EDIT- see second post for pics of the new more screen accurate beer gut!
I love- LOVE, deeply, madly, disturbingly- HA Leadfoot! The alt mode is great, if lacking decals. Tight panel joints all around, nicely done. The standard Human Alliance opening doors are ironic since NASCAR cars do not have doors at all.
Biggest alt mode disappointment: only two Mechtech ports, on the rear bumper, facing backwards. Virtually useless in alt mode (although I did fab up a right-angle adapter, see below), they are apparently meant to carry shoulder-mounted weapons in robot mode, about which more below. Worse yet, the ports, at least on mine, are also too large to actually hold a MT weapon in place without the spring-loaded cover pushing it out. WTH? I tried moving some of the plastic around in there to fix the problem, but it’is barely working, I'll have to sleeve the holes.
I had to mod him, of course- it’s what I do.
Hands- cut the fingers down the middle, so he can move them in pairs. He can do a cool pistol-hand thing now.
Panel on upper back- the stock shots show this part standing up behind his head. It can be folded backwards too, out of the way, but I modded it to fold forwards over his chest. Had to mod his a head a little, cutting off the activation handle for his shades and shaving down the back of his head just above his stumpy neck. Many of you have done this already, some of you say you haven’t had to mod it to fold the panel forwards- running mold change, maybe?
Arm kibble- the seatbacks in robot mode form most of his forearms, but they keep his elbows from bending as far as they could, so I did a little trimming of the seatback in robot mode. (Another irony, these race cars only have a single seat.)
Paint- broke out the silver paint marker and painted his hands, and some details on his arms, legs, etc., I think he looks better. I’d like to study more screenshots of him before I go too far. I also added some black to parts like the underside of the front airdam, just to complete the paint scheme a little more. And I hit the Mechtech port covers w/ red permanent marker (my red paint marker sucks). Also colored the chest cannons black.
Fender kibble- I shaved the arm supporting each fender section so you can pivot the part from both ends- where it attaches to the chest, and where it attaches to the fender panel. It lets you position those parts according to your needs.
Door kibble- I shaved a little material from the horizontal pivot on the gray arms that support the doors to let them swing upward a little. Also shaved a bit of material from the edge of the fenders so the doors can tuck in a little better. Again, this gives you more freedom for positioning. (Again, it looks like some of you are able to do this without modding.)
Club handgrip- The end of Steeljaw’s missile has a slot in it, which I tweaked to peg into LF’s hand, allowing him to hold SJ in club mode, rather than just balancing his on his shoulder, as cool as that looks.
Rear Mechtech mounts- I made a pair of mounts to make the rear MT ports useable in alt mode. They are the forearms off a Movie Voyager Optimus Prime, slightly modded. Basically they provide a 90-degree angle to the ports. Only good for narrow MT weapons, like Laserbeak's. The weapons sit very far back, but at least he’ll be able to use them in alt mode. I’ll have to find a more permanent fix to the oversized holes, though. EDIT- I decided to remove the little cover flaps on the Mechtech ports, and tweak the openings as needed to give a nice stiff mounting point. I alos modded the gatlings slightly so they now plug in via the “handle” at the rear of the gun, upside down. This moves the guns forward slightly, looks better IMO.
Stealth mode weapons- I took a pair of the gray gatlings from HA Whirl and sorta clipped them onto the top of the window nets- it's not a perfect fit, but for display they hold on just fine. Again, I’ve seen at least one other one set up like this. EDIT- I carved a little notch in the bottom edge of the window net part, so the gray gatlings now clip in very securely.
I also found a way to wedge the Steeljaw cannon mode onto the hood. Might be overkill, but it's fun.
Future
Front wheel pivots- haven’t started this one yet, but I want to add a second pivot to the arms that hold the front wheels on. There’s a fake pivot molded in, I want to put a real one there so the wheels can tuck into the sides of the torso, as I’ve seen in some concept art. It’ll improve the whole chest region. I have a couple junker TFs I think I can get some parts from. Note that this might result in front wheels that can be posed in alt mode. Cross your fingers.
Wrists- I don’t mind his hands as they are now, but I do want to give him some wrists. Two, to be exact.
I can’t wait to see/buy Reprolabels’ set for this guy.
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