Wow! Looks like the last time I posted a kitbash here was in October of 2009. Doesn't mean I haven't been busy though. I've bashed a few SWTF into characters based on ROTF Jetfire and The Fallen and am in the middle of my SWTF Dynobots with Swoop and Slag done, Sludge in progress and Grimlock and Snarl in waiting. As well as several other Classics in progress (no spoilers)... ...and ofcourse these two. I had bought a few of the Transformers Universe Air Raid vs Storm Surge packs at Walmart a few years back and was wondering what to do with them. That is until one time about a year or two ago when I took off the wings and kept the chest unrotated when changing into Alt mode. I noticed that it looked a little like Twin Twist. So I looked more closely at the mold and saw that treads attached to the forearms would work and the lower legs would cover the drills like the G1 toy. I then figured that it would also work for Topspin. So I've been working on them little by little for well over a year, but now they are finally complete. So I present to you, My Classics Twin Twist and Topspin: Classics Twin Twist was made using First Movie Air Raid. The head was based on the character design featured in "The Ark" and the body design and colorings were based on the toy. The head was sculpted using molds from the heads of Cyberton Clocker & Hardtop and Energon Windrazor. The face is from Clocker, the rounded head dome is from Hardtop and the rest of the helmet is from Windrazor. The chest plate was scraped/sanded flat and parts from Clocker's chest were used. The wings were removed and replaced with tank treads from a KO Cybertron Scattershot and the tread guard is made using Air Raid's capture claw (which was removed). The grinders on top of the shoulders are the gears from inside both Air Raids that make the heads rotate when the chest rotated (since that gimmick was useless for this bash). The jet engines were sawed off and drills from a KO G1 Devastator were attached. The nubs were removed from the feet panels and the legs were scraped/sanded flat on both sides and I used the front bumpers from a Energon Snowcat as a vent panel and attached two of the foot nubs. His weapon is from a KO G1 Brawl. All molded/sculpted pieces were done using epoxy putty for the molds and the finished pieces. Paints used were Testors enamel: dark blue for the chest, a custom mixed gray for the arms, legs and helmet, silver for the drills, upper legs, grinders and face, and bright red, gold and yellow for highlights/accents. And since some of the paints used were gloss but I wanted them more flat, I used Krylon Matte Finish spray to take down the shine and to protect from wear. Classics Topspin was also made using First Movie Air Raid. The head was based on the character design featured in "The Ark" and the body design and colorings were based on the toy. The head was sculpted using a mold from the head of Energon Windrazor. The face is from Air Raid, and the rest of the helmet and the visor is from Windrazor. The main body is relatively unchanged, with three exceptions; the flaps were cut off of the wings and attached to the top of the body as collar fins, the codpiece was molded from chest pieces off a Cybertron Red Alert and the back vents were taken from a much larger vent piece from a Zoid. The jet engines were completely sawed off requiring a re-engineering of the lower leg rotation. The upper legs were swapped so the original backs were now the fronts. The forward skiffs were sculpted using molds from Air Raid's nosecone. The wings (without the flaps) were removed from the forearms and attached to the sides of the shoulders. The autobot symbols on the wing bottoms were scraped/sanded off and epoxy putty was used to smooth/flatten the transition for the back view. The roiginal jet engines were attached to the shoulders. The forearm armor was reversed so the back had the two vents, missles from a dollar store robot were attached to the fronts as lasers and the hole were the wings originally connected were filled. The lower legs are relatively unchanged, with one exception; the feet panels were swapped so the original back panels were now the front panels (this required modifications to the panels and the connectors as the front connector is smaller than the back one). His weapon is from Universe Prowl. All molded/sculpted pieces were done using epoxy putty for the molds and the finished pieces. Paints used were Testors enamel: custom mixed tan/gray for the chest, a dark blue for the arms, legs and helmet, silver for the skiffs, engines, back vents and face, a custom blue metallic for the hands, visor and cockpit and bright redand silver for highlights/accents. And since some of the paints used here were also gloss, I also used Krylon Matte Finish spray to take down the shine and to protect from wear.
Dude, these are perfect, how come I never thought of this? Totally going to copy this with a few of my own personalization bits. This just floored me, seriously....
That's one of the things I love about Radicons... people are always coming up with stuff I never would have thought of. Definitely can't beat the creativity of everyone here. Have at it. I can't wait to see your take on them. (though, as a piece of friendly advise, if you plan on removing the rod connecting the upper leg to the lower leg and modifying the connection in any way... It's a real pain.)
Yup I did the same thing only with my usual style and incorporate more G1.. which obviously makes it little harder and still not 100% sure if I'd better do it ur way anyhows I couldn't finish them since I'm about blue paint for ages and no paintshop near THESE LOOK GREAT MAN!!!
Just looked at yours. Very Nice. http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/radicons-customs/486811-g1-classics-topspin-twintwist-90-a.html I see you used the bodies and heads from original G1 mold. Please tell me that they were junkers cause I would hate to think that some G1 molds in good shape got killed. Hope you find some blue paint soon so you can finish them.
I gotta say that I like these better than most customs of those guys due to the size and simplicity. Good job.
