By Generation: Classics/Universe Galvatron's Pimp Hand Mod!

Discussion in 'Tutorials and How Tos' started by ShadowStitch, Aug 20, 2008.

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  1. ShadowStitch

    ShadowStitch vectoring the hate plague

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    Well, I got UC Galvatron today, and as is typical of the Classics line thus far, the lost potential far outweighs the figure we got. It's sad, to see the awesome engineering and ideas that went into this figure, wasted on such awful Quality Control... But nevertheless, I love the toy, so it's my sworn duty to help Galvy be all that he can be... even if that means he samples the flavorful taste of the X-acto! :ev: 

    One of the first things that bothered me (after Every. Single. Joint. popping off in the process of transforming him, realizing that the box illustration is totally transformed wrong, and nearly putting my eye out with the missile) is the fact that his right hand, despite being situated on a perfectly functional pin joint, doesn't move AT ALL. What the hell, Hasbro? :mad 

    Thankfully, this is remedied more easily than setting Wheelie on fire. (Though arguably less enjoyable.)

    First, you're gonna want to unscrew the two screws on the purple side of his right arm, and remove that panel. Don't worry, there's nothing glued or spring-loaded or poisonous in there.

    When you get the panel off, you'll see this sort of arrangement:

    [​IMG]

    Galvatron is so evil he only has four bird fingers.


    The hand is speared on the column with the orange bit, which is attached to the missile rack. Pull the hand off and set it aside -- it will be spared your wrath this day. Underneath it you will see a soft orange plastic bit, which has two small pegs on either side of the column (designed to hold the hand straight...boo, hiss) and a blocky square wrist base, also designed to keep the hand straight and level.


    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Who's ready for some wrist cutting action? ...wait, that came out all wrong.


    Removing the orange bit (with the missile rack attached) from the column is optional; either way, now you're going to want to slice off the little orange pegs on either side of the column, and cut the wrist base into a triangular shape, like this:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    That's not acute triangle.


    (Note: I made the "top" part of my wrist a bit more obtuse than the "bottom" part, to better simulate the range of motion in a human wrist. However, you're certainly free to do whatever you want with it, you special snowflake, you.)


    Now put the hand back on for a test run, and see if the range of motion is to your liking. If not, go back and carefully trim off some more. The plastic is soft, and an X-acto knife will slice right through it like butter. An X-acto knife will coincidentally also cut through your hand like butter.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Galvatron practices his parade waving for hours each day just in case Macy's calls.


    Once you've got everything squared away the way you like it, just screw on the side and you're done -- it shouldn't take more than a few minutes to do the whole mod, and it adds at least a little bit more posability to the figure. Plus it doesn't have any negative effects to the transformation, and you're left with some little orange plastic shavings you can chew on if you like. (I do not endorse chewing on the little orange plastic shavings. They taste nothing like orange.)

    [​IMG]

    "Is Galvatron gonna have to smack a bitch?"


    [​IMG]

    "Howdy neighbor! Lawn looks great!"


    [​IMG]

    "I'm...too sexy for the matrix....too sexy for the matrix..."


    I'm sure this is just the very small tip of the modding iceberg as far as this figure is concerned... What do you think, sirs? :thumb 

    Actually, if you purposely mistransform the right arm, and don't slide the little orange bit with the tabs into the slot on the back of the arm... you can get a LOT more articulation out of him without a terrible loss in stability... That's how I made most of the poses above.

    The idea is to allow the hand movement independent from the missile rack section, since it (normally) locks into the upper arm hollow. This way you can tilt the hand without forcing the missile rack down between the arm halves where it's technically not supposed to go, and so there's not a gaping hole there as half the missile rack is poking out the back of his arm.

    ...but if you don't see a point to the mod, that's fine -- no one has a gun to your head. Some of us just enjoy modifying our figures to our own personal preferences. *shrug*

    Thanks! :D 

    I'll tell ya...if you don't mind a buttload of pin removal to get it all loose...this orange stuff is soft PVC -- it'll absorb dye like a SPONGE. If you feel up to the challenge, you can dunk those parts in dye, (preferably following Redline's foolproof dye method to avoid warping,) and it'll be irreversibly black as midnight within minutes. ...just something to chew on.

    Also: I've since chopped the knee swivels off of my Galvatron and replaced them with screws, and then used some Green Apoxie-Sculpt to fill in the hip-leg swivels, (much the same way I did with Sunstreaker's arms,) so that his legs are NEVER coming apart again, no-way, no-how.

    ...now if I could just say the same for his left shoulder ball-joint.....
     

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