Miscellaneous Projects
Works other than the ones clumped below. Some of these are merely repaints,
but they're generally much more involved projects than the repaints in Quickbashes.
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Nightbeat Into
Minerva: The first major repaint I ever did, I've gone back and retouched
this work and scanned it in robot mode from several angles. It does actually
transform, but the car mode is too lumpy to scan directly. Updated 11/14/22 with
21st Century pictures but keeping the 20th Century HTML. Still no car mode,
because I don't trust the 25 year old paint job to survive that. |
No
preview
picture |
ThighMaster Suzerain: A kitbash from a partial
Perceptor and some Lego and Mega (knockoff Lego) blocks, this is part of a
gag line I wrote up a few years ago. |
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Transmetal II Rhinox: Using the ToyBiz Shape
Shifters toy of Rhino as a base, I created my own
idea of a Transmetal II Rhinox, with the asymmetry and shiny bits bursting
out through the rhinohide. Details of construction are given in the
image. |
| THE MEGABEE |
Transmetal Megabee: Basically, this is a spare
claw bee from Scorponok turned into a somewhat more impressive Megabee. I
added a stinger using a dagger from an old Exo-Squad figure, plus some putty
to make the abdomen more mechanical-looking (it was supposed to be hexagonal,
but I had to make it octagonal to fit into the claw-launcher). I also cut
out bits from the wings to make them actually serrated and not
faux-serrated. Of course, after all my care, the paint layer was thick
enough that it still jammed in the launcher, d'oh. So I modified the
launcher. |
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Megatron X: The Marvel Shape Shifters Punisher (who
turns into a gun) turned into a 2012 version of Megatron. Includes working
laser weapon! |
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Guncrew: A Headmaster Micromaster Transport
Actionmaster Elite! The head is also a micromaster tractor and the body sort
of ("elite") transforms into a trailer covered in guns. Name and color
scheme inspired by the MLS team, the Columbus Crew. |
| J-Pop
Jazz |
J-Pop Jazz: A color scheme invented by a Japanese TV starlet for a
charity auction, I made up my own copy using mostly paint markers and a spare
Alternators Meister. It can be transformed without paint damage if I'm
careful.
- Front and Top Robot - Original paint scheme,
before I found a better reference for the front end.
- Side and Back Robot - Also original color
scheme.
- Corrected Front - A view of the upper body
after I found a better reference pic.
- Vehicle Mode - With "Pop Fashion" brand fashion
minifigure as driver. Legs have to be removed to fit all the way inside, due
to lack of legroom.
- Public Service Announcement - Winner of the May
2005 AllSpark Art Contest! Jazz, Hello Ravage and My Little Grimlock star in
a public service announcement about the dangers of kitbashers.
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| MovieSalvage |
Modified Movie-line Salvage. For a scrap-hauler, Salvage looked awfully
sleek and clean. So I dented and dirtied him, and have him a bed cover that
looked more like a bed full of scrap.
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TF:A
Channel |
TF:A Activators Ratchet modified into Channel. I dyed the toy red as a
base, although I painted over pretty much all of it in metalflake red and
gray. About the only unpainted parts are the wheels. I resculpted the head
and made the helmet and chest crests from styrene sheet, putting this beyond
the level of "quickbash". Yes, it's not quite the same as the drawing, but there's only so much one can
do with an Activator. I could have put in more of the gold lines, but
decided to keep the colors simplified like an actual toy. April 2011.
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Targetmaster
Dropforge |
The May 2011 AllSpark Art Challenge was to take a canonical character who
wasn't a Headmaster, Powermaster or Targetmaster, and make them into one. I
decided to build a Targetmaster partner for Ironworks, the Micromaster.
Built from Lego, styrene pieces, part of a junker Micromaster and some
Warhammer 40K bitz.
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Movieverse
Big Daddy |
One of the many "stealth/night attack" Bumblebee figures from the movie line, with
the head modified and some extensive repainting done, plus pinewood derby decals
added. Scratch-built a turbocharger block for the engine. Kind of a borderline
case between "full kitbash" and "lesser kitbash." July 2014.
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Caprock |
As is my wont, I will sometimes do kitbashes based on the mascot of whatever school
I'm working at. In 2014 I started teaching at Amarillo College, whose mascot is a
badger. I got a junker Snarl (Beast Wars 1996) on eBay and reshaped the beast head
to be more badger-like, then used dye and paint to make it closer to the school colors
in robot mode. The reason it was so cheap was that someone had chewed the peg off the
tail trigger, so I replaced it. November 2014.
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Ultra Magnus
Desk Tidy |
One of the gags in the IDW comics is that Ultra Magnus has a desk organizer (or
"desk tidy"), with Whirl getting in trouble for stealing it. I realized that an
old G1 Ultra Magnus trailer could be made into a desk tidy, and set out to do so,
acquiring a junker on eBay, a wooden box to use as a core, and various other bits.
I still use it next to my computer. May 2015.
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PotP
Nightracer |
When wave 2 of Power of the Primes Deluxes reshipped, I grabbed a spare to kitbash, but
I wasn't sure what to turn it into. I considered making a version of my LNH character
Kopikat, but upon seeing how much of Moonracer was pinned together I decided to keep it
simple and make BotCon 94's exclusive character Nightracer (in the intended colors, not
the "close enough" color runs Hasbro offered). I dyed most of the toy blue-black,
but the dye took inconsistently...and the feet warped. I was able to get the vehicle mode
back in service, but have decided to not try transforming it into either limb mode
(not that Nightracer would willingly be part of a combiner anyway). The head used the
back of Moonracer's and most of Apeface's faceplate (I had a spare from a previous
project), plus putty. For that original War for Cybertron feel, I got neon blue paint
for the panel lines and details. (This is actually my third Nightracer project,
here are the original toy touched up, and a Bumblebee
Legion toy from RotF that I modded.) August 2018.
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PotPKopikat |
I got this spare Moonracer at the same time as the one I made into Nightracer, but after
warped plastic from hot dyeing, I decided to try a slow approach. I left parts in dye
vats for months at a time...with disappointingly blotchy results anyway. Kopikat is
one of my RoboMACs/Legion of Net.Heroes characters, originally designed to look like a
"John Byrne-style" robot (complete with big eyebrows) with a feline head, and to look
vaguely like a brown robot wearing a green and red bikini-style costume. I had hopes of
making something that could go into all four modes and join Moonracer and Novastar in
an all-femme combiner with Elita-1, but...ugh. I consider this to be a failed project,
in the sense that I just couldn't overcome the dye bleed and paint scraping problems.
Just transforming it into vehicle mode once tore away paint from five places, including
three that I'd dremeled down extensively to prevent scraping. Not gonna bother trying
to fix the paint, just putting her in with the femmebot army in the back where her
flaws won't be as visible. I did a decent job, I think, of sculpting Moonracer's head
into one with cat ears, at least. Finished August 2019.
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TF: Cybertron Kitbashes of
toys from the Cybertron line that don't fit into any other category.
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Cybertron Skywarp: Using RIT Dye, I turned a spare Thundercracker purple
and black, then painted on silver details with a metal leaf pen and added
panel lines with purple paint. Probably won't do this again. Messy as all
get-out. Later added a couple of sharper pictures from a new camera.
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Cybertron
Huffer |
Cybertron Huffer: Armorhide painted orange and blue. I managed to mostly
avoid scraping at joints. First project photographed with my new digital
camera, woot. Re-photographed, that is...the original pictures met with many
complaints for blurriness, inspiring me to camera shop.
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Cybertron
Over-Run |
Cybertron Over-Run: A Scrapmetal repainted in
yellow and a different red, and given the techspec treatment. |
TF: Classics/Generations Both
from the original Classics line and the thematically similar Generations
line. |
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Classics Cliffjumper mod. I removed the flame
paint job, resculpted the head and made him a gas gun out of a $5
flashdrive. Vehicle mode. |
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Classics Bumper. Took a Classics Bumblebee
and modified it into that "oops" of G1, Bumper (a yellow Mini-Bot never
officially sold in the U.S., but sometimes put on Bumblebee's card). Made
the gun/cartop carrier out of a Star Force figure's backpack, some putty and
styrene, and a G2 Seeker missile I had sitting around from a parts batch. Vehicle mode. |
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Classics Channel. Classics Ironhide with a
little physical modding and a lot of paint, to get my fan character Channel.
October 2008. |
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Space Pistol Shockwave. Fall of Cybertron
Generations Shockwave with a series of pistol grip accessories to turn his
mobile artillery altmode into a giant space pistol. August 2012. |
Titans Return
Stockade
with Padlock |
Titans Return Stockade: I got a headless Titans Return Quake in trade, and
decided to do something with it. Lots of painting, and pretty much sculpting a
faceplate from scratch, turned it into something inspired by the Tank Drone redeco
Stockade. This was my last project using an old batch of Apoxie Clay, it just
wouldn't cure properly, hence the somewhat soft lines on the faceplate. I dyed
Skytread's vehicle to better match the colors chosen for this toy, inspired by how
the TakaraTomy "Legends" versions of Titans Return usually threw in a Titan Master
vehicle. December 2017.
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Transmythics
Inspired by Ken Carlson's Transmythics,
I took to kitbashing the clearance-priced and coupon-reduced Basic Fuzors
into various mythical critters. For the most part, I stuck with the original
toy plus paint and putty, with a few assorted bits added on, rather than
mixing and matching parts from different toys. These are generally done
between 1997 and 2000.
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(Image Lost)
Bellerotron |
Buzzclaw with
Incubus |
Ironclaw |
Perytron |
Vox |
Quadragon |
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Transmythic Bellerotron: A repaint and slight
remold of the Fuzor Bantor into a transforming Targetmaster Chimaera, the
mythical beast with the head and forelegs of a lion, hindquarters and horns
of a goat, and a snake for a tail, featured in the myth of Bellerophon and
the Pegasus. |
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Transmythic Buzzclaw: A modification of
Buzzclaw's "backpack" unit to make the character a Triple-Changing
Powermaster Transmythic Fuzor with binary-bonded partner Incubus. |
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Transmythic Ironclaw: Based on Terragator and
keeping roughly the same color scheme, this is a Hodag, a creature from the
lore of northern Wisconsin's logging days. You can't go near Rhinelander
without seeing dozens of the things...none living, though. |
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Transmythic Perytron: Built from Airhammer with the
help of a plastic deer toy and a lot of putty, this is a peryton in
Transformers form. Perytons had the body of a hawk, head of a stag, nasty
sharp teeth, and the shadow of a man. |
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Transmythic Transmetal II Vox: A TMII Leucrotta built
from TMII Ramulus and some putty, creatively rearranging the horn unit from
Ramulus to get a badger head and lion tail. In the original legends, a
Leucrotta was the offspring of a lion and a hyena, and spoke with a human
voice to lure people to their doom. |
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Transmythic Quadragon: Built from two Quickstrikes,
this is actually two Transmythics that merge to form Quadragon. Buster
transforms from a giant centipede into a nightmarish robot gun platform,
while Hydra changes from a four-headed hydra to a long-armed master of the
martial arts! |
