Hello everyone. Got a new update for you and sooner then I thought honestly.

I finished the legs! That means the re-shelling is done!

I teased some of these following mods last time so let me show you what I did.

After I'd figured out what I needed to do, I took the legs and carved out some space for where the arms will go and removed all of the excess stuff.
Before:

After:


Next thing I did was remove all of the needless stuff from the arms as well:
Before:

After:



All of this helps the arms tuck in:


Next up is the sidepanels. Easy enough. I just took the side leg panels from DOTM CC, removed the wheels, trimmed the pegs to size, painstakingly alinged it all and bob's your uncle. I also trimmed off the origional bumper from CW Offroad:





Carving out the bumper makes room for when I installed the bumper from DOTM CC.

As for said bumper, I took the afor mentionned back pieces and the brackets they where attached too. Then I shaved off the lower pin slots from the bottom of the back pieces and placed the brackets on the top ones.

I then built hinge brackets to mount on, assembled the kit and kaboutle and placed it all with superglue and putty. And voilà!



It is a bit gappy, but if I shave off any more plastic from the bottom of the feet, it will all break.

I then took the back wheels, shaved down the brackets they where on and glued them in place.

That gives us this result:


So the end result of all that is this:




So yeah, my first ever reshellings are done, in the sense that the shells themselves are done. And I'm very happy about it and the results.

There are still some adjustments needed. I need to make pegs and clipping points to stabalize the hoods in vehicule mode and make tab points so the back canopees lock in and sit flush. That will help fix some of the wonkiness you see in the pictures.

Then it will be on to painting and the final touches 

And that brings us to the end of this update.

As always, I hope you enjoy and I'll see you next time!

 

Reshelling a Transformer always impresses me, especially when done as cleanly as yours'! Reshelling a non Transforming car must be pretty tricky, but one which also transforms into a robot?   Very impressed!

 

Man, this is coming along awesome!

 

Hello everyone. It's time for another update!

Getting right into it, I finished all of the pegs and tabs to help stabilize Crankshaft and Crowbar. I also did 2 additional mods to there respective backpacks.

For Crankshaft:
His was the easyest to pull off. All I had to do was find a way to tab his rear cap onto the peg in his truckbed. So I made one with putty. Then I had to alter the cap's transformation so it could still sit flush against his backpack. So I I made a swivel piece out of styrene and a screw, allowing it too turn so it can hinge up:





And like I said it tabs into the truckbed. But you can't tell in vehicule mode.

For Crowbar:
He was more problematic. Stabalizing the hood and arms in vehicule mode was not difficult. For the hood, I used styrene inside the spot where the wheel are attach to push it up in vehicule mode and placed pins in it for more stability:


The pins tab behind the bumper:

These holes are also used in robot mode to tab in the same pins that secure the shoulder connections:

It looks better assembled, but they are apart for painting.

The arms just needed tabs to help the doors stay flush with the back panels:

They tab in here:


These where easy enough.

What really hurt my progress was this:


See the tape? Well that's because my origional twist tie hinge broke. I didin't really like that.

So here is what it looks like now:

Sturdy!

I used the wrist from DOTM CC and made a proper hinge:



But I also needed the window piece to slide up a bit to give the head clearance. So I used putty and thin twist ties to make said window piece slidable by a bit:



And it all goes back into place nicely.



And lastly, I did start painting:


Both sets of arms and legs are done for the silver.

As for the black, I need to get more. I'll finish the last touches after that. And already took care of all the sanding so I shouldn't have anymore obsticals on that front.

And this will be it for this update. I should be done these 2 pretty soon. I'm confident that that will be my next update.

Until then, hope you enjoy and I'll see you next time!

 

i havent seen this thread for a while. (and i thought i liked all of the posts/updates! must've been here when i didnt have an account) loving this idea of the Dreads and the second Cyclonus (now Mindshock, brilliant name) getting some spotlight! i always love it when people take errors (color mix-up, i.e. Dirgeclonus, or another model of the same character) or the obscure characters make it their own! glad to see your work again and i cant wait for the full thing!

 

Hello everyone. It's time for this thread's dreaded final update!

Get it? Dreaded? Because the dreads are done.....

Ok, let's just get on with it. But seriously, this particullar project is finished.

Now usually, I would start with robot modes, but this time I want to start in reverse seeing as they have identical vehicule modes and as a surprise for robotmode:

Vehicule mode(s):
And as a game, try to guess who is who before you see their robot modes:




So the paint job is pretty much 99.99% the same as was on the origional DOTM Crankcase. The ONLY things I did was paint in the Chevrolet symbol touched up the taillights. That's it. The real differences come into play in:

Robot mode(s): Starting with:

Crankshaft: Assassin and Sabotage expert

Crankshaft is one one of the very last Decepticons you would ever want to run into. Though he is not as savage as Dreadbot or as battlecrazed as Berserker, what really makes him stand equal to them is that he actually thinks about how to proceed. But make no mistake, his is still vicious enought to make enyone fighting him very weary. Espescially when his favorite tactic is to get in close, stun his apponent with his electromangnetic dreads and chop them in half with his backmounted scissors. That or pummel them to pieces with his shoulder mounted grinders(his vehicule mode front wheels). His vibroblades also do nicely. And if meelee is not an option, he can always use his plasma repeater, or use it's secondary grapple claw mode to close the distance. As long as their dead, it makes him happy anyway it's done.





He is hand painted with:
Citadel Abaddon Black
Citadel Wazdakka Red
Testors Metallic Silver
Testors Metallic Gold

The base figure is CW Offroad. The shell is DOTM Crankcase. The weapons are also from Crankcase and CW Mirage.

The dread themselves are made from phonecase straps.

And here is a closer look at his head, chest and arm details:




And lastly for this team is:

Crowbar: Assassin and intelligence officer


Crowbar should never be underestimated by anyone. On top of being and elite killer, he is also the Dread's resident hacker and data analist, able to get into almost any data repository, having been trained by Soundwave himself under Megatron's order when he displayed an unusual affinity for the art back at the begginig of the great war. And if the desired info is in another bot's head, too bad for said bot. First, they will be hunted down by Hatchet, who will pin them down and bring them back to Crowbar. That's when he'll show his enemies why they should all fear him and why he was chosen as the Dread's intelligence officer. It's not just that he is great at hacking, it's that he is an Outlier with the power to use his tendrils(dreads) to scyphon and steal the data form any bot's databank and CPU, ending up with said victim becoming completly braindead. Though a very strong willed bot can resist this, leaving them with still significant brain damage ,and the proccess can take a while the stronger willed they are. Not that it makes a difference. Crowbar will kill them afterward with either his tendrils, which double as saw-whips, smash them flat with his clubs or blast them to piece with his own Plasma repeater that can also double as a grapple claw.





He is hand painted with:
Citadel Abaddon Black
Citadel Wazdakka Red
Citadel Eshin Grey
Testors Metallic Silver
Testors Flat Brass

The base figure is CW Offroad. The shell is DOTM Crankcase. The head and clubs are moddified from CW Ironhide's head and axes. The gun is DOTM Crankcase's.

The dread themselves are made from phonecase straps.

A closer look at his head, chest and arm details:

I even painted his fingers brass to mimic the SS Crowbar toy. I also love that it he is pretty gangly like Lockdown too  Makes him a bit taller than Crankshaft as well.




Oh and just because I can, and this happens in my continuity at the end of season 2:

Spoilers, no one dies. Ironhide dies at Megatron's feet in the Movie(after my season 2) The Dreads die in season 3 and Sideswipe(along with Sunstreaker and Trailbreaker live up till and past the Beast Machine era into the Universe war)

And now, the team is together!



And vehicule modes!


And of course, Shockwave's experiment and tribute to Galvatron, Galvatronus!



And for a closer look at Crankcase and Crowbar in leg mode:


And yes they can scramble city it up!


And with this, I happilly bring this project to an end. Though I would like to make Berserker and Dreadbot in the future to complete the full Dread team, that will not be for a long time. And who knows, I might come back to these for some further touch ups with reprolables if I feel like it.

For now though, I'm going back to my TurboREmastered project.

I hope you enjoy and I'll see you again there!

 

What sorcery!

 

Imagine Hasbro taking notes for these babies....