I recently picked up a Bumblebee for my fiancé, but his single stinger didn't look right so I bashed out a couple of new ones.

When in alt mode, the new halves of the stingers are stored in his 'trunk' area.

View the Custom Here

Full stingers=

how did you remove the pegs so you could switch around the stingers? simple, I hope.

It's more than just taking off the stinger and turning it around. The stinger isn't made to do that, and had three sections of plastic that you need to cut off. I took pictures as I went, so if people are interested I'll make a quick how-to and post it in the workbench area.

As for taking out the pins, I'd never done it before but the concept is simple enough. Find a nail about the diameter of the pin, flatten the head of it so it isn't so pointy. (Otherwise is might slip and damage the plastic.) Then brace the part with the pin somehow (I held onto it tightly, but I have a decently strong grip...), align the nail with the pin, and hit it with a hammer a few times.

The places where I read about this said to tap it gently (or alternatively heat up the pin with a soldering iron but I wasn't going to try that with a Bumblebee I had already promised I'd do my best not to break) until the pin comes out, but that didn't do much so I used a few forceful taps.

There's also something else I should mention. A pin isn't just a smooth rod. It has a rough notched end that secures it in the plastic. You'll want to find this end, because it's what you want to come out first. (Put the nail on the opposite end.) Sometimes there is a little cross-hatched pattern on that end of a pin, but on Bumblebee both are pretty smooth. However, since it's the side that went in last (and comes out first) it's closer to the end of the hole. On Bumblebee, that's the underside of his arms. This works out good because it gives you a little dip to rest the nail in when you start tapping the pin out.



All in all, this custom took me a few hours to do, but I was using a box cutter's razor blade held in my bare fingers. (The blades were cheap, the box cutter... well, was less cheap.)

It's not that hard to do, but a little tricky on where to cut.


On a side note, when my post is disentangled with xecom01's collection post, hopefully these posts survive.

~Matt Booker

Please pardon their progress, it's all part of a greater TFormers community.

Thanks for fixing it, BaCon!

~Matt Booker

I didn't even notice he had a trunk..

Anyway, great mod, I may have to try this out. Makes one of my least favourite figures actually decent.

thank you. I must do something like this now....

Thanks! I think it makes the figure much better.

As for the trunk, it was my future Mrs. that pointed it out as a good storage area. They fit with ample room for any fuzzy cube thingies, miniature human female replica, or the odd human child and his pet monkey.



I hope more people do. If you need any help or a reference picture about where to cut, let me know.

~Matt Booker

You might as well go ahead and make a tutorial...

I will tonight when I get back from shopping. ;)

~Matt Booker

thank you. I must do something like this now....

Very Nice Fix!!!

I'll buy another Bumblebee remove his stingers and then give that one to my kids!

Good Job looks way better!

Awesome Stingers and You - A step by step to a better Bumblebee.

What about a custom car horn that beeps 'More Than Meets the Eye'/'Robots in Disguise'? Seriously though, that really does make 'Bee look better! I probably won't be able to do it to him when I manage to get him due to this being a hard to find figure. I'll definitely try the head trick, though!

Glad you liked it!

Really think about at least modding him for two half stingers. Check the pics in my tutorial. If I didn't have easy access to a second bee, I'd have done that. Doesn't look as good, but still better than factory.

~Matt Booker