The Energon Pub

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I've been itching to expand my Classics line, but being a Kitbashing near-virgin, it's made me a little aprehensive. Now, there're still going to be those Classics customs that I won't do, that I'll commission, due to complexity that I don't have talent for, but there will be those that will be so easy, there'd be no reason for me to not attempt it.

My first idea is an Autobot I've been growing more and more fond of, lately, thanks to his Alternator counterpart. Making him into a Classics figure stumped me for awhile until this morning. I noticed that Bumblebee/Cliffjumper aren't really Volkswagen Beetles, and figured I could use their mold (since so few were made in the Classics line) for other cars, that wouldn't work with Rodimus' (seeing as how there're really only 2 car molds...).

So, to see if my idea would even look decent, I did a digibash.

Swap heads with Grimlock, add a strip-styrene nose, paint & Reprolabels (their G1 set is perfect), and you've got Classics Jazz:





I'm keeping a running WIP photo journal for those that also think this is a cool idea, and want to know how I'm doing it.

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Since I don't have a dremel, know how to use one, or have steady hands, my friend ground down the ridge on 'Bee's roof:


...and the raised portion of the hood:


I'll be using sculpting compound to fill in the holes, though, it only needs to be straight, since the G1 Reprolabels will cover these areas...

I added a small piece of strip styrene to the face:

...now Jazz has a nose!!

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Krylon Fusion Satin Black was the paint. Here are the parts:



I need to go out and get a new Bumblebee to replace the forearms I screwed up. They're supposed to be white, not black. Oh, well. I wanted to do a Runabout anyways... (Note: The head did not receive any KF. I still need to spray the red light-piping in the back with it...)

Went over the headlights with Tamiya Clear Blue:



The same that I went over Testor's Model Masters Chrome Silver for the visor. TMM Acrylic Silver (no "chrome") went on the face, and inside the head ridge. The flash really screws up what the head looks like. When the whole figure is finished, I'll take pictures with proper lighting (and no flash!), but for WIP pics, I don't really care!

[osiricon]

Nice cant wait to see it finished!! HURRY UP!

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Thanks!

Someone asked how I took him apart. I'm sure most experienced KBers know, but I thought I'd share for those of us who aren't privy to that information:

Here's some pics I took: (I figured it'd be easier than writing down what's what)

SCREWS:

[Jaw Crusher]

This looks great so far.

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Thank you.

I took him apart carefully. Unscrewed all the screws, tapped out all the pins. For most of the pins, I needed an extra hand (so, my girlfriend helped). You hold the figure and the tapping utensil, and your helper holds the hammer.

PINS:








The inside ones are the hardest. After you've tapped it down a bit, you can pry the roof canopy out. Then, tap some more. The way I did it was to tap, then pry. By the time you've pried all out that you can, you've got enough room to just grab the pin with pliers, and yank it the rest of the way out. I haven't removed the door pins yet. I need to find my soldering iron first...

[Godmodule]

Great for what it is. Personally, I would have ventured outside the classics line for a body for him. Maybe a Energon Hotshot body...

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That's a good suggestion, but I'm starting to not like many of the lines outside of Classics & G1...

I'm trying to extend the Classics line with only Classics Kitbashes. The few exceptions are Cybertron Smokescreen (didn't have to do anything to him except add some Reprolabels!), Cybertron Downshift (repainting to be Wheeljack), and Movie Barricade (serious reshell with Classics "innards" to be Prowl). I had an idea (not sure how possible) to try a Predaking with Beast Wars figures... Other than those, I'm only doing Classics repaints, or Scratchbuilds that still utilize some Classics parts. I just love this line too much. Too bad it's dead.

But, honestly, thank you for your respectful input.

[zodconvoy]

This is the best Beast Wars Predaking I have ever seen. I've been customizing action figures for more than 10 years and designing Transformers my whole life but this is insane!

http://www.tfmaster.com/gallery_kb0022.php

[Charger426]

Nice work. Lookin good so far.

[Fang Wolf]

Wish Hasbro thought this far ahead. Would prefer this to that lame Cliffy. >_> Superb work.

[Dead Metal]

Looking good, I realy like it. Just a realy stupid idea, how about geting a porche model the same sise as BB and cut it into the BB part's sise? It would probebly take to much time but I'm shure it would look good.

[Insurgent]

I was thinking of getting a VW Beetle model of this scale and cutting it up, replacing BB's car parts with it as they were basically a shell attacthed to robot parts. But it was too much effor to remove the pins/screws/whatnot. This is gonna look magnificant when its done.

[TENIME_art]

Looking good, I realy like it. Just a realy stupid idea, how about geting a porche model the same sise as BB and cut it into the BB part's sise? It would probebly take to much time but I'm shure it would look good.

It's not like I didn't consider it. This is my first kitbash, and it's only a repaint/headswap. If someone else want to try that, I'd love to see it, but I'm not gonna attempt a reshell for my first time...

[Dead Metal]

Hey I found a page just for Transformers Classics! and it has a VW Bumblebee!

http://www.transformersclassics.com/gal ... Volkswagen

[Insurgent]

That's the kinda thing I wanted to do, but I lack the skill to get the pins out. Wonder what that looks like transformed.