Hey everyone! I know there's been a lot of accessories, mods, repaints, and additional weaponry for this awesome figure. And if you haven't gotten one yet, I highly suggest him. He is an awesome rendition of Optimus Prime, even though he's a deluxe, with the poseability, and the option of adding on as many weapons as possible. In this instance, when I got him, and I saw a photo from the cool stuff thread (which now I cannot find for the life of me...but whoever it was, mad props to ya...), with him holding the Energon lance from Energon/Universe Air Raid, I thought, "that would make a fantastic axe". So what I did was hollow out the sides of the insides of each of the "prongs" of the lance pieces, and then without any further mods, it fit just right onto the square piece of the "body" of the lance. For the handle, I dremeled the hilt down further on the whole piece so that it could slide completely into his fist (note: this also fits to Classics Prime too, woohoo!!!!). I also removed the sticking out peg handle (that sticks to the left) with the Dremel. But I also wanted it to be a multi-mode piece, that could work several ways, and also work in Alt mode. I masked off the pieces that I did not want painted, because the existing gloss black of the axe was a really nice contrast in my opinion. I painted the remaining black with Testors Spray Primer Enamel, let it dry for a day or two, then used Testors Dark Red Spray Enamel, let it dry and then did a second coat. At first I thought about using an orange to make it more like the game, but the dark red fits more with the alt mode. For the silver on the handle, thats just silver Sharpie. Finally I just picked up and used some Future finish tonight (that dried FAST!), and here it is. Here we have Mode 1: Axe Mode 2: Spear Mode 3: Handheld knives Mode 4: Long range rifle with battle blade Mode 5: Flight Mode with long range rifle EDIT: Thanks to Limewire for his idea for a Mode 6, or as I like to call it, Limewire's Battle Blades WFC Prime And the best part, with NO mods, the body of the lance without the handle will clip onto the back panels of the alt mode (the inner legs), and the handle fits in between the transformed thighs. It not only fills in the gap, but makes for an additional spiked rear cannon on the alt mode. It stays in place very solidly. This is my first time painting with spray enamels. Thanks to Superquad7 for his tips, as well as the tutorial on painting here on Radicons. It really helped. Next time, spray for the primer, but jar enamel and a paint brush mixed with future. If anything for my lessons learned, I would have masked my points a little better, and gone a little finer on each coat. I did however figure out with a fine paint brush, dipped into sprayed enamel allowed me to cover some areas that weren't with the spray. Comments/criticism is more than welcome (Lord knows that I've given enough on the Radicons board). Thanks in advance!
very nice. works well with the wfc prime... the knives could also form into tonfas like the mammoth beast wars big convoy. great work.
Great work man! That looks great! I'm doing something similar to the exact same sword/spear thing. You really did some good work on this! Can't wait to meetup again too!
Cool idea But dry this: Gold in the Hands and Stuck in the Swords Then He has energonswords like rotf prime
That is definitely nifty. If I ever get around to ordering parts from Darkov - I will have to order an Energon spear. Maybe he could do it in a darker red so there'd be less repainting...? (Note: I used a dash instead of a comma b/c my comma key doesn't seem to be working. I know - nobody probably noticed. But whatever.)
Wow, bro, this turned out WAY better than I expected (and I expected it would turn out really cool). I think you've done an excellent job on your first paint work (just so you guys know, D has been talking to me for a long time about wanting to paint and such, and I was like, "Just do it man! You'll have fun! Be careful, though, 'cause it's addictive ). I really like the engineering on this as well. You've really done some intuitive and inventive things with this piece. The end result is pretty awesome. I really hope that we end up seeing more from you bro!
Hmm, looks like Venksta won't be getting my money anytime soon... Nice job. While i think that the modes are reminiscent of Quickswitch (as in, it's slightly hard to believe that's a 'flight mode'), it certainly works for the axe and spear forms. Having it tuck into the back of the Vehicle mode seals the deal for me.
Thanks! You know, I didn't even think of that....I'm going to have to look at some reference photos for BC to see how that looks....awesome idea! Thank you! Absolutely! Once you're done with yours we'll have to compare notes. I miss getting up for lunches over at TRU. Oh, that would rock. I tried a few things with the "blade" pegs to see if they would fit into the forearms as is, but they're just a touch larger, and if I had shaved them down, I would have lost the spear mode. I'd love to see what you have in mind in drawing form, because that could potentially be easily done! I did try some Apoxie sculpt to the insides of the blade pieces since they were already hollowed as part of the mold, but the problem I ran into was that it didn't allow it to attach properly to the sides of the body. For whatever reason, just shaving the insides allow it to stay on with no movement. If you look at the mod pic, you'll even see a little gray on the right blade, thats where I didn't finish cleaning the apoxie sculpt in time. That would be awesome. To be honest, if I did it again, I might have gone with a lighter red (the same color as Prime's faction symbols), to highlight a bit more, but I'm happy with how the dark red turned. The insides would still need to be shaved down to allow it to fit onto the body, but that would be a LOT easier for repainting. Thanks! Yeah, I've got some ideas already for some additional pieces. While I'm still working on trying to put together full figures, I've found that doing smaller accessories is a quick way to start, and I feel like I've accomplished something. Plus, until I get my skills a little better, I can mess up a little and not feel bad. I don't want to paint my entire collection just yet, but I'm definitely catching the bug! ROFL!!!! Venksta's axe is amazing, but then again, a lot of his pieces are. I can see what you mean about the flight mode. For me, the long range rifle worked well, but I was trying to figure out where to put the blades. They just fit solidly into the wheel ports on the back of the figure. And since they're hollow on the bottom, and have a vent look to them, it makes it a bit of a Gundam style cheat. But when I figured out that the whole thing fit in on Alt mode with no mods, that was a big smile on my face. One of the other things I thought about was modding it a little more to allow for a shield, but that didn't quite work because of the peg sizes. For whatever reason, the peg for the body of the axe fits well in hand, but not on those side arm ports. I will say that if someone wanted to do a mock Sky Boom Shield for him, this is definitely the accessory to do it with. Thanks for all the feedback guys!
Comparing this ax to Quickswitch in any way just makes this custom 100 times cooler. I agree that the storage on the vehicle mode is very ingenious!
No one says that Gundams cheat. Ever. Ever! The shield is possible, but i think you would have to forgo the other modes for it, and it's really not necessary, though i expect that you will do it soon, and i expect then i will steal it and use it for myself. Take that, Venksta! Comparing anything to Quickswitch makes it infinity times cooler!
Very true! I have a love of the Gundam designs and mecha, so I'm definitely a fan. I'd need a second energon blade to try a shield, but man, those Energon pieces have a lot of options. I'm surprised they're not used more on figure mods. Thank you!!
You mean like this? MODE 6: Limewire's Battle Blade WFC Prime That's right, it's got your name attached, because that was an AWESOME idea. And I forgot that the long range rifle makes an excellent shoulder cannon. BTW, your mods on your Prime are looking awesome! Thanks guys! Zmog, let me know if you need help getting a WFC prime up to Canadia, we've got tons of him here in NC.
