Hi again guys,

Have run into some setbacks when I attepted to transform to alt mode. Unfortuately the method I was gonna use for attaching the doors isn't gonna work now so I need to go back to the drawing board for a while. Also, his front wheels stick out a little too much for my liking so I'm gonna rethink that one also. I've come up with a way of doing the hood down transform that people have suggested but it will mean the head will have to be a removable accesory. other than these setbacks I have to admit he looks really nice in both modes as he's now almost fully painted. Will try and put in some hours on him this week. :thumb

Good luck I personally would have gone with a small suv ie. the Tracker or some other little off road buggy. However the pics I`ve seen so far look good.

Hi Guys, YET another update. I have now attached all four limbs permanently and the figure is fully painted. All 3 weapons designed to mimic the original weapons are finished and one of the door attached. Only problem is that when drilling the hole for the other door I managed to destroy the joint and so wil have to improvise a solution somehow. I'll have robot mode pics up by Friday and hopefully alt mode as well. (if I dare transform him!)

 

One other dilemma I have is the placing of the head. Many people suggested that it may be better with the hood closed, in which case I would mount it to the dashboard. The problem with this is that his head is set quite far back and makes him quite disproportionate due to the height. (the legs are rather stumpy) Although the hood up looks a bit odd, it does make him look unique amongst the alternators and puts the head in the right place in proportion to the body.

 

Overall it has taken a lot of effort to make skids and has been a great learning experience. I actually think that the modifications I made to smokescreen and the way in which I attached it to another 1:24 kit would be a good way of making a custom bumblebee, especially after seeing the recent concept sketches. Hope that the finished product and photos make it worth all the man-hours. Thanks for viewing :thumb

looking forward to seing him,

Looking forward to see the finished version....

Your alt is looking mighty fine thus far, I look forward to seeing how this one turns out.

Hi guys,

Still no better off I'm afraid, I haven't managed to fix the breakage on the door hinge so am still stuck. I was wondering if anyone has any ideas. The rather crude diagram below might help to describe the issue. In drilling through the door hinge I ended up breaking it in two. The pin that passes through it can now no longer support any weight. The cross section diagram shows how the door hinge is pinned below the shoulder through a ridge I drilled. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to pin it in place with half of the door hinge missing so that it can still articulate with a reasonable amount of stress being put on it? I'll post photos by the end of the week but if anyone can suggest anything now I may be able to fix it prior to that. Thanks.

my grimlock broke similor to that where the trunk lifts up to the knee,

anyway i fixed the pin in permanently with epoxy, works better now then it did before,

Thanks for the epoxy suggestion, will give it a try. (I think I have araldite somewhere. Will take some high res photos tonight but for now here's a couple of phone camera pics which show the near complete version. Only missing one door and the detachable roof / shield. Both hood transformations can be seen so please give me opinions on which everyone thinks is best. Thanks.

and with the hood up.