Hello Radicons, I finally finished my interpretation of classics Powerglide. I used an Energon A-10 for the base figure as well as a few parts from an original G1 PG, like the head and tail fins which I ball jointed, and the chest to cover up the energon chip attach point. I used Krylon fusion flat gray primer for a base and Testor's enamels. I tried to weather him up (thanks to SonOfNemesis for the paint tutorials and tons of help!) but I fear as this is my first bash and paint that I screwed it up. Oh well, just gotta keep trying to perfect it. Anyway, constructive comments and crits are welcome, thanks for looking, hope you enjoy. POWERGLIDE "Learn from the past to impact the future, and Decepticon nosecones!" STRENGTH 6 INTELLIGENCE 7 SPEED 8 ENDURANCE 9 RANK 5 COURAGE 9 FIREPOWER 7 SKILL 9 STORY Powerglide has always been proud of his ability to fly, something few Autobots can do, and had no problem showing off for friends and foes alike. His confidence and abilities, while impressive, also caused him to throw caution to the wind, so to speak, and rush into aerial combat spewing a litany of insults and quick-witted quips at enemies while gracefully and deftly maneuvering through them. This is something that has not gone unnoticed by Starscream and the other Seekers, for while they are superior militarily,they were always hard pressed to put Powerglide out of commission permanently; the troublesome little "pest" was just too maneuverable, and as Air Commander of the Decepticon forces, it fell to Starscream to devise a plan to knock the upstart out of the skies for good. Playing upon Powerglide's need to be recognized for his aerial prowess, and the fact that his jet mode was slower and less resistant to damage, Starscream engaged Powerglide in a dogfight. He allowed Powerglide to score a few non lethal direct hits and then feigned a flat spin, which unfortunately stoked Powerglide's ego. As Starscream got closer to the ground however, he "recovered" and started flying away from the battle scene. Of course there was no way that Powerglide was going to let him get away and deprive him of the praise he deserved for downing one of the most dangerous and decorated officers in the Decepticon airforce, and he took off after Starscream and away from any assistance. The rest of the Seekers, upon receiving a coded transmission from Starscream, broke from their attack runs and rallied to his position, ultimately sealing Powerglide's fate. Although he put up an amazing fight, outnumbered and outgunned, Powerglide was eventually and brutally shot down by the six Seekers. His shattered frame was recovered after the Decepticons withdrew by Red Alert, Inferno and the Protectobots. Not much remained of Powerglide but his spark was still functional, although he teetered on the edge of permanent deactivation. For weeks afterwards Ratchet, Hoist and Perceptor worked dilligently to piece their comrade back together, and although they almost lost him on more than one occasion, they were eventually able to use a few pieces left of his old body to add to his reformatted form, albeit with major changes to his transformation sequence, and integrate his spark and psyche. Modeled more accurately on the A-10 Thunderbolt II airframe than he was previously has had some positive side effects on Powerglide, namely increased strength in robot mode and a jet mode that can take a punishing amount of damage, but his close call with the Decepticons has also caused him to re-evaluate his attitude and his ego as well. Powerglide is still one of the friendliest bots you're likely to meet, but flying has become more than just a show for him now as with serious determination he waits to repay Starscream and his lackeys in full. WEAPON/ABILITIES Subject possesses above average intelligence and the new modifications to his form only enhance his already incredible skill as a pilot. The A-10 Thunderbolt's natural design parameters feature 1,200 lbs of armor and a 30mm Gau-8 Avenger heavy automatic gatling cannon mounted in his left foot. The armor upgrade now gives subject a little better than average strength in robot mode and in jet mode enables him to shrug off most light to medium ordinance up to 23mm and even 57mm depending on where he gets hit by it. In addition to that the A-10 was designed to be able to fly with only one engine, one tail fin, one elevator, and half a wing torn off, making subject a fairly tough nut to crack. His engines become a sort of jet booster backpack and allow subject to fly in robot mode. He is still able to carry cluster bomb units as well as a bevy of other non laser guided ordinance, but also now carries two AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles for defense purposes and flare and chaff modules for electronic countermeasures. In robot mode, subject also carries a particle rifle capable of firing everything from lasers to high heat incendiary rounds. WEAKNESSES Because of his near deactivation, subject can sometimes become fatalistic in his quest for revenge against Starscream and the rest of the Seekers, though Ratchet is working with him to overcome this. Subject's 30mm cannon is so powerful that it sometimes causes him to stall when fired in jet mode, and because of his form's new enhancements he is prone on occasion to taking more damage than is necessary to accomplish his mission.
That looks awesome man! It really resembles Powerglide well. For future paint apps and bringing out the panel lines, try using flat black as your primer instead of gray for the gray robot parts. Very cool how you incorporated G1 parts into this one!!
Wow that looks really nice, I liked the Warthog mode on the Energon plane, but didn't care for the Robot mode. This is very nice.
i like this so much that i will have too one day copy this awesome kit bash to replace my universe one so I have another mini bot,that fits in better with my collection.
Awesome! I love all these more traditional takes on Powerglide (really how he should have been!). I'd suggest using a darker red and a very thin paintbrush for bringing out the panel line detail and also use a brush to get in those holes to make sure the colour is consistent. Still, first bash and it's a really cool one. I'll have to try and do this with mine if I can find it! Btw, what'd you use for those extra arm joints? I like that they're triple jointed.
Now thats Powerglide. The paintjob is cool, but everyone has pointed out some flaws on that, but all and all you did a great job.
That is great work, my friend, a dead-ringer for g1 Powerglide and much better looking than that roided-out ultra class PG
great stuff dude! Would love to know what parts you used for his arms!! Would love to do one too! My hat's off to ya for the great job!
Thanks S.O.N., I went and got a can of the stuff you suggested just the other night, next bot will be Roadbuster with the yourreflection kit, we'll see how it goes. For the arms I used the upper leg joints off of the other Energon jet combiner limb. I basically cut the ball joint peg off as close to the plastic as possible, then shaved down the piece of plastic so that it was just big enough to create a second joint, then superglued the ball joint peg back on. That's on the drawing board so to speak, I would like to do all the minibots at some point, next up is Warpath and Cosmos though, wanna get the tough ones out of the way first. Thanks for all the great comments so far, I know the paint job stinks, but I can only get better (hopefully lol)
As much as I love the oversized version hasbro gave us, this should've been Powerglide from the beginning.
I'm calling BS! There's no way this is your first custom! The engineering is brilliant, the colors are dead on...This is fantastic. Well done man.
