Paints, Repaints and Kitbashes, Oh My!
Transformers Kitbashes
Last Updated 11/14/22
Minerva page updated.
This page is for my Transformers Kitbashes. In each case here, the base toy was either a Transformer or some other transforming toy (such as a Marvel Shape Shifter), and the final result also transforms.


Miscellaneous Projects
Works other than the ones clumped below. Some of these are merely repaints, but they're generally much more involved projects than the repaints in Quickbashes.
Nightbeat Into Minerva: The first major repaint I ever did, I've gone back and retouched this work and scanned it in robot mode from several angles. It does actually transform, but the car mode is too lumpy to scan directly. Updated 11/14/22 with 21st Century pictures but keeping the 20th Century HTML. Still no car mode, because I don't trust the 25 year old paint job to survive that.
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preview
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ThighMaster Suzerain: A kitbash from a partial Perceptor and some Lego and Mega (knockoff Lego) blocks, this is part of a gag line I wrote up a few years ago.
Transmetal II Rhinox: Using the ToyBiz Shape Shifters toy of Rhino as a base, I created my own idea of a Transmetal II Rhinox, with the asymmetry and shiny bits bursting out through the rhinohide. Details of construction are given in the image.
THE MEGABEE Transmetal Megabee: Basically, this is a spare claw bee from Scorponok turned into a somewhat more impressive Megabee. I added a stinger using a dagger from an old Exo-Squad figure, plus some putty to make the abdomen more mechanical-looking (it was supposed to be hexagonal, but I had to make it octagonal to fit into the claw-launcher). I also cut out bits from the wings to make them actually serrated and not faux-serrated. Of course, after all my care, the paint layer was thick enough that it still jammed in the launcher, d'oh. So I modified the launcher.
Megatron X: The Marvel Shape Shifters Punisher (who turns into a gun) turned into a 2012 version of Megatron. Includes working laser weapon!
Guncrew: A Headmaster Micromaster Transport Actionmaster Elite! The head is also a micromaster tractor and the body sort of ("elite") transforms into a trailer covered in guns. Name and color scheme inspired by the MLS team, the Columbus Crew.
J-Pop Jazz J-Pop Jazz: A color scheme invented by a Japanese TV starlet for a charity auction, I made up my own copy using mostly paint markers and a spare Alternators Meister. It can be transformed without paint damage if I'm careful.
  • Front and Top Robot - Original paint scheme, before I found a better reference for the front end.
  • Side and Back Robot - Also original color scheme.
  • Corrected Front - A view of the upper body after I found a better reference pic.
  • Vehicle Mode - With "Pop Fashion" brand fashion minifigure as driver. Legs have to be removed to fit all the way inside, due to lack of legroom.
  • Public Service Announcement - Winner of the May 2005 AllSpark Art Contest! Jazz, Hello Ravage and My Little Grimlock star in a public service announcement about the dangers of kitbashers.
Movie
Salvage
Modified Movie-line Salvage. For a scrap-hauler, Salvage looked awfully sleek and clean. So I dented and dirtied him, and have him a bed cover that looked more like a bed full of scrap.
TF:A
Channel
TF:A Activators Ratchet modified into Channel. I dyed the toy red as a base, although I painted over pretty much all of it in metalflake red and gray. About the only unpainted parts are the wheels. I resculpted the head and made the helmet and chest crests from styrene sheet, putting this beyond the level of "quickbash". Yes, it's not quite the same as the drawing, but there's only so much one can do with an Activator. I could have put in more of the gold lines, but decided to keep the colors simplified like an actual toy. April 2011.
Targetmaster
Dropforge
The May 2011 AllSpark Art Challenge was to take a canonical character who wasn't a Headmaster, Powermaster or Targetmaster, and make them into one. I decided to build a Targetmaster partner for Ironworks, the Micromaster. Built from Lego, styrene pieces, part of a junker Micromaster and some Warhammer 40K bitz.
Movieverse
Big Daddy
One of the many "stealth/night attack" Bumblebee figures from the movie line, with the head modified and some extensive repainting done, plus pinewood derby decals added. Scratch-built a turbocharger block for the engine. Kind of a borderline case between "full kitbash" and "lesser kitbash." July 2014.
Caprock As is my wont, I will sometimes do kitbashes based on the mascot of whatever school I'm working at. In 2014 I started teaching at Amarillo College, whose mascot is a badger. I got a junker Snarl (Beast Wars 1996) on eBay and reshaped the beast head to be more badger-like, then used dye and paint to make it closer to the school colors in robot mode. The reason it was so cheap was that someone had chewed the peg off the tail trigger, so I replaced it. November 2014.
Ultra Magnus
Desk Tidy
One of the gags in the IDW comics is that Ultra Magnus has a desk organizer (or "desk tidy"), with Whirl getting in trouble for stealing it. I realized that an old G1 Ultra Magnus trailer could be made into a desk tidy, and set out to do so, acquiring a junker on eBay, a wooden box to use as a core, and various other bits. I still use it next to my computer. May 2015.
PotP
Nightracer
When wave 2 of Power of the Primes Deluxes reshipped, I grabbed a spare to kitbash, but I wasn't sure what to turn it into. I considered making a version of my LNH character Kopikat, but upon seeing how much of Moonracer was pinned together I decided to keep it simple and make BotCon 94's exclusive character Nightracer (in the intended colors, not the "close enough" color runs Hasbro offered). I dyed most of the toy blue-black, but the dye took inconsistently...and the feet warped. I was able to get the vehicle mode back in service, but have decided to not try transforming it into either limb mode (not that Nightracer would willingly be part of a combiner anyway). The head used the back of Moonracer's and most of Apeface's faceplate (I had a spare from a previous project), plus putty. For that original War for Cybertron feel, I got neon blue paint for the panel lines and details. (This is actually my third Nightracer project, here are the original toy touched up, and a Bumblebee Legion toy from RotF that I modded.) August 2018.
PotP
Kopikat
I got this spare Moonracer at the same time as the one I made into Nightracer, but after warped plastic from hot dyeing, I decided to try a slow approach. I left parts in dye vats for months at a time...with disappointingly blotchy results anyway. Kopikat is one of my RoboMACs/Legion of Net.Heroes characters, originally designed to look like a "John Byrne-style" robot (complete with big eyebrows) with a feline head, and to look vaguely like a brown robot wearing a green and red bikini-style costume. I had hopes of making something that could go into all four modes and join Moonracer and Novastar in an all-femme combiner with Elita-1, but...ugh. I consider this to be a failed project, in the sense that I just couldn't overcome the dye bleed and paint scraping problems. Just transforming it into vehicle mode once tore away paint from five places, including three that I'd dremeled down extensively to prevent scraping. Not gonna bother trying to fix the paint, just putting her in with the femmebot army in the back where her flaws won't be as visible. I did a decent job, I think, of sculpting Moonracer's head into one with cat ears, at least. Finished August 2019.

TF: Cybertron

Kitbashes of toys from the Cybertron line that don't fit into any other category.

Cybertron Skywarp: Using RIT Dye, I turned a spare Thundercracker purple and black, then painted on silver details with a metal leaf pen and added panel lines with purple paint. Probably won't do this again. Messy as all get-out. Later added a couple of sharper pictures from a new camera.
Cybertron
Huffer
Cybertron Huffer: Armorhide painted orange and blue. I managed to mostly avoid scraping at joints. First project photographed with my new digital camera, woot. Re-photographed, that is...the original pictures met with many complaints for blurriness, inspiring me to camera shop.
Cybertron
Over-Run
Cybertron Over-Run: A Scrapmetal repainted in yellow and a different red, and given the techspec treatment.

TF: Classics/Generations

Both from the original Classics line and the thematically similar Generations line.

Classics Cliffjumper mod. I removed the flame paint job, resculpted the head and made him a gas gun out of a $5 flashdrive. Vehicle mode.
Classics Bumper. Took a Classics Bumblebee and modified it into that "oops" of G1, Bumper (a yellow Mini-Bot never officially sold in the U.S., but sometimes put on Bumblebee's card). Made the gun/cartop carrier out of a Star Force figure's backpack, some putty and styrene, and a G2 Seeker missile I had sitting around from a parts batch. Vehicle mode.
Classics Channel. Classics Ironhide with a little physical modding and a lot of paint, to get my fan character Channel. October 2008.
Space Pistol Shockwave. Fall of Cybertron Generations Shockwave with a series of pistol grip accessories to turn his mobile artillery altmode into a giant space pistol. August 2012.
Titans Return
Stockade
with Padlock
Titans Return Stockade: I got a headless Titans Return Quake in trade, and decided to do something with it. Lots of painting, and pretty much sculpting a faceplate from scratch, turned it into something inspired by the Tank Drone redeco Stockade. This was my last project using an old batch of Apoxie Clay, it just wouldn't cure properly, hence the somewhat soft lines on the faceplate. I dyed Skytread's vehicle to better match the colors chosen for this toy, inspired by how the TakaraTomy "Legends" versions of Titans Return usually threw in a Titan Master vehicle. December 2017.

Go-Bots/Kiddie Toys

No, not the 1/64 scale Gobots Super Speedbots that have their own page, these are the kiddie-level Playskool Go-Bots. Also includes other kiddie-level stuff like the Cyber Slammers.


Transmythics
Inspired by Ken Carlson's Transmythics, I took to kitbashing the clearance-priced and coupon-reduced Basic Fuzors into various mythical critters. For the most part, I stuck with the original toy plus paint and putty, with a few assorted bits added on, rather than mixing and matching parts from different toys. These are generally done between 1997 and 2000.
(Image Lost)
Bellerotron

Buzzclaw with Incubus

Ironclaw

Perytron

Vox

Quadragon
    Transmythic Bellerotron: A repaint and slight remold of the Fuzor Bantor into a transforming Targetmaster Chimaera, the mythical beast with the head and forelegs of a lion, hindquarters and horns of a goat, and a snake for a tail, featured in the myth of Bellerophon and the Pegasus.
    Transmythic Buzzclaw: A modification of Buzzclaw's "backpack" unit to make the character a Triple-Changing Powermaster Transmythic Fuzor with binary-bonded partner Incubus.
    Transmythic Ironclaw: Based on Terragator and keeping roughly the same color scheme, this is a Hodag, a creature from the lore of northern Wisconsin's logging days. You can't go near Rhinelander without seeing dozens of the things...none living, though.
    Transmythic Perytron: Built from Airhammer with the help of a plastic deer toy and a lot of putty, this is a peryton in Transformers form. Perytons had the body of a hawk, head of a stag, nasty sharp teeth, and the shadow of a man.
    Transmythic Transmetal II Vox: A TMII Leucrotta built from TMII Ramulus and some putty, creatively rearranging the horn unit from Ramulus to get a badger head and lion tail. In the original legends, a Leucrotta was the offspring of a lion and a hyena, and spoke with a human voice to lure people to their doom.
    Transmythic Quadragon: Built from two Quickstrikes, this is actually two Transmythics that merge to form Quadragon. Buster transforms from a giant centipede into a nightmarish robot gun platform, while Hydra changes from a four-headed hydra to a long-armed master of the martial arts!

Cyberjet Repaints
Mostly done in the mid-90s.

Jetfire

Starscream

Thundercracker

Skywarp

Cowl

Tetrajet Hooligan

TF:A Shescream
Jetfire Projects: The main thrust of this page is the Cyberjet Hooligan repainted as a classic Jetfire, with some plastic bits built onto it like thrusters and stuff. In addition, some Super Valkyrie models I painted up as Jetfire are included on this page.

Cyberjet Starscream: With a little rebuilding on the face, a Hooligan cyberjet makes for a reasonable Starscream after repainting. I recently built him a pistol.

Cyberjet Thundercracker: A slightly more advanced kitbash of Hooligan, this time into Thundercracker. I built him a laser carbine.

Cyberjet Skywarp: Not that you can tell the difference in the scans, but this third Seeker kitbash has actually got the head correct, with extensive filing and cutting done on the Sculpey-enhanced noggin. His sidearm weapon is an energon axe.

Cyberjet Cowl: My character from Transformers: The Lost Years MUSH, built from a heavily-modified Space Case Cyberjet. Page now also has a little icon I did of Cowl.

Tetrajet Hooligan: This time I didn't really modify Hooligan itself as much as slap a shell around it. This project is meant to approximate the Cybertronian "tetrajet" transformation seen in the original cartoon series.

TF:A Shescream: Built from an Activators Starscream, not a Cyberjet, but similar enough I decided to stick it in here.


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