Legends of Cybertron HotShot

[FreedomGundam]

*EDIT (2005-12-05)* See Post #4 in this thread for the description of my kitbash project!  :)

 

=======================

 

Ooookay.  I have an LoC HotShot that I want to take apart because I want to do some work on him.

 

Now, I'm running into 2 issues:

1) How do I separate the front and back parts of his body?  Is it glued together or something?  'Cuz it's pretty tight...

2) Probably along the same issue, how do I remove the "backpack" part (the part on his back that spins with his wings)?  I can pull it out a bit, but it just pops back in, as if there's a spring in there somewhere.

 

I haven't forcefully tried to pry it apart, or cut anything yet; but I was wondering if anyone has taken him apart before and can at least let me know what to look out for...

 

Thanks!

[FreedomGundam]

Hmmm... So I take it no one's taken apart a Legends of Cybertron HotShot?... Seems that I'm on my own then.  Gonna try to gently pry him apart with a blade then.

 

On the operating table he goes.

"Nurse, scalpel..."

 

If I succeed in taking him apart in the next couple of days, I'll post some pictures here; just in case someone wants to know how everything's connected.

[Optimus Prime Sucks]

Do you have any pictures of your work in progress?

[FreedomGundam]

Ok, I guess I should start from the beginning then.  ;)

 

So I bought a Legends of Cybertron HotShot about a month and a half ago, just because he looked kinda cool (the only other GF/Cyb toy I had at the time was a GF Soundwave), and pretty close to his full-size Deluxe counterpart.

 

 

His transformation was surprisingly decent for a figure of its size; but after I had a look at the paint job, I decided that I had to repaint him to his proper GF Exillion colors. (I was first planning to do this with LoC Optimus Prime, but then Takara zooms ahead of me and releases TF GF EZ Collection...)

 

However, I realized 2 things:

1) Takara might just as well release a properly painted LoC HotShot in their EZ Collection,

2) His articulation leaves much to be desired...

 

 

So, with that in mind, I finally decided to do the following:

- Repaint him properly

- Give him knees

- Give him feet

- Give him elbows

- If possible, replace the opaque (gold-painted) windshield, door windows and Force Chip wings with clear versions

- Make him a mini-sized Force Chip (most likely non-functional, but we'll see if I'm up to making the Force Chip gimmick)

- Make him a gun (don't know at this point if it'll shoot the missile like the Deluxe version)

 

Now, this will be my first TF kitbash, so please bear with me.  I have pretty decent knowledge and experience in building Gundam models (click on my sig to check those out), so I think I should be ok, for the most part.  We'll see, won't we?  ;)

[FreedomGundam]

So back to my "trouble taking him apart situation".

 

Upon plucking off his legs, and unscrewing his shoulderpieces (and thus removing his arms), from a side view, you get this (top picture):

 

 

Now, as I've highlighted in the bottom picture, there appeared to be 2 seams in the plastic, and the screws were nowhere to be found!  Turns out the yellow seam is snapped in, and the pink seam is held together by screws, but...

 

... dammit Hasbro!  You glued the yellow seam shut!!!

 

So after about 30 minutes of prying and hacking and twisting with a thin flathead screwdriver, I finally manage to pop off his chest piece.  Man that took way too much effort...  I also broke the pegs that normally would allow the chest-piece to snap back in place, but that's ok, I'll be gluing it back together (see Hasbro?  Gluing is the job of the kitbasher!  Not the manufacturer!)

 

 

What a messy take-apart...

[FreedomGundam]

So... Just in case anyone really cares, here's a pic of all the pieces of a Legends of Cybertron HotShot.

 

 

Not included in the picture are the 4 screws for his legs, 4 screws for his arms, 3 screws and the spring for his chest.  Also, I haven't pulled out the wheels nor the Force Chip wings yet (need to get myself a soldering iron first!)...

[Optimus3000]

Eh, you may be jumping into ice cold water, feet first here, buddy. In my experience, it's best to start off small, with a repaint, then work yourself up to harder stuff. Starting off by trying to turn a joystick into a transformer is only going to end up in a lot of melted plastic and a non-functional joystick.

[MasterOfPuppets]

I'm quite interested to see how this turns out. I wonder why Takara didn't release an EZ collection Exillion. Hope it all turns out well.

 

Your Gundam kits are also very nice, make me wanna do some painting on my MG Freedom since it was my very first kit. And also in your member title. ikimasu only had 1 k. ;)

[Revolution]

You can do it!  Be great to see the results!

[FreedomGundam]

Eh, you may be jumping into ice cold water, feet first here, buddy. In my experience, it's best to start off small, with a repaint, then work yourself up to harder stuff. Starting off by trying to turn a joystick into a transformer is only going to end up in a lot of melted plastic and a non-functional joystick.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Thanks for the heads-up/warning.

But the thing is, as I've mentioned in my post above, I've built my share of Gundams and other various models.  I'm trying to do something more (ok, it's a bit more than just "more") involving this time.  A simple repaint would be no different to me than building a model kit, and the latter even has the whole "I have to build this first" factor going for it.  Hey, you gotta at least admit I'm starting "small".  :D  At least I'm not trying to start off with making a custom Alternator or Masterpiece...  :thumb

 

I'm quite interested to see how this turns out. I wonder why Takara didn't release an EZ collection Exillion. Hope it all turns out well.

 

Your Gundam kits are also very nice, make me wanna do some painting on my MG Freedom since it was my very first kit. And also in your member title. ikimasu only had 1 k. ;)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I also wonder why Takara never released an EZ Collection Exillion.  In my opinion, he's one of the best looking LoC's, so why not?  We'll see how mine turns out.  :thumb

 

Oh, thanks for pointing out the thing in my member title.  I typed that in when I was at work, and I could have sworn that was read , but I guess I was mistaken.  :P