Cleaned up as much as possible, and here she is standing as tall as the rest of the Lost Light crew! Really tall. Transformation video so you can check out her alt mode, but the Shapeways parts are cracking so I am holding off on transforming her again. I had a piece for her visor, but held off because her head is pretty fragile with all that styrene stuck on. Might make a drawstring for it or something. My damn Pixel has a little too good of a camera; it's capturing all the imperfections in the paint that you honestly won't notice if you see her in person. Embarking on a new version pretty much right away, because I'm a glutton for punishment. Original post below PotP Elita-1 was pretty much just a backpack-former, and has fuselage and wrist-blocks like Nautica does. I figured I could jury-rig some TR Scourge parts to what had been the nosecone to get full hovercraft mode, and use a dremel to make the Shapeways turbines fit somewhere. I thought this would be mostly a straight repaint, some styrene work on the head... So if you know this figure, you know that working on her robot mode head netted me a total pinhead. Luckily she comes with a combined mode head that has a pin punch that can, somewhat awkwardly, be made to fit on the regular neck. Unluckily, I had cut off the top fin and green-stuffed it into the little head! So for articulation I first had to reconstruct the top of her head. After a LONG time adding and sanding, adding and sanding green stuff, she's starting to look like herself: I added some plasticard to try and even up the sides of her head, but of course it's super goobered now while I wait for green stuff to cure. And I'm out of the purple--"Amythest Purple" specifically--so no touch-ups until I can locate more. But we're closer! I did indeed give in to the temptation to take this apart and try some styrene work. So far it's taking about 15 times as long as I thought it would, but I'm liking the results. I tried to make the gooey green stuff really neat and clean but there's only so much you can do with dried epoxy. Also got another Elita and some casting materials to make a second one more in the original dark purple. Test reassembly without the backpack. Styrene looks pretty good! Although my "vents' look more like hairbrushes.
Damn fine idea there! I've had Nautica in the back of my mind for a long time wondering what would make a good base for her.
HAHA! It looks like great minds think alike as I also ordered a POTP Elita-1 yesterday to do this very same thing with!! I can't believe it didn't occur to me earlier as her top half is absolutely perfect for Nautica. It was only when one popped up in my eBay feed that it dawned on me it would work. I think I'm going to use SS86 Scourge rather than TR Scourge for the nosecone, though, as I also have an idea for another custom involving him that doesn't require his 'wings'.
Oh yeah! If I didn't have a custom lined up specifically for the rest of SS86 Scourge I definitely wouldn't want to waste the money. Annoyingly, I missed the last Scourge in my LCS today. Grrrr.
A couple of modifications to the transformation. Head reveal won't work as is with the big combined head, so I tried attached the chest piece to the swivel arm that held the combined head originally. When I make the second version I might try attaching the styene & then casting it all as one piece. The hovercraft front bit was a little bit too awkward with the original piece that held the nosecone, so I tried trading it for a shorter piece off a Classics Ramjet... and am having about the same level of success painting a black piece light pink as you might imagine. Screws in, though!
edit: new photos of her finished but pre-cleanup, and a transformation video (sorry my hands got in the way; it's my first time trying this) in first post
I am still cleaning her up for the final transformation video and photoshoot. But I had to post this shot from my shelf. Very "slaughterhouse" moody!
Done... probably only because I'm embarking on ANOTHER one. Transformation video and photos in first post. Lots of modifications to the transformation--Scourge leg bits attached where the nosecone and cockpit were, total styrene cover for the backpack, Scourge wings attached with the turbines stuck on, side wings cut off her ankles, styrene vents on her forearms, those weird hairbrush-looking things that were supposed to be more vents... and the change in how the chest opened and how the head tucks in. Oh, and a wee styrene hook to keep the hovercraft front up on the backpack in robot mode.
