General Upgrade Kits Thread

Discussion in 'Transformers 3rd Party Discussion' started by ziltama, Nov 30, 2020.

  1. ziltama

    ziltama Mods, molds, and casts. Also full of hot gas.

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    Hmm, that's not actually a good solution either. The sword ends up looking even worse with just the blade rotated. The blade axis will then not be aligned with the hilt axis. Then it will just look like an assembly error instead.

    There's also something really off about the way the Nonnef Slag head looks, especially the lower face and mouth area.

    Unlike SS86 Grimlock which I bought (and regretted) multiple set purchases, I'll just wait it out a bit longer and see if something else comes along for Slag...not that he really needs all that much in the 1st place.
     
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  2. Fenrys

    Fenrys Formerly Tigatron2002

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    There doesn't seem to he anything off about the nonnef head to me
    20211016_232317.jpg
     
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  3. ziltama

    ziltama Mods, molds, and casts. Also full of hot gas.

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    The lower face and lips just look off to me. Not sure if just the lighting / angle, but the plastic finish looks rather rough too and what looks like a cut or a gouge in the forehead hole. It also seems like it has print lines too.
     
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  4. Pcsolyar

    Pcsolyar JaAm Connoisseur

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    I didn't realize that the blade rotated on his set, but I don't know if it's worth the price of the whole kit for just the sword. I do have some Lambo, Seeker, and Datsun kits sitting in my cart with him I could stuff it in with though.
    Looks like someone didn't polish the mold enough, you can still see the mill marks on the part.
     
  5. Hooper_X

    Hooper_X hit dogs holler

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    All these spoilers for the Kingdom Lambo mold and not a single gap filler for that spot on the outside of the knee above the wheel well, huh?
     
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  6. Alpha_&_Omega

    Alpha_&_Omega From the Covenant of Primus...

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  7. Fenrys

    Fenrys Formerly Tigatron2002

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    I can guarantee it doesn't have print lines since there's no 3d printing
     
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  8. ziltama

    ziltama Mods, molds, and casts. Also full of hot gas.

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    Injection molding doesn't rule out 3d print lines since the cheapest option is to use 3d printed molds. I just see a bunch of horizontal lines in your pic.

    As Pcsolyar said, could also be a milling issue where a metal mold wasn't finished off proper (sandblasting). I could be wrong but I would think using metal molds would be too prohibitively expensive for Nonnef to keep doing.
     
  9. Fenrys

    Fenrys Formerly Tigatron2002

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    He doesn't use 3d printing at all. If I'm not mistaken, he uses aluminum molds that get milled, which are significantly cheaper than steel molds but also don't last as long.
     
    Last edited: Oct 17, 2021
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  10. Toker

    Toker Well-Known Member

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    Easy solution.

    Slug
     
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  11. Tranceblade

    Tranceblade Gone Fishin'

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    If you're referring to the PrimeVsPrime video, it's not officially confirmed that there isn't a stand included. Note that unless you see an actual unboxing in his videos, you should assume his figures fell off the back of a truck.
     
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  12. wheeljackfan16

    wheeljackfan16 Well-Known Member

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    So, basically you would want me to make a sort of version of the stand that holds more ships? I'm assuming that the ships use a 3mm system to connect, and the other end of the arm is a 5mm peg, right? Basically all I would need is to know how the part that holds Unicron's head connects to the base, since there wouldn't be a need for me to make a new one of those, and that could be transferred to the new base. I could probably get away with making the new base non-transparent, but the new arms to hold the ships are probably going to have to be at least somewhat transparent. I'll have to do some research and try to find a resin I can print with that won't yellow over time. I already have the ark, so I have one of the minifigures, so I should be able to get that working as well. I saw PVP's review of the new Galvatron, and it also seems like there isn't enough room to put every minifigure that's been put out so far, so I'll have to add some more spots as well for them. I would rather send you parts to test instead of you lending me the stand, since it would be basically irreplaceable if it got lost in the mail or damaged in transit.
     
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  13. wheeljackfan16

    wheeljackfan16 Well-Known Member

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    I don't remember the last time something was actually missing though. I think Waspinator was missing his stringer, or that might have been another early reviewers copy, they all kind of blend together for me, but that's one of the only ones I can think of. Whoever is getting them out of the factory is surprisingly thorough, and I would imagine if they got every single tiny minifigure out of there, as well as the rest of the accessories, that's probably everything, but I would be happy to be wrong, as someone who doesn't own a Unicron a stand for the ships that the Galvatron comes with would be very nice.
     
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  14. ziltama

    ziltama Mods, molds, and casts. Also full of hot gas.

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    All the ships have 3mm ports. The PvP video confirmed the new ships all have 3mm ports. The Unicron stand has 3 standard hex ports for 5mm round pegs and one hex port for a 8mm round peg (the head stand arm). The head attachment itself is a completely custom connector made of 3 rectangular boxes.

    There aren't enough ports to show all the ships at once. Simplest option is to use existing action figure or model stands made for effects: stand-alone or use parts to attach to the Unicron stand, which is what we've done.

    A brand new stand altogether would get rather complicated, not to mention supporting Unicron's head.

    A plug-in solution for the existing stand would be the less complicated route. I have one idea that I was going to try whenever the new Galvatron figure comes out. This is a mock-up showing proof of concept made of 3mm adapter pieces and 3mm rods cut out from a Gundam sprue. On the left is an example of using Bandai stand parts to extend the existing peg on the stand arm.

    standexample.jpg
     
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  15. Max Tower

    Max Tower Well-Known Member

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    #3800
    I kinda like the sheer sillyness of the Go Better Red Alert kit as I can imagine them working as guides for the car when jumping or as Airbrakes to stop the car more quickly - Rather than the real reason they exist to allow full articulation on the knees.

    I agree not including other gap fillers is a minor pain as there is holes under the shoulder, great big gaps in the forearms and the holes above the wheels in robot mode.

    I may sit and make my own for them one rainy day it's an easy enough thing to bodge up out of some scrap plastic - I had to do something similar for the holes in Springers shoulders too.
     
  16. Strife

    Strife Well-Known Member

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    I shoulda done pictures. My bad! I think it's a simpler request.
    IMG_4686a.jpg


    So what I'm asking for is a straight up design clone of the arm (flight stand) there (in the middle), and an optional splitter that can plug into that small peg and is a bar with two pegs at opposite ends. Sizing wise, they seem to be 3mm and 5mm... or whatever the size two sizes of the WFC blast effects are. The little peg plug into those blast effects little holes, and the big peg / base peg is the size of the blast ef fect pegs used by Omega Supreme and Jetfire.

    The Unicron stand has slots for 15 minifigs (5 per arm). We got 2x Minifigs from Unicron, 1x from the Arks. From the front page there are 13 included minifigs, for a total of 16

    I think a new base (what the arm plugs into) will be desirable for people who buy Galvatron but don't have unicron, or people who absolutely must display all 16. Personally, I'd just put Ramjet in a little baggy and put the other 15 on display. But a base for non-Unicron owners that could support the 3 Galvatron flight stands would be great.

    In terms of specific products, I think this is the way to go:

    (A) A reproduction of the arm / flight stand. For people who have Unicron, they would by 2 of these.
    (B) A splitter, that lets one of those arms support two ships, that way for Unicron owners, all 4 ships could be plugged into it. People who have Unicron would buy 1 of these. Another option would be a dedicated "branched arm" that replaces 1x of (A) arm and supports two ships.
    (C) A new base, maybe a reproduction of Unicron's base without the support for his head but more little squares that supports all the mini-figs and support for 3 flight stands. People who have Unicron would not buy this (as it duplicates the functionality of the base), but people who have the Galvatron pack would buy this.

    As a Unicron owner, I would buy 2x of (A) and 1x of (B). But if I didn't own Unicron, I'd buy 3x of (A) and 1x of (B).

    I'm happy to be any help.


    IMG_4685.JPG
     
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  17. Olivus Prime

    Olivus Prime Space Ranger

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    Just wanted to extend a thanks for sharing this. I had been waiting on TF-Safari to add more stock of the discs, and didn't realise they were up on eBay. Entered this thread out of curiosity and found your link. Thanks!
     
  18. shunquan

    shunquan ACID STORMER

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    any idea if there will be a restock of the dark-ism megatron head?
     
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  19. Seeaich

    Seeaich Inaction Master

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    Bit late to this particular party but...

    Ultra Swagnus!
    [​IMG] [​IMG]
    A trepidatious first punt with YYW Upgrades but on this evidence I may look to their filler solutions again, I did wonder about repainting a slightly wan white coat BUT it turns out, whether by luck or judgement, the shade does match the pylon sides of my copy fine (though some additional white at the top lip was better for matching that bit).

    Highly impressed with the inner chest Matrix rest, it's so smooth I'm not entirely sure whether it's injection (or otherwise) moulded rather than printed?
    It went in very easy, not so sure how getting it out to put a Matrix in at some point will be if I decide I want to do that?
    Bonus that it hides the obvious back of robot head in truck mode though.
    [​IMG]
    Please ignore the fact that Sh!tcam failed me on the focus front, seems it did that last split-second defocus on me and I hadn't noticed until uploading, BAH!

    The YYW-12B Siege Ratchet rifle/waldo arm launcher is less impressive on the finish front (rough/obvious print striations, bit gunmetally for Ratchet as I intend with a bit of not-sure-if-intentional Siege schmutz on the missile/welding blaster - it'd be alright if I was giving it to Ironhide) BUT still solid on essentials like actually fitting in Ratchet's fists and other ports.
     
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  20. gbm

    gbm Well-Known Member

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    The new DNA DK18 set for Studio Series Shockwave, does the new left hand have a wrist swivel? ....I know it opens and closes, but what about swivel?