I've been away from customizing for a bit. I'm decided to ease back in with a small project. BBTS has Continuously Variable for a decent price right now so I thought I would add it to my MP collection since there's currently no other option I prefer for Gears. The head is a custom cast brought to you by hondasaint14. It's a fantastic sculpt and cast and I thought it would look great on this mold. Overall this mold is decent but for me lacked two things, a head I liked and waist posability. The new head is great and since it needs a joint I decided it should be a ball joint. There is a spine piece in this figure that houses the head joint so making a new one of those would be the sturdiest solution. New spine with ball joint Since the Hasbro presentation at the ZBrush Summit last week, it inspired me to finally break out and use the license of 3D Coat I bought 8 months ago. 3D sculpting applications is where the toy making industry has gone so why not get with the program? The figure has waist swivel but the movement is impeded by the front bumper that sits at the figure's backside. The kibble on the back has a huge hollow area which is where I'm looking to have the bumper try to take some room in. The two offending pieces Next step is model a new bumper and get Shapeways test prints. Hoping to try out my casting supplies on this project too when the pieces are done.
Yes it really does fit. I'm still in the digital phase of this project. I got the spine retopo'd and it's ready, I have to finish the ball joint. I started the new bumper and I'll send them all to Shapeways when complete for a test fit. Thanks again!
I got test prints today from destrongerlupus of my new pieces! First addition is the new ball joint for the head on the spine piece. This piece needs a few adjustments for tolerances but overall I'm really happy with the fit. Next is the back view of the new front bumper design. This is what will make waste swivel possible in bot mode, because on the original design the laid against the back of the hips preventing this movement. View of the bumper rotated out and with the roof out of the way. View of the new front bumper in alt mode. I snapped one of the smaller pieces during transformation. Not a problem as they need adjusting anyway. Bumper now is made of three pieces instead of one to get the added transformation. Got to adjust some fittings but looking good. Now to make adjustments and get another print run.
is the figure cheap feeling to you? I've wanted one, but then I read so much hate and disappointment about how it feels that I'm not sure if it's worth it.
Thanks! Comparing to mainstream toy manufacturers, I wouldn't say that the plastic is very different, I would say the engineering of the pieces is not as strong. Example, his fingers end with a thinness/sharpness that is probably more "correct" for the scale figure, but don't feel "right" because it's not what we're used to. Some of the joint pieces become very thin and I would be careful with those. The ball joint connectors on the hips are done weird, they're just not as well done as what Hasbro does. Some of the joint engineering comes down to price (making less pieces to mold), which makes the end figure cheaper. There is also not an enormous amount of detail on the figure, it's nice, but I felt not great detail for the initial price. I only picked him up because he was on sale. For a $35 third-party figure, I'm satisfied, and after my adjustments I'll be pleased with him.
I'll see what I can do. Shapeways has a file size limit, and these parts were almost double that due to my poly count. I'll keep everyone updated here.
Christmas is over and I'm trying to make more progress. I got prints back from Shapeways. I did Frosted Detail and it came out really nice. There are some "print" lines but they don't seem terrible, it's better than WSF at least. Did a quick test fit. Everything seems like it does what I want. Next step is to attempt casting these pieces. We'll see how that goes.
Finally got around to cutting out a notch in the head for the ball joint socket. Fit is good enough to fill with some putty.
