... that and I cannot live with the idea of Hot Rod being only a bloody LEGION class figure.
What you'll need:
- rare earth magnets
- Combiner Wars Deluxe Dead End
- Combiner Wars Deluxe Breakdown
- Movie Scout Class Clocker
- Prime Deluxe Smokescreen
- Fansproject TFX-05 Parallax Sidearm
- Styrene board
- Superglue
- Tamiya spray paints - Maroon, Brilliant Orange
- Paint or Paint Markers - orange, black, gold, metallic blue, red
What you'll need to do.
- rip off Dead End's head
- rip off Breakdown's head
- rip off Smokescreen's head
- pause for a drink
- cut off Breakdown's front crest. I used nippers and a lot of bloody mindedness. You can probably use exactos and more precise instruments.
- cut off Smokescreen's front crest
- file down Breakdown's head and Smokescreen's front crest until they sorta work together, then superglue em together.
- cut the posts off clocker's pipes. discard the rest of clocker, or do with him as you see fit.
- use rare earth magnets - one inside and one outside Dead End's forearms - to check the way they'd sit best, then place the pipes over the outside magnet to see where it'd go. superglue once you've figured out where, then see if the magnet fit is secure. I used some styrene pieces to hold the pipes more securely in a certain orientation in car mode and robot mode. I'm SURE there's better ways to do it, but this works for me for now. Contemplated drilling a hole through and mounting the pipes on a swivel, but... meh.
- once the magnets on the pipes are glued down [and left to dry], hold the pipes how you want them to sit on the forearm, then place the rare earth magnets inside the forearm again, then superglue them down. I used the small ones instead of the long rectangular piece so they wouldn't interfere with the hands when they folded in.
- If you have Parallax Sidearm [I had an extra from a previous Hot Rod conversion], I used the spoiler than usually goes over the winnebago mode and made a styrene cover for it since it looked weird on Dead End's ass.
- make a styrene cover for it and affix magnets to it, and on the inside of Dead End's legs to test where they'd go. The pictures show you where I placed mine, and they don't cause trouble with transformation as far as I can tell. it's preferable that the magnets have direct contact with Dead End's ass. I had them free float initially, but the magnet lock is feeble at best when I did that. Superglue those in place once happy.
- Place the spoiler over the car hood where it would rest in robot mode, then place small rare earth magnets in positions of your choosing to ensure the spoiler can attach securely. Superglue when ready.
- PAINT EVERYTHING
- REASSEMBLE EVERYTHING
- Add in detailing, and do touch-ups.
- Tamiya top-coat to lock in details
- HAVE FUN WITH YOUR NEW COMBINER WARS HOT ROD/ RODIMUS.
If anyone wants to use this idea and make a proper conversion kit, feel free~ [would appreciate being credited, but to see a proper kit for conversion would make me SO MUCH **** HAPPIER]
I think it'd be easier if someone could 3D print a proper head [I'd love to see an Alternators style Hot Rod head in this size], pipes and spoiler, and maybe make small label/decal set for the flames?... would make life a lot easier for anyone who's tempted to do this, and waste them a LOT less money... /stares at Breakdown, Clocker, and Smokescreen... /pushes them into parts bin...
