My First Post - woot!
How many of you have a transformer themed vehicle? Please post info if you have any. Here is the story of my adventures pimpin' my car out Autobot style.
Where to start... well I came online to do some research with my son. This past Christmas we had his school break off together and started watching transformers Prime. I tried to get him to like the original series but he's 4 and kids nowadays seem more receptive to computer animation - plus its awesome.
Well, after watching the show he asked me if we could turn my 2008 dodge charger into an autobot. I myself am an artist by trade so if we're going to turn it into an Autobot its got to look good.
So I hit up Google and my son and I searched for other people that have converted their cars into Autobots or Decepticons. And other than the odd driver that's slapped on a transformers emblem, not much is out there. Like many of you I grew up watching the show so its got a special place in my heart. I wanted to do this right.
So since there wasn't a lot of inspiration it was off to find what parts we could find out there. Right off the bat we ordered some Autobot Emblems and a really cool laser cut acrylic mirror backed letters that say 'Autobot Edition'.
Next I hit up the charger forums to see what car mods were out there. Danko Reproductions is the total leader in that department. I'll be getting a new custom 69 style grill and front spoiler. Then new tires and Rims. LED lighting to back light the wheel wells, the engine block, the door handles, the under carriage. All the lights will be purple.
Next will be window tint and full vehicle wrap. Initially I'm thinking full matte black wrap with glossy black giant autobot logo offset and on an angle crossing the side of the car and part of the front of the hood.
That's all well and good but what do we do inside the car? well I can back light under the dash and under the seats with more purple lighting. But at this point where's the magic? really. this is just a pimped out version of the dudes that slap on a logo and go I got a transformer car. Nah I gotta knock this out of the park.
So more research... TALKINGCAR.COM adds two external all weather speakers and a really cool amp that connects to any iOS device. Then you can use your iPad or iPhone to trigger sound effects. And it lets you add your own custom sounds. So now I can make the car make the transforming sound effect. And I plan on writing a script and getting a voice actor to read then professionally modulate the voice to sound robotic.
Okay at this point the car will look cool, and now it'll talk. Still I need some more.. this is an advanced alien robotic life form that's blending into our society - I wanted some cues that the vehicle might have a little more in it so I wanted to create some accents into the dash that might hide some hidden technology. So I tapped into my social network and found a colleague that had access to a 3D printer. Hmmm this could be interesting. So I downloaded Google sketchup and modelled a component to sit on the dash that is almost done.
Hopefully my website doesn't kill the reference of the image from an outside source. You can see more of what I plan to do here:
http://markwilhelm.ca/transformers-car-modification/The plan for this is that the interior will get chrome coated either by paint or some kind of shrink wrap material. Then holes will get cut and lights added to back light the autobot symbol. The outside of it will be painted black to match the dash.
I would love some more idea's or input or even just cheer me on as this is going to take more than a year to do, if in the least to just save the money to pay for it all. I estimate so far it'll cost close to $10K.
Stay Tuned
[ Click to attempt signal recovery... ]
