Holy hell... almost 7 months .. and he's still been standing there, headless, looking awesome -- waiting for me to finish his legs. *sigh* I don't want to say I got "cold feet" but I suppose I'm a tad chickensh*t to hack into Barricade. When I only have 1 and if I screw up, I have to find another and start over, I just haven't gotten the balls to do it. He's sitting just like it is down below. My friend had an extra E Barricade he gave me, so now I have a backup and that's inched me closer to just doing it. Hopefully, I can get past this mental hurdle and just dive in.
In the mean time, I made a cast and pumped out a few copies of Supreme Starscream's head to use once I get to that point. I also wanted to do something about his chest shield. Someone else used Cybertron Prime's wings as the wings and I thought that was perfect. It's a dead-on fit... so that plus F_R's use of Dropkick's weapon seemed like a great idea. Again, I'm too chicken to ruin the only Prime I have, so I made a cast & copies of the wings. That way if I cut too much or screw something up, I just pump out another copy. =)
This is where I am so far. I'll probably cut that middle part of the original Dev wings and use it like F_R did for some more details. I think the wider version is a tad big when it's on the figure and may hinder arm movement, so I'll probably go with the smaller one.
Devastator
Devastator WIP - 8/14 Update
Devastator WIP - 1/18 Update
Been a few weeks and just haven't had the quality time to work on this. Started on a side project though. =)
Grabbed a couple of hours today to do some Dev work. So far I've 1) cut the cab in half, 2) trimmed off the nubs in the back (they held the backend on as the original truck), 3) removed the "toes" off Barricade, 4) trimmed off some of the end of the legs to match the angle of the windshield, 5) removed the combiner plug, cut some styrene (for sale sign) for the cab and finally 6) cut the trucks original windshield piece to fit Barricade's leg.
Overall, I think it's working fairly well.
I need to putty the windshield in place and also put some Lego connector pieces to lock the two halves together. I have to find a solid way to connect the wheels on there -- there's not much space to work with between the legs and the cab. And I need to put the minicon connector ports in & on the back of the cab to attach it to the legs.
Devastator WIP - 12/31 Update
Happy New Year, Radicons.
Here's a small update. I've figured out how I want to do Mixmaster.
I noticed that if you bend the leg at the knee, the truck's back of the cab sits right on his thigh area. I just need to somehow remove that combiner plug at the end.
This gives him a fairly compact alt mode. Unfortunately, this doesn't bode well for robot and leg modes. So, he's going to need to be a partsformer. I plan on mounting the cab to the mini-con port things on his knees. This will make it proportional as the leg.
It may give him big legs in robot mode but I think it won't be too bad.
I haven't actually started on hacking it apart because I decided I didn't want to attack it with my dremel. I ordered a razor saw online and it should be in any day now. This should give me 1) more accurate control and 2) not cut out more plastic than I need.
Devastator WIP - first bash - updated 12/8
12/17 update
Well, I got the cement truck yesterday and have a few ideas rolling around. Since I don't want to cut into anything until I have a set plan, I digibashed a couple samples.
I really want to keep the front end on the legs and also leave the legs mostly as they are. I don't want a 'partsformer', so I'm trying to find a way to make it work.
I really was hoping that this would work.. propping up the lower leg bits on the hinge that's in there made it just about the right length as a whole. When flipping it up, it would make the perfect leg and when flipped down like his legs usually are, they'd be perfect too.
The problem is that it's too high. =( I made it a little opaque so you can see the original legs. Now, if I push the legs forward a little to bring them down -- it's too far forward. double =(
So, I want to get him set first before I start on either leg, just so I have the sizes down. I can't take any off the top of the leg/shins because it has that place that the little nub goes in to secure it to his main leg piece. If I take some off, I'd have to find a way to keep it in place as his legs when he's in bot mode.
I've been thinking I could put the back of he cab on a hinge (like that black one that's there already) and that would flip over behind the legs and that could hold it in place. Maybe with that, I could keep it pulled back and keep the semi-proportions that has...
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12-8 update
Well, I tried bringing the shoulders in as much as I could
I mounted the NS mount in the inside of the bar instead of outside. That trimmed off a few millimeters or so.
Oh, and I solved the joint problem by drilling through the plug and screwing a screw in from the small side. That tightened it up. =)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
12-5 update 2
Finished modding right arm. FYI Neo Shifter joints + clear nail polish = ridiculously tight joint. =)
I had a couple joints that were just too loose to hold up his arm, so I popped one apart and threw some clear nail polish on the mount part - not the gray joint part. Man, that worked almost too well. I need to finish a couple more mounts and screws and stuff - and clean it up a little - but I'm pretty much done with the upper half. Will be moving on to the knees next.
12-5 update
I've been a little busy with the holiday, band practice and birthday stuff but I've done a little work.
To secure Hook to the primus part, I drilled a 9/64th sized hole which fit it just about perfectly.
The peg from his arm snaps in there pretty tight after a hair of sanding/cleaning.
I finished up Bonecrusher.
I screwed in the Neo Shifter mount on that flap
and it doesn't interfere with it moving, so I can still transform it fine.
I used some Might Putty (since that's what I got) to attach the other NS mount piece to the nub where the old Dev head was mounted to. It fits nicely.
I added a screw in there just so it had more to hold on to - and prevent any spinning if it did loosen up any.
I'll have to sand it and clean it up a tad but it works
I really want the arms to be centered but Hook's arms and legs split, so that's not an option straight out -- so I added one mount to one of the sides.
I plan on adding another one to the other side. While trying to figure out how to attach a plate or something I could use, I noticed some old 3.5" floppy drive covers that were on an old computer case.... =)
I cut off the excess and they fit perfectly. So I mounted a male NS joint on the inside and a female mount on the outside for the shoulder joint.
And so far it's working swimmingly.
The shoulder joint is just a NS piece with a joint removed from another part and screwed together. I don't know of any other solution yet, so if I stick with this, I'll cut the pointy knob off the screw so it's not poking out there.
I need to drill more out under the joint that's on Bonecrusher because the shoulder joint isn't going in all the way. But aside from that, the right arm/shoulder are next on the list!
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11-27 update:
I'm waiting on a couple Lego Knights to come in the mail before I make my final decision on how to mount the arms to Hook. For now, I've worked and attached the lower arms to Scavenger and Bonecrusher
Here is the Neo Shifter plug that I drilled inside a little to fit the screw and then mounted it to the top of Primus' arm.
Man, was that pin a pain to take out. It's a pretty thick thread and it took quite the amount of effort to get it out.
I haven't finished attaching the receptacle on to Bonecrusher but here's my 'mock-up'.
It fits in there just right. Once I get it done, I'll probably use epoxy/mighty putty to fill it in. I don't know for sure if I'm just going to use the existing mount from the old dev head or screw it in a little too.
Here's the arm for Scavenger.
I had to shave down the screw column inside Primus' arm as well as drill a larger hole in theball joint bit but it fit together just right. I'll have to see how it stays together once I'm done to tell if I need to either 1) add some nail polish to tighten the joint or 2) add a little screw to the top of the ball to prevent it from moving and tilting the arm.
That's all for now. Until the Legos come in, I'll either work on Hook's mounting or start on the knees.
-------------------------
11-24 update: (Mods, can you PM the 'trick' to adding more attachments to the same post? or should I just delete the old ones?)
He lives!! er... well, he stands.
I worked a little on his torso today. I dremelled out the area for the wheels to sit in and tried putting some legos there to connect him.
I took some bits, shaved them down and stuck them in the screw hole under Long Haul. Then mounted the connector to Unicron's crotch.
To help with stability, I added a little padding to the back end which Long Haul's crotch rests on to keep him steady.
It's a tad back heavy because of the dump truck weighting him down but it should be fine with both the arms to balance it out and the legs/feet to keep him up.
----------------------
11-22 post:
Yes, another Devastator on the board. =)
First, huge props to Ptitvite for being the innovator that showed us this was possible and also to Frenzy_Rumble for bringing his touch to it and another raised bar for us to reach.
I've been mulling this over ever since Ptitvite released his. Devastator is one of my favorites from my childhood so I knew I had to try this. I grabbed the Target 4pk Devastator on eBay, Barricade from KB Toys, got Primus on clearance from Walmart and had bought 2 Unicrons on eBay for cheap money so I could put a complete one together a while ago. So I had all the bots I needed. I finally grabbed a couple Neo Shifters and my mind started rolling.
I have everything kinda laid out and a vague enough plan to start out. My big fear is stability, so I want everything locked into place as best it can. F_R had mentioned he used the back piece from Primus. I decided to go this route, since he was right - it almost was built for it.
I noticed that that feet of Long Haul looked like they could fit in too. So I trimmed off just the little off the back that was blocking the dumptruck part. Then I started cleaning out the bits and bobs - screw plugs, holders for Primus' electronics.
Speaking of the dump truck part, it was just a little in the way so everytime I moved it around it would pull up on Long Haul's torso (man, was that pissing me off). Just shaving off a little of the 'spine' there and a little off of the mount itself.
That made it nice and solid and stable for me.
After I finished cleaning out the stuff, it fit just as F_R said it would. I cleaned out the gap in the back of it a little so the plug on the dump truck would sit in.
And it seems very stable, so I'm happy.
Here's a little mock up of it so far.
I'm using Unicron's top waist to both keep the waist rotation and to also hide any lego bits that I'll probably use to mount Long Haul - a la Ptitvite. I don't have any of the unicron bits for the waist, so I reversed it and using his 'butt' as his 'crotch'.
I'm going to use Unicron's lower legs to do the same as his waist. To use the minicon area to hide the mounting bits while keeping the rotation, a la F_R.
I plan on mounting a male Neo Shifters joint onto the left Primus arm to mount it. I've removed the Devastator head and plan on putting the female joint there. The right arm I think I can mount with the ball-jointed half of the original combiner mount. I hope to stick that in the top of the other Primus arm and use the ball joint to attach it.
Mounting to Hook is going to be a challenge. I plan on putting female NS joints (the little plates in the torso) on both sides. What I need to do for the connector between is where I'm still thinking about. I really want good rotation and up/down movement but also don't want them sticking out too far.
Should prove interesting... and I haven't even figured out what I'll do for his knee connectors. But not bad for one day's work so far.
Well, I got the cement truck yesterday and have a few ideas rolling around. Since I don't want to cut into anything until I have a set plan, I digibashed a couple samples.
I really want to keep the front end on the legs and also leave the legs mostly as they are. I don't want a 'partsformer', so I'm trying to find a way to make it work.
I really was hoping that this would work.. propping up the lower leg bits on the hinge that's in there made it just about the right length as a whole. When flipping it up, it would make the perfect leg and when flipped down like his legs usually are, they'd be perfect too.
The problem is that it's too high. =( I made it a little opaque so you can see the original legs. Now, if I push the legs forward a little to bring them down -- it's too far forward. double =(
So, I want to get him set first before I start on either leg, just so I have the sizes down. I can't take any off the top of the leg/shins because it has that place that the little nub goes in to secure it to his main leg piece. If I take some off, I'd have to find a way to keep it in place as his legs when he's in bot mode.
I've been thinking I could put the back of he cab on a hinge (like that black one that's there already) and that would flip over behind the legs and that could hold it in place. Maybe with that, I could keep it pulled back and keep the semi-proportions that has...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
12-8 update
Well, I tried bringing the shoulders in as much as I could
I mounted the NS mount in the inside of the bar instead of outside. That trimmed off a few millimeters or so.
Oh, and I solved the joint problem by drilling through the plug and screwing a screw in from the small side. That tightened it up. =)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
12-5 update 2
Finished modding right arm. FYI Neo Shifter joints + clear nail polish = ridiculously tight joint. =)
I had a couple joints that were just too loose to hold up his arm, so I popped one apart and threw some clear nail polish on the mount part - not the gray joint part. Man, that worked almost too well. I need to finish a couple more mounts and screws and stuff - and clean it up a little - but I'm pretty much done with the upper half. Will be moving on to the knees next.
12-5 update
I've been a little busy with the holiday, band practice and birthday stuff but I've done a little work.
To secure Hook to the primus part, I drilled a 9/64th sized hole which fit it just about perfectly.
The peg from his arm snaps in there pretty tight after a hair of sanding/cleaning.
I finished up Bonecrusher.
I screwed in the Neo Shifter mount on that flap
and it doesn't interfere with it moving, so I can still transform it fine.
I used some Might Putty (since that's what I got) to attach the other NS mount piece to the nub where the old Dev head was mounted to. It fits nicely.
I added a screw in there just so it had more to hold on to - and prevent any spinning if it did loosen up any.
I'll have to sand it and clean it up a tad but it works
I really want the arms to be centered but Hook's arms and legs split, so that's not an option straight out -- so I added one mount to one of the sides.
I plan on adding another one to the other side. While trying to figure out how to attach a plate or something I could use, I noticed some old 3.5" floppy drive covers that were on an old computer case.... =)
I cut off the excess and they fit perfectly. So I mounted a male NS joint on the inside and a female mount on the outside for the shoulder joint.
And so far it's working swimmingly.
The shoulder joint is just a NS piece with a joint removed from another part and screwed together. I don't know of any other solution yet, so if I stick with this, I'll cut the pointy knob off the screw so it's not poking out there.
I need to drill more out under the joint that's on Bonecrusher because the shoulder joint isn't going in all the way. But aside from that, the right arm/shoulder are next on the list!
--------------------
11-27 update:
I'm waiting on a couple Lego Knights to come in the mail before I make my final decision on how to mount the arms to Hook. For now, I've worked and attached the lower arms to Scavenger and Bonecrusher
Here is the Neo Shifter plug that I drilled inside a little to fit the screw and then mounted it to the top of Primus' arm.
Man, was that pin a pain to take out. It's a pretty thick thread and it took quite the amount of effort to get it out.
I haven't finished attaching the receptacle on to Bonecrusher but here's my 'mock-up'.
It fits in there just right. Once I get it done, I'll probably use epoxy/mighty putty to fill it in. I don't know for sure if I'm just going to use the existing mount from the old dev head or screw it in a little too.
Here's the arm for Scavenger.
I had to shave down the screw column inside Primus' arm as well as drill a larger hole in theball joint bit but it fit together just right. I'll have to see how it stays together once I'm done to tell if I need to either 1) add some nail polish to tighten the joint or 2) add a little screw to the top of the ball to prevent it from moving and tilting the arm.
That's all for now. Until the Legos come in, I'll either work on Hook's mounting or start on the knees.
-------------------------
11-24 update: (Mods, can you PM the 'trick' to adding more attachments to the same post? or should I just delete the old ones?)
He lives!! er... well, he stands.
I worked a little on his torso today. I dremelled out the area for the wheels to sit in and tried putting some legos there to connect him.
I took some bits, shaved them down and stuck them in the screw hole under Long Haul. Then mounted the connector to Unicron's crotch.
To help with stability, I added a little padding to the back end which Long Haul's crotch rests on to keep him steady.
It's a tad back heavy because of the dump truck weighting him down but it should be fine with both the arms to balance it out and the legs/feet to keep him up.
----------------------
11-22 post:
Yes, another Devastator on the board. =)
First, huge props to Ptitvite for being the innovator that showed us this was possible and also to Frenzy_Rumble for bringing his touch to it and another raised bar for us to reach.
I've been mulling this over ever since Ptitvite released his. Devastator is one of my favorites from my childhood so I knew I had to try this. I grabbed the Target 4pk Devastator on eBay, Barricade from KB Toys, got Primus on clearance from Walmart and had bought 2 Unicrons on eBay for cheap money so I could put a complete one together a while ago. So I had all the bots I needed. I finally grabbed a couple Neo Shifters and my mind started rolling.
I have everything kinda laid out and a vague enough plan to start out. My big fear is stability, so I want everything locked into place as best it can. F_R had mentioned he used the back piece from Primus. I decided to go this route, since he was right - it almost was built for it.
I noticed that that feet of Long Haul looked like they could fit in too. So I trimmed off just the little off the back that was blocking the dumptruck part. Then I started cleaning out the bits and bobs - screw plugs, holders for Primus' electronics.
Speaking of the dump truck part, it was just a little in the way so everytime I moved it around it would pull up on Long Haul's torso (man, was that pissing me off). Just shaving off a little of the 'spine' there and a little off of the mount itself.
That made it nice and solid and stable for me.
After I finished cleaning out the stuff, it fit just as F_R said it would. I cleaned out the gap in the back of it a little so the plug on the dump truck would sit in.
And it seems very stable, so I'm happy.
Here's a little mock up of it so far.
I'm using Unicron's top waist to both keep the waist rotation and to also hide any lego bits that I'll probably use to mount Long Haul - a la Ptitvite. I don't have any of the unicron bits for the waist, so I reversed it and using his 'butt' as his 'crotch'.
I'm going to use Unicron's lower legs to do the same as his waist. To use the minicon area to hide the mounting bits while keeping the rotation, a la F_R.
I plan on mounting a male Neo Shifters joint onto the left Primus arm to mount it. I've removed the Devastator head and plan on putting the female joint there. The right arm I think I can mount with the ball-jointed half of the original combiner mount. I hope to stick that in the top of the other Primus arm and use the ball joint to attach it.
Mounting to Hook is going to be a challenge. I plan on putting female NS joints (the little plates in the torso) on both sides. What I need to do for the connector between is where I'm still thinking about. I really want good rotation and up/down movement but also don't want them sticking out too far.
Should prove interesting... and I haven't even figured out what I'll do for his knee connectors. But not bad for one day's work so far.