Hi everyone -- and special greeting to those of you who may even remember me!
Been litterally ages since I posted anything here, but frankly, I haven't had much inspiration nor time to do any work. But looking at the Classics Bumblebee, and thinking about the announcement (and by now revealed images) of the BotCon 07 Bug Bite based on the same mould, I figured it would be perfect for a little custom job.
I thought that blue would be really good for the toy, and thinking back on previous blue mini-bot Volkswagens, there were the blue Microchange, the blue Mexican one and then the BotCon keychain Glyph. Figuring that Glyph is the only "official" Transformers and that the grey and blue really worked well together, I picked that one.
Trying to make it look more like the original Glyph toy both mould- and color-wise, I decided to remould the face and the car ornaments (engine and roof details plus removing the spoiler). The biggest challenge was the face, especially considering that I wanted to make it a seperate piece so I could remove it and paint it seperately. And in all modesty, I think that came out just perfect. Completely done in sheet styrene, it took me an afternoon to sculpt, and I am extremely happy with how that turned out. Removed the old Bumblebee humanoid face with a dremel, so that the custom piece just slides in from the back.
Filed off some of the helmet details from the original parts as well, to help make it stand out more from the Classics design as well as getting closer to the Microchange design.
Disassembling Bumblebee was quite an ordeal -- all those pins were a real pain, as some of you might know. But I finally managed, and using a spare Cliffjumper I was able to so some part swapping, especially on the arms, so I didn't have to paint that many parts and/or worry about paint scraping on those.
Below are pictures of a test assembly of the car mode -- only one layer of blue on the outside surfaces and no added detailing. Notice the lack of spoiler, front engine covers and roof detailing. Everything is handpainted by brush, and is surprisingly smooth.
And then the finished toy.
Did a little rework on the head as suggested by someone during the process, and that turned out very well if I may say so myself. Everything is painted up nicely now with 2 coats of enamel, and as-per-usual, I have tried my best to make her as "toyetic" as possible -- as in: Looking as factory-made as possible (i.e. even painting little-seen areas and stuff like that).
Mostly based on the Bumblebee toy, there has been some parts swapping with a Cliffjumper. Not much, but it really makes a difference in robot mode (the grey parts inside the torso and especially the arms).
Hope you enjoy.
And some comparison shots with the other two official moulds.
) so they should be part of the mould.
