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So my first transformer as a new collector back in 2011 was Night Ops Ratchet... because my choices for voyager size figures were limited at the time to him or Seaspray. Now I'm looking to customize him, and the first order of business I'm looking into is those hands. Or at least, the useless claws he calls hands. They're not particularly useful except for making him look like he's laughing maniacally... So yeah, the hands have to go. Anyone have some suggestions?

have you tried looking about on shapeways?

Yeah, there are hands for deluxe ratchet for an ironfist mod, but I'm working with voyager ratchet, who I am failing to get results for.

all the best hands I can think of are for Leader class sized figures... :/

Only other think I can think of (and this might be a an over priced way of doing it) is to cannibalize Gundam kit.

Yeah, it might be easiest to model up my own or something considering how screwy this hand design is. Instead of a ball joint or anything it's slotted on a 5mm rod built into the forearm, because hey, mechtech size holes are convenient for everything.

I suppose that gives you the chance to go w/ custom weapons and tools for Ratchet...

the thought of drilling a 5mm hole in a weapon and replacing ratchet's hand with it is tempting, believe me.

Come to think of it, making 5mm holes for something might be my solution for the axe-which-is-a-really-crappy-axe as well

Right. So while I puzzle the hand issue out and/or model new hands in lightwave and see about getting them built on shapeways, I've decided to convert the "axe" into a weapon mount and build a weapon for ratchet, which will also prooooooobably be able to attach under his front bumper if I can pull off a peg that can swivel up. (because there's a 5mm hole there where the claw/shield/roof rack can attach to his back in robot mode.) The weapon mount wont be able to hold anything particularly large like leader class ironhide's FWI upgrade swords because the axe joint won't support their weight, but things like swords and maces etc should slot fine. The gun is currently working name "Tezlacore"... because so far the plan has it mostly made of the lower torso of the Tezlacore figure from Wizkids' Mageknight and the arm barrel from a steam golem from same.

I can honestly state that I would never think to use a torso as a cannon.. lol

Aside from weapons you could also incorporate things like Prime Ratchet's scalpels or welder. Scanners and EMPs would also not be out of place.

yeah, I haven't seen prime though so I don't have a reference for the welder or scalpel.

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/radicons- ... tchet.html

that's a deluxe ratchet. I'm working with the voyager size ratchet.

oh shoot! sorry about that didn't pay enough attention.

yeah, they made alot of poor design decisions with voyager ratchet... which didn't stop them from re-releasing him in 5 different color schemes. Chief among them are hands with articulated thumbs that have no room to move in the first place and can't hold anything because they're stuck in a maniacal clutching motion, and an "Axe" in his right forearm that doesn't look like an axe at all unless you're reeeeeeeeeeeeeally good at pretending.

hehe, yeah I've actually got the Best Buy exclusive version of this mold... don't think I've actually mucked with it since I got it though... :/

yeah... have voyagers gotten smaller since this mold, or is ratchet just particularly beefy for a voyager? I was just looking in walmart for the new FoC deluxes and I realized just how big ratchet seems to be compared to say, DoTM voyager Soundwave or Prime OP

yeah, they're all shrinking...

costs I guess. On one hand, I suppose it keeps them affordable, on the other hand, if they shrink much more there won't be much difference between deluxe and voyager and they might as well throw another class in before leader.

okay, so here are my current thoughts/plans for my upgrade of night ops ratchet:

- Modify the axe to accommodate mechtech weapons. Will mainly probably only fit blades, small guns and the "Tesla" EMP cannon but will not be a ridiculous piece of crap weapon anymore.

-Focused EMP gun "Tesla" for night infiltration.

-New, mechtech compatible hands. I'll probably have to model and shapeways these myself since I lack a 3d printer, so these are still only a "Possibly", but if I can get em made Ratchet will be able to equip a total of 5 mechtech weapons in robot mode (one in new axe slot, one in his current arm shield/claw port, one on his back and two in his hands)

- Better paint job for night ops, i.e. not sam fisher goggles green accents.

Just got WFC Optimus in the mail today and realized something right away: His hands are A)Huge and B)the perfect size for Voyager Ratchet. If I can cast a mold of them and modify the wrist base to fit on the ridiculous wristpost ratchet's hands use currently, they would be perfect.