kitbashing with Sunstreaker
Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 1:44 pm
As many people have noticed, Unverse Sunstreaker is pretty much made for conversions.
(Thanks to Crossrook and Scourge for pointing this link in the hauls thread.) http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotom ... punch.html
And, of course, everybody knows about the upcoming Sideswipe figure that will use a Sunstreaker body with a few parts reversed and a new head mold.
As O86 pointed out, this presents a possibility of making new-Diaclone variants of Sunstreaker and Sideswipe by swapping the heads and reversing a few parts, creating a red Sunstreaker and a yellow Sideswipe, (aka Tigertrack, owing to a recent EHobby exclusive).
I did some exploratory surgery on an extra Sunstreaker yesterday. The arms segment nicely. The only parts that need to be swapped from one to the other for any of the above kitbashes are the hands and heads. (If you make the Doublespy figure, you will have to swap the hands every time you change the toy and its faction.) It also helps to swap the shoulders (at least on Sunstreaker), to keep the painted sides towards the robot's front.
Note, the colored shoulder bits are connected to a black armature that also comes off. Be careful to put the armature back onto the shoulder it was intended to be on, or the toy may not transform correction. Additionally, the arm sections with the door-kibble chunks need to be kept where they were placed at the origional design stage, as they have stay on the same side of the *car* regardless of configuration.
The heads are easier to remove than one might think. The screw holding together the two sections is there to keep the head halves together, and need not be removed to swap the heads. The heads are mounted on a ball-joint, and can be popped right off. The plastic feels sturdy enough to endure these at least a few times, and the mechanism the heads are mounted on is sturdy enough to withstand the process. If you do take the heads apart, be wary of the springs in Sunstreakers's head. They pop out easily, and are nearly impossible to restore. (I lack the tools and motor-control to restore mine. The ears on my "scrap-streaker" still stay in place, but they no longer flip out automatically.)
Dom
-might just use the manual ear-flipping head for a Counterpunch figure
(Thanks to Crossrook and Scourge for pointing this link in the hauls thread.) http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotom ... punch.html
And, of course, everybody knows about the upcoming Sideswipe figure that will use a Sunstreaker body with a few parts reversed and a new head mold.
As O86 pointed out, this presents a possibility of making new-Diaclone variants of Sunstreaker and Sideswipe by swapping the heads and reversing a few parts, creating a red Sunstreaker and a yellow Sideswipe, (aka Tigertrack, owing to a recent EHobby exclusive).
I did some exploratory surgery on an extra Sunstreaker yesterday. The arms segment nicely. The only parts that need to be swapped from one to the other for any of the above kitbashes are the hands and heads. (If you make the Doublespy figure, you will have to swap the hands every time you change the toy and its faction.) It also helps to swap the shoulders (at least on Sunstreaker), to keep the painted sides towards the robot's front.
Note, the colored shoulder bits are connected to a black armature that also comes off. Be careful to put the armature back onto the shoulder it was intended to be on, or the toy may not transform correction. Additionally, the arm sections with the door-kibble chunks need to be kept where they were placed at the origional design stage, as they have stay on the same side of the *car* regardless of configuration.
The heads are easier to remove than one might think. The screw holding together the two sections is there to keep the head halves together, and need not be removed to swap the heads. The heads are mounted on a ball-joint, and can be popped right off. The plastic feels sturdy enough to endure these at least a few times, and the mechanism the heads are mounted on is sturdy enough to withstand the process. If you do take the heads apart, be wary of the springs in Sunstreakers's head. They pop out easily, and are nearly impossible to restore. (I lack the tools and motor-control to restore mine. The ears on my "scrap-streaker" still stay in place, but they no longer flip out automatically.)
Dom
-might just use the manual ear-flipping head for a Counterpunch figure