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Prime Smokescreen POC

PostPosted: Mon Oct 22, 2012 5:42 am
by xyl360
This is just a proof-of-concept (POC) based on kitbashing bits of Bumblebee with Knockout (the mold used for Prime Smokescreen) in order to make him appear show accurate (indeed his show model is based on combining parts of Bumblebee with Knockout).

I suspect many kitbashers/customizers out there will be doing something similar once Smokescreen arrives on store shelves.

I used Arms Micron Knockout and removed his legs at the ball joints and removed the wheels from his shoulders (easily accomplished thanks to the way the wheels plug in instead of being pinned in ;)).

I then replaced his legs with those from an FE Bumblebee (PRiD Bumblebee's legs won't work due to the ball joints beind different sizes, FE Bee's legs fit without any modification).

I then removed the doors from PRiD Bumblebee which were held in by pins and fit them into the slots where Knockout's wheels would normally be on his shoulders, no glue or pins required and they're held in by friction. I'm sure that with the use of pins and such they could be given greater articulation and be more permanent but I was trying to do this without actually making any permanent changes to Knockout (those Bumblebees can burn though :twisted: ).

The final touch was just removing the shoulder spikes from Knockout as I don't believe that Smokescreen has those, but they come off and re-attach easily anyway.

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He obviously doesn't transform, but his bot mode is now more show accurate than the toy we'll be getting.

Re: Prime Smokescreen POC

PostPosted: Mon Oct 22, 2012 9:23 am
by xyl360
I took things a step further, using parts of the arms from both PRiD Bumblebee and Knockout, I gave him more show accurate looking arms.

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Re: Prime Smokescreen POC

PostPosted: Tue Oct 23, 2012 3:04 am
by xyl360
I just couldn't get those PRiD BB arms to look right, so I used some very bizarre configuration to get FE BB's arms onto Knockout. Here's the result:

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Those arms are definitely a bit long for him, but they're not too bad as long as you have them slightly bent at the elbow.

Re: Prime Smokescreen POC

PostPosted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 2:51 pm
by massprime
I think you're on the right track. He's going to look good. I think both sets of arms could work.

Re: Prime Smokescreen POC

PostPosted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 7:35 am
by xyl360
massprime wrote:I think you're on the right track. He's going to look good. I think both sets of arms could work.

Thanks :)

Yep, I like both sets of arms too, but after studying the show model carefully, I'm confident that the FE arms are more accurate so I'll probably stick with them.

What I'll likely end up doing is using the stickers from my AM Smokescreen once I get him and then paint the rest, probably swap the heads too. Originally this was just an experiment/proof of concept, but the more I stare at him the more I see 'Smokescreen' so I'm sure my nature will get the best of me and I'll end up going all the way, paint and all.

Re: Prime Smokescreen POC

PostPosted: Sat Oct 27, 2012 3:25 pm
by massprime
xyl360 wrote:
massprime wrote:I think you're on the right track. He's going to look good. I think both sets of arms could work.

Thanks :)

Yep, I like both sets of arms too, but after studying the show model carefully, I'm confident that the FE arms are more accurate so I'll probably stick with them.

What I'll likely end up doing is using the stickers from my AM Smokescreen once I get him and then paint the rest, probably swap the heads too. Originally this was just an experiment/proof of concept, but the more I stare at him the more I see 'Smokescreen' so I'm sure my nature will get the best of me and I'll end up going all the way, paint and all.

Please! I would love to see it.

Re: Prime Smokescreen POC

PostPosted: Sat Oct 27, 2012 3:47 pm
by quickmixed
The FE arms definitely look the best. More like his shoulder pads than rid. Nice work.

Re: Prime Smokescreen POC

PostPosted: Sat Oct 27, 2012 8:27 pm
by Godzillabot Primal
Perhaps this will help you....
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Re: Prime Smokescreen POC

PostPosted: Sun Oct 28, 2012 1:58 pm
by MasterSoundBlaster
I seriously want one now. Great work!

Re: Prime Smokescreen POC

PostPosted: Sun Oct 28, 2012 7:56 pm
by Sodan-1
Yeah, I'm not surprised that people are trying to create their own Smokescreen figures. I am surprised that you used an Arms Micron figure and a First Edition figure though. I read what you said about an RiD's 'Bee's legs not having the right joints, but still that's a commitment to use the more expensive versions.

Re: Prime Smokescreen POC

PostPosted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 7:52 am
by xyl360
Sodan-1 wrote:I am surprised that you used an Arms Micron figure and a First Edition figure though. I read what you said about an RiD's 'Bee's legs not having the right joints, but still that's a commitment to use the more expensive versions.

I already completely painted the RiD version of Knockout and he looks great, so the AM version was really a 'spare'. The only reason I got it was to see if the stickers etc. that it included would be useful for making my painted Hasbro/PRiD version look better. They weren't :P.

Regarding the FE Bee, it's the one from the 2-pack that came with the recolored Starscream (which is why I got the set) and Silas and one of his soldiers. I actually didn't even remove the Bee from the packaging until I decided to do this custom. Originally I'd planned on tossing him in the trash (I have Takara's FE Bee, and he's perfect to me), but once I found out about Smokescreen I figured why not try to make a custom using some of his bits. It's worked out pretty well so far, especially once I was able to get the arms on there (it took some complicated engineering to make that happen, Bee's arms do not have ball joints).

Re: Prime Smokescreen POC

PostPosted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 9:21 am
by Sodan-1
That sounds fair, lol. It really is an impressive custom. It's times like these it's a shame Transformers don't come in more of a kit form: choose an endo skeleton, choose your arms, legs, feet, hands, head, then choose your vehicle bodywork and add that to the figure. You know, so you could create a cracking figure like yours but still have it transform. But hey, they couldn't even do that in FoC so what chance do we have in the real world?

Have you got any photos or a thread for your painted Knock Out, please?

Re: Prime Smokescreen POC

PostPosted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 10:34 am
by MasterSoundBlaster
I'm really excited to see the finished product. Are you in the midst of painting it now or is there still more modifications to be made?

Re: Prime Smokescreen POC

PostPosted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 11:05 am
by xyl360
Sodan-1 wrote:Have you got any photos or a thread for your painted Knock Out, please?

I had some photos up from early in the process. I never gave him his own thread and never followed up with finished pics. I might do it, he came out pretty good IMO (especially considering I did everything with paint, no Reprolabels). I'll only put up pics of vehicle mode if I do though, as I deliberately didn't paint the bot mode. He's one of the few who I display in vehicle mode. His car mode is just too sexy ;).

MasterSoundBlaster wrote:I'm really excited to see the finished product. Are you in the midst of painting it now or is there still more modifications to be made?
Not yet, no. I'm going to wait until I have my AM Smokescreen from Takara in-hand. I want to see if I can use any of the stickers before I start applying paint and I'm probably going to do a head-swap with that one as well. I'm also going to need more reference images of Smokescreen from the show so I can make sure to get it right.

Re: Prime Smokescreen POC

PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2012 1:07 pm
by quebecer
I am attempting the same mods, and would like to see more pics of the alt-mode, and the arm attachment. I am using the RID legs as I think they are a better fit, but the FE arms are a lot more show-accurate.

Re: Prime Smokescreen POC

PostPosted: Sat Dec 22, 2012 3:37 pm
by xyl360
Well, work has begun. I got my AM Smokescreen from BBTS and used the head along with the stickers and they definitely help. I've begun applying the paint, though it's obviously not finished yet. I'm starting with a base coat of flat white to cover up the red and yellow from Bumblebee and Knockout and once it's done, I plan to apply a light coat of silver paint over the white. I also plan to fill in some of the blue and red details on his bot mode as depicted in the show once all that's done as well as painting the knees black.

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Re: Prime Smokescreen POC

PostPosted: Sat Dec 22, 2012 8:47 pm
by SKYWARPED_128
Looking good there.

Just a personal suggestion, but you can actually push out the headlights from under the chest parts for an easier paint job. Also, this allows you to get some silver paint under the headlights for a more realistic look.

Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

Re: Prime Smokescreen POC

PostPosted: Sat Dec 22, 2012 11:58 pm
by MasterSoundBlaster
Oh god I'm jealous now...

This is looking really good! Keep up the good work!

Re: Prime Smokescreen POC

PostPosted: Sun Dec 23, 2012 12:35 am
by xyl360
OK, I think I'm finally satisfied with him. I ended up doing some more paint work and also got creative with some of the leftover stickers from the AM version of Smokescreen. I decided that the white looks better than putting a layer of silver over it and I also used the AM Smokescreen headlight stickers for the chest and I think they came out pretty good. His chest is deliberately mistransformed to make him look less like Knockout and give him a wider chest, similar to the show. His head/neck is also elevated a bit for the same reasons:

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The next stop for this guy is my TF: Prime shelf :)!

Re: Prime Smokescreen POC

PostPosted: Sun Dec 23, 2012 1:45 am
by MasterSoundBlaster
Oh dear god it's amazing... I really wish I had my own right now.

Are you going to make him a weapon?

Re: Prime Smokescreen POC

PostPosted: Sun Dec 23, 2012 2:10 am
by xyl360
MasterSoundBlaster wrote:Oh dear god it's amazing... I really wish I had my own right now.

Are you going to make him a weapon?

I dunno, I hadn't really thought about it. Got any images of what his weapon looks like on the show?

Re: Prime Smokescreen POC

PostPosted: Sun Dec 23, 2012 6:17 am
by SKYWARPED_128
I can't find any google images of him using his guns, although he's wielded two different relics in the show: the Star Saber and that wristwatch thing that allows him to go through walls and stuff.

BTW, nice job with the paint. Very smooth coat considering it's hand-brushed.

Re: Prime Smokescreen POC

PostPosted: Sun Dec 23, 2012 5:29 pm
by xyl360
SKYWARPED_128 wrote:I can't find any google images of him using his guns, although he's wielded two different relics in the show: the Star Saber and that wristwatch thing that allows him to go through walls and stuff.
OK. If you can find any info/description/pics of his built-in weapon (assuming his arm(s) turn(s) into one, please let me know and I'll look into creating one or two for him.

SKYWARPED_128 wrote:BTW, nice job with the paint. Very smooth coat considering it's hand-brushed.
Thanks :)! Yeah, my brush work has been getting a lot better (practice makes perfect I guess). I've never sprayed anything (don't have airbrush or spray paint, just Testors acrylics and some brushes).

Re: Prime Smokescreen POC

PostPosted: Sun Dec 23, 2012 7:53 pm
by SKYWARPED_128
xyl360 wrote:
SKYWARPED_128 wrote:I can't find any google images of him using his guns, although he's wielded two different relics in the show: the Star Saber and that wristwatch thing that allows him to go through walls and stuff.
OK. If you can find any info/description/pics of his built-in weapons (assuming his arm(s) turn(s) into one, please let me know and I'll look into creating one or two for him.


Well, I searched tfwiki for any info on his weapons, but nada.

At this point, I'm almost sure he never used any handheld or built-in guns in the show. Only way to know for certain is to rewatch the episodes he appeared in.

xyl360 wrote:Thanks :)! Yeah, my brush work has been getting a lot better (practice makes perfect I guess). I've never sprayed anything (don't have airbrush or spray paint, just Testors acrylics and some brushes).


I envy you. Where I'm at, the only paints available to me are Tamiya acrylics. They are formulated specifically to be used on airbrushes. While it's possible to paint with them, it takes a lot of experimenting, usage of certain types of thinners, voodoo magic and skill to put on a smooth coat.

Re: Prime Smokescreen POC

PostPosted: Sun Dec 23, 2012 9:34 pm
by xyl360
Doing a smooth coat with these acrylics can be tough, especially on some textures. I order all of my paints online (Testors website usually) and I have to do a lot of mixing to make custom colors for some (though for Smokescreen, thankfully all I really needed were stock flat white and one of my reds for some details).

For now I'm working on a Deluxe sized season 1 Beast Wars Airazor and I had to get really creative for her, both with mixing paints for the right shades as well as the brushwork to attempt to simulate her feather patterns and textures. Once she's done, I'll be creating a thread to show her off. She's looking really good (IMO at least :P) so far.