To start, please pull out and inspect your Lugnutz.  

I want to fix Lugnutz so his robot mode doesn't suck so bad.
The idea I had was to cut the front wheels off where they attach to each arm, and put a joint there or something so they can bend out of the way. The plastic there is pretty thin, however, and I'm not sure I can do it without wrecking him.

Anybody have a better idea how to pull this off? Some type of arm or body mod to overcome his horridness?

 

I took a look at the rear end of the bike, and found that if you take out the long screw on the side, the "saddlebags" will rotate out of the way on the rear axle shaft. This allows the arms much more articulation, but it kind of kills the chip gimmick, and to make it permanent, I'd have to file off the shaft that the screw goes into. Pics to come.

 

Don't have him, can't help. Sorry

 

After noticing this little guy's license plate is nearly identical to the front license plate of Alternators Silverstreak, I sized Lugnutz up to my Alts to find out he is essentially to scale with them. I bought a Lugnutz for customs this past Saturday and I plan to do at least one custom with this guy.

I have to say, that's one of the longest screws I've seen on a TF, especially a basic-sized one. I noticed that I may have to place some adhesive to the tab that holds the right "saddlebag" in place, but I won't cry too much over the loss of the Force Chip gimmick (esp. since my custom will go with my Alts).

I would like to do something about his rifle prohibiting arm articulation as well. We shall see.  

 

Who needs saddlebags? Customise him RIGHT. Chop the bags, put on some longer forks and paint him up OCC style.

 

That's not a bad idea. You'd need to fill in the rear fender too, because when you loose the saddlebags, there a funny looking cutouts in the fender.

 

I forgot to mention, I did cut the front forks off his arms, drilled a hole on each, and put a pin through so the forks could rotate on each shoulder.

DON'T DO IT! It didn't help much at all, and it was work wasted. Rotating the saddlebags out of the way helped a lot more, and I didn't have to cut anything (except the screw post, I filed it down into a little nub so it could still "pop" back into the hole when transforming).

 

Just wanted to add reference pics:





.billy

 

By doing my "rotating saddlebags" mod alone, this type of articulation can be aquired.



The only drawback of this is that the chip gimmick WILL still work, but since it's rotated, it comes out behind his back. Alt mode is unchanged. The mod adds a new step to the transformation.

If anybody wants detailed instructions, let me know.

 

hey MMM... what about shoulder rotation? can he twist his arms very good? I know one thing, just being able to have the darned right arm not be forced inward makes the mod cool enough.. how complicated and difficult was it?


Andy

 

He can rotate his arms a bit better...the mod isn't hard, one screw out and a post cut down. I'll explain in a bit when I have time.

Edit: Ok, here's how to do it. See the screw next to the chip slot? Remove it.

Now, if you look up inside the wheelwell on the weapon side, you'll see that there's a kind of a rotating lock keeping the two halves together. Swivel the chip slot saddlebag while holding onto the weapon saddlebag, and at about a 90 degree spin, the weapon side should come off the "lock". Don't worry about springs or parts falling out, it's been designed to come apart as one unit.

Once you have the weapon side off, notice the black post on it that the screw went into. This black post is what you need to cut.

Don't cut it all the way off, but cut it down far enough so it has a little nub that matches the other saddlebag. This nub will allow it to click back into a secure postion in alt mode.

Now, reassemble! The screw will not be needed again, and now the bags can rotate and "click" back into place.

You just need to be sure to spin the bags as one unit, or that "lock" will allow them to seperate and come apart. It could probably be glued shut, but I haven't tried that yet.

I'm at work right now, I'll take a pic or two when I get home to better explain it.

 

Photos please.

Thank you.

 

Hey thanks for the great idea for the mod. He just went from a figure I actively disliked to a kick ass figure on par with Arcee. Thanks for posting those directions.

 

I think Lugnutz handicaps are overrated. He's a fun little guy as is. And yes he does fit in well with Alts which is why I got him.

 

Ditto. I loved his look, and he fits very well next to my Alts.

I'd love to see a boxed "set" of three 1:24 scale Motorcycle Alternators that have stand alone robot modes and maybe, maybe, a combined super robot mode that could see eye-to-eye with the shorter Alternators.

Originally I put off getting Lugnutz, but boy, am I glad I did. He is a great TF and is awesome once you do the saddle bag modification.

 

Well, it took long enough for some of you to try it.  

I'm glad others are digging it as well.

As for pics, as long as you take out the correct screw, I don't think they are needed. After the screw is out, and you fiddle with it a bit, you'll see what I'm talking about.

 

As far as the chip gimmick, theres a tab the catches the weopon after you put the key in, to keep it up right. With the Sadlebag modified wont "trimming" that tab allow the "missles" to go straght up???

 

One of my future projects will to have some "Alt motorcycles" with Lugnutz being one of the primary molds. Now, just getting to it (and other projects) . . .

 

Possibly. Give it a shot.

 

Found out just shaving it alittle lets it go a bit further, and then you can push it a little more fore an over the shoulder look- with the modieied backpack.