So...it's not that I'm impatient, but...
Since it sounds like Hasbro isn't going to give me my Combiner Wars Combaticons until much later this year (wave 5, from what I've heard...grr...),
I guess I just have no choice but to take the very obviously meant to be a space shuttle and poor excuse for a helicopter Alpha Bravo (what?), and turn him into Blast-Off.

I know I've posted a bunch of WIP in the last months, none of which are completely done, but I swear this will be different! Really I do! No, really. Please stop laughing at me!

So, my work so far is mainly some tinkering and planning, but here are some pics.
-I plan to change his forearms (wow the stock ones looked dumb) with something that allows tha hands to fold in. I don't see any way of hiding the arms other than that, but with the right colours it should blend in ok in shuttle mode.
-I finally get to use the junked generations Astrotrain bits I've been holding onto for years! Yay, Junk!
-Got rid of the combiner section because I want to give him a proper chest.

More soon...I plan to actually get this done over the next week or so...Wish me luck!

Update Feb2.
And here's an update (I'm really trying to finish this guy in record time!)
-I've gotten rid of Alpha Bravo's top rotor, cut the section in two and glued them in place, filling them in at the same time, and sanding them down. Already he's looking like his proper shuttle self!
-Filled in his chest with a handy foot tread from an old Gundam model.
-Replaced those ugly ugly forearms with those from Generations Scoop, so the hands can fold in.

I'm also thinking of how I could hide the arms a bit in shuttle mode...maybe having some panels that fold down cover the upper arms? And I'll have to give him a tail fin... 

Update Feb 6th
So I've been working on the wing/back section taken from a scrapped generations astrotrain. I glued it to what was left of AB's tail rotor, and added a swivel joint. Kind of messed it up and had to remake the joint at a different section, so it looks a bit of a mess at the moment. But a bit of sanding and paint and it should blend in and not be noticeable. Much.
Will post pics of his bot and shuttle configuration this weekend.
Update Feb8th
OK, so here are pics showing how the wing/thrusters fold back and around. The tail fin (also from Generations Astrotrain) folds down as well. It's a bit of a kibbly backpack, but I don't see what else I could do.

Next thing is some panels to partially cover up the arms in Shuttle mode. I've got something I'm working on, so hopefully I'll have another update soon!
Opinions, crits and suggestions welcome! Thanks to all who've commented so far- I really appreciate it! 


Update Feb23.
Hello All! Finally an update!
So, after some more tinkering, I strengthened the joints on the wing/thruster section, and added panels to cover the top section of the arms in shuttle mode. I decided to add some cannons onto the panels, to make the finished alt mode look more like the original G1 toy with its signature cannons.
Here are some pics of how he looks in moth modes.
Now I just have to sand, prime and paint!
With any luck, in a week or two (depending on if I'm patient enough to let the undercoat cure properly!) he'll be done and ready to present to you!
Thanks everyone for your interest and comments!

 

But if you take away the chest section, how is he going to combine? Or is this a stand-alone piece?

 

For now he'll be stand alone. I figure that if the official blastoff isn't up to scratch, I'll just rebuild this one with the connection reattached. Since it'll be awhile til we see an official Bruticus, I don't mind...

 

Can't say I didn't see this coming..
Its probably what Hasbro has in store for the figure.

 

Except Alpha Bravo's based on a real helicopter...

 

Interesting...

 

But c'mon, it is SO much like a shuttle! Could be coincidence, of course..or really smart planning on Hasbro's part.
(which is sort of unlike them...!)

 

I like what you are doing! Can't wait to see it finished! (I also have four WIPs I still haven't finished).

 

Very interesting.

 

Can't wait to see you finish this!

 

I had exactly the same thought when I got my alpha bravo! I mean, the feet even transform in almost exactly the same way as generations Astrotrain. If Hasbro doesn't retool alpha bravo into blast-off then they are missing a huge opportunity, especially since there are a few other figures that look like they could be re-tooled into the rest of the combaticons.

Nice start on this custom, I'm looking forward to watching your progress. Although if it were me, I would definitely just leave the combiner joint in from the get-go, it seems kinda silly to customize a figure that can combine into one that can't when the new character is meant to be a combiner... but whatever man, I guess it won't be too hard to replace the combiner joint, so more power to ya'

 

Cool.

 

Good idea. That's clever using Astrotrain parts.

 

Yeah, I know it seems a bit odd, but I really want to have a better looking chest for him, and since we'll probably not see any official CW Combaticons until end of this year at the earliest, I figured I'd just indulge my customizing obsession...

Out of curiosity, who do you think they might retool for the Combaticons?
My guesses are:
Blastoff - Alpha Bravo
Vortex - either Alpha Bravo again, or they'll just take a CW jet and paint him in military colours.
Swindle - First Aid, or OffRoad (the black stunticon van)
Brawl - He'd better be a completely new mold, and a tank. I love Brawl. Brawl needs lots of love!
And we know that Onslaught will share his mold with Hotspot.

Can't wait!
Update p1!

 

Those are pretty much the same as my guesses, although since they've already got the molds for alpha bravo as a helicopter I'm sure they'll just recolor him, maybe a new head or some such. Brawl is the difficult one, I sincerely hope they do a new mold, but they might just try a (very) heavy retool of one of the Stunticons, Hasbro is not known for their good decision making.

 

Was the arm swap easy?

 

The Technobots are easy to retool from what we've got, excepting Nosecone. That'll be the last "limb-mold"---- a tank/drill-tank for Brawl and Nosecone. With Bruticus and Computron being the last two teams.

(All IMHO)

 

looking forward to this.

 

Depends on your definition of easy!
Unfortunately the swivel heads for the upper arm aren't quite the same size for AlphaBravo and Scoop, so I had to switch them over by cutting them and then pinning them into place. So, no, they can't just be swapped over, you'll need a pin drill and a cutting tool. I guess you could just glue them and not pin them, though. I prefer to try and make my customs as solid as I can.
Though they often still break...!