By both: plowking and REDLINE
From plowking - I started by taking an Alt Smokescreen as the base, and planned my "outside of the box" task list for this custom....he had to be more than just a red Subaru.....he had to be different....outside the box....I have always loved the Tuner Car scene, so that was my chosen base for this custom.
First, I wanted a body kit for it.....Tuner Style....I didn't want to just buy one, so thanks to ShawnL7 I had my first experience with Styrene. He convinced me to try it out, he had used it on his very impressive Alt re-shells, and customs, and showed me how easy it was to use.....so the body kit was made totally from scratch, using sheet Styrene, and Styrene square tubing using nothing but pictures as a reference to go by.....thanks for those pictures Gen. Magnus.
But, the body kit wasn't enough for me, I needed more.....for one, rims....I needed big Tuner rims....I searched and ended up finding some that I thought suited the Tuner, and Bludgeon theme I was going for. I contacted Sculpt-bot and commissioned him to make me a Bludgeon head (Alt sized) for my custom. But...he was still missing something... I decided to do the "Lambo-style" door-mod to not only modify the Alt-mode, but to also help make the robot-mode more unique.
What kind of Bludgeon would he be without swords? he had to have swords. Sure, the original toy didn't have any, but it was clearly stated in his original Tech Specs that he was a master of Metalliko, and his shell was designed to look like a Samurai warrior, so swords were only natural. The swords were made from clear acrylic rod, tube styrene, heat-shrink rubber tubing, and the top of the hilts are a Lego piece. I did one last thing- Lights! Inserting a tiny LED into the hilts not only finishes off the "energy sword" look, but can double as ground effect lights in car mode, how cool is that? Tiny Lego man arms are glued to the upper arms to hold the sword blades in car mode, and styrene covers the hollow side of the heels, with a hole drilled in the front end of them to allow the hilt to sit inside to fully mount them underneath the car.
From REDLINE - When Plowking told me that he was getting out of Alternators, and that he wouldn't be finishing this custom, I couldn't stand the thought of all the work he'd put into this thing being for naught. I didn't want to see the effort wasted, or for him to have regrets down the road at not having finished it. I admit I've also always wanted to do a Bludgeon custom, but that was merely icing on the cake. My whole intent was to finish what he started. With that in mind, I did consult heavily with him when it came to picking out paint aps and color choices for this.
What I did was I took the head, which he'd drilled a hole in the bottom of, and I expanded that hole out the back of the head so that he could have a full range of motion, instead of just rotation. I did offer suggestions for a few things, like a few different paint aps, or point out some ways to further drive home the homage towards the original toy (ex, painting the interior grey, so that the seats would look just like the large grey boxes on the side of the pretender shell from G1). I realize the original had Burgundy arms, but if I had done that, he would've looked entirely too plain, as he'd have really just been two shades of red all over. So, I thought I'd just make them orange, and Plowking agreed that painting the cut-out moldings of the forearms and shoulders would give it that layered look the original has, and still incorporate the burgundy color. I tried to also emulate the layered look of his armor at the waist area, as that part of the original shell is orange over grey over orange legs.
I love the Sculptbot head, as its, in my opinion, the perfect blend between the pretender's head and the robot mode head, so it doesn't look out of place. I made sure to try to capture all the details of the sculpt, including the optics down inside the eye sockets. I did try to detail it up, I had to use a shaven toothpick again in order to get the tiny worn-out teeth look correct on the face, and I also detailed the dash, gauges and all. When all the painting was finished, I applied all the reprolabels from the custom set that Plowking had ordered from Reprolabels in their correct locations, and then topped it off with a clearcoat, not just for protection, but that makes the stickers have the same sheen as the paint job so they better blend and look more like they're painted on. The clear-coat that I used for the car parts is Future Floor Finish. I wanted him to be super shiny, like he was freshly waxed, as it seems like all street tuners are immaculate like that. I even coated the chrome wheels, and the outsides of the tires so they look freshly polished and Armorall'd!
Don't forget to check out the two videos (YES I said videos!) in this gallery that let you see the rapidly strobing energy swords/ground effect lights in action.
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