Gigasaurus — Ampzilla toyhack

Today's project started out as a discussion thread on the Micronauts/ Microman Facebook page about the iconic and controversial Ampzilla. That link is here. The rare Micronauts toy arrived late in the toy line's run.

All this toy talk inspired me to take matters into my own hands and make my very own Ampzilla one closer to my tastes. A casual approach would most likely consist of getting a realistic looking plastic dinosaur and drilling 5mm holes into it's skull to insert 'freaking lasers on it's head' perhaps inserting some gack randomly over it's body. I opted for another approach.

I actually spent a lot of time working on the tank treads. I had some sort of Gobot which had very nice wheels. I was trying to find appropriate feet to attach it to. I had a Starriors' foot which were perfect but only one.

I had the 1999 Microman Kit Crab Dozer and found they worked well, it even had a starter hole that made drilling a breeze. The body is a 1987 Transformer Headmaster Brainstorm. Notice the large hole (roughly 10mm) for the arms?

I had Energon Barricade legs which fit nicely into the notches once I filed down the surrounding areas. The tail is made from assorted Zoid Neo-Blox toys. I drilled a 5mm hole on it's bottom and the tail is done.

The head proved difficult. I didn't want to plop on a recognizable head. It needed to be uniquely absurd. The first arrangement made from Energon Insecticon head piece and Energon Scorponok tail lasers. Colors didn't really gel. I knew it needed to be red.

I originally had Energon Cruelock arms, which gave it a very T-Rex look, much too safe. I am very inspired by Ark/Bullmark's Ultraman Kaiju line, including the glitteringly absurd Gigan. I was very tempted to give him a bulldozer scoop for a hand, but what says kaiju more than claws, provided by Beast Wars PowerPinch. The yellow guy I believe is a Converter. I added wings and a missile to him and Sky Blaster is done. He's a low-wage Minicon.

In the tradition of Microtron and his curiously placed Drill. Ampzilla sports a Blockman engine.

Dissected.

This may have started out as an Ampzilla project but other influences have insinuated their way in. I name thee Gigasaurus!

previous: Webdiver Skullrider

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Webdiver Skullrider

This toyhack is one of the most technically insane I've done thus far. That it holds together is a small miracle as it is made up of many unrelated pieces and like all my other hacks uses no screws just 5mm pegs. I started it back last year and put it down. I recently picked it up again and was determined to resolve it.

This project started with a trashed Takara Webdiver Gradion figure. What shall I do with a very expensive 16-bit videogame trainwreck? Rip it apart and see what I find. Sounds of gasps are heard. I had come across a Daigunder toy a few years ago. I sort of wish I held on to it. I did not know the Daigunder was a sequal to Webdiver series. If you look at both toylines you will see a lot of them were either altered into or from pre-existing Transformer toys.

I'm not particularly fond of heavily painted parts, but I was most intrigued by the translucent purple mid section.

The hands are beautiful.

I connected the two shoulder back parts to the one of the mid body sections. I found the arms were very heavy and there was no easy way to connect them to the body in a permanent way.

I had a cool part from Energon Landmine (I used the other one in my Giant Acroyear Acro-Cannon vehicle as a chair). That connects to another piece (I don't remember where that came from) but it perfectly matched the hinge area on the bottom of the skull. I also noticed there was a slot area. I cut out a piece of translucent plastic to make a floor for my figure to stand on. Zoid blox make the neck. I wish Tomy continued to make Zoid Blox. I thought they were the coolest things.

This was my first attempt to give it legs. Unfortunately it was too unstable to stand up properly. And I wanted it to be stable enough to hold a figure.

I used a Z-builder Cannon Spider Cannon as a base. It is braced with a Zoid Blox Night Owl chest shield and a Z-builder Gorillatron spiky shoulder part.

Stable and creepy.

We just need a proper driver. Magneforce Phobos volunteers.

Ready for the Acroyear campaign trail.

Ride!

previous: Micromaster Microtron

Micromaster Microtron

Microtron is back and he is a bit less friendly.

The Micromaster Defensor KO head had a truly awful paint job. I ended up filing/sanding the paint off. I rather like the look of unadorned primary colored plastic.

He seemed naked without his shiny drill. So the drill stays.

Blockman has hitched a ride.

The shoulders are G1 Transformers Twin Twist legs. The red arms and chest piece are Kabaya Toraichenja Robo candy toy. The yellow plates are a pair of plastic dividers I cut with a pair of sissors. The tank treads are from a GI-Joe vehicle.

You may gasp that I unscrewed the original red and blue tank treads off, it isn't particularly difficult.

Whaaaat? Another drill sporting, tank treading automaton? If you want to see more of Scitex Microtron the updated link is here.

prev: Crater Cruncher Army 2.0

Crater Cruncher Army 2.0

Crater Cruncher Army Assemble!

Previous: Micro Rover

Micro Rover

The Micro Rover is made up of parts from Energon Scoponok and Stormcloud, Cybertron Quickmix.

I had started stacking shapes and trying to figure out strategies to bind them together. When I was playing with this I was reminded of 70s and 80s sci-fi illustrator Chris Foss. His design palette was colorful, the shapes were blocky and industrial.

The figure is Military Force Stealthcamo with the head of the figure that was inside 2004's Megalon. His name is Kim and he doesn't like smiling.

Need to drill 2.5 mm holes on the side of the cockpit and attach handles for my figure to hold on to.

The trick with this custom was finding viable connection points that were stable. If a peg is too loose. I tape the peg with white tape to build up the thickness for a snug fit.

The Micro Rover faces off the Drill Dasher.
Previous: Drill Dasher

Computron Afterburner Drill Dasher

Every race car needs rocket powered drill bits to dig deep into the earth.

The original version is here. Nice but it needed a little something.

When I placed both of the large arms things from Cybertron Quickmix. They evoked engine thrusters on steroids. I thought "one could go further."

The clear arms are from Energon Scorponok. They were incredibly difficult to detach. Disassembling Scorponok was a challenge as the screws seemed to be fastened especially tight, a joyless task. They are attached with Micronauts Battle Cruiser elbow joints plugged into a zoid blox, with a 5mm zoid peg. The drills are from G1 Twin Twist.

I realise a gun or something can fit into the front and a Minicon on one of the arms. I will save that for later.
Previous: Crater Cruncher Scout

Crater Cruncher Scout

Instead of being a vehicle for a Micronaut, it's now an autonomous scout unit. Which is probably a good thing as a driver would probably get his head banged by the very large crane.

This was the original toyhack. Original pix here. The head and arm/chair appendage thing was from Cybertron Quickmix. The gray forklift arms are from 1999 Microman kits. Each of the kits gave a surplus of those things. It was used to hobble together all the kits into a combiner form. I didn't think the combiner form was terribly compelling. 

I was playing with parts from an Energon Scorponok and liked how they changed the shape of the Crater Cruncher into something leaner and meaner. I definitely like the idea of taking something familiar and changing it up, reordering it into something new but familiar.

The changes to the original toy are very minimal. Two 5mm holes drilled to the front and top of the Crater Cruncher. Holes are drilled to the bottom of the Energon Landmine crane and the Scorponok nosecone. The yellow and gray connector is a Transformers Universe recolor of a G1 toy, who's name escapes me.

I've been asked where I get 5mm pegs from. I often find a lot of random plastic parts that are 5mm. I test them out with a Micronaut part. If it fits I cut it down to size. Zoid Blox came with a large number of 5mm pegs.
Previous: Claw Gun Upgrade