Mod : Titans Return Galvatron and Nucleon ( a.k.a. mini-Meg ) !!!

Initially just wanted to see how the hips swivel after a failed attempt to repair the ab-cover to cover the robot ab completely, and slowly and unknowingly opened up the whole body... Only 2 screws for the main body and 2 for the hips... sustainability design... hmmm.... anyway, in the end decided to start off the head/mask modification as the body is already taken apart... And realized that the whole head socket mechanism is NOT designed to rotate at all (see the 2 pictures below) and a lot of carving and reinforcing probably has to be done to get it to swivel.. since I intend to use the ball joint of the Titan Master neck joint to turn, I decided not to touch this part...



The pin is knocked out using a screwdriver and (the flat part of) long nose pliers. The spring will be removed...


The face mask is cut at the bottom chin, and everything except the spring is re-assembled back. The purple base has to be tucked back and glued to the white part (position as if the face mask is pushed inside the chest cavity)... The inside of the mask is then sanded down using a "dremel" and a lot of testing to ensure the mask can fit onto the face better. Still, there is still quite some visible gap, probably due to the different curves of the mask and that of the face... The mask is super-glued onto the face of the Titan Master, and reinforced with the 5-Second-UV-Glue at some points... Take note not to glue the mask too high up the face, else Galvatron will have a large forehead...


Hmm... the Titan Master is no doubt.... MEGATRON !!!! And Megatron needs repainting... Very tempted to paint the side-abs red, but eventually fall back to his normal G1 colour scheme where only the side of the side-ab is red... Probably will print a sticker resembling the G1 abs to cover the screw-hole....


And here's the new Galvatron ('s head) !!!!!!! Hahahaha.... This IS Galvatron (who can transform into cannon, NOT tank, ok ?!!) !!!!!!


And now his head can turn (using the Titan Master's neck ball-joint)...


Here's a closeup on the head... Did not paint the face as I wanted it to be same colour as the other light-greyish plastic parts...


Should I make a micro fusion cannon??? hmm... Maybe next time... Anyway, at least Megatron now can fire the particle cannon!!



Too tired to mod the particle cannon mounting on carious places on his arm... Next time...

Side-Tracked: Recent Haul of TFs (182) - Ttians Return Galvatron , Titans Return Hardhead

Yeah! My first haul of the Titans Return line!!! An impulse buy though, as the next day after putting the order, I went to TRU and realized they had started to sell Galvatron... Damn... and it was even cheaper than buying online from Taobao.com.... Sigh... especially I have a $10 TRU voucher... anyway, if I include Hardhead (which I bought loose), then the total price will be slightly cheaper than buying at TRU without voucher... Yeap, should be using the voucher to buy a Chromedome MISB when the wave arrives...

So here's the first one, Galvatron!!!! With Nucl... nope, he shall be called properly as Megatron!!!! Hahahaha.... Will probably repaint this Titan Master with a similar Takara colour scheme... and also probably do some corrections to the mask stuff and canon-mounting to arm... Costs approx. SGD 63.45... Yeah, I know TRU sells it cheaper... sigh...


"The world needs more Galvatron!!!!!!"... hahahaha... I totally agree... Many TF players/buyers/collectors don't seem to like this incarnation of Galvatron mainly due to the headmaster gimmick that has a mask snapping up that doesn't fit that well and hinders movement etc... and though I agree while the mask-flipping feature should have been done a little better, I can still accept this new type of gimmick... sort of... will I mod the mask? Probably... like most people who cut the mask off and touch up to fit the face...


He still screams Galvatron to me!!! Hahahaha....


And the best is his alternate mode: the artillery-styled G1-ish cannon mode!!!! Nice!!!


Saw some pictures on the internet that shows a fan-mode for Galvatron to be transformed (sort of ) his gun mode that is achievable in his G1 toy... Thought maybe can try out more other ways of achieving a gun mode... and saw this hole formed by the 2 halves of the legs, which may be able to hold the cannon inside... but the holes are a bit too short (or think as the part with arrowed line too long)... so perhaps if can trim a bit, then the maybe...


... something like this can be done... Though the cannon part still looks weird... Hahaha...


And Galvatron with his new friend, Hardhead!!!!


I gotten Hardhead loose, without packaging nor instructions etc. Costs approx. SGD20.15... about $10+ cheaper than TRU price... Was afraid this loose stock will also have 'loose' joints, but surprisingly the joints are quite tight enough!!!


And he can do the 3-point-landing pose too!!! Hahahaha...


In his H-tank mode, with Fur... nope, stubbornly calling him Duros, steering the tank... Solid...


... he can also operate the cannon!! ... but wait, who is steering the tank... may need help....


... and with Megatron (Nucleus) helping to operate the cannon!!!



Just some ranting... I understand many Chinese TF collectors are now getting more and more into this 'complaint' that they call "steal plastic" (偷胶), which basically refers to the hollowness that are appearing more and more in recent lines of TFs... these can be due to the recent way of manufacturing parts (e.g. limbs now are molded in 1 piece instead of 2 pieces screwed together in the past), or the hollow gaps that are visible when fists, lower legs are folded out... I can understand why they grow on this aspect, as the TFs shrink in size but grow in price... yah, this sucks... But in my opinion, I think this trend of complaining on "stealing plastic" may have gone too out of track and too much... To me, I will prefer to focus on the design, aesthetics, durability and fun-factor, instead of keep looking out for hollowness and then declare this toy is no good, Hasbro is greedy, Hasbro is evil, etc etc... (reminds me of the "What?! Parts-forming??!! Worst toy ever!!!..." ) An example of this line is the very evident high level of aesthetic details and lines on the toy, especially the Deluxe figure, which has the type and intensity of details that is normally seen in Voyager sized figures.The style of design has also catch up (or almost) with that of 3rd-party figures (e.g. the face sculpt of Hardhead, which has a very nice design and has fine details that normally would be ignored in the past... )... Bottom line is, enjoy the toy! It is a toy afterall! So enjoy, folks!!!

Mod: KO Oversized CW Rodimus Back Wings

One of my reasons to buy this KO is to try to mod it to resemble the G1 version of Hot Rod... Like a reviewer once said: "The world needs more Galvatron"... My (TF-)world (display cabinets) also need more Hot Rods... hahahaha... the most distinct feature for this KO mold shoud be the back "wings" that G1 Hot Rod has, and the easiest way to do this will be using (1) blu-tack (nope, not acceptable) or (2) make 2 holes for the corresponding pegs in the "wings" pack to peg into... But again, like the reviewer likes to mention in his reviews (I know he is mimicking the comments or something like that): " ~What??!! Parts forming ??!! Worst toy ever!!~ ", I want to make this transformation to be non-parts-forming... Started off by cutting the wings off the "main staff"...


The "wings" will be made to swivel 180 degrees, so the middle of the "main staff" is replaced by little pipe...


... testing...


The pipe/tube is super-glued to the "main staff" and the gaps filled with UV glue...


"Wings" are then glued to to a little round peg that is inserted into the pipe... again used UV glue to cover the surfaces of the joints...


... testing the swivelling feature... works! But realised the swivel point may be too off-centred...


And yes, a little round peg is also attached to the other end of the "wings" to reinforce it...


Small little peg is cut and glued on the body side. It will protrude out the barrel a little for better securing, and also looked like the front aiming piece... yeap, barrel will need to drill a small hole...


Done!!! Car mode is still decent... the 2 orange parts are quite different from the "wings" colour but not too bad...


Side view of the car mode....


And now Rodimus/Hot Rod has the back "wings" !!!! No parts-forming!!!! Yeah!!!


Here's a close-up look...


... and back of the robot mode...

Next to mod for this KO will probably be the addition of pipes and chest flame deco...

Mod: KO Oversized CW Powerglide Fists Modification

Somehow I can't get over KO oversized CW Powerglide fingers showing so blatantly in plane mode... think and think and think and think... many many ways appear to cover the fingers but somehow it just boils down to : no suitable material nor finishing to match the material/colour of the toy... in the end, decided to just try the strategy of swivelling the fists 180 degrees... at least the "fist-guards" will appear on top and fingers (below the "fist-guard") will not be too obvious especially when looking from the top... Started off by cutting the fists...


Centre of the parts are marked for the swivelling pegs and holes...


Even if marked properly, things still go wrong while drilling the holes (yeah, drill the left hand off centre...


Anyway, a round peg is secured (with superglue) on the fist to insert into a hole on the forearm...


Testing on robot mode... Ok...


And here's the comparison of the plane modes with original fists (left of pic) and with fists swivelled 180 degrees (right of pic)... To me it looks better this way...


Plane mode...


Robot mode is not much affected... still able to hold the guns...

Update: KO Oversized Feral Rex Upgrade Kit

And now finally Razorclaw and Rampage (and also Catilla/Felisaber) can pose properly!!!!!! Hahahahaha.... Realised that (while taking pictures) only the 3 above-mentioned out of the six Predacons desperately needs the rotating fists to look "normal" in robot mode... But still ,I install for all... and with the retractable manes, Razorclaw's robot mode can have a distinct difference in lion head's aesthetic compared to the beast mode...


... and Rampage... did not take pictures of Catilla as the effects look similar...


... and finally, Predaking/Feral Rex!!!! Proper hands proved to be much better when looking the figure at certain angles... hahaha... The top part of the manes can now be adjusted to prevent arms from knocking into it (which happen in the older manes) ... Did not change to the smaller head as I prefer this size...

Side-Tracked: Recent Haul of KOs (181) - KO Diecast Evasion Optimus Prime, KO Simplified Downsized MMC Hexatron

Till now I also have no idea as to why I bought these 2 KOs... First is the KO diecast Evasion OP, which costs approx. SGD13.25... Looks nice but the truck mode has a "battle-damaged" grill, probably due to pegs pushed in are not cut cleanly and forced the other side (grill side)... sigh, got to remedy... worst will be swapping the piece form my older KO (if can)... at least the arms are not same mold (which my older KO version has, hahaha) ... 


Next is the KO simplified downsized MMC Hexatron... Very simplified with some missing parts (robot chest wings, gun trigger etc), and can barely transformed into the 6 modes except for tank mode... so some work will need to be done... Cost approx. SGD 5.35...

Update - KO G1 Weirdwolf : Making the Tail / Thermal Sword

Was very disappointed and a little frustrated initially when I discovered that the tail=sword is missing in my newly purchased KO G1 Weirdwolf... But after a search on the internet, even the cheapest 2nd-hand will cost me SGD10+++ ... so very quickly I decided to make my own tail-sword... First, I searched and printed out the original tail-sword with many copies, as templates... For the handle, I found an old part that has a nice peg that fits in the KO Weirdwolf's peg-holes... Will be using some spare polystyrene sheets (not sure of the thickness) and a thicker ABS as the main material...


The sword is split into layers and using the ref pictures double-sided-taped onto the polystyrene sheet, I cut out the layers. The guard of the sword is cut from the ABS sheet to about 1.1cm by 0.9cm...


All parts are then filed nicely with needle files and penknife, and then glued together with superglue... Also filled up the gap of the blade-holder part (at the bottom-middle of the blade)...


Done !!!! Compare with the original version... not too bad... about 90% close... Good enough...


Testing the tail-sword to hold in the hand... a bit loose...


... testing on the tail's peg-hole... barely manage to stay plugged but not secure... will have to apply a layer of superglue to the handle to thicken it up (which did work in the end)...


Nice... now my KO G1 Weirdwolf is complete with his tail/sword.... hahahahaha....



And here's a video to show the KO G1 Weirdwolf and also his new tail-sword...