The Energon Pub

Hey guys. Ok, so kitbashing is addictive. For YEARS I've been watching TF fans repaint and kitbash figures, usually ending up with amazing results. I've been watching, and wishing I had the talent to do a repaint/kitbash, as well as the guts to possibly mess up a figure, wasting money and time.

But all my local stores are now fully stocked with TFs, but its stuff I either already have or don't want. And since the shelves are full of TFs, I really have no idea when figures like Landmine, Camshaft, etc. will actually be put on the shelves. AND after the TF drought we all already went through last year, I'm really "jonesin'" for a TF fix.

So I broke down and bought Movie Swindle, who I didn't think looked good, and a Movie Jazz Cyber-Slammer. I figured, if I screw Movie Swindle up, then it won't bother me TOO bad, since I don't really care about him.

However, when I got him transformed, I *totally* changed my mind! Movie Swindle is awesome!

Every pic I've seen of him shows him with his back windshield pieces folded in over his inner thighs, leaving the triangular side-back windows over his knees, which I think looks like crap. But I discovered that if I left his back windshield pieces over his knees instead, that it actually gives the figure a rather cool, subtle G1 vibe, kinda like the legs of G1 Prowl/Bluesteak/Smokescreen. Not exactly, but kind of.

There's also lots of articulation with this guy, so that's cool.

Anyway, on to the kitbash:
So I took Cyber-Slammer Jazz apart, cut off his neck post, and carved out the bottom of his head. Then I took off Swindle's head, and put Jazz's head on in its place. Sounds simple, but there was a LOT of trial and error figuring out which screws needed to be unscrewed, and how much of the bottom of Jazz's head I needed to carve out so that it would fit on Swindle's head post. Whole thing took a couple of hours, but now that I've done my first kitbash, relatively simple as it was, I'm now truly addicted. It was a blast, and now I have a figure that's truly "my own." Its a neat feeling.

Anyway, so I'm still a little unsure about paiting, but I'll probably have a model painter friend of mine do some detail painting on this guy to make him stand out even more.

Also, with Camshaft coming out, I'll probably cover Movie Swindle's Decepticon symbols with Autobot symbols, and call him Overdrive. I'll probably do some sort of head swap on Camshaft, too. So I'll have 2 of the 3 original G1 Omnibots. The coolest part about these guys is that, like the G1 Omnibots, they can brandish and use a weapon in car mode. Love that.

Oh, and, yes, he can still transform, but the head sticks down farther than the wheels/tires, so he can't roll anymore. I might either trim down the top of the head, or find another head that fits better. However, since I'm so proud of my first kitbash, I'm just leaving him in bot mode, so its not a big deal. And since Jazz's head is gray, and Swindle is red and gray, the head seems to work.

So, anyway, here is the pic. Tell me what you think.

glad you had a good time with it Jaz-Zen. be sure to post more images when you get some painting done.

But can it transform? My biggest problem with Swindle is the low head clearance, otherwise I'd have done something similar already.

Jaz-Zen wrote:Oh, and, yes, he can still transform, but the head sticks down farther than the wheels/tires, so he can't roll anymore. I might either trim down the top of the head, or find another head that fits better. However, since I'm so proud of my first kitbash, I'm just leaving him in bot mode, so its not a big deal. And since Jazz's head is gray, and Swindle is red and gray, the head seems to work.

I guess my first post DID get a little wordy, a little long, but I did anticipate the "can he still transform" question.

Having a larger head doesn't seem to effect the ability to transform, just if it can roll or not. Granted, something like that might be a "deal breaker" for some people, but not me. *However* I am thinking about changing the head. I DO think it would be possible to have a bigger head and still roll.

Look at this pic. If you cut everything down to the black line, Movie Swindle would roll. Or, if you used a different head that was shorter but still looked good, he would roll in car mode.

I've decided I am going to try to come up with a better head. Well, actually, heads. I need a head that looks closer to Overdrive. Then I'm gonna repaint the black on one Movie Camshaft to gray to match the rest of the gray, and try to come up with a head that looks closer to G1 Camshaft. And then I'm gonna repaint Movie Camshaft white and try to come up with a head that looks closer to G1 Downshift. I think it will be fun, I just can't wait to get started. (Can't get started right away for personal reasons, but I'm gonna get on this as soon as I can.)