Update: KO TFC Hercules Gestalt Fists Mod

I thought the gestalt fists modifications will be easy but I was wrong... The beginning was still quite OK, and involves only cutting off the V2 gestalt fists connectors, trim them and then screw them onto V1's gestalt fists...


... however, made a mistake in gauging the allowance for the connector length and had to use washers and such to increase the allowance for gap space... Anyway, managed to complete...


...testing on the 2 members - KO Exgraver and KO Neck Breaker... Looks good on KO Exgraver's vehicle mode but kind of weird on KO Neck Breaker's vehicle mode... Both robot mode looks weird...



Next, the hollow spaces have to be covered up... I (stupidly) painstakingly "trace" the inner profile of the spaces on a thin ABS and cut out to glue inside the hollow spaces - all these just to ensure the levels are flushed instead of the cover pieces are on top of the walls... Took a long long long time... Oh, also drilled a hole at each of the palm side for the big gun to peg in... (yeap, added an extra peg at the gun handle too, for KO Hercules to hold on his right hand...)


... and the thumbs are covered with hot glued... yeap, getting lazy at this point...


Once done, each fist is disassembled and painted with Tamiya metallic purple paint using a sponge and toothpick to reach into the tight spots/gaps... This is a relatively good paint, and even seem to resist scratching even at the ball joints... nice...


When dried, I quickly assembled the fists and test them on the 2 members... Looks good... Did not take a picture of them in robot mode as not much difference...


Also tried out the fists in gestalt mode (or semi-gestalt)... Looks good! Now fists can rotate, thumbs on ball-joint, and (four) fingers swivel (together)... not as articulated as the authentic one but close enough...



4 out of 6 robots done so far.... 2 more to go... but only now then realised the cabin canopies are mixed up for the KO Exgraver and KO Structor, and the worst part is that the pegs for the cabins are not the same... so got to fix that up later...next time... yah, next time... lazy now... hahahaha....

Update: KO TFC Exgraver Mod

Phew... Finally completed, after days of hard work and experimenting and injuries... hahahaha... So here's the KO TFC Exgraver mod, the other arm for KO TFC Hercules... Starting with the V2 whole legs transplant to V1's hip. The right side of the picture shows a small drill bit (size unknown) I used to drill the V2's leg-hip connector's hole in order to fit into V1's hip... And the hips will be painted black later...


Next: Head swap!!! Hahahaha....


I thought I could just trim and attach V2's head onto V1's back part of the head, but later discover that V1's back of head is actually blocking the gestalt fist (thumb) when storing, so I had to cut off the V1's back of head, leaving only the neck ball-joint connector to join to the V2's head...


Lazily covered the back of head with hot glue... and paint it black later...


I wanted to retain V2's lower arms as they have the rotating fist and also a peg to secure to the legs in vehicle mode... So decided to transplant V2's lower arms to V1 head... And since I am to cut off the arms into 2, I confirmed my decision to make elbow joints for them...


So V1's lower arms has to be cut off... They are not wasted, as they are later used to cover up the spaces of the new lower arms...


Used some "hinges" from the other unwanted KO TFC "Constructicons" and trim to secure onto V2's lower arms. Then will then be joined to the upper arm of V1...


Nice, now got elbow joints...


For the vehicle scooping part, I cut and trim the base connector and restore the ratcheting joint feature (since the ratchet part is still retained in the frame). Lots of trial and error...


This base connector has a peg that is too small to fit into the V1's hole in vehicle mode. So I cut off the peg that originally holds the base connector in V2 and glue it to the base connector's peg. This new peg actually fits into the V1's vehicle hole nicely...


Next will be separating the other 2 joints for the scoop part... All parts and materials are from old junk and such, so not sure of the size or where to buy...


Middle frame is sawn off using a small coping saw...


The middle frame has a super big hole after sawing, so I decided to use metal washers to cover them up slightly, and this also allows screws to be used for the axle... Nice... Ready to be assemble...


Vehicle mode!!!! Nice!!!


Now can "play" with the scooping part for more poses....


Transform into robot... Back of robot... Looks like he has a tail, but I prefer this configuration as it is nearest to G1 style...


Front view of robot mode... I painted the front of the chest piece using metallic purple paint from Tamiya...


Most importantly, the official gestalt arm mode is now achievable (though most likely I will be using the G1-style configuration for the scoop part, hahahaha...)!!!



Up next: The gestalt fists... I think...


Edit: As the vehicle cabins are mixed up in the KO versions, I found the one that belongs to KO Exgraver, but it was quite loose...

Used a thin piece of plastic to cut to shape that can fit at the fist bottom, and holes are drilled to fit in the cabin peg... mistake made...


Hot-glue is applied around the hole to act as "wall" for the cabin peg to rest better inside the fist... The plastic piece is then hot-glued to the bottom of fist... And 2nd verse same as the 1st...


... done... Some shaving of the lower torso is needed to let the cabin sit flushed... Also painted the plastic black... And because I stupidly cut the hole in the fist bottom pieces just nice to fit in the cabin peg, which is slightly smaller than the other holes on the body to fit into, I now have to use super-glue to thicken the walls of the other holes that may be used to house the cabin when in robot mode if I don't want to position the cabin under the robot fist... Anyway, is done... nice...

Update: KO TFC Neck Breaker Lower Arm Mod

Found a small plastic hinge and decide to break it into 2 and use on KO TFC Neck Breaker's lower arms' cover... Try out 1 arm first... So after some fiddling and gluing etc, got it to work (sort of)...


Attach to the arm... Nice... Do the other arm...


Done!!!! Now looks so much nicer...


Best thing is vehicle mode is not affected!!!



Next restoration: KO TFC Exgraver...

Update: KO TFC Neck Breaker Shovel Piece Blade and Push Frames Modification

I thought since KO TFC Neck Breaker should be easy to do, I decided to start last night... The main job is on the bulldozer's blade (the "shovel" piece) and the push frames. The blade-lift cylinders are removed as I am... PURE LAZY... Cut off Version 1's push frames pieces and will add extender pieces with stopper, to be fitted into Version 2's empty frames...


This is the extender piece with stopper, also cut and shaped out from the Version 1's remaining push frames waste... Super glue and hot glue are used for joining...


After assembling, a cover piece from the waste plastics is secured on top... Minor touch ups like thickening the pegs for tighter joints etc are also done...


Also cut off the 2 ball joints on the head as they look ugly on the head...


Here's the gestalt arm mode... looks good... at least to me...


... and the bulldozer mode looks quite decent too, although the blade-lift cylinders are missing...


And the robot mode, with the 1/2 blade as "foot". Will look good if the 1/2 blade part is not so big (i.e. the authentic version one)...


This my preferred way of feet-transform configuration... I also painted the head black to better distinguish it from the green back-piece...


Back of robot mode... The 1/2 blade pieces help to stabilize the robot well...

Update: KO TFC Dr Crank Minor "Restoration"

Would love to have use the Version 1 (V1) KO Dr Crank as the main body to work on, but as I want to have the flip up gestalt head, I have to use the Version 2's (V2)...

Arm Connector (for Exgraver)
The connector peg from V1 is transplanted to V2 body as I am using V1 KO Exgraver for the gestalt's right hand...


A screw is used to secure the connector peg as these pegs don't fit with each other (V1 v V2)... a thin piece of plastic is used to make the size correct...



Cabin
The hollow cabin belongs to V2, and the "solid" black cabin is from V1, and again V1's will be transplanted to V2...


Done. Also have sanded/scrapped off the extra black paint so that the remaining black paint will resemble the windows...



Lower Arms
The V2 lower arms are hollow and visible from behind. In individual robot mode, it is still acceptable as long as it is not viewed from the back, but it looks ugly in gestalt mode... Ideally, the lower arms from both versions can be exchanged, but in reality, they are entirely different in structure... So the last resort is to cut off the V1's lower arm covers and glue onto V2's...


Here's the back of the robot showing the "covered" lower arms...


... and in vehicle mode...



Crane
Basically, V1's crane will be used, as it has 1 extendable section. Also it has more rotating joints (V2's have none)... However, the connector peg for the crane holder is located right in the middle, which will make the crane block the gestalt head. The original TFC version has a swiveling peg at the crane holder, so I decided to follow it... The extra material from V2 KO Neck Breaker's shovel piece... Once done, the small peg (right in the pic) will be glued tight the circular piece near the edge, and the circular piece will be joined to the crane holder with a screw (shorter than the one in the pic) to allow swiveling action...


The V2's hook piece at the crane is cut off to be glued later to V1's crane...


.. and the new crane... much better than the V2's crane... I later trimmed the length of the peg to let the crane sit down lower...


Pic to show crane extend...



Gestalt Head
Can't remember what these 2 "rings" are for, and hence cut them off since they look ridiculous...


As the LED is removed from the head, I covered up the hole with super glue mixed with tissue papers... and used a red marker to paint it later....


This KO head is simplified to no head rotation, so head rotation modification is carried out...


This will act as the rotating neck...


Gestalt head can be rotated now...



Lastly, painted the individual robot head to black, and the tire rims to silver... Exhausted now... all these "appear" easy, but before these happen, a LOT of trials and errors happened... and is very draining... so might take some time before resuming with the fiddling of this wonderful KO TFC Hercules...



Edit: Need to slice off a portion of the front of the hook piece so as to better balance robot mode... Luckily not too ugly... Used hot-glue to fill up the hollow...