Movie Optimus Prime build

[kingbob]

Thanks for the comments guys. Been a long build, but glad its turned out (mostly) so well. Theres heaps of things i'd like to go back and fix, redo, or generally could do better, but i'm just glad to see it finished looking vaguely like I imagined it would look!

[kingbob]

So i'm contemplating doing something really really stupid.

I recently found a 1/35 scale kit of this version of Optimus Prime. Not a kit of the truck, but of the figure! Kit is about $130, and is about 10 inches assembled. When i saw this kit, i looked over at my 1/14 Prime, and thought "hmm, Would look good if they did a kit the same scale.". Then i realised, I have a 3d printer, using the kit, i could reproduce all the parts in the right scale. With an existing part its relatively easy, just get out the vernier calipers and ruler, and draw each part up in a CAD application. I've been doing that for parts for my M1070, and am decent with Sketchup, so am thinking about giving it a go.

Has a metric buttload of parts, probably take as long to do this as the truck did (18 months).

Am i mad to even consider it? It would be about 600mm tall, same length as the truck, so would look awesome. Plus i'd be able to paint it with the same colours/paint so it would match.

I think i'm nuts for even entertaining the idea.

[speedy8305]

give it a go

[mavrick0]

I say go for it as well.

[Cooper]

Yes it would be a lot of work but the pay off in end would be worth it. To have the truck and then the figure next to it would be a real show piece!!

[kingbob]

Well, the kit just arrived. First impressions: holy sweet mother of all things transformable...

This is not a kit for a beginner. The instructions are in japanese, and in a very compact, slightly confusing format. The main frame of the body is pre-assembled, is coloured silver grey, but has lots of details picked out in silver, gold, etc. The skeleton is also fully articulated and poseable. Lots of the parts on the sprues are already painted, either with flame pattern, autobot emblems, details picked out in various colours etc.

Looks like the body mostly snaps together, but i can see it would need glue to stop pieces coming loose.

I also measured one of the tires (which are rubber), and my size estimate was a bit out. Based on scaling the kit tire up to match a Tamiya 1/14 tire, the overall height would be 840mm!

Kit is 300 parts, plus however many the assembled frame is made up of, which i'd say would have to be 40ish.

Beginning to think i might be biting off more than i can chew!

[flatdeck]

Need some Pictures Bob.....



Wayne

[Daveroo]

i know it would be yet another expense,but how about one of the smaller 3D scanners?..just place the part on the turny thing,scan it,and print it in the larger version on the 3D printer?

[kingbob]

Yeah I'm researching scanners at the moment. Hopefully trying out a small laser scanner in a couple of weeks.

[kingbob]

Seems the frame might be problematic. Heaps of articulation, the arms, legs, shoulders, hips etc all have little poly caps so they can rotate but also be detached, which is good.

But, the various components of the arm, leg etc, seem to be glued together. Doesnt look like i can disassemble them without damaging them, especially since some components are small and detailed. Parts on the sprues arent a problem, but the pre-assembled bits are, including some joints like knees and elbows.

Plan might be scuttled before i start!

[kingbob]

I just finished building the OP model. Holy cr@p what a kit. Its fully poseable even after construction, has about 1000 points of articulation. Even the fingers and knuckles are fully poseable.

And my hat off to the designers, it goes together without glue! Some parts are a little loose so i will be adding some glue here and there, but for the most part it doesnt need it. I did manage to lose one part though, one of the finger tips pinged away to be lost to the carpet monster, but its not visible posed into a fist anyway.

Now to start repainting it to match my truck!

[kingbob]

[speedy8305]

now that is Bad A$$

[flatdeck]

Both are "BAD A*S" nice job BOB....



Wayne

[kingbob]

Model repaint done. I love the red paint i've used, but its stunningly hard to capture in a photo the true depth of the colour. I'll try getting a few pics under studio lights.

[cosworth34677]

lol autobots! roll out!!!

[kingbob]

Hey all, long time no see. Lifes been stupid busy and havent been on here for ages!

On the weekend I was on Facebook in a local Hobbies/pastimes page, and someone asked people to post pics of their hobbies. Naturally I posted a pic of my Optimus Prime.

Someone local has now messaged me asking if i'd be interested in selling it!
I'd never actually though about it, but i must admit the idea has stirred my curiousity.

But I haven't got a clue how much it might be worth. I can add up the cost of parts, but that doesnt factor in the time i spent on it. He did say he knew it wouldnt be cheap and has asked me to come up with a price if im interested.

What are peoples thoughts?

[bigdogrod]

5,000 all day long...

[RCP57]

I think it's probably worth close to that as well but I wish you luck getting it. People ask me regularly about building this that or something else from scratch. They swear up and down that they know this hobby is expensive but when you finally drop a price 99% of them gasp.lol You can try to explain the 100's of hours in labor and $1000's in parts until you are blue in the face but most don't see it because they just assume the parts magically appear and we glue them together like a Revell model for $20. Hopefully you have someone on the hook that really sees and appreciates the work you've put into the paint. It truly is an art of it's own!

[Claus]

Always loved your truck, true craftsman quality put into it! Just curious, does anybody know what happened to the real Optimus Prime after the movies, did it go out and work for a living or is it a show truck in some collection? Also, always wondered why it had a headache rack and pulled a reefer trailer.