Font View
Side View
Rear View Original Kit
Galvatron was a much easier conversion than
Optimus, due to the fact that the Wing Gundam had some good
similarities to him. First, the original kit's transformation
into a jet-like craft, which could easily be modified into
Galvatron's cannon mode, and second, Galvatron had the more
streamlined, smoother body style that the Wing possessed. Being a
simpler kitbash, the process was much faster, and wasn't done in
the "stages" like Optimus, so I'll just discuss what I
did to each area.
Head:
I used a 1/144 Gundam Sandrock Custom for
his head, due to its more "bucket head" design than the
Wing's. First I shaped the Gundam's "face" into
Galvatron's, and added a little nose piece. I painted the entire
face silver, and then painted the eyes clear red, the facial
lines and mouth were simply drawn on with a Gundam Panel line
Marker. I took the Gundam's "helmet", and sanded and
carved it down to the appropriate size and shape, then used the
Sandrock's and another Gundam's forehead blade antennas to make
Galvatron's three bladed crown. Here is a close up of the
finished head
Body:
This was the only part that required some heavy modifications. I
started out by removing most of Wing's chest, so that I could add
Galvatron's square one, which I constructed out of sheet styrene
(gotta love that stuff). Next, I used one of Wing's small red
rear wings, and a piece of the wing binder (part that connects
the rear wings to the Gundam's back) to make Galvatron's large
fin on his back, and using the Gundam's backpack made a small
cockpit area for the cannon mode (note: I have always believed
the when a Transformer is in a vehicle mode, etc, he would see
out of the cockpit, windshield, etc, so the addition of a cockpit
does not mean I expect someone to pilot Galvatron, but rather, he
just needed some kind of optic sensors in cannon mode). I also
had to cut a slot behind Galv's head for the cannon to connect to.
Arms:
To make Galv's shoulders, I cut most of the Gundam's shoulders
away, then added some styrene to fill in the empty spaces, and I
filed down the yellow circles as well. On the bottom of Wing's
forearm, there are some sections that looked like they'd make
perfect tank treads, so I cut some tread lines into them to
complete the look. Finally, I cut off the shield peg on the left
arm, and drilled a hole for the cannon mount into the right one,
and I gave him a pair of the EW fists, instead of those ugly ones
the kit came with.
Legs and pelvis:
I started out by cutting the skirt armor to look like Galv's, and
modified the front block accordingly. As for the legs, I simply
removed two small thrusters from the rear calves, cut off these
two sections of the upper heels (for better transformation), and
modified the front of the feet a bit. That was it, the legs, IMO,
were very appropriate for Galvatron.
Cannon:
I started on the cannon a while before I had the kit, because I
knew the kit would not have anything that I could really use for
it. In fact, this was probly the most difficult part of the whole
kitbash, due the fact that I had NO IDEA what to use for it. Then
I remember about some old Dragner kits I had in my closet, and
used some thrusters and missile (or fuel) pods to create the
barrel. I added the fins, because the pods already had one on
them and I thought it would look nice on the cannon, so I added
the other three. I then painted it with Gunze Sangyo's Eva-00
orange for that nice bright orange color. I made the base out of
the 1/144 Heavyarms' (the one I used for Op) Gatling Cannon base,
and gave it a peg to mount on Galv's arm.
Here is what Galvatron looked like with
all the modifications, but before painting.
Painting and detailing:
The Purple and grey are both custom colors I mixed, the black is
actually Gunmetal, but is rather dark, the metallic red is clear
red over silver. The Decep. symbol is one of the spare's from BW
Metals Jaguar (Ravage), with some of the silver border cut off.
All of the detail lines were done with a Gundam panel line marker.
Transformation:
Remove head and fists, attach cannon to neck area. Rotate arms
around at elbows, bend up, and then rotate arms up at shoulders,
flip back fin down. Turn waist around, fold up the knee block,
and fold the feet back.
Cannon Mode:
Side view
Top view
Luckily this kit already had a transformation, so it look more
convincing than Op's. Unfortunately, the arms are kinda short,
and don't look like they'd do much as treads, so I'd have
to say that his main mode of transportation would be flight (did
Galvatron fly in cannon mode? I can't seem to remember).
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