The Energon Pub

Hi everyone -- and special greeting to those of you who may even remember me!

Been litterally ages since I posted anything here, but frankly, I haven't had much inspiration nor time to do any work. But looking at the Classics Bumblebee, and thinking about the announcement (and by now revealed images) of the BotCon 07 Bug Bite based on the same mould, I figured it would be perfect for a little custom job.

I thought that blue would be really good for the toy, and thinking back on previous blue mini-bot Volkswagens, there were the blue Microchange, the blue Mexican one and then the BotCon keychain Glyph. Figuring that Glyph is the only "official" Transformers and that the grey and blue really worked well together, I picked that one.

Trying to make it look more like the original Glyph toy both mould- and color-wise, I decided to remould the face and the car ornaments (engine and roof details plus removing the spoiler). The biggest challenge was the face, especially considering that I wanted to make it a seperate piece so I could remove it and paint it seperately. And in all modesty, I think that came out just perfect. Completely done in sheet styrene, it took me an afternoon to sculpt, and I am extremely happy with how that turned out. Removed the old Bumblebee humanoid face with a dremel, so that the custom piece just slides in from the back.



Filed off some of the helmet details from the original parts as well, to help make it stand out more from the Classics design as well as getting closer to the Microchange design.



Disassembling Bumblebee was quite an ordeal -- all those pins were a real pain, as some of you might know. But I finally managed, and using a spare Cliffjumper I was able to so some part swapping, especially on the arms, so I didn't have to paint that many parts and/or worry about paint scraping on those.

Below are pictures of a test assembly of the car mode -- only one layer of blue on the outside surfaces and no added detailing. Notice the lack of spoiler, front engine covers and roof detailing. Everything is handpainted by brush, and is surprisingly smooth.




And then the finished toy.

Did a little rework on the head as suggested by someone during the process, and that turned out very well if I may say so myself. Everything is painted up nicely now with 2 coats of enamel, and as-per-usual, I have tried my best to make her as "toyetic" as possible -- as in: Looking as factory-made as possible (i.e. even painting little-seen areas and stuff like that).

Mostly based on the Bumblebee toy, there has been some parts swapping with a Cliffjumper. Not much, but it really makes a difference in robot mode (the grey parts inside the torso and especially the arms).

Hope you enjoy.











And some comparison shots with the other two official moulds.

looks nice

looking at this makes me admire the paint and face as its just a great job in general .

Smooth finish just love the look

i like it a lot. esspecially how you differed the face from bumblebee's

That's almost exactly what I've been wanting to do with my Bumblbee's face. Now, I know it'll good. If I ever get around to it....

Paint looks great. I really like that color scheme.

aweome bash dude.

kudos on the triangle on the forehead. How did you carve down and keep it level in the recess?

jimsloth wrote:kudos on the triangle on the forehead. How did you carve down and keep it level in the recess?

Thanks!

Actually, I filed down the forehead even more, the cut a triangle near the edge of some styrene, glued that on, then took a really thin piece of styrene to "close off the open end of the triangle" by glueing that on as well, filed the styrene parts down to half thickness, and voila.

Wanted to do grills on each side of the head as well, but it compromised the construction inside the head (especially with keeping the face piece in place inside the helmet halves).

And thank you for the kind words, everyone! Been some time since I've been since I've done something last, so I'm glad it turned out pretty good.

Brilliant! I'm going to have to use that trick at some point.

Bad ass man. I love the face mold.

What more can be said..GREAT JOB!!!

That is a very good job. I did a Classics Glyph a while back before Cliffjumper came out, but haven't taken any pics of her yet, the same with a couple of other Classics customs. The biggest difference between yours and mine is I simply modified the face on mine to be a bit more feminine—removed the "beard", reshaped the nose a bit, sculpted in lips, that sort of thing. I also left the spoiler and hood scoop on. She may look like a fat lady, but at least she looks like a female, somewhat. Sooner or later, I'll take some pics if I ever get around to it.

I love the head and the paint apps. I kinda want to do this now.

Couldn't you just paint in the grilles?

Excellent work!

I like the head remold.

Excellent work!

I like the head remold.

Sturmvogel..... you just double-posted.

Masterblaster wrote:Sturmvogel..... you just double-posted.

Error in forum, sorry.

The simplicity in the head sculpt is just too nice..!
And it's smooth..!

.bba

Masterblaster wrote:Couldn't you just paint in the grilles?

Nah, I'd really want them to be mould details; for me it's not a question of her having visible grills, but rather that it's "as true as possible" to the original (i.e. the keychain toy -- which I'm almost embarred to say that I don't even own! ) so they should be part of the mould.

And good to see a lot of familiar names posting in here! I don't know if my old creations made enough of an impact for you guys to remember me, but it's sure good for me to know that some things haven't changed.

One thing I sugest you might want to do is pain the tail lights with red acrylic clearcoat.

Oh, I'm sure most of us remember you... but you've certainly come back with a bang! Beautiful job on the face, there, and excellent bit of styrene shaping. All those little mods you've made certainly help differentiate it from the others...

Fighbird wrote:

Masterblaster wrote:Couldn't you just paint in the grilles?

Nah, I'd really want them to be mould details; for me it's not a question of her having visible grills, but rather that it's "as true as possible" to the original (i.e. the keychain toy -- which I'm almost embarred to say that I don't even own! ) so they should be part of the mould.

And good to see a lot of familiar names posting in here! I don't know if my old creations made enough of an impact for you guys to remember me, but it's sure good for me to know that some things haven't changed.

Did you ever finish the micromaster Stunicons you were working on?

Tramp wrote:One thing I sugest you might want to do is pain the tail lights with red acrylic clearcoat.

Good idea, but it wouldn't work with my "toy aesthetic" principle: I doubt Hasbro nor Takara would do it. The original Classics Bumblebee had solid red paint over his tail lights, which IMO didn't really work all that well for Glyph, while also making them different from Bumblebee. But there are also a lot of "clear" tail lights on real-life cars, which only light up red when they are engaged. And that's my lame-o excuse.

tentagil wrote:Did you ever finish the micromaster Stunicons you were working on?

Well, it's basically been on hold ever since I took a hiatus from Transtopia because I could find parts for Drag Strip. I need certain Micromasters because of the wheel size for the front 4 on Draggie, and simply haven't been able to locate any.

So if anyone has spare Heavytreads, Groundhogs or Motorheads, then PM me ASAP!