Transformers be damned - car into a robot, my way

**Tommy Thumbscrew** · July 4th, 2007, 02:41 PM

Did this for a contest on a diecast car customizing website.

I started with a HotWheels Hypermite, shown next to the finished product:

Then I scratchbuilt the "back", access door, added leg castings and some other pieces and shot it in an oxide brown base:

Added guns and boilers (STEAM POWER!) and began to finish things up:

Ended up with this:

**GDragon** · July 4th, 2007, 04:07 PM

I like it... very Steampunk looking.

What were the guidelines of the contest? To use parts from a diecast car to make something else? The only parts I can see as the same are the bubble dome and the sideways U-shaped things. Where did the other parts come from?

**AmontilladoAg** · July 4th, 2007, 05:45 PM

ooh, cool 8) nice job!

**Tommy Thumbscrew** · July 6th, 2007, 01:57 AM

Rules were only that the final product had to be based on the chosen casting for this month's contest: "HyperMite". I used the basic body casting, the bubble and a few pieces I cut from the chassis plate. To these, I added a "back" made from sheet styrene and aluminum rod, and boilers, guns and legs I made by combining parts of some fantasy miniatures with some small electronics and watch parts, aluminum tubing and a couple of ounces of JB Qwik.

In person, the subtle differences in the "painted" and "metallic" finishes are more readily visible. I went for a lot of burnt steel, bronze and dark green drab dry brushing, blue-black-green washes and a brown, oxidized steel color as a base for it all.

The bubble is still removable (clips in place), so I'm considering going back in and adding an interior and pilot/engineer.