Here we go! I've been away from here far too long and so I return to announce and extra promise to myself that it's gonna happen, I've decided to make a G1 Optimus Prime for TFcon's 10th anniversary.

GENERAL:



Start date: July 7, 2011
Due date: July 30, 2011 omg I'm insane.
Finish date: 5:30am July 30th!
Budget: $100
Actual Cost: $83.78 CAD
Hours Spent: 103 (appx)
Injuries suffered: 2 (sliced index finger and gouged thumb pad)

I didn't keep the silver circle things on cuz they kept falling off and it actually looked a little nicer without them. They were just a last minute addition that I wasn't sure of.

I've been shrink-rayed!




I call this 'The Wall' because I'm creative like that:

HELMET: - DONE!



1. Working on the paper mock-up
2. Finalizing the design
3. Gluing the matte board pieces together
4. Figuring out how to curve thick board
5. Success! Lots of scoring was involved
6. Giant paper clips make for good clamps to hold it in place while the glue dries
7. Finished helmet build
8. Putting the face together
9. Painted face
10. All done!

It's painted with acrylics and I hate how streaky the blue is. I think I'll get some spray paint and make it look better for future conventions.

TORSO: - DONE!



1. 2'x4' sheet of coroplast with pieces arranged
2. Same thing, different pieces
3. Lower torso pieces
4. Upper torso pieces
5. Lower Torso built
6. Painted matte board as the grill
7. Windows are cut out so blue craft foam shows through
8. Upper torso built
9. Upper torso detail
10. It can stand by itself! All I need is something to prop up the upper torso.

How the shoulders are attached: (velcro! for easy packing)



Things to be done:
- add lights, may or may not be real working lights, to top

HIPS/THIGHS: - DONE!



1. Cutting out the pieces
2. All the pieces for the thighs and hips (first attempt)
3. I riveted all the pieces together, tried on the thighs and they were too tight. As in muffin-top tight :lol: So I had to re-size and re-build.
4. Riveted hips.
5. Thighs attached to hips, kind like shorts
6. Back detail
7. Front detail, all finished!

I did steps 1-4 on the 8th and 9th. As you can see from pic 2, the front and back of the hips look the same. After trying the piece on with the fixed thighs, it occurred to me how badly my own bum was hanging out. So I attached a new piece to the back to ... shall I say... take the cheek out of it :rolleyes:

Once I've done all the detailing, I'll update with more pics.

Update! ----

Added steps 5-7 because this part is finished! Yay :D

ARMS: - DONE!



1. Arm pieces
2. Arm pieces built
3. Detail on lower arms
4. This is how it fits on my arm



1. Printed logo taped over piece
2. The tape underneath
3. All the lines cut out
4. Final product


1. The matte board used to make the exhaust pipes
2. Piece cut and scored to curve it
3. Pieces constructed
4. All painted
5. The larger piece is held onto the arm piece with the electrical tape
6. Bottom piece glued on
7. Adding the smaller exhaust pipe
8. All done!

LEGS/FEET: - DONE!



1. Pre-riveted foot bottom
2. Post-riveted foot bottom
3. The 'platform' piece. It's about 2 inches tall and has interior support which I failed to photograph
4. How the platform fits into the bottom
5. Where the shoe goes
6. Shoe taped to platform before attaching it to the foot bottom. This took quite a bit of brainwork to plan out.

**more to come but it's 2:30am and I'm falling asleep while trying to put together the pics. Updates in the morning!



Fairly straight-forward here, just layering the craft foam to make it look like the vents on his legs. The blue electrical tape isn't actually that much darker than the coroplast, the flash just makes it look that way. I did buy black e-tape but I don't think I'll use it for the 'outlines' since I rather like the blue on blue.



1. 4 x 4 foot sheet of coroplast with pieces mapped out for usage efficiency (had to buy a full 8x4 sheet and had them cut it in half at the store)
2. All pieces cut out
3. By this point, the vent details are attached and I've riveted the toes together and the front and back to the foot bottom.
4. I couldn't rivet the shoe platform to the foot bottom so I had to tape it in.
5. Riveting everything together
6. Construction complete! Note that I cut off the top of the legs. I tried walking around in them and the extended part severely impeded my ability to bend my knee.

I had all my blue pieces cut on the 8th, the black pieces done on the 9th, and my goal was to build the legs/feet by end of day on the 10th and I did!



1. Wheels.
2. Wheels with detail!
3. Feet with wheels riveted on and some pinstriping detail. (these pics aren't exactly in order but you get the idea)
4. Had to work out how to attach the wheels, thus riveting them on and taping the outside on with e-tape. Also, more detail with e-tape!
5. Making the side tank things. Same size as a toilet paper tube but matte board is stronger so I used that instead, scoring it to get it to curve.
6. I just traced the ends since they wouldn't stay perfectly round.
7. Yay silver paint!
8. Ooh, it's upside-down. Just to show how the ends attach.
9. A simple matter of taping the side tanks to the feet with e-tape. It's not very sturdy at all but it's an easily re-done bit if they break.
10. Final details and such, yay!

All done!



Note: The all-purpose glue, silver paint, and matte board were all things I already had so they don't count under the budget. Good thing too since the paint alone (small bottle, upper left in pic 7) was about $7.

From start to finish, it took less than a week.

Wow, dude -- good luck making that deadline!!

Hoorah!
It's good to see you again, and totally looking forward to a Prime costume done with your materials/technique. :)

Good luck with the deadline. :S I'll try not to pester you with questions or anything 'till after this is done. :D

Given that this is the third time I've used this material, I'm pretty good at working with it efficiently. Not being employed also frees up a lot of time... but severely restricts the budget <_< But I'm doing well so far! Actually under budget by $20 after buying all my stuff so at least I have room for error. I think I should be able to update with pics tomorrow.

Oh, it's not going to be as detailed as the pic I posted, it'll be simplified to a degree. Unfortunately, I have to guess at what he looks like from behind!

Which Prime toy is that? Do they not have a back view in Seibertron's galleries? Or do you want a cartoon / canon back view?

Ah well, I don't blame you, back views are always hard to interpret anyway, if you DO find one, especially on a figure.

that is clearly the MP version.

pretty sure anyways. looks liek mine.

@AZ Autobots: Yep, that's the masterpiece Prime.

@Talon4ce: You go, girl! Good to see you around again, and I'm super excited to see how this turns out. I guess there's nothing like watching someone build a good G1 Prime. :]

I've already put just over 24 hours into it, divided between constructing mock-ups, purchasing materials, actually working on the thing, and slacking off :P

Good luck with this, I can't wait to see pictures of it! You'll be a hit at TFcon!

I shall spend the next hour or so updating with pics! Though I'd rather spend it getting a massage. These tired old bones can't stand sitting on the floor for 14 hours. I can't even sit up straight :P At least I got ice cream.

Progress so far!



Just noticed that my BA helmet is in the pic, lol.

And if you're not squeamish, here's what I did to my finger when scoring a fold-line. Straight-edge rulers are nasty buggers!
http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n361/Ta...d_finger_01.jpg

It's fortunate I only cut it on the straight-edge (still not sure how I managed to do so, probably going too fast). Had it been a real knife, I'd be missing a good chunk of my finger.

Those legs are coming along fantastic! Can't wait to see more!

Yikes, I think you're the first TCos-er to actually score your first real flesh real wound while building a costume!

First blood, congratulations!

Update!



hehe, I love this pic and I thought it most appropriate :)

Also, I won't be working on it for the next 4 days because I need to spend tomorrow getting ready for Polaris 25 which is this weekend. TFcon is at the end of the month and so my goal is to have everything but the helmet done by Friday next week.

Derp!



Everything is built save for the helmet. I think the arms will help make me look a little 'beefier' up top since Prime is looking kinda skinny at the moment. It'll look better, I promise! :lol:

Once I've done the detailing and fix-ups, I'll post progress pics.

Haha, that looks great! :D Can't wait to see more!

Ahhh I love your technique... it's so simple and clean! Looking great~

Huge update! Just the helmet and a couple fixes on the body and it's done! WHOO!

So I finished on time and the costume was a hit at TFcon! Sooo many kids shouting "Optimus!!!" One woman even had me hold her baby. Weird, but glad to do it- even though he started crying the second she stepped away to take the photo!

I have a lot of clean-up to do and a few things to take care of but I will have this updated sometime tomorrow.

I NEED to see this baby-holding picture. Going out for the office soon? White House, perhaps? :P

You should run against RubbySheldon and his Formal Attire Megatron!

'Grats on the featuree!!

WOW. this is well done! I'm so looking forward to seeing all of you at TFcon 2012

Thanks for all the great step by step shots. it will really help be with Kup when it' time to do the arms and legs.

May not be president but I very much appreciate the votes by all those who clicked for me :D My first feature, hoorah!

I doubt I'll ever find the pic of me holding this woman's baby but it looked something like this except less Bayformer and more G1, not at SDCC, and more tears.

I love how horribly displeased this kid is.

I guess Prime wasn't that kid's favorite character.