Seibertron.com Energon Pub Forums

hehehehehe...

Asphalt wrote:hmmmmm I see some parts, but nto sure what the whole will be.

Eh.. the random parts on the table mean nothing, they're just various projects' pieces.

This one is Energon Prime with Armada PLX Prime's legs. He's also now missing the leg cover platform and the stupid helmet, and I'll soon be carving up the chest to shorten the torso and make his legs look less dwarvish.

Doing the leg, helmet and platform mods to Energon Deluxe Prime was a lot easier, since he wasn't designed to only have proper proportions when connected to boots and mittens; hence, the need to shorten this one's torso and raise the truck's bumper.

I'm also going to repaint all the grey parts (head, hands, legs--the usual blue Prime bits) to blue. Not sure if I'm gonna go with the blue I used for my Hoist-to-Prime project, True Blue Pearl or the Nickel Shimmer-with-clear-blue-top-coat I used on Hero Prime's legs.

I like big butts I cannot lie..... What I meant to say is this looks interesting! My mind is spinning with all the possibilities.

Hobbyist Prime wrote:I like big butts I cannot lie..... What I meant to say is this looks interesting! My mind is spinning with all the possibilities.

Like this? http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v43/D ... gon_Prime/

That's my original project, from back when the Deluxe Prime and Megatron TRU exclusive 2-pack came out.

Unfortunately, li'l Prime isn't just smaller, he was completely redesigned, engineering-wise, so my changes to big Prime have had to be completely redesigned, too.

Owell.. a whole new challenge is more fun.


On a side-note: when I took big Prime's torso apart to work on the legs more easily, I discovered that the hip wheels are on hinges that would actually let them fold up inside the cab, if I was daring enough to carve it up so it can open for them.

That sounds great! Now I have to check for hidden hinges on all of mine to see what I can tweak!

Looking interesting so far. And well-spotted about the wheel hinges... My Energon Prime's getting an overhaul too, so that's given me something else to investigate...

This makes me wish I had an extra Energon Prime just to see what I could do to it.

I've shortened his torso!





I'm either gonna carve out the backs of the windshield halves so they can just close over the grille, or cut it out completely, so it can close around the grille.

More update pics!

I finally found a use for one of the umpteen Energon Stars I have piled up from my Energon toys!

I dremel'd the extra plastic out of the matrix/spark-chamber/whatever in his chest, mashed some epoxy putty into it then mounted an Energon Star (which I'd already cut the spikes off of and dremel'd down) in the center and kinda textured the putty around it.




And here's a shot with the chest window pieces attached--you can see where I've cut the plastic out to accomodate the new Spark crystal and the raised grille on the right chest piece (left side of the picture).




And with the modded half of the chest closed:





I'm not sure what I'll do about the ragged edges of the cut-out bits--I'm leaning toward using epoxy putty to rebuild the window and headlight edging, unless I find a better way.

That looks SWEET! can't wait to see the finished product. I'll bet he looks much thinner/ in proportion.

This kb will do wonders for the ?gly model that is energon prime.
I can't wait to see the finished result.

jimsloth wrote:That looks SWEET! can't wait to see the finished product. I'll bet he looks much thinner/ in proportion.

He should look more in-proportion now, at any rate--I took out 1/4 - 1/2 inch of space from his torso.

He may look thinner (narrower) too, if I can figure out how make his chest hinge open so the hip wheels can fold up inside... dunno if that's gonna be workable, but I'm still thinking on it.

Not much I can do about his front-to-back width, though.

I just stuck him back together with a couple of his screws, and the chest plate is just tacked on, but I wanted to show you guys the radical difference that's already apparent.

NOTE: the left half of his chest is a reversed copy/paste from the right, 'cause I haven't cut the real piece to fit yet. Everything else is the real toy, exactly as he's standing on my table right now.

Next, fix the arms!

Tasty - that really looks a lot better. I'm surprised that making the torso shorter, top to bottom, actually works that well. As for the wheels, I'm not sure how hinging the chest would allow you to fold them in, unless, the leg assembly comes away with it, since it's that that blocks them. That's the issue I really want to address with mine.
Do you still intend to have him combine?

Ramrider wrote:Tasty - that really looks a lot better. I'm surprised that making the torso shorter, top to bottom, actually works that well.

Well, it was originally designed to be in proportion to his super-mode. I think "regular" mode was an afterthought/secondary consideration.

As for the wheels, I'm not sure how hinging the chest would allow you to fold them in, unless, the leg assembly comes away with it, since its that that blocks them. That's the issue I really want to address with mine.

Yeah, I figured that out when I went back to examine it. As far as I can tell, I'd have to completely redesign/rebuild the support structure somehow, and I'm just not that fussed with the hip wheels to mess with it.

Do you still intend to have him combine?

With his boots and gloves? Nah. I never liked those things, though I imagine I'll be able to make good use of their joints in future projects.

TM2 Dinobot wrote:Next, fix the arms!

O_o What's wrong with his arms? If his hands were open, they'd come to about mid-thigh, where they're supposed to..?

Dark_Lord_Prime wrote:Yeah, I figured that out when I went back to examine it. As far as I can tell, I'd have to completely redesign/rebuild the support structure somehow, and I'm just not that fussed with the hip wheels to mess with it.

I am. I'm going to have to master that pin removal technique (which I still can't seem to pull off) and get him in pieces to have a proper look at his innards. Trimming down his mudguards makes him look thinner at the waist, but the wheels are just too obtrusive. I'm not going to mess with the height of the torso, though, as I intend to keep the combining feature (although I am planning to mess with it... )

Ramrider wrote:

Dark_Lord_Prime wrote:Yeah, I figured that out when I went back to examine it. As far as I can tell, I'd have to completely redesign/rebuild the support structure somehow, and I'm just not that fussed with the hip wheels to mess with it.

I am. I'm going to have to master that pin removal technique (which I still can't seem to pull off) and get him in pieces to have a proper look at his innards. Trimming down his mudguards makes him look thinner at the waist, but the wheels are just too obtrusive. I'm not going to mess with the height of the torso, though, as I intend to keep the combining feature (although I am planning to mess with it... )

Well, that long pin the back that holds the wheel platform hinge isn't much trouble (mine's still firmly planted in his left half, but the other half of the body will slide off the pin just fine), but be careful about the front--I seperated the windshield hinges completely from the body, 'cause I was seeing it wrong and snapped 'em.

The windshield hinges are still whole, and work perfectly, and I can still remount the chest onto the body with no problem, but the hinges are what really attached them, as far as I can tell.

I sat and examined the thing for awhile, and it ended up looking to me like I should just be able to swing the body halves apart on the same hinges the windshield halves use, but I either was seeing it wrong, or I did somthing wrong. *shrug*

Anyway, I would definitely recommend getting those pins out first.

That's what I noticed last time I tried opening him up. I took out all the screws from his torso and managed to pry him open a little, but noticed that the windshield pins hold about three components together, and in such a manner that you can't swing them apart using the pins either. Looks like the only way to get him completely separated is to lose the windshield pins. Like I said, I haven't had much luck removing pins in the past, soldering iron or otherwise, but it looks like I'll have to master it if I'm going to pull off the mods.

Alrighty! I'm looking at shrinking his oversized arse now.

Here's a little Photoshop magic to illustrate what I'm planning:

Blue line = section to be modded
Red line = cuts to be made
Green line = this will be hidden behind the edge of the fender






I'm also looking at carving up the wheel platform and grafting it to the backs of his legs for alt-mode--this might also save me the trouble of having to swap his rear wheels, as I can possibly just cut off Armada's wheel posts completely and attach the panels with Energon's wheels.

Oh, and I'm trying to figure out a way to mod his arms so I can fold the forearms behind his back, but at this point, it looks like that means installing some sort of ball/rotator joint, so I can move 180 - 360 degrees.

strange that you shortened the torso. his torso still looks wide. oh well. I guess it would have been harder to make his arms and legs longer. a lot of modifications. it looks like it's helping.

The gap above the fender will be filled in with epoxy putty and sanded smooth and eventually painted along with the rest of him.

Wow! You have drastically reduced the dorkiness of this toy. This looks like one of those instances where you're taking a toy that looked a little silly (at least I thought it did) and kitbashing it into what it ought to have been. I like how you made the interior chamber look like the matrix. Good work.

No pics yet, but I'm in the final stage of fixing his right arm!

I've just finished grafting (Armada) Bendy Prime's elbow into his forearm.

I cut e-Prime's bicep off of his shoulder joint, and have grafted the bicep (socket) part of Bendy's arm onto it, so now his arm will be able to swivel 360 degrees (or 180, after everything is reassembled), which should allow me to position them better behind his newly-shortened back for alt mode.

Oddly enough, Deluxe-sized Bendy's elbow and bicep are almost exactly the same size as Super-class e-Prime's elbow and bicep. Go figure.

I'm considering paint his entire torso red (metal-flake/shimmer?), and the fenders black. I think this will give the illusion that he's narrower at the hips than he actually is.

The funky blue-grey of his head, fists and legs are gonna be redone in blue (blue metal-flake/shimmer or True Blue Pearl?).

I may leave his chest white. Dunno yet.

Don't leave the chest white. One of many things I never liked about E-Prime was the color scheme. It just needs the area above the headlight housing painted red. Leave the light borders, and their bulge down the side white. It makes a good homage to G1 Prime's stripes.

Here's the deluxe sized one I repainted, for clarification:
http://www.quantumrip.com/mecha/primetwins2.jpg
http://www.quantumrip.com/mecha/primetwins3.jpg