Move over LEGO Badassatron... Mirage is heading towards the finish line!
RECAP
So far, I've made more than 10 Transformers using LEGO set 10338: Bumblebee set alone! And prior to project Mirage, I made a Transformer monster truck (below)
PLAYLIST OF LEGO BUMBLEBEE ALTERNATE CREATIONS >>
Before project TF Monster truck above, I planned to build wheeled Transformer and its either a Monster truck mode or racecar. The former was chosen because it was easier to produce. And upon completing it, I immediately started to plan for a racecar TF.
ABOUT PROJECT MIRAGE
Mirage is a character from G1 Transformers cartoon series. Mirage's alternate mode, which happened to be inspired by Ligier JS-11 (below).
However, I started building based on original Mirage's toy photo that portrayed his racecar mode to be shorter and chubbier looking. Bad move!
The unrealistic reference led to a bad start where I struggled to extend the vehicle back half to form the robot legs. One day wasted , going nowhere!
On day two.. I googled more photos of Ligier JS-11 from various angles , and discovered it is much leaner in real life. This means there's enough mass from end-to-end for robot legs to form without extreme folding and stretching!
The most fun part was sculpting the driver compartment to mimic the actual vehicle, even though its not hollowed enough to fit in any driver. The steering wheel was actually implemented mere hours before I wrapped this project up!
I am very very satisfied with this project especially the racecar mode's resemblance to the real deal. Mirage finally dethroned LEGO Badassatron as my favorite creation so far made using LEGO Bumblebee set!
With gun and cannon mounted.
Here's part of my self-inflicted 'perfectionist" pain worth mentioning. I I spent about 20% of this project's time to build the weapons to be mountable at the exact center of the vehicle mode, without redesigning the vehicle (cockpit) which I am already very satisfied with.
I failed, naturally. Both weapons eventually ended up mounted at the sides of vehicle via the exposed studs there. Guess I called it a day!
BONUS RENDERS!
Photos were taken inside a room under the ceiling lights I have little control over . So overhead photos of many of my creations ended up casting a looming shadow. This time around... I've decided to render some photos of this creation as seen from overhead especially, using stud.io.
IT'S NOT PERFECT!
In my pursuit for aesthetics excellence, the spur on the side of the vehicle are the most fragile part. Pressing on them too hard especially during transforming him about, might cause the spurs to pop out (red below).
The fix is easy. Simply shrink the spur down by one-plate in height. (green,above)
TRANSFORM!
For the driver cockpit to rotate 180 degrees to reveal the robot head, the robot arms must be oriented in such a way above , so that the front wheels can move out of the way.
Finally, connect the shoulder cannon! this cannon is one of the final addition to this project. I almost did not build it !
ROBOT MODE
This is my first custom Transformer using Bee's face piece! Yea his head might be large in relative to his body though.
Comparison between chest with collapsed fenders (my preference) vs Mirage default fixed fenders.
MORE ACTION POSES
Officially, there's a yellow racecar Transformer called Dragstrip, but his vehicle mode has 6 instead of four wheels , and different transformations with Mirage. Above is Dragstrip mode , a "fan mode' that I conjured out from this creation.
OPPS.... ALMOST FORGET THIS BATCH!
Here's Mirage posing with his gun.
For the arms to be raised up and holding a gun successfully like above, I've implemented a notch on his arm that act as a damper against his chest. (circled in red below)
Luckily, pose like above where the raised arm are pointed towards the side , can hold the gun properly.
VIDEO
- LEGO creations made using set 10338: Bumblebee
- LEGO creations based on G1 Transformers
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