The Energon Pub

I moved this from another forum as it is more appropriate here so those that are following its progress can do so.

This project started out as a tacky box costume. The cardboard did not stand up to humidity. It has been evolving quickly. I am having more fun doing this project.



The view is from the back side, nothing is assembled yet, it is just arranged for the photo. The tail fins will stand up, they also have a nice silver stripe now also. It is blue because I like Armada Starscream in the Unicron Battles. This is modeled after G1 Masterpiece Starscream with obvious changes. It is still Starscream, though I have called him Thundercracker on ocassion.

Paint has been giving me all sorts of problems. Sealant even worse. I have tried clear acrylic, enamal, varnish, clear coat, greasy clear rustoleum and sever other clear sealers and they all turn the chrome color a dull grey. If anyone out there knows what will not turn it grey, that would be a big help.

Here is the newly painted cockpit. I had to build a second one as the first did not look too good. I photoshopped out the boxes it was sitting on. Please post your thoughts and comments and any ideas of what to add to him.



I have completed the missel mounts and should have them mounted to the wings today. I painted the rockets red and blue.

Things to do, make head, arm blasters, and thruster mounts.

So this is gonna be a robust costume? Is it supposed to Transform when you're in the suit or out of the suit? What is is made of?

Looks really cool so far btw. Hope you don't mind all my questions.

Lord T wrote:So this is gonna be a robust costume? Is it supposed to Transform when you're in the suit or out of the suit? What is is made of?

I will have more pics to post of the early stages.

I am not a finish artist so up close it is a little rougher than in the photos. I made my originals out of cardboard and then went with Luan which is not too heavy and only costs about 10 bucks a 4x8 sheet. The wings are hinged to allow passage through doorways. I will need to recruit a ground crew to help with that.
I made the cockpit canopy and rear canopy out of floral foam and fiberglass.
It would not be difficult to convert it to a transforming costume, all I would need to do is add a canopy part to cover the area between the forward and aft canopies and change the wing hinges out with appropriate hardware. I don't think Starscream would approve of performing Transforming tricks for humans so it does not transform.
You won't be able to sit down and you can't go to the bathroom either while wearing it.

future should be ok to seal it with.

Archatron wrote:future should be ok to seal it with.

The only product with that name that registers is a floor wax. Thanks, could you tell me what it is and where I might be able to find some to do a test.

Here is what it looks like with the rockets on it. I think they clutter it up so I will not use them except for when it is on display. I need to find a used mannequin somewhere.

Scoops/ramjets are ready to go

In the beginning there was cardboard

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This is the canopy that I discarded after my first attempt at making a frame and using fiberglass.

Since the cardboard was unstable in humidity, I began making everything out of luan.

I'm anxious to see this when it's all finished

Looking good. Do you have pics of that first costume before it went floppy?

Tom_Servo wrote:Looking good. Do you have pics of that first costume before it went floppy?

No, I had left the wings outside overnight and they warped. Lucky for me that happened early on before I made a lot of progress on it. Also, when I applied a coating to the cardboard "scoops" the dampness caused slight problems with them and they were discarded also.

I should have some head/helmet prototype photos up tomorrow. All I can say is that Starscream does not look good in pink foam. Pink is just not his color.

I don't know if this helps any...A few years ago I made Kup, Hotrod and Optimus costumes for holloween. I used the pink foam insulating sheets they usually install on the outside of homes. It's lightweight, sandable, paintable, and held together well using liquid nails. My only problem was, we didn't attempt to try them out before my kids school holloween party, there were limitations to movement. The Prime was for me and kind of was a last minute project, I made errors with chest proportion (it wouldn't fit over mine) and the shoulder hieght. I still have them and ever since, I've been considering trying it again. I think it would even be possible to spackle as filler to smooth out some of the rough areas.

primezimm wrote:I don't know if this helps any...A few years ago I made Kup, Hotrod and Optimus costumes for holloween. I used the pink foam insulating sheets they usually install on the outside of homes. It's lightweight, sandable, paintable, and held together well using liquid nails. My only problem was, we didn't attempt to try them out before my kids school holloween party, there were limitations to movement. The Prime was for me and kind of was a last minute project, I made errors with chest proportion (it wouldn't fit over mine) and the shoulder hieght. I still have them and ever since, I've been considering trying it again. I think it would even be possible to spackle as filler to smooth out some of the rough areas.

Speaking of limitations to movement:

The pink foam is really lightweight. I hacked this out in a couple of hours using a ginsu knife. It is only held together with masking tape. It is way too large and is wedged between the scoops. No head movement. I am just going for a basic shape so I can get some final measurements. I should have an intermediate head and a final head. I have used wallboard joint compound in other areas of this project. It just chips, so I would not recommend it. Please post some pictures of your kup and friends if you are willing. Liquid nails is great and very permanent. I have some around here somewhere.

Hi folks,
Made some significant progress this weekend. Assembly! Here are two photos that were just taken. The scoops will not be attached till the head/helmet is done. I figure I am about half way finished with the costume. I have everything from the chest down to do as well as the head. I will probably have to take the feet to a welding shop as soon as the second keg is empty. It will probably be a week before any more progress will be observed.




The front view photos were unacceptable so I am not showing them at this time. My 14 year old son was sporting an obiwankenobi robe under the costume.

Tell me what you all think of it so far.

It is amazing how much progress I have made on the costume and how much has changed. I only will post the pic of the helmet for now. It has been improves since I took the picture last week.
After Botcon I will post pics of the completed project. It started out as Starscream but the colors didn't look good so it is more like a cross between Starscream and Thundercracker.

It is finished. It took me four months but the outcome was worth it.


Here are two raw videos taken the first day I took it in public at the Tampa Comic Con in April. Just watch the first 30 seconds of the first video and as much of the second as you wish. This is my raw video and I need to edit it so it is shorter. I have added a robot belt and an Ipod speaker system since that con.



You can really appreciate how the cartoon decepticons can just blast a hole in the wall to gain access to a building when you put this thing on.



I got this king Starscream idea from a thread elsewhere on Seibertron. I am going to come up with some shoulder pads and a cape and crown for the next Tampa comic con. Since I finished the project, I am already getting requests to appear places.
If you wonder why I call him Starscream and not Thundercracker, here is why. My first paint apps were Starscream colors, but they looked aweful and I saw this metalllic blue in the hardware store. I put the blue on and fell in love with the color. Armada Starscream was blue in the Unicron battles and I gave him an Armada Helmet, but the rest of him is G1. I had registered him at the con as Thundercracker and everyone keep calling me Starscream so I went back and changed the registration to Starscream and it has been Starscream ever since.

Very nice!

I am glad you showed what the costume looked like before you painted it, gradually showing the progress from beginning to end. I don't know if I would have the time to try to make something like that (my Darth Maul statue is taking like forever but is almost done) but I have an idea of how I might try a smaller display piece.