I agree, Cool > Logic. Though i maintain that metal doesn't billow in regular wind. Maybe a cyclone.

However, that would leave an ugly ball joint in the roof of the car, and making the cape longer, i fear it would crash into the bonnet pieces on the back of the legs (which is why i had to work on version 2, because that was a risk when Version 1 had it's knees bent, that the bonnet pieces would become entangled with the cape). I deliberately shortened the bonnet pieces while keeping the cape the same size on version 2 for that very reason.

Yuyu, while in a perfect world i'd implement the cape, i think i'd rather not this time around, mainly because of the visible socket on the roof that would result.Ultimately, the car mode is more important than the cape.  

 

As Fakebusker suggested, i've added sprues to make finding 'Swipe's parts a lot easier.



Sprues are highlighted in blue.

 

You should make the panels on his arms able to twist around to become blades.

 

But...they are bladed now? And they stick out past his hands to slice 'Cons with...?

 

It just looks like door kibble how it is now. If they deployed by swinging out WAAAY past his arms they'd look more like swords.

 

Hmm...i see your point. But even if i added a swivel on the back of the hand, the blade swinging out would be no longer than it is now, due to how it lines up in car mode. I'm afraid that's as far as it'll go without a sliding mechanism, as the arm is too small to incorporate one (i thought about it, but it just wouldn't fit).

 

The sliding mechanism could be on the door, not the arm. The arm would just host the ovular peg that latches onto the arm. You'd be adding mass to the arm, not removing it.

 

The door's only 2.x mm thick at this point, off the top of my head. A sliding mechanism requires a wall on both sides of it to clamp over the peg, meaning i need at least 1mm on each side. That leaves me with 0.x mm to work with on the inside. Add in a 0.2mm tolerance on each side (0.4mm total), and i'm left with less than half a millimeter. It's just simply not big enough. If i scaled up the model, sure, but then i'd never be able to afford it.  

 

Ah, I see. It's hard to get a true sense of scale from the screen shots.

 

Yeah, sadly i don't have any models of existing TF figs to show a size comparison. He's about 11cm tall, which puts him at roughly the same height as Crosshairs. Obviously, Crosshairs is far bulkier, but they actually come out to being very similar in volume, probably because Crosshairs could be made far more hollow.

 

Actually, speaking of size comparisons, could you take photos of your creations next to the Classics Seeker mold?

 

Um....how? I mean, it's not yet a physical reality yet. Unless you have a model of Screamer you'd like to share?

 

"Creations"

Anything you've created, the Classics Seeker mold would be a good reference for their true sizes.

 

Ah, right. I guess i could do that from now on (I've generally been using WFC Soundwave for size comparisons, but i guess Seekers are more common).  

 

RWX-07 Shrapnel

As some of you may have noticed, i've been making a lot of kitbashes of robots that appeared in the show Robot Wars. Thus far, i've been focusing on creating accurate robots and making them transform, but this time i decided to do things a bit differently. I found a cannon left over from a Concept Camaro Bumblebee, and it gave me a great idea. With it open, pushing the blade inwards caused the two side shells to close together. A simple rack with two pinions. It's just that i happened to run out of crowbars at the time, else i'd liked to have built a machine capable of swinging two crowbars together to axe an opponent from both sides. So i decided to design a robot to do that instead.

Originally i was just going for a generic robot, but as things went on, it just seemed too good an opportunity to pass up, to make my favorite transforming bug again. What with the pointed axes on the robot's back, it just screamed Shrapnel to me. So, i stuck a Shrapnel head on it and here we are.

Shrapnel currently has 14 points of articulation on him, with 2 joints for each shoulder and double-jointed elbows. He's capable of holding 5mm weapons in robot mode, while his horns serve as weapons in vehicle mode.

As for the alt.mode, you'll have to bear with me on that. If you've never seen Robot Wars before, check this link, it was a great show. His alt.mode is a two-wheel-drive wedge-shaped robot, designed to allow quick turning while keeping the wheels well away from the weapon. The front wheels are just there to keep the machine from running into the ground, and are faux wheels. The weaponry in this mode are Shrapnel's two horns, which remain stashed away in the sides of the machine. When the machine rams into another, the silver piece at the front (the rack) is pushed back (see arrow), and this causes the two horns to swing out (each is connected to a pinion). Basically the horns serve to either puncture the opponent's armour from the side and grab onto the opponent. There's also two ball jointed purple pieces on the roof, which can be flipped up to allow the machine to right itself in case it ever gets flipped over.

I hope you guys like him, he was a i suppose a stepping stone to the big project i've been planning for ages now. That will also be a RWX (Robot Wars X-Overs) design, and also a Decepticon. Now that i've built Shrapnel, it should be easier to build him.

I'll be putting Shrapnel up on Shapeways soon.  

EDIT: I've just uploaded Shrapnel to Shapeways (after finding and fixing a face in the chest), and this time i didn't panic when i saw the price. It currently costs ~$50, not too bad for a robot that's 11cm tall (from his feet to the tip of his horns) or 9.4cm tall to the top of his head. Given the horns, i'd say that's about the size of a large Scout.

 

Interesting. I like that you made a gear piece. I'd close the mouth a little so it doesn't look derpy.

 

Thanks Yuyuyami. I actually had the luck to come across an existing gear that was free for everyone to use, so naturally being the lazy teenager I am, I used it. Although I built the rack and gearbox from scratch like any self-respecting designer.

As for the mouth, I left it like that because it was already printed in my Insect Leader Conversion Kit, and it came out looking fine.  

 

maybe some more details on shrapnel would work better, that and a less BLOCKY alt mode
XP
but the gear gimmick its a nice touch

 

RWX-08 Raziel Megatron

Ah, finally. This is what got me back into designing after exams, and it's been excruciatingly difficult to get this build right. I even had to make a totally different model in Shrapnel, just to prepare myself for this. But now, it's done. The eighth RWX robot, Raziel Megatron!

For this design, i really wanted to make a robot whose alt.mode was one of my favorite combat robots of all time: Razer. I wanted to make to make the alt.mode as accurate as possible, as close to the half-bird-half-reptile machine as i could. In fact, i think i spent more time carving out the alt.mode than the robot mode!   Anyways, i think i got the alt.mode close enough, and i made it a point to ensure the crushing beak works just like it did in the Robot Wars show. The idea is just to drive the wedge underneath the opponent, and then crush them. Destroy their inner mechanics. Put them beyond repair. At first i wasn't sure which transformer to make this into, but it just seemed so cruel and silver, it just had to be Megatron. No one else could be so cruel.

The robot mode...well, i think it's pretty obvious it's Shrapnel's body, remolded pretty much everywhere. Only the upper legs and crotch remain unchanged, the rest has undergone a huge makeover. I spent ages trying to figure out the shoulder transformation, as i really wanted the spiky front end of the vehicle mode to point forward (they would've been ridiculous as shoulder pillars), i think it looks more threatening this way. The arms thus had to rotate around, and hence you see the side of the vehicle mode end up on the inside of the arm. I do realise, compared to Shrapnel, Raziel Megatron's torso is a bit...well, the hinge had to be raised to allow the longer front end of Megatron to fold down as chest armor. I've maximised head size within that space as much as i can, and if i've done my designing right, he should still be able to turn his head.

Anyways, hope you all like him, if it's even possible to like Megatron.  













And here's the machine i based the alt.mode on, Razer:

(picture from of the Robot Wars Wiki)

And here's the picture i used for reference when building Megatron's head:

(Picture from TFWiki.net)

And now for a weapon demonstration with Shrapnel:



^Obviously Megatron doesn't know what 'sparring' means...  

I may still need to shrink Megatron somewhat. He's currently costing $180 on Shapeways, which is a ridiculous amount! Will shrink until he costs...probably around the $100 mark, hopefully less.

EDIT: Now shrunk to 85% size, Megatron is at ~$110. I'm thinking maybe 80% would be better.

EDIT 2: size now finalised at 80% of original volume. Megatron now costs ~$95, which isn't bad for a figure of Megatron's size. He's now roughly somewhere between Deluxe and Voyager.

 

Very neat idea for Megatron, very intimidating. The only problem I have with it is that he looks knock-kneed because of how you shaped his thighs. If you could put a little more work into those, he'll look excellent.

I like the Battlebots theme you have going on with these, very clever.