The Energon Pub

I'm still testing out ways of making my own figure stand that will allow me to pose my figures in various poses, so I figure while I sort that out, I might as well show a kitbash that I finished a week or so back...
I was working on repainting an Activators TFA: Bee into a cliffjumper for my slowly increasing army of minibots when I accidently dropped him after checking to see if the gloss spray had taken well. I wasn't too worried and just plunked him back up with the other minis in car-mode and noticed off-hand that he'd gone out of his 'normal' TF scheme from the fall. I laughed and thought 'He looks like Herbie during the last race of the movie!' and turned to go carefully work on getting my spare movie Sideswipe and spare movie Swerve's upperarms seperated to make my Tracks...
Then I spun back and stared becuase 'DUDE! Beat-up Bee disguise mode!!'

This is the first (and with the exception of Salvage) the last time that I have ever make a TF who doesn't transform smooth and sleek. I purposfully thickened some areas of his doors to keep them from sliding in smooth to add to the 'I'm falling apart here' disguise. Once I was satisfied with the existing parts, I added styrene to make his side windows, but I used some layers of bubblewrap to make the front windsheild. This allowed me to have one leg go under the part of the other leg's windsheild to create a better seemless look for the windsheild.

Once he was built up properly, I went over him lightly with a rough layer of hot glue to make him look dented and scored. Once THAT was done (and dry) I gave him a layer of yellow paint with two flat-black racing stripes (in tribute of the first 'beat up' TF-mode) and painted his windows all gloss-black.

I let the paint dry, then carefully applied a fairly thick layer of superglue instead of my usual gloss/matte sprays. This faded his paint job unevenly, and on the gloss black windows added some 'broken glass' effects.
Once the glue was all COMPLETLY dry (I waited an extra day to be certain) I carefully disassembled him to hit all of his robot-exclusive parts with gloss spray.

http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u90/jedi_sheng/Bumblebee/ (RL initials spell JEDI)

-Hunter Rialla

Okay, I know the mode is " Im F**Ked up here!" but it just looks like sloppy work. Check around the forums to find some better battle damage work. Nice try, though.

Well, I wasn't going for battle damage, I was purposefully trying to make him look rough and falling apart. I'm not entirly certain I like the finished look, but it's what I was aiming for so *shrugs*. I may redo him later, there's a million or so activator Bee's up here. He's also the first and will be the only toy I've ever kitbashed to look that way.


*shrugs* I've done other kitbashes, I've over 400 toys, all of them kitbashed to one level or another save a handful or so.
So, yup. He looks sloppy. He's supposed to.

-Hunter Rialla

Yeah, not knocking your effort or anything as I get what your were trying to do but I'm not big on the final paint. Particularly, the soft, fuzzied edged racing stripes. Reason being is that real paint doesn't wear like that. It can chip or fade or crack but it can't go all fuzzy. Plus, the yellow is too "nice". Its hard to give the impression of being an old, rusted out beater if the paint is so shiny and new. I think it would have looked better if you went with your glue idea to rough up the body a bit and given him solid racing stripes and then used second coats and/or washes of other colors to make the paint look more weathered.

But all that really counts is if you are happy with it. If it is what you were going for and you are satisfied with it then good on you. I do applaud your effort though.

Well, the paint job is an easy fix, so I'll see about mixing up a more faded yellow and sharper stripes, then do a better job fading them, to be honest, the paint job was the part I was least certain on what to do. Everything else I had carefully planned out in my head for the final effect, but I wasn't sure how to make the paint look as 'jalopy' as the rest of him without making it look like battle-damage or rust.