Heavy/Scratch: AOE Jade Dragon Grimlock w/Beast hunters mods (pic heavy)

Discussion in 'Radicons Customs' started by taddghostal, Jun 22, 2014.

  1. taddghostal

    taddghostal Well-Known Member

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    AOE Jade Dragon Grimlock w/Beast hunters mods and odd tail ideas welcome(pic heavy)

    WHAT AM I!!

    Is he a Dragon?
    Is he a large Raptor?
    Is he an Allosaurus/Carnotaurus?
    Is he a large Robo squirrel?
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    I love this figure.
    As much as I loathe the way they engineered this toy, it's still a fun time.

    One thing I never noticed was that all the green on him in the movie looks like Jade, which would give him a Jade dragon look, what with his connection to China and all. I had some luminescent paint left over from one of the cars I paint in real life, so I figured why not. Some of these shots don't show the green too well as it only changes to green in direct light, and I'm not a fancy photographer... but I digress..
    My goal for this figure was to still make him a playable toy (for my nephew to display hopefully) but give him the fancy treatment.
    Heavy mods were made on this guy starting with:

    Removed a huge portion of the brow and eye socket and cheek bones to make it possible to see both eyes from the front like he is in the movie.
    Sharpened the HELL out of his ears which now curve back sharply to a nice dangerous point.
    [​IMG]
    Added notches and carved more of a snout on him.
    Pointed both eyes in the same direction
    Extended the arms by adding beast hunters Sky lynx's alt mode hands and
    welding them to the existing fingers that came with Grimlock. Much better!
    [​IMG]

    I Did everything I could to incorporate the awful hammer he comes with into his tail but it just looks weird, like he tried to poop something and it just got stuck.

    So Instead, I gave him a more streamlined tail to balance this oddly standing figure.
    [​IMG]
    I took some liberties with the lights on him.
    I added some FOC style red and steel venting to brighten and hide the weird angles they made him out of.
    The tail is held on with two rubber stretchy pins I made out of discarded Gundam stencils which held the rubber joints they use and I had to carve two wedges into his foot tips to guide the tail while in alt mode.
    The tail was kindly donated by a certain Japanese robot. Can you guess who, or should I say, which model? ;) 
    For the body, I did not like the proportions for his torso so I gave him a larger hump.
    Guess who donated their back? Beast Hunters Vertebreak!
    Take the Rubber from Vertebreak's Back Rocket pack and carefully cut the edges around the metal rods, while doing your best to not harm any of the rubber outside of the metal pin holes, then once removed, line the edges back up and superglue them back to symmetry. They fit perfectly in the gap that lies over Grimlocks chest and head! And remember to paint them with Acrylic paint so as not to make them all sticky.
    So what do ya'll think? any questions?
    ( maybe I should turn this into a mod thread instead? I have a lot of pics of the production.)
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     

    Attached Files:

  2. Dinobot Slug

    Dinobot Slug Dinobot

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    Awesome work but the tail still looks a bit weird
    No offense :D 
     
  3. nobleboivin

    nobleboivin Well-Known Member

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    Nice
     
  4. Dachande

    Dachande MULTI-QUOTE- USE IT. Super Mod

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    Tail donated by Gundam Epyon or Tallgeese II.
    I like the head mods you did. Makes him look a bit more feral.
     
  5. ichnach

    ichnach Predacon

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    paint work looks amazing but I agree on the tail. Kinda makes him look like a pissed-off robot squirrel
     
  6. taddghostal

    taddghostal Well-Known Member

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    Hmm, I guess I can see that too. I wonder how I could fix that....hmmm
     
  7. taddghostal

    taddghostal Well-Known Member

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    Hey thanks man, and you are right, it was Tallgeese!
     
  8. diablo03

    diablo03 Member

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    that is looking great.....still not sure about the tail though
     
  9. taddghostal

    taddghostal Well-Known Member

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    well, its pretty unanimous, I'll leave the tail out of it. I added a pic up top without the tail. I'm undecided. On one hand, it balances the figure, literally, it keeps him upright in my display case, but without those pointy feet bug me. Anyone have any ideas as to what kind of tail to give him? I appreciate everyone's input :) 
     
  10. prime326

    prime326 Autobot Leader

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    Aside from the tail that is pretty awesome
     
  11. Dinobot74

    Dinobot74 Well-Known Member

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    Awesome!
     
  12. taddghostal

    taddghostal Well-Known Member

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    Thanks man! Any ideas on the tail? Like? Dislike?
     
  13. OmarJT82

    OmarJT82 Well-Known Member

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    Is the tail you used appropriately sized for AoE Leader class Grimlock?

    If not, would the tail from OZ-13MS Gundam Epyon (EW version) be better?
    [​IMG]
     
  14. taddghostal

    taddghostal Well-Known Member

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    I thought about using it on leader instead of voyager but it ended up giving him a sickly look. That toy is already so oddly proportioned to begin with. And the tail came from Tallgeese but I do like Epyons better though, It has more angles so it might look better. The tough part is finding a connection for the tail in between the feet and then finding a way of securing it. I wish I could find a thick way to mount that tail. Um, that didn't sound right at all!
     
  15. taddghostal

    taddghostal Well-Known Member

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    If there was a way to connect a tail with these dimensions and still be removable for the voyager figure[​IMG]
     
  16. simonatmac

    simonatmac The stop motion maker

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    Simply irresistible! Well done!
     
  17. taddghostal

    taddghostal Well-Known Member

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    I appreciated that thank you =)
     
  18. Anti-Venom

    Anti-Venom Well-Known Member

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    I dig the tail.
    Just awesome work all around!
     
  19. Barricade24

    Barricade24 The Decepticop

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    I vote robo squirrel.
     
  20. hellbred

    hellbred Well-Known Member

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    nice