Bumblebee, Barricade, Sideswipe and Skids modsView the Custom Gallery Here

really like the fingers on barricade...might have to do that one.

 

I did a few mods to my HA bumbleebee, any chance you'd mind if I posted some pics in your thread here, hip-hoptimus?

Go nuts!

Modded the hips on my barricade the day I got him, but did the finger mod last night. Loving the fact he can move them individually now. Thanks for the sorta tutorial in the other thread, helped me lots

HA BB mods: "crotch flip mod" to get the wheels on the legs on the outside, allowed the chest panels to twist up higher, allowed the wheels to tuck into the chest, and added some paint to the eyes to remove the bug look (yes, it didn't show up too well in the pictures).

 

 

After turning the legs around, the fenders on his thighs rested too far inwards for my taste. What I did what shave some plastic off the fender's support beam (the very wide V shaped chunk missing) and some plastic on his thigh (to the right of the red)

 

 

 

The chest mod seemed necessary to me because the panels popped back in far too easily. The mechanism works by having a tip on the light gray pieces travel along grooves on the inside of the cylinders behind the chest. After simply unscrewing and removing the dark gray blocks to the right and left and the pieces in the cylinder, you could either carve the grooves a bit deeper, or create a new one like I did (pointed out by the long red area). If I remember correctly, you just need a small grove in the front (small red area) to allow the light gray piece to rotate when the chest panel is pulled out and a short notch (just at the front of the long red area) for the tip to rest and lock into.

 

 

 

Getting the wheels into the chest is a bit trickier and requires a lot of back and forth between shaving plastic and checking clearances. The wheels can already fit under the car's hood after the arms are pulled out. All you need to do is twist the front of the car a tiny bit to squeeze the wheels past the dark gray blocks pointed out earlier. The problem is getting the dashboard to fit in there as well when BB's fully transformed. Most of the clearance can be handled by shaving down the lower corners of the dashboard (plus it can make the sculpt look more interesting :P) The wheel on the driver's side also needs to have a small notch cut out of it as well. Just be patient, and eventually the chest should be able to lock into place again with the wheels inside.

 

 

 

And finally, the eyes. All I did was mark the centers of the eyes, disassemble the head, and paint the eyes in a dark gray, similar to the plastic around it. Using a q-tip, wiped off the still wet paint in the centers and allowed it to dry. I finished it off by outlining the new pupils with a ring of silver (it shows up pretty well in the eye on the left in the first pic). Now he doesn't look like a bug and still has some cool light-piping.

 

I wish I were more organized in the way I mod these things. I just tear into them, I have no plan when I start. I'll have a look at them again and write down how I did what. Sorry; here's a rough pass on my Bumblebee mods:

 

Individual fingers, pretty easy after you pull the pin holding the fingers on. just carefully cut the fingers apart, making sure to leave enough of the cylindrical portion at the base of the fingers attached to each finger. I use a pair of hose-cutting pliers, like these on Google.

 

Right hand- modified a donor left hand from another HA Bee into a right hand. It pops in and out so the cannon can still be used. Also separated fingers as above. Reversing the thumb was a nightmare, didn't even turn out very well.

 

Feet- shortened the long pointy "toes" to more closely resemble the movie model. Just cut them off at the correct angle (find some pics or movie art) and closed up the opening w/ little bits of the cut-off sections. It could stand to be filled in and painted...

 

Ankles- Something I just did, I cut off the little "bridge" of yellow and gray material across the back of the ankles, so he can point his foot more. Lets him hold some cool deep crouches.

 

Right arm kibble- modified a donor left arm kibble part, with gray twin cannons, to sit on the right arm for symmetry and extra (pretend) firepower. Another pain. You have to cut the seatback off each seat and put the left seatback on the right seat. I used super glue.

 

Elbows- trimmed material on the inside of the elbows to increase flex range (tighter bending).

 

Battle mask- shaved down the inner surface so it rests closer to his face.

 

I'll try to get more detailed pics, and descriptions for the rest of the figures' mods. BTW SGC, I did the mod for the leg panels, it's easy and makes a good difference. Thanks! :thumb

HA Bumblebee

 

Has anyfan noticed you can unscrew the forearms of the new deluxe Battle Blade Bumblebee and use both the ax and blaster (or two blasters) on the HA figure?

 

The notched peg fits perfectly!

 

Who needs those crumby seats, I've got dual blasters!

HA BB mods: "crotch flip mod" to get the wheels on the legs on the outside, allowed the chest panels to twist up higher, allowed the wheels to tuck into the chest, and added some paint to the eyes to remove the bug look (yes, it didn't show up too well in the pictures).

 

 

have you seen bumblebee in the movies? that chest looks ridiculous.

 

Yeah, it's not quite movie accurate, but I feel it looks more transformed this way. Plus, I could always still leave the chest in the stock transformation since all I did was add another notch for the panels to click into.

Yeah, it's not quite movie accurate, but I feel it looks more transformed this way. Plus, I could always still leave the chest in the stock transformation since all I did was add another notch for the panels to click into.

 

i think you should keep the chest in the more accurate position. i, personally, think it looks better that way. the body is definitely more suited to the accurate way... it just keeps reminding me of this awful cgi bumblebee video on youtube.

 

the wheels look good in his torso.. i prefer them the accurate way.. but it's definitely a great idea.

 

on mine.. i gave him two hands, with the extra hand.. i have to replace the forearm to transform him. i cut of the connection pieces from the seat so it looked better.

 

with the legs.. i decided not to do the mod, i basically just switch them when i transform him. so that it looks better, and so i can flip the yellow thigh panels for it to be accurate. i also did the door mod so that they could slant upwards. he definitely looks better that way.. especially since, in the movie, his door wings are closer together.

 

someone from TFW made, and is selling, custom forearm pads to use instead of the seats being there.. i may get them, i forget how much they are.. or if he's even selling them anymore.. it's been a while since i've checked.

 

i really wish a third part would create a big ROTF figures* add on set.. like have accurate jetfire parts for the prime combination.. a staff and a new head for the fallen, and arm pads, an extra hand, and maybe a more accurate gun arm for bumblebee.. that set, together, would probably cost a fortune.