Some of you who have frequented other boards I'm on may be familiar with my G1 female Autobots, Moonracer and Chromia—
—and these WIP pics of the new Elita-1 I've been working on for the past month or so, on and off. Those of you that haven't, this will be new to you, and there are a lot of them—too many for one post, I would gather— so I will break them down by when they were taken. She is being built out of an oversized knock-off LoC Evac and three knockoff Cyberjets, as well as styrene tubing and sheet styrene.
In essence, she's a Cybertronian truck of some form as depicted in the cartoon, though we never see much except her front end. The final design is based off of Don Figueroa's design for her in the DW comics. He never came up with a vehicle mode depiction and told me it would probably be similar to her cartoon vehicle mode. Here is the first set—
Here is the most current batch of WIP pics. I have done some additional work to the canopy since these were taken, but not much more. The front end is pretty much done, though I may taper the nose a bit to be more G1 accurate. I also need to come up with some way to cover or fill in the gap between her thighs and the mounts for her arms in vehicle mode.
That's quite impressive. Did you sculpt the head? I'm working on an Elita 1 alternator for a friend, and it needs a head at this point. His original idea for a modified Grimlock head didn't work out, so now I'm looking for other options.
Yes, the head is completely hand fabricated from 9mm square tubing, sheet styrene and 3/32" clear acyrilic rod. I used a head from one of the knock-off Cyberjets for the ball joint, and built the head around it. The heads for Chromia and Mooracer are also hand fabricated as well.
Originally posted by Tramp Yes, the head is completely hand fabricated from 9mm square tubing, sheet styrene and 3/32" clear acyrilic rod. I used a head from one of the knock-off Cyberjets for the ball joint, and built the head around it. The heads for Chromia and Mooracer are also hand fabricated as well.
Well, piddle. No, you did fine, but that means I don't have access to an off-the-shelf head I can use.
All the more impressive on your part. I can't really sculpt that well, let alone at that tiny scale.
Well, like I said, it really wasn't sculpting. It was fabricating, much like the guys at Orange County Choppers do when building bikes on American Chopper. I start with a section of square tubing for the lower part of the face, shape the lower jaw and cheaks using my Dremel, add a small piece of sheet styrene and shape that into the chin and lower lip with an X-Acto knife and files, add a second piece of styrene above the first and shape that into an upper jaw and lip, cut sections of acrylic rod to make the optics (and light piping), either building the entire cranium from the rods or building the cranium from more tubing, depending on if it will have light piping or not. Then I shape the eyes a bit and glue on a tiny triangle of styrene for the nose, smooth it in and shape it with my files, and build the rest of the helmet, adding cut pieces of styrene to make the crest and othe rembelishments.
As far as modifying an existing head. I can see why using a Gromlock head wouldn't work. You need to use a head with a full face—eyes, nose and mouth—not a face covered by a visor or face plate. That way, it is a simple matter of just softening the features and retooling the helmet, not rebuilding the entire head.
Now, does anyone have any ideas on covering the gaping holes between her thighs and arm mounts in vehicle mode that won't screw up with her robot mode?
I did some more work on Elita-One's front end and canopy. I still need to figure out how to cover that gaping hole in her side bechind the cockpit. Any ideas would be appreciated.
Well, that gun came with the oversized knock-off LoC Evac I used in this build. Two weapons is one option I had for covering her sides, but I would either have to build two new identical guns and not use this one, which might be coinsidered a waste of a pefectly good weapon, or build a completely different weapon, possibly a melee weapon of some sort. This weapon looks great in robot mode, though I admit, it doesn't look as good with her vehicle mode. even if attached to her side under her arm, it sticks out the back too far.
Originally posted by Tramp Well, that gun came with the oversized knock-off LoC Evac I used in this build. Two weapons is one option I had for covering her sides, but I would either have to build two new identical guns and not use this one, which might be coinsidered a waste of a pefectly good weapon, or build a completely different weapon, possibly a melee weapon of some sort. This weapon looks great in robot mode, though I admit, it doesn't look as good with her vehicle mode. even if attached to her side under her arm, it sticks out the back too far.
Originally posted by Maju Garzett
Perhaps make a slot for it in front of her head?
That is out of the question. Not only would it ruin the light piping, and mar her appearance in robot mode, but it would also royally screw up the accuracy of her robot mode compared to Don Figueroa's designs which is what this is based upon.
No, the important part is figuring out how to cover the gaping hole through her sides behind her cockpit in vehicle mode without affecting the comicbook accuracy of her robot mode.
Here is the primary reference picture I'm using for this model:
As you can see, there can't be any real vehicle mode kibble visible on her, except on her back where she has a back pod. Her robot mode has to look almost like it doesn't transform. and to maintain accuracy, I can't deviate too far from this.
I figured out a wy to cover the sides, though it still needs some work. I've also inserted the actual "headlights" behind the lenses. thye're obviously non-fuctional. I'll need to do some final adjustments and some detailing before giving her a once-over ot smooth out the rough spots, before painting her.
Fabrication is now done!!!! All that is left is some gap filling, sanding and painting. I decided to fabricate new weapons for her instead of using the monster rifle. IT looked fine for her to use in robot mode, but just did not look right in vehicle mode. Her new weapons, look and work much better in both modes. Here are the latest WIP pics:
It doesn't look like remote linking from http://comicartcommunity.com/ works -- if the pics are showing for you, it's because they're already in your browser's cache.
It would have been better if I could get the front end a little more cartoon accurate, but that really wasn't an option with the way the legs are designed with the front wheels in them. To do so would require me to cut her feet off at the ankle and add a ball joint or some other pivot joint, and build a whole new hood assembly with no guarantees it would work. Either that or have the front end extend much further out past the front wheels than it already does, which would still require a whole new hood assembly. I could do it, but is it worth it?
Well, I decided to try and make a more G1 cartoon accurate front end, since that is all we actually have for vehicle mode reference, and I hope I pulled it off. I still have the first, more truck-like front end, so I can mount that one back on. Tell me which you like better in both modes.
Oh, for anyone who doesn't know what her G1 vehicle mode looks like, this is the only real reference we have:
![[The Transformers Archive - an international fan site]](/common/skin/cardbackwide/tfarchive.png)
I start with a section of square tubing for the lower part of the face, shape the lower jaw and cheaks using my Dremel, add a small piece of sheet styrene and shape that into the chin and lower lip with an X-Acto knife and files, add a second piece of styrene above the first and shape that into an upper jaw and lip, cut sections of acrylic rod to make the optics (and light piping), either building the entire cranium from the rods or building the cranium from more tubing, depending on if it will have light piping or not. Then I shape the eyes a bit and glue on a tiny triangle of styrene for the nose, smooth it in and shape it with my files, and build the rest of the helmet, adding cut pieces of styrene to make the crest and othe rembelishments.
