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Friday, March 24, 2023

Video Tutorial: Transformer Cybertron Starscream from LEGO Creator 31130: Sunken Treasure Mission

 

This creation is a special tribute to one of the very first (transformable) LEGO Transformer I built almost 20 years ago!!

PROLOGUE

Back in the early 2000s when I was a young adult , I picked up LEGO as a hobby again (after 10 years of dark ages). And I started building Transformers from LEGO sets.. well uhmm.... their robot modes I meant.  


Guess who I made above?


About a year or two later... I attempted building fully transforming Transformer , and  Starscream from Transformers: Cybertron* series is one of the more prominent one in my memory (below).  

TF:Cybertron was known as Galaxy Force in Japan.

 

Click here for photo gallery of the creation above.

About Set 31130: Sunken Treasure Mission

This set was released last year in the 2nd half of 2022. My first impression from the box art was pretty good... seeing the tons of articulated ball jointed arms forming the octopus tentacles. And the parts count is excellent too for the price.



When the set reached my hands earlier this year, I was appalled to see HUGE number of parts consisting of 1x1 round plates.  Aside from the animals, the rest of the models are quite weak. The sub has  laughably  tiny arms . And I got really frustrated building the coral .... the structure is so randomly put together and fragile.  

About this Project

Starscream is one of the big bad in Transformers:Cybertron/Galaxy Force cartoon series. And I found the transformation to the jet mode is fairly easy. So I gave that a shot.


 

 

The biggest challenge distinctly comes from the set I used:  It consisted of parts of varying colors. I tried to minimize the splotchiness by swapping the parts around , in hope to highlight more redness on the exterior.  


The tabbing mechanism of the hinged shoulders to the body was incidental. I merely wanted to swap the tile/grill part on the chest to be used elsewhere and substituted them with studded plates. Who knew they latched on nicely to the pointy red vents



The cannons on his jet and (later) chest mode was one of the feature I insisted on implementing for this creation. 

 



I'm truly glad the set contains a single yellow slope for me to use as the windshield, providing adequate contrast to be be recognizable as one! 


Transform!



Note how I managed to utilize the fender part for this creation. These arches provided clearance for the robot legs to be partially tucked in, when it jet mode.   




Robot Mode


 

The rounded vents on his shoulders were thought out at the very early stage of this project. This feature is what defines Starscream.



 

The leg designs took me most of the time to get right. The set used did not have adequate number of traditional LEGO plates for me to use.  So I need to improvise  with the many brackets to get these legs completed.

 

More Poses


At this point, I actually regretted applying the big jet thrusters on his arm (to resemble his official toy/character).  This affected the range of shoulder joint articulations.  

 


 


 


BUILDING INSTRUCTIONS

Building Instructions in the form of a video tutorial , is located at the bottom of this page. 

IMPORTANT REMINDER: Spare pieces from set 31130 were needed to complete this creation. 

Before you get started, please sort your parts according to the photos below. 

Left Arm

 

 


Right Arm

 

 

Left Leg

 


Right Leg

 

 

Body 


 

The Rest

 




VIDEO TUTORIAL


Video not showing? Click here please.

Thank you for following my video tutorial! 

2 comments:

  1. Love the build. Btw, are you planning on getting the transforming mech bike set from the upcoming wave of Ninjago sets? I like the set's transforming feature but i don't like the look of the mech mode and I think you could do wonders for that set.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Initially I favored the new Ninjago red dragon set over the mech bike. But I found recently the parts for the dragon is not so favorable for me. I guess I'll be getting the bike mech after all..! there's a bunch of 1x4 hinge plates in that set. juicy!

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