muscles" to further give PROWL a beefier, take no shit appearance

    16- Fill & smooth original hood scoop intake on front of car

    17- All internal shoulder & upper torso transformation points to be painted "flat black" so as to disguise their presence

    18- Blasters to be mounted to insides of doors ( L & R )

    19- Targetmaster to attach to spoiler in alt. mode

    20- Extended, redesigned feet

    21- Towing/Ramming bar attached to front bumper

    22- Main blaster to be redone to more accurately reflect G1 toy

    Here's the new head so far, really starting to take shape & look like his Nibs:

    IMG_1438.JPG IMG_1439.JPG
    Just a quicky digibash to add some color to see what he could/should look like when done! :


    front pic (2).jpg


    Here's the redone blaster, just lengthened the barrel, gave it some extra bits including a drop-down grip & allowed the gun to still be stowable by sectioning the middle & creating a spin joint ( still just a w.i.p. )

    Prowl's new Blaster.jpg

    Thanks for lookin again everyone!

    ---NEW UPDATE---

    Okay, so its been awhile since I posted anything here, funny how life can get in the way so much sometimes aint it? Anywho, Since there have been some requests to see the head in closer detail, here's some pics!

    First up, a couple shots to show the new earcup details (didn't care for the old ones too much) & the new mouth lower jaw panels upgrade of adding small bits to either side of his mouth to hide the cavernous maw & make it look more mouth-like:
    IMG_2248.jpg IMG_2247.jpg
    IMG_2250.jpg IMG_2251.jpg

    And then some myriad shots of the head disassembled. In one pic you can make out some detail I managed to get onto his palate & another one that's a small "verbal projector" that I sculpted onto the hinged, lower jaw:

    IMG_2252.jpg IMG_2253.jpg IMG_2254.jpg IMG_2255.jpg IMG_2261.jpg IMG_2262.jpg
    This part is going to be the clear-cast LED lit lite pipe at some point. In the back, you can see the pocket that'll house the single blue LED:

    IMG_2259.jpg IMG_2260.jpg

    I do believe at some point someone inquired as to whether or not his eyes "swivel" from side to side but sadly, they don't. However, whoever you are, you got the gears turnin & now I'm seriously thinkin how I could pull that off! :ev: 

    So finally, a big thanks to all you fine folks who keep this thread goin n haven't given up on 'ol Prowl yet, god knows I still haven't!

    Cheers!!
    ~BK
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Feb 4, 2018
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  2. noblekale

    noblekale There can be only one!

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    Looks like you've got your work cut out for you buddy. Only one question I have for you, when DOESN'T Prowl look miffed? XD I think he out grumps Ultra Magnus, and that's hard to do!
     
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  3. Budokhan

    Budokhan Wheeljack's apprentice

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    Thanks man & you're right, its a bit of work I've settled on for this guy but I believe when he's done & lookin like the hardass he's s'posed ta be, it'll all have been worth it!

    Its so true about Prowl bein' uber-grump, good thing I made the scowl his main expression huh? :lol 
     
  4. autobot prowl

    autobot prowl Well-Known Member

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    Not digging the face sculpt here but I know with the magic you make with these things it will end up awesome!
     
  5. Altitron

    Altitron Commercial Artist

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    How do you work so cleanly with that apoxie sculpt? It's a thing of beauty.

    - Alty
     
  6. bellyboy

    bellyboy working working working

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    superb
     
  7. process

    process Hanlon's razor Veteran TFW2005 Supporter

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  8. leobreaker1977

    leobreaker1977 Well-Known Member

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    looks incredible gary can't wait to see this bad boy finished up! Idw prowl is a really sharp vision of him
     
  9. Master Blaster

    Master Blaster Banned

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    Aha, I was actually thinking about that shoulder mod the other day. Mahoosive improvement to the look, very nice!


    I love forward to updates :D 
     
  10. caretaker27

    caretaker27 Well-Known Member

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    why did you get rid of the hood scoop? if you are going by the spotlight, prowl has a hood scoop and is using the univers 2.0 model? the hands, head, and shoulders look nice though.
     
  11. TigerBlade

    TigerBlade Prepare for extermination

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    Two questions....

    What have you done to the shoulders and are they hobby base hands?

    Looks awesome!
     
  12. Master Blaster

    Master Blaster Banned

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    If I've assessed it correctly, you just need to shave down the bottom corner of the peg that the shoulders are pinned to to allow that extra rotation; the peg already rotates up to the position you can see there. I don't know why Hasbro didn't do this in the first place really.


    I am rather curious to see just how articulated the hands are. I was going to just use expressive peg hands on my 'bot collection, but if they can do a couple of good poses and are okay to hold peg-handle guns...
     
  13. TigerBlade

    TigerBlade Prepare for extermination

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    Ahhh I see it now. Hmmm. Yeah if the hands are hobby base and fully articulated then I have a big order going in :eek: 
     
  14. Master Blaster

    Master Blaster Banned

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    :lol  you and me both!

    That shoulder thing gave me a similar idea for Track/WJ- shave down the grey connector in the shoulder under their armpits so it rotates the shoulders further out and down, so that his shoulders actually sit level with the stop of his torso. A must-do alongside the extended torso so his crotch isn't behind the windshield....the mod list lengthens.
     
  15. Megatron31

    Megatron31 I Belong to Nobody!

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    If there is one figure that needs some help it's this guy

    From the chest down he is one of the greatest figures from that line, but he looks like he has a turtleneck and a tiny head.

    Look forward to what you can do with it man the face sculpt looks epic so far
     
  16. C16

    C16 Space Nomad

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    Straighten those doors out and you might be going somewhere with this!
     
  17. Budokhan

    Budokhan Wheeljack's apprentice

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    Updates guys!
     
  18. Budokhan

    Budokhan Wheeljack's apprentice

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    Okay gang, for those who feel adventurous, here's a mini-tutorial on how i did Prowl's shoulders.

    Classics PROWL shoulder mod

    Okay, for those of you like me who can't stand how Prowl's arms stick out way too far, here's a mod to make that little problem go away! Please tho, bear in mind that this mod is for those who are planning to repaint Prowl in some way as it will leave a small hole in the front of each shoulder which will later need to be filled & painted over.

    So, onto it then!

    Tools you'll need:

    1-Small hammer
    2- Small jeweler's file
    3- Pin vise & steel pin
    4- Pencil
    5- Pin removal device
    6- 3/32 drill bit & bit handle
    7- Dremel ( not pictured )

    [​IMG]

    Step 1 - pop arms off shoulder peg ( this'll take a tiny bit of elbow gease )

    Step 2 - Find the tiny flat square area I've outlined on the front of ea. shoulder. This is the area where you'll need to bore the access hole for the pin that holds the whole spiel together!

    Step 3 - Finding the center of the square, take the 3/32 drill bit & drill a hole slowly, carefully & straight thru. You'll know when you've hit the pin when you cant go any further.

    Step 4 - This is what the pin access hole should look like when finished!


    [​IMG]

    Step 5 - Next, Using the pin vise w/ steel pin, Hammer & whatever you use to help remove pins against, Gently remove the pin from ea. shoulder. It should look like this when its all popped apart. I reccomend using something like a rubber pad to rest the outside of the wheel against so that the wheel rim itself doesnt get damaged.

    Steps 6 & 6a - Next, pop off the small, cylindrical retainer off the back of ea. shoulder joint as indicated by the pink arrow( you'll need to do this in order to get at the important bits! ) 6a- This is what the back of the shoulder joint should look like without the retainer .

    [​IMG]


    Step 7 - Next, slide the main swivel section off the roll bar it's on ( it's gonna be tight at first so give it a bit of force & don't worry, the pin its on it is pretty sturdy! )

    Step 8 - After you've removed the swivel, you'll need a combination of the file, dremel & sandpaper to remove the material highlited in pink on both the main swivel & the inside of the shoulder just below the main swivel peg.

    Steps 9 & 9a. - 9 shows the outline of where the material used to be & 9a illustrates where you'll need to make a line to remove the material up to on the main swivel where it connects onto the shoulder peg. You'll need to shave off material on an angle to literally JUST below the hole where the peg hole is located.

    Step 10- Illustrates the main swivel & shoulder AFTER they've been modified


    [​IMG]

    Now that you've got this stuff done to both shoulders, simply put the parts back together again & VOILA! Prowls arms dont look so dorky any more!!

    [​IMG]

    Hope this helps your Prowl look a bit better!

    Cheers!

    ~BK
     
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  19. Budokhan

    Budokhan Wheeljack's apprentice

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    Gentlemen, Good eyes! those are indeed Hobby Base's 1/144 Super poseable hands but they also come in 1/100 scale & are as close as you can get to BANDAI's perfect grade hands in those scales. Also, both scales seem to work well with most of the deluxe & voyager scale figures I've paired them with so far & I very highly recommend them!
     
  20. Budokhan

    Budokhan Wheeljack's apprentice

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    Thanks very much for the super kind words guys! :D