The Energon Pub

by **Greyryder** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 1:18 am

Payload is a neat looking Mini-con. Unfortunatley he's totally ruined by a gimmick that won't let him roll well. Ascentor is just a little too brightly colored, for an engine of death. (even if he is a good engine of death)

I yanked out Payload's useless gimmick, and built some new chest/ab detail for him. Then, I painted his details. Ascentor got a simple brown oil wash.

The metal color I used on Payload is Model Master Steel. It's duller than typical silver paint, and actually looks a lot like bare steel, when it isn't under harsh photography lighting.

by **Tramp** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 1:55 am

Your Payload mod isn?t that much different than my conversion of him into G1 Gears found in the WIP forum.

by **Greyryder** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 2:21 am

Only in that we both patched over the gaping hole left from removing the winch. The black tires are pretty much a no brainer. I painted the tires on my Reverb, too.

The new detail you added, is a lot more involved that what I put on mine.

by **Tramp** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 2:23 am

True. But that?s only because I was turning him into a completely different character.

by **Greyryder** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 2:25 am

I was just trying to add playability.

I really like that new winch you put on yours. I didn't even notice it, untill just now.

by **Tramp** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 2:30 am

Greyryder wrote:I was just trying to add playability.

I really like that new winch you put on yours. I didn't even notice it, untill just now.

It wasn?t that hard to do. I simply cut out the fake one, drilled holes through the mount, filed them out to fit a 3/32" styrene tube. Cut a section of tubing to length, along with some end-caps. drilled a small hole throught the tude and tied a length of black thread to which the hook was tied at the other end, slid the tube through the holes in the mounting bracket and attached the end-caps. You have to be careful when affixing the end-caps though so they don?t get glued to the brackets. The new winch works rather well too, and it isn?t that hard to reel back in either. it does take some time though, and finesse.

by **Greyryder** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 2:42 am

That's pretty much what I thought it was, by looking at it. I just don't have any tubing, that's small enough. Something to keep in mind, for the next trip to the hobby shop.

I actually wouldn't have even looked at these two Mini-cons, if it hadn't been for your thread. I've been dissapointed with mini-cons in the past, so I don't bother to look at them. Payload is such a neat looking truck, I had to get him after I saw pictures of him.

Now, I'm thinking about more Mini-cons....

by **Tramp** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 2:48 am

I haven?t bought a lot of Mini-cons either. OF the [b]Cybertron[/i] line, I only own three packs: The one with Jolt, Six-Speed, and Reverb; The one with Spiral, Oval, and what?s-his-name; and the Payload/Ascentor set 9I bought two packs of that, one to keep original and one for my customs).