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City Commander LED Matrix Chamber and other Mods

PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2012 8:18 am
by Prime0080
Hello Everyone! ^_^

I haven't bought City Commander all this time because frankly I thought he was too bulky and it hindered the posability, but then I considered taking on a custom UM project.

Using these parts below, I'm going to try and build a taller, more accurate G1 inner-skeleton and overall Ultra Magnus body.

My parts list- what I'll be experimenting with:
United G2 Laser Prime
Classics Prime or Henkei Asia Ultra Magnus
FP City Commander Set
FP Crossfire Snowman Superion Set
KO Invasion Ultra Magnus Battle Tanker
IGear Devastator Upgrade Set
IGear UM Upgrade Set


I'll be building a seperate "robot mode only" body for the armor, while keeping a spare UM, in truck mode, on the side.

I'll be making these changes:

1) Longer Legs:
CC is a beautiful kit, no doubt about it- but those giant knee caps practically block his thighs! I'll be making his legs longer and thighs higher so he looks more proportionally accurate to G1 Magnus. I'll be using a Devastator Upgrade set and extra UM parts to do it.

2) A new crotch section:
Frankly, the crotch plate on CC makes it look like UM's wearing a diaper. It does. You can't deny that it looks somewhat like a diaper. It's degrading. SO, I'll be switching Classics Prime's waist around and turning his CC plate into a butt-plate. His NEW crotch plate will come from KO Battle Tanker- it'll add more posability and look slightly more G1.

3) Kibble-free Back:
Classics Prime/UM has way too much rear kibble- so I'll be removing most of that to make room for his butt plate.

4) New Forearms and Hands:
I'll be replacing CC's forearm armor with KO Battle Tanker forearm armor and switching his hands with Crossfire Superion's hands- it all looks more G1.

5) New Head and Shoulder Missles:
I'll be giving UM a new head and shoulder missles with Igear's UM Upgrade Kit.

Design Note: Not all of these parts are going to match, Fansproject and the KO Battle Tanker are different shades of blue- so he won't match PERFECTLY all over, but I can live with that.

These parts haven't all arrived yet and frankly some of them haven't been released, but they will later this month so this whole project isn't far from starting.

I'll post pics when I'm done ^_^

Re: City Commander Forearm & Other Mods

PostPosted: Tue Dec 18, 2012 8:17 pm
by Prime0080
I just got the City Commander set in, and it's pretty nice.

As I said, I modded the forearms and made them smaller.

I used United G2 Laser Prime's forearms and Maketoys's Battle Tanker forearm armor- and FP's Superion hands.

The blue KO forearm parts haven't arrived yet, so this is a test-run with Battle Tanker. I also took Prime's back kibble off.

It looks much better this way ^_^

Check it out: http://www.flickr.com/photos/90909767@N ... hotostream

Re: City Commander Forearm & Other Mods

PostPosted: Thu Dec 20, 2012 5:55 am
by Banjo-Tron
Looks great so far! That is one long laundry list of mods but good luck to you - I can't wait to see how the whole thing turns out!

BTW you should link to your images so people can see your progress - a picture is worth 1,000 words :)

Image

Re: City Commander Forearm & Other Mods

PostPosted: Thu Dec 27, 2012 9:03 pm
by Prime0080
Well folks, I did the best I could.

Here ya go: http://www.flickr.com/photos/90909767@N ... hotostream

Re: City Commander Forearm & Other Mods

PostPosted: Sat Dec 29, 2012 3:45 am
by Banjo-Tron
That is very impressive. The colour matches surprisingly well. You have definitely improved on the atriculation of the figure, and I think the headsculpt and 'codpiece' works better, too. Some bright spark at Maketoys should release this as an upgrade kit.

Great work! :APPLAUSE:
Image

Re: City Commander Forearm & Other Mods

PostPosted: Sat Dec 29, 2012 7:24 am
by Prime0080
Thanks!

Just to give you a better idea of what I did, here're some pics with the armor removed and the new body frame exposed.

I had to take a drill to the crotch plate before attaching it because it's designed to plug into the new waist piece provided by the Battle Tanker set. Instead, I simply grinded it down, smoothed it out, and super glued it to Classics Prime's butt.

I had to twist Classics Prime's waist around so his butt faced the front, and then switched the legs around- had to take all the screws out, switch'em to different sides, screw'em back in- all that jazz...

United Laser Prime's forearms were easy to screw on, but there's still an itty bitty gap where the plastic doesn't meet because Classics Prime's elbow joint is too big for the Laser's forearms to completely shut- so I'll be covering those little forearm "cracks," gaps, whatever they are- with stickers.

I even switched a bunch of parts between Classics Prime and the Asia Exclusive Magnus to get the color scheme right for the armor and G1 design.

I also drilled out Classics Prime's core, drilled out MP-10 Prime's Matrix Chamber, and installed it inside Classics Prime's chest. Now my magnus has the MP Matrix ^_^

The new inner body frame: http://www.flickr.com/photos/90909767@N ... otostream/

New Matrix Chamber: http://www.flickr.com/photos/90909767@N ... otostream/

Re: City Commander Matrix Chamber and other Mods

PostPosted: Fri Jan 04, 2013 2:30 pm
by Banjo-Tron
wow that is really impressive, ambitious but works absolutely perfectly! Would love to see more pics...

Re: City Commander Matrix Chamber and other Mods

PostPosted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 4:13 pm
by Prime0080
Yo,

I added the light from Battle Tanker's LED Sword AND MP-10's Back Pack cover the Matrix Chamber- check it out!!!

LED Matrix Chamber: http://www.flickr.com/photos/90909767@N ... hotostream

MP-10's Back Pack Cover slides right on!: http://www.flickr.com/photos/90909767@N ... otostream/

This pretty much completes my Custom Classics Magnus- I've got everything I want:
1) New arms
2) New hands
3) New missles
4) New head
5) New Crotch Panel
6) Matrix Chamber
7) LED Lighting FOR the MATRIX Chamber
8) A fancy cover FOR the Matrix Chamber's battery pack and switch

I'd say I'm good...it's beautiful ^_^