The Energon Pub

I received in the mail yesterday, all three sets from the Kabaya Gum + Convoy series of candy toys. Special thanks to board member Diem, who facilitated my acquisition of these fantastic little kits.


Being a model builder for quite some time (typically Gundam kits) I've always wanted some kind of assembly-required Transformer kit, preferably customizable with paint and stickers, and these little guys do not disappoint.
I've decided to start with the original G1 Convoy, both because it's old-school Optimus Prime, and it's the first set, numerically.


The parts runners come connected together in the bag by pegs and holes, which is cool, but laid out they look like this:

The plastic is of a significantly higher grade than I was anticipating, from my previous experience with TF candy toys I was expecting softer, rubbery plastic. I was pleasantly surprised to see this was not the case.

Originally I had planned to paint the thing completely without using any of the included stickers, except maybe the Autobot logos, though I could also use reprolabels for those. Upon examination, however, I realized that many details shown on the stickers are not molded into the plastic itself.

Wow, this thing is tiny!
Prime's head here is missing it's eyes, they're added by sticker detail, as are the vents on his forehead. The same can be said for his leg details (on the silver part) and his wheels. Because of this I decided instead to use the stickers, but paint the areas beforehand to extend the detail, as the stickers only cover so much.


All the parts clipped form the runners, laid out in their general positions.


Trimming the leftover parts of the runners sometimes leaves this unsightly mark on parts...


Allow a little Gundam marker into the gaps in the plastic that create the white mark...


and the appearance of the mark is greatly reduced! I did this for most of the model...

Once trimming and repair work were completed, a test assemble to make sure everything fits right!


Vehicle mode


Rear showing rifle storage


Robot mode

Disassemble everything again and start the painting work:


The grill/bumper is the only part that has the detail of the stickers molded into the plastic, so it just gets paint.


Other parts getting the silver treatment


While paint dries, I begin applying some of the stickers using a toothpick to ensure even placement.


Once the silver is dry, time to add black for the wheels, blue for the hands and (not shown) black for the rifle.

Once the paint finishes drying, final assembly and stickers to complete the kit:


Robot mode. Though not really visible, I mixed the black with a touch of silver for the rifle to add an extra sparkle to it. (partially as a reference to MP Convoy's/20th Prime's rifle... some are silver, some are black... mine's both!)


Vehicle mode, a bit unfortunate that the blue of his hands shows through the side of the truck, but whaddaya gonna do?

Now for the fun part: Photoshoot with special guest G1 Optimus Prime!


Size comparison with G1 Prime


A bit small to pull the trailer, though I suppose Huffer did do it once.


"If anyone needs me I'll be in my trailer..."


Roller's been replaced!


GO! ->


The repair platform shrunk Optimus in the wash?


Final shot, Group Photo!


So there we have our first part. I would call this one a success, and I've still got two others to do! Expect part two possibly tomorrow as I'll be working on it tonight and probably posting it in the morning.
Part 2 will be Henkei Convoy (set #3) because I want to save the best for last: Star Saber!

- Sam

Nice stuff Sam. Looks alot like what I do with my Gundams... except they're about 10x as big. XD

Nice! I like it. Better than I could do

Blurrz wrote:Nice stuff Sam. Looks alot like what I do with my Gundams... except they're about 10x as big. XD

lol...I practice by painting the 1/100 scale pilot figures that come with Master Grades.

Kabaya Convoy kits?

*Runs to check Hobby Link Japan*

Hmmm. Three each of G1 Convoy and Classics Convoy, and two Star Sabers for $26 plus $24 shipping. A bit steep, but this could be interesting...

I've begun work on Classics/Henkei and it might take me until morning to finish the build (currently 23:20 by my clock) since there are a lot of parts molded in white that, to match the job I've done on G1 Prime, required me to paint them entirely silver. So drying's taking a wee bit longer than I would have hoped... still before I have lunch tomorrow I expect to have my review up.

- Sam

Skyfire77 wrote:Kabaya Convoy kits?

*Runs to check Hobby Link Japan*

Hmmm. Three each of G1 Convoy and Classics Convoy, and two Star Sabers for $26 plus $24 shipping. A bit steep, but this could be interesting...

Considering how good your work tends to be, I'd love to see what you can come up with.
Be warned, though, that there's even less molded detail on Classics Prime. A lot of him needs stickers, which pretty much negates any repaint options... Unless you're ballsy enough to attempt cutting the details into the figure itself... hmmmm....
I've got a friend who does that to add more panel lines to his Gundam models...

- Sam

Oh man, those look fun! Great job with Optimus there. I love mecha model kits that transform. I used to have a pretty sweet Macross F-14 that transformed into all 3 forms (Jet, Gerwalk, Robot), but that was 13 years ago when I was 10, and I remember it being a fairly complicated build even though it was probably comparable to a Deluxe size Transformer (And I was making 1/60 and MG kits back then too). Can't wait to see the rest of your little kits!

blobatron wrote:Oh man, those look fun! Great job with Optimus there. I love mecha model kits that transform. I used to have a pretty sweet Macross F-14 that transformed into all 3 forms (Jet, Gerwalk, Robot), but that was 13 years ago when I was 10, and I remember it being a fairly complicated build even though it was probably comparable to a Deluxe size Transformer (And I was making 1/60 and MG kits back then too). Can't wait to see the rest of your little kits!

I had that Valkyrie too; might still have it, as a matter of fact.

Samsonator wrote:Considering how good your work tends to be, I'd love to see what you can come up with.
Be warned, though, that there's even less molded detail on Classics Prime. A lot of him needs stickers, which pretty much negates any repaint options... Unless you're ballsy enough to attempt cutting the details into the figure itself... hmmmm....
I've got a friend who does that to add more panel lines to his Gundam models...

- Sam

It'll have to wait for my income tax refund, but oh, I have plans...

PART TWO IS HERE!

As Stated previously, part two will consist of Henkei Convoy/Classics Prime in mini form:


The parts still on the runners, notice the rather thick white parts... more on that in a bit

Also of note, a lot more sticker details than G1 Convoy on this one:


Clipped out and ready to begin work!


Now, all the trimming and filling and everything's been covered in the last review, so we'll skip ahead to the next section:

Straight Assemble

Robot mode:


This guy's arms are wicked partsforming, in fact you split his arms into three pieces and swap his forearms to the other side for vehicle mode:

Still looks decent, though...

Moving right along...

Painting

Here we have parts laid out to dry, wheels painted black, legs in silver and the guns getting a silver on black treatment to make them look more like the larger versions


The waist piece, originally cast in white, all the non-sticker details on this part will have to be silvered to match my G1 Convoy's grill and stacks, so I painted the whole thing.

This turned out to be a bad idea as I also got paint all over the pegs for the legs, I'll explain why shortly...

The bumper/grill/front wheels, silver and black


The headlights, remarkably difficult to paint the underside of them, but I got it


- DISASTER STRIKES - ...almost

One thing I keep trying to teach myself is that building and especially painting takes patience, and I am, by definition, an impatient man. This was almost my downfall, but fortunately, as impatient as I am, I'm also very very clever...
Just before I went to bed last night (about a half hour after my last post in this thread) I went to check on the paint, seeing how dry it was, when I noticed something very bad. Earlier, in my haste to get as much done as I could, I attached the legs to the waist piece, feeling that the paint was dry enough. Well when I got back to it I found this was not the case. I managed to move and subsequently remove one of the legs, but the other was stuck, and all my wriggling to get it free resulted in tearing the peg right off!
Now I had a leg with the peg that attaches it fused inside the hole, and a body with no peg to attach the leg to. My first attempts were to use various tools to remove the peg, when I stumbled upon a great idea.

First, I took whatever tools I had at my disposal, hobby knife, precision screwdrivers, toothpicks, whatever, to bore out the leg hole, to allow room for a new peg

The side was a bit damaged from my earlier removal attempts...

Now all I needed was a peg... good thing there were plenty of part runners left over! A quick trim of one of the thicker parts created a suitable replacement, Thicker than the previous one, but that was ok since my attempt to hollow out the leg hole resulted in a bigger hole.

To attach it, I decided to use the same drilling technique to open a gap in the waist where the new peg would go. Plus side was, it was such a snug fit I didn't even need to glue it!


The reason it was so snug? Well the wall of the pelvic area isn't solid plastic, so I actually ran the new peg straight through to the other inside wall!


Ok, Problem solved, I though. I tested the articulation of the leg, and noticed it sat a bit higher than the original. Of course I noticed this when moving the leg munched one of the stickers... oops.


So to transform, instead of moving the leg, I remove it and replace it in the proper position now... but hey, he's in one piece again!

After working that problem out, I was too wired to pass out, so I finished the painting to tire myself out, and hit the sack while it dried.


FINISHED PRODUCT AND PHOTOSHOOT
Finally, after much hardship, I had a fully built and painted to my liking mini-Henkei Convoy

Vehicle mode:


Robot Mode:


Since I don't have Henkei Convoy, my special guest for this photoshoot is my lightly customized Classics Prime!



Vehicle modes


"I refuse to make a Mini-Me joke!"


Shoulder weapon mode: Check!


"Look, mine comes off!" "So does mine!"


"But can yours do this?"


"TRADESIES!" "Wait, what?"

So there's part 2, all done up. Part Three: Star Saber might have to wait til tomorrow afternoon/evening or even the next day considering I work tomorrow. But keep your eyes here.

- Sam

Minor Update for anyone still checking this:
Star Saber might be a bit longer than expected, there's a lot of painting work that needs to go into this one, things that aren't coloured even with the stickers on...

- Sam