Man, it's been forever since I was able to work on a kitbash, what with graduate work, getting a job, getting married... well, I won't bore you with the details.
I picked up the Optimus Prime Spotlight comic and when I saw Don's concept sketches for Nova Prime I just had to have one. Here's the first set of photos; most of the work was done today. I plan to put together somewhat of a mixture between how he looked in the comic, and the concept sketches, mostly because I think the concept style fits more of his "fallen angel" character motif (most specifically, the "crown" style head design). I think you can all tell what my base toys were, and I think maybe some of Don's inspiration came from the way RiD Prime fits together. Note that these pictures are just mockups where I balanced the parts where I figure they'll be attached.
Robot Mode Mockup
(Super Mode) Head In-Progress
Cybertronian Truck - Front
Cybertronian Truck - Rear
Where I plan to go from here
Legs - as you can probably tell, he doesn't have any yet. The concept art showed him with legs that match the same dual-purpose-flip-style legs that Energon Rodimus has, but those are far too small so I'm going to have to get my hands on an E-Ironhide and work his legs up to it, which should fit almost perfectly.
Wheels - I need to add some to the arms to get the truck cab finished up. I plan to rip them off of an Armada Prime sooner or later.
Matrix - the cornerstone of every Prime. Checking the concept sketches, Nova's cab-only robot mode has a rounded protrusion sticking out of his chest that looks like the central portion of the Matrix of Leadership (bear in mind, it's a black-n-white photo so I could be way off). Character-wise, I could see him having it out in front like his cyber-bling, because at his point in the TF lore there wasn't a war going on, and on top of that he's got something of a God complex, so why not have it proudly on display? The slight bits of gold go nicely with the black, white and silver of the character. As an added bonus, it'll be sticking out the top of his cab mode like a police light. I've already got some structure mocked up to create a folding hatch which will secure it in.
Super Mode Poncho - RiD Prime's super mode head and chest panel will need to work with the added bulk of the Matrix sticking out of mini-robot's chest. In addition to stripping the chest panel bare to get rid of the RiD bandolier thing and flip-up panel, I'm going to basically just fill it in and hollow it out as necessary to fit over everything, then add the external deco. I think I would do best to modify the flap to clip into his armpit area (think Cybertron Wing Saber) instead of clipping into his chest as it is now, for reasons already mentioned.
Wings - they need extendin'. I've got several extra Elita-Ones, whose crossbow would fit perfectly as the end barrels of the wing cannons. Additionally, I could scavenge the exhaust pipes to fit up alongside the truck cab, where they appear in the sketches. I also had to do a little modificiation to make them flip forward enough to be straight in truck mode. Tigerhawk could use a little more Yoga, methinks. Oh, I also think I'll mod the spring-loaded feathers on his back to flip a complete 180, in which case I can turn them into those little trapezoidal solar panel thingies Nova has on his shoulders.
Suffice it to say, I've got a lot of work ahead of me, but it's all looking pretty feasible at this point. If anyone's got suggestions, let me know, because it looks like the talent level has shot through the roof since last I kitbashed, and I'm going to be hard pressed to produce something respectable now