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[El Duque]

Allspark member Thinktank has announced a project to give the various iterations of the Generations Thunderwing mold a fully transforming drone to homage the original Pretender inner-robot concept. They hope to be taking orders by the end of March with $25-$30 price point. How they will taking orders and whether these will be injection molded or Shapeways has not been revealed.

Forgetting something "Gentlemen":

It is finally time to reveal a "little" project that myself and Fakebuster83 have
been working on for almost half a year now. This robot kit was designed to
help give your Thunderwing, Sky-Shadow, etc figures their smaller "inner
robot" form.

This mini-figure can stay attached to the original figures in both aero-space
fighter mode and robot mode. Or may be deployed as a companion drone
aircraft or robot figure to help in the mission at hand.

These figures are currently being fine-tuned and should be available for
ordering at the end of this coming March. I will post final pricing and ordering
details when all the variables have been resolved. Estimated price will be
$25-30 (+ shipping) per complete kit with packaging and instructions.

Without further ado, I present the Thunder Shadow Drone: TSD-Alpha:


This is a collaborative project brought to you by:
Thinktank (Design) and Ariel Lemon (AKA: fakebuster83) (3D Technical)

NOTE: We are constantly working to improve the quality of our product.
The final design will likely vary slightly from the images presented.

Here are a series technical illustrations showing the kit's design and features:

[Flux Convoy]

That's a really cool idea IMO. The price is a little steep but I'll be watching this.

[Prime Evil]

Looks promising. Definitely keeping an eye on this as well.

[Mkall]

Interesting, but until I see something more concrete, I won't get my hopes up.

[Kibble]

The bot modes look pretty sweet...the alt mode looks like they might be a little wonky, though. Would like to see more pics.

[rpetras]

With all the money I plan to save on NOT buying TF: Prime stuff, I'll have more $$$ for 3rd party stuff.

[Dead Metal]

Interested, but only if it#s injection molded and fully painted, if it's a shapeways kit with paint I won't buy.

[El Duque]

Interested, but only if it#s injection molded and fully painted, if it's a shapeways kit with paint I won't buy.

Same here. I really wish Head Robots would tackle this, but if these guys can pull it off with decent quality I'll happily take all three.

[Bumblevivisector]

Makes me wish even more that Generations Thunderwing had been been Voyager sized, but I'm looking forward to this too...

...well, assuming ACTA doesn't completely crush the 3rd Party market, which it probably will. We really need to mobilize against that one like we did against PIPA 2 weeks ago, but it'll be more complicated since ACTA's multinational.

Sorry to stump, but since it'll allow physical goods to be declared counterfeit/pirated without investigation, I don't see why Has/Tak wouldn't finally bring the hammer down.

I wonder how limited the Metalhawk figure will be, assuming that's who the COMING SOON must be.

[DMSL]

REALLY cool idea but it sticks out way too far in the combined jetmode.

[rpetras]

Makes me wish even more that Generations Thunderwing had been been Voyager sized, but I'm looking forward to this too...

Thunderwing is just a REALLY BIG Legends Class. At least in my universe

[Sodan-1]

A nice idea, but it's too rough looking for my liking. The way it attaches in jet mode is hideous.

As far as an upgrade for Generations Thunderwing goes, I'd rather have an IDW style suit of armour, like that custom by Dak I think it was.

[Insane Galvatron]

I had thought about designing something like this. My idea involved the bot replacing the drone, not attaching to the bottom of it. If they'll make it so, I'd buy it. As rendered? Not quite.

[Flashwave]

I had thought about designing something like this. My idea involved the bot replacing the drone, not attaching to the bottom of it. If they'll make it so, I'd buy it. As rendered? Not quite.

IG: I think it's worse, they dummy plugged it, the lumpy thing on top is a replacement part. I can't help but wonder why they couldn't have strtcvedh the back an eight of an inch wider (or less!), and made room for a small ridge or notches to let him clip in directly.

[triKlops]

really cohesive process on this
it will be interesting to see these when fleshed out in pics

[Mkall]

I think I'm going to have to eat mny words I said somewhere else about a drone not being doable.

[Thinktank]

Thunderwing is just a REALLY BIG Legends Class. At least in my universe

This put a smile on my face.

I didn't realize this thread had popped up over here, in this part of the forum.

To help clear up any confusion:
The first wave will be Shapeways manufactured until we get a mold maker on board. The kits will be inspected, cleaned, and any parts that fail inspection will be replaced with a part that meets scrutiny. Each kit will include a set of illustrated instructions with painting guide. It will then be numbered, bagged, and boxed.

We are seriously exploring a molded production option in the
near future but, not just yet.

I will try to help with some of the technical questions:

The replacement Nose-block, that image is from an older mock-up the newer part fits much more flush and essentially looks much like the original drone without the wings.

The Nose-block was developed due to the way the original mold stores it's landing gear. It takes up a lot of space in the original included non-transforming drone.

One of our goals was not to have to permanently maim/modify your original toy to install it. Please consider that we were having to cram a basic/scout level articulated figure down into a mini-con sized package. I assure you we literally did the best we could with what we had. Now if the mold had been a Voyager...

As to why it sits so far forward:
This so it can remain attached while deploying the landing gear and also when the larger figure is in robot mode. This was also a throwback to the G1 version of this mold. When it is attached you can also swing the arms up and back along the sides of the larger robot's head guard/fuselage. This does make less obtrusive in combined mode and covers the gap between them pretty well.

As we get to the final fit and pollish stage we will share plenty of new images and some photos of the final product.

Trivia:
The alt-mode is based loosely on the KEPD cruise missile made for Germany and Spain: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KEPD_350

[Down_Shift]

It's what I've wanted from the outset, but looking at the overall lack of creativity I'll pass. A TF fans in 2012 wants something a little more complexe then G1 Broadside...

Here's hoping one of the good companies makes something better. Seems to be the competitive trend.

[Flux Convoy]

We are seriously exploring a molded production option in the
near future but, not just yet.

Get that tied up and I'm likely on board for all of them. Shapeways, while useful, is not a finished product. It is pre-production at best. I wouldn't drop third party prices on any Shapeways item no matter how interested I might be.

[Dead Metal]

We are seriously exploring a molded production option in the
near future but, not just yet.

Get that tied up and I'm likely on board for all of them. Shapeways, while useful, is not a finished product. It is pre-production at best. I wouldn't drop third party prices on any Shapeways item no matter how interested I might be.

Me too, I'm still pissed off at my shapeways kits.
It would also bee cool if these would attach to the drone instead of replacing them.

[Mkall]

Agreed. I only pay for finished products. Sorry, but that's the way it is for me.

[Flashwave]

Please consider that we were having to cram a basic/scout level articulated figure down into a mini-con sized package.

While I applaud you for this, I have to admit that I'd have been more than happy with Uni-Nightstick posability or even the PCC minicon.

[Thinktank]

For efficiency and my hands sake; This is a cross posted message:

We appreciate all the constructive feedback we have recieved on this endeavor. Yes even the negative kind. The thoughts, critiques and encouragement, you the fan base given us help educate us as to what we can do to make a better product.

This varied input has led to three very important points we needed to consider:

1. Color Casting & Painting:
While we are certainly going through with the model kit plan for the first few waves of release. A lot of the comments that have been made, point to the desire for a more finished "retail grade" product. We can assure you that the options to do this are being aggressively explored and it looks more positive than not that we can accomplish this next step. A step that provides you the customer with what you have said you would like to ideally purchase for your hard earned money. With the figure molded in color, painting requires only two applications. This can easily be implemented as well.

2. Alternate Mounting Options:
Not much to share on this issue here and now. Some alternate options are being discussed and considered for possibly a permanent but closer underside mount. And also a back/dorsal mount component.

3. Dedication To Honor the Origins of the Concept:
The design that has been presented is the product of many, many hours of developement and hard work. Hard work to bring the best quality synthesis of the various styles that have been employed both in the "G1" version of the original figures, and also the more recent toy lines and media that have come about since then. These were all weighed as part of the creative process. While it is not perfect, as nothing ever is. We are quite pleased with what we have made. We hope that in the very near future you too will be able to have in your hands the product of so much time, effort, and even some considerable cost on our part.

Only cast in color and painted of course...

As major developements arise I will post them on the major forums to keep interested parties informed. I will be posting smaller updates on this and other similar projects on our 'Panzer Faust' facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Panzer ... 4666260359

[DISCHARGE]

I think what Thinktank is doing is awesome and will make the Classics toys longer and closer to their original G1 inspirations, at least Thunderwing and Black Shadow.
Just offering them for the Botcon Metalhawk variation is great



I do think there needs to be a finished product available for people who just can't get into the whole painting\assembling process of a DIY kit.
But offering an unfinished kit for a little less at the same time might entice people too.

Anyway, it's pretty cool.

[Thinktank]

New team plackard: