By Generation: Movie/Universe/Classics Bludgeon Leg Modification Tutorial/Guide

Discussion in 'Tutorials and How Tos' started by REDLINE, Sep 13, 2009.

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  1. REDLINE

    REDLINE longer days, plz? Veteran

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    Well, This is exceedingly easy and simple to do, but I've been bugged by SQ7 to actually make up a tutorial thread for it, citing my old Downshift Head Fix tutorial thread as proof that things often this easy and simple are beneficial to people. So here you go. :) 

    If you haven't noticed already, One side of Bludgeon's thighs are painted a super dark brown (or really thin black?), while the rest of them are bright orange plastic. It's clear that Hasbro's original intent was for him to transform ever-so-slightly differently in order to make the tank mode look better, and not have so much bright orange showing. The problem is, for whatever reason, they didn't follow-through, even though they paid to paint them!

    If you look at your Bludgeon's thighs, you'll notice they're attached via a ratchet joint at the hips, and that 2 screws hold them together along with one really small rivet at the knees. If you remove the 2 screws, you can just pry the ratchet joint apart to remove the legs off the hip joints. For reference, the half with the peg is the orange side, the flat side is the painted side.

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    Next, notice that you can simply pull the lower legs off the upper legs just above the knee (they're just pegged in!). Remove the two legs, re-attach them to the opposite sides of the hips, and then separate the top and bottom halves of the legs and switch those lower legs back to the side they originally started on. Re-insert the screws and the legs are switched, and Bludgeon can now have the painted side showing out in tank form!

    Just one last little problem. If you simply swap the legs, Bludgeon can't close his legs, the manner-less demon-bot! This is easily solved, however, so don't fret. If you look at the hip joints, you'll see that one side has a notch in them that allows clearance for the legs to swivel outward and inward. So, before you actually swap the legs around, trim a small groove on the opposite side to match the factory made groove, so once swapped, your new groove will be where the original one was. An easy way to do this correctly is to follow the cut that's already there down further, and cut to the bottom of the bulbous molding there. See my photographs for reference.

    [​IMG]

    The ONLY hang-up that I had in doing this mod was there's a small grey piece of plastic inside the hip joint that is what makes it ratchet, and on one of the legs I let it fall out and it was a bit of a pain to get it back into its place inside. So, just move slowly and don't jerk it and you won't have to worry about that!

    Of note - I detailed a few things to "complete" mine, yet still keep its Hasbro flavor. I painted the eye sockets around the actual eyes black, the deeper parts of the face black, the barrel/hilt green, machine gun black, rocket launchers green, the backs of the two grey shoulder pieces green, the back of his elbows black, and then painted all the screws (except I didn't get those on his burgandy arms.

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    Oh yeah - This adds one step to the transformation. When you get to where you first fold out the legs and raise the two rear quarter-panels up and away, simply swing the legs outward like the splits, and then swivel them around 180 degrees and swing the legs back in.

    [​IMG]


    (REDLINE added some additional notes in response to others' replies; they are included here for further resource information. ~Superquad7)

    [There is] nothing wrong with painting the legs. I preferred to do this because A) it only took about 5-10 minutes total, and B) I like the legs orange like they ought to be so it looks more Bludgeon-like in 'bot mode. :) 

    I painted the BACK of those shoulder pieces... you can see it in my tank shots. I LIKE them grey though, I think that while surely unintentional, they make a nice homage to the original toy's shell having big grey squares on the sides of the torso...

    For Reference, I provide this image from our very own Resources section:

    [​IMG]

    I mixed the color.
     

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    Last edited: May 27, 2010
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