Creating Skyfire

A real favourite of mine from the cartoon was Skyfire. He was a huge space jet and dwarfed every other bot of the time. I didn't think I'd find a good model of him until I stumbled across a line of action figures. I've had a lot of luck putting this project together and this was no exception. These starwars sized figures tied in perfectly with my allotted scale. I'm not a 100% sure, but I think it might be 10mm. Anyway, Skyfire is a exact match for Prime and the others and if course I'm over the moon. I had to cut him up a bit to rearrange his legs so his standing pose looked better, 

Even though he was massive, his size and passive personality made him vulnerable. He was a scientist alongside his friend, Starscream before the war. He crash landed on earth and was frozen under the ice for millions of years before being found and revived by the Decepticons.

Megatron tried to convince Skyfire that the Autobots were evil and that he should destroy them. This cunning ploy almost worked until Skyfire saw the two human characters in trouble and rescued them, showing his true nature. This landed him a blast from his once time friend Starscream. Skyfire realising his mistake swopped sides and helped the Autobots defeat the Decepticon forces. Classic Eighties story telling at it's finest.

The actual character gave the Autobots a bit of well needed air support and also became a handy bit of transportation for missions in Session one. Session two of the cartoon saw a whole wealth of other air based Autobots and Skyfire disappeared from the show. His transportation role was taken on by the new character, Omega Supreme. However, for the first season at least, Skyfire was the biggest bot in town and a real scene stealer. 

The action figure is very true to the cartoon but I just wanted to add a little more detailing. For this I used a really thin plasticard and cut it into tiny panelling. I didn't want to go too crazy with it as the model was already cartoon accurate. These days, like me, most people into Transformers are not kids anymore and there is a whole industry of expensive models out there. These prove very useful for ideas in detailing and weathering.

 Below are various references taken from the internet. Some of the latest models are nicely detailed, this helps to show scale.

The cartoon character sheets, always useful for colour guides.

I found this customised figure very inspiring. You definitely get a feeling of scale with the panelling and weathering effects. I think I will bare this in mind when painting mine up.

Update: Here is the finished model, weathered up for the war. What a nightmare it is painting white and red at the same time, the amount of times I had to go over pinkish armour.

A bit of Tamiya weathering 'soot' on the engines worked well to give used look. 

As far as a vehicle mode is concerned I might have found a solution. A Buzz light-year toy might just work, I'll have to see when it arrives. I imagine he's going to take to the air to fight so a vehicle mode is going to be important to find.

The cockpit worked out a treat. I painted on Chrome details over a blue background. This was then painted over with a blue contrast paint. The shiny details below still catch the light and give the impression of an interior.

Skyfire is massive and should add some real heavy backup to the Autobots. He is a favourite of mine and will probably end up being in every battle.

His stats for Xenos Rampant are: Heavy Infantry, fly ability, Assault doctrine and heavy weapon. I could of added more but he was getting expensive. I added the Assault doctrine because of his size and the fact he sports a deadly energy blade in his arm.

Old friends reunited.

Update:

I'm very happy to say that it looks like Skyfire will be taking to the skies after all. A Buzz light-year toy is a perfect size for an Alt mode...with a few modifications of course.

Obviously it's not screen accurate, but it does have the right space vibe and size to fit the job. Once I sawed off the nose it looked even closer to the original.

Once the large light year cockpit is removed and the back shuttle added, it's not too bad at all. I'm over the moon I've found something suitable. This project has been laced with luck ever since it began. Finding keyrings, cake toppers, toys and models to create the armies of Cybertron has all just fallen into place. This latest find just sums up the project.

The massive Skyfire next to a Seeker for scale.

These new designs of Skyfire with the forward sloping wings are even closer to my model. Joy!

Have Fun at Salute People!

Well my follow up appointment to the hospital came around to have my kidney stone Lasered. It couldn't come soon enough to be honest as it was getting a real drag. Planning trips around the locations of toilets is quite tiring. The good news the stone and stent are out, the bad news there is a fresh stent put in for a couple of weeks. Kidney stones are gift that just keeps giving.

My friend reminded me it was Salute this weekend and then I saw some Facebook posts, it looks like it's going to be a good one.

 Simon Miller's twist on the D Day landing looks brilliant. It's going to be Caesar landing with his Roman legions on the South coast. I saw some of the ships he has painted up and I would loved to have seen it in the flesh. I'm sure it will get another outing this year.

I haven't slept all night due to the hospital ruckus, but I was also kept awake with modelling ideas about the Cybertron project. Thinking up character names and working out profiles for classic characters using the rules. I'm going to sleep well today!

For all those that are going, have a good time and don't forget to stop by at the To the Strongest display!

Til all are one....

The famous scene that traumatized a whole generation of children...Primes' sump stone removal. 

It didn't end well.

Autobot Alternative Modes

Having played a game now and found uses for the vehicle modes, it's time to create some Autobots. These Alt modes will be used when a unit 'goes to ground', giving them more cover and hence a better defence roll.

However, even though the bots have transformed into vehicle mode they still need to look like they are fighting. So some weaponry was needed. They have taken on a 'Michael Bay' film look rather than the cartoon, but at least they look like they're fighting back.

These vehicles are tiny N scale resin models, so the weapons had to be scratch built. It's another lesson in keeping everything and throw it in the bit box. Even the tiny screws that used to keep the wheels on the Micro machines, make for great little gun barrels.

These vehicles have got to look like they can hold their own against fighter planes ( the Seekers), so the weaponry has to look quite meaty and oversized. A lot of these were created from bits of old sprue and brush bristles.

The larger truck types with room to spare were given large, powerful cannons. While the sports car bots were given smaller guns to match their sleek look.

A great use for a tiny screw from the Micro.machines. A good choice was creating panels in the roof that looks like they have opened. These will look good when painted up.

Rather than mess around with the bases, I've decided to score them with panel lines. Let's see if this works...

This is Landslide, my friends car. The figure carries a huge missile array, so the vehicle mode had to echo that. A plastic tool box from the Gaslands sprue worked well for an open canopy.

This started off as Prime, but after I added some huge guns, it became Ultra Magnus.

 Magnus combines with his trailer and cab to become the finished bot mode. I'm really pleased with this model as it gives the brave warrior a road form, something I hadn't really thought possible before. Prime will just be the cab without the guns.

I will add some extra bits to bulk him out a bit more too.

These larger vans I covered in armour with more weaponry. I thought with more room in the caboose you could carry more guns. So these awkward looking vehicles ended up being war wagons.

Ratchet and Ironhide roll into battle. Luckily I had two van models the same. Ratchet, only has a side arm whereas Ironhide has his classic cannon from the cartoon.

Greenbug my little Golf car of many years, gets her own vehicle mode. She's not massive so only sports a modest weapon pod, Just enough to ruin some Decepticon's day.

Autobots roll out! The motley gang of Cybertronic vehicles follow Magnus.

These tiny cars are a perfect size next to the Micro machine tanks.

 Ironhide lives up to his name with his extra panel armour. As a kind of half way house, I have tried to give the Earth vehicles a bit of a sci-fi feel with the added details.

A gunned up Autobot from the recent Michael Bay films.

Update: The vehicles have been gaining some extra bits and bobs. Magnus is looking better and more substantial for a big bot.

This model has worked out really well and definitely has a warrior feel to it.

I quite like the voids left in this design, they echo the car transporter of Magnus' alt mode.

This weird looking van has been named 'Flakback'. It seems to sum up this stretched out Ironhide.

A new pack of resin guns add a new depth to the detailing. Making weapons is fun but you can't beat sculpted ones.

Another van packing some punch, I'm tempted to call this one 'war wagon". He's sacrificed his aerodynamic lines for some crude armour plating.