Transformer Starscream Masterpiece has arrived!

[Hikuro]

got my Starscream today <<<wasn't expecting it this fast either since Tam just shipped it.

I'm actually having some issues with the back panel connecting to the under size of his nose cone something abstructing the back panel to angel just right and I think it's between the fuselage and the back panel......I dunno. But I had to pop his head off just so I could transform him cause of the same issue there's that piece that just gets in the damn way.

Other then that he seems simple to transform, just gotta mess around a bit.

No heavy QC issues that I can notice. Paint is okay, there's just a small smudge of white paint in one spot, otherwise he's pretty nifty.

[BinaryFalcon]

I'd be very interested in seeing his take on more Transformers myself, even if I don't agree with his changes to SS.

Like have him design Jetfire. No seriously. A Transforming F-14.

Wouldn't that essentially result in the VF-1 / VF-0?

[Hikuro]

lol that would be funny actually, retool the fast packs and maybe a bit of the VF-1 itself and wham, you got Jetfire. Shoji would be like "Meh".

[Twoducks]

Well, I’ve had MP SS for a few days now and after a dozen transformations I can say I really like it. The toy is really fun to transform (the fist transformation was a tense moment due to how tight everything was though ).

I’ve followed the recommendation of lifting the part with the air brake before the wings and have had no stress marks behind the wings. I did have one appear in the right intake like others I’ve seen. Also one of the folding tailfins has stress marks but that was my fault. I also didn’t flap the wings backwards until I had some transformations under my belt (and the toy wasn’t so tight) and don’t take out the pegs that connect the wings to the back.

The Bad:

The instructions really are vague. Some scary moments on the first transformation were directly attributed to them.

Also, while putting the nose thru the chest, you have to be careful and navigate it in the process if you don’t want to have the decorations wear off. One of the decepticon logos and part of the SS catch phrase with the pyramid Cybertron alt mode have rubbed of partly because I didn’t notice this before. Leaving the abdomen completely open (not in the final position) and moving up and down the upper body helps while you are positioning the cockpit area.

The shoulder white stripes have rubbed off a little too (guess I’ll repaint them when they get worse).

Overall, I’m really happy with the toy.

Since a lot of cool poses have been done, I’ve gone the retarded route... sooo MP SS, the multichanger:

[attachmentid=37372]

Who needs Megatron!

[attachmentid=37373]

Ship mode

[attachmentid=37374]

Industrial complex mode

[attachmentid=37375]

Beast form

[attachmentid=37376][attachmentid=37377]

Piggyback ride mode

[attachmentid=37381]

"Guess who?" mode

[attachmentid=37379]

"Stop picking your nose in public" mode

[attachmentid=37380]

And G1 robot/brick mode (without the boxing gloves, just like my original SS was after three weeks with it as a kid).

Edited October 22, 2006 by Twoducks

[Dobber]

I got mine from Tam as well. I haven't had any wing issues thankfully BUT mine did have a rather large dent/whole in the side of the nose cone!!!! Tam won't get another shippment in till Nov. to replace the toy.

I'm not sure if I should though.....I mean I hate this mark on it because it's really obvious but I affraid if I replace this with another one then I jest have the "other" issues. I could probably putty up the whole and sand it down but then I'd have to try to match the paint which I don't think I can do. .

Here is a pic.

Chris

Edited October 22, 2006 by Dobber

[promethuem5]

Is it actually a ding in the plastic, or a plastic on-plastic collision scuff? If it's just color, you could gently sand it off... I can't remeber tho if the nosecone is painted or not.

[wolfx]

Well, I’ve had MP SS for a few days now and after a dozen transformations I can say I really like it. The toy is really fun to transform (the fist transformation was a tense moment due to how tight everything was though ).

LOL! Shipmode looks like starscream getting a tan on the beach.

[Dobber]

Is it actually a ding in the plastic, or a plastic on-plastic collision scuff? If it's just color, you could gently sand it off... I can't remeber tho if the nosecone is painted or not.

It's actually a "ding" in the plastic, with scuffing all around it. Sorta like what an injector pin site that wasn't removed correctly would look like on a plastic kit only larger!

Tam's a stand up guy and said he'd have no problem replacing my starscream, it'll just be a while, and then I have to worry about if the new one will have the other common problems. . I'm really not sure what to do. Like I said, I'm confident I can fix the gouge, but not sure about matching the color or if it'll just get damaged again during transformation. What do you all think?

Chris

[BinaryFalcon]

It's actually a "ding" in the plastic, with scuffing all around it. Sorta like what an injector pin site that wasn't removed correctly would look like on a plastic kit only larger!

Tam's a stand up guy and said he'd have no problem replacing my starscream, it'll just be a while, and then I have to worry about if the new one will have the other common problems. . I'm really not sure what to do. Like I said, I'm confident I can fix the gouge, but not sure about matching the color or if it'll just get damaged again during transformation. What do you all think?

Chris

Any chance he could just ship you the radome?

I know BBTS was pretty much taking that approach. They even offered to send me an entire left hand at one point even though all I was missing was the thumb. It's certainly more efficient and practical to just ship the part than it is to ship the entire toy again.

[Dobber]

I thought of that too, but the nose cone doesn't appear to be easily removable. I don't see any way to get the "pin", that it uses as a hinge, out.

Chris

[zeo-mare]

Mine will be coming in on Wednesday, I am very much looking forward to it.

chris

[armentage]

I bought mine from LAF Toys. Great service. Ordered it on Saturday and had it by Wednesday. Very happy with LAF!

The toy is .... a bit dissapointing. The jet form is beautiful, but robot is a little boring. The dark color just doesn't work that well as a robot. I'm also disspaointed with the lack of robot-detail. The feet, legs, hips, they all look like an after thought compared to the amazing jet form.

As for being fragile and too stiff, YES! You better be careful with your MP-03. If you are anal collector, buy 2, and transform only 1 and never transform it again. The white stress lines on mine are quite alarming after just 1 transform.

Edited October 23, 2006 by armentage

[JB0]

Since a lot of cool poses have been done, I’ve gone the retarded route... sooo MP SS, the multichanger:

[attachmentid=37372]

Who needs Megatron!

My first thought on seeing the thumbnail was "Why is he photographing Shockwave?"

[drifand]

Inspired by Dekard's waist-joint mod, I decided to operate on my MPSS as well. But instead of clipping those dumb hip-balls off, I decided to do something else: Add 2 more hardpoints to the wings so that the 'sidewinders' won't be wasted. So now I present you with...

Fully-Armed Masterpiece Starscream

Initially, I thought the matte look of the sticker sheet would transfer well onto the toy, but the excess edges really looked crappy! Using a good sharp hobby knife, I trimmed off the edges as best I could without damaging the surface of SS in the preocess.

Frontal view... I learned my lesson, the nose emblem was trimmed on the sheet before application.

Underside view. To be honest, I wasn't too precise with the hardpoints on both wings, so one of the pair of missiles is just about 1.5mm forward of the other. Can't spot it during play anyway :-)

Here's what the hardpoint looks like. It's taken from a pair of spare parts from a Zoid. The diameter of the hole was enlarged slightly with a round file to fit peg on missile pylon. Thickness sanded down to 2mm, then superglued in place. The peg on the missle pylon as also sanded down so it wouldn't protrude too far from the wing surface.

More importantly, I snipped off the trailing end of the missile pylon as well. This combined with the proper placement of the attachment point means the missile can stay in place even as the flaps are folded over during transformation. Neat!

Waist-op: Circled areas are where I cut off protruding parts obstructing the turning of the upper torso.

Improved poseability comes from greater forward rotation of hips, greater clearance for frontal skirt armor, AND...

... Careful positioning of the hip-kibble.

Last note: With the waist-joint mod, the upper torso cannot be fully slid down if you want to pose SS with canopy off-centerline. Result: there is a noticeable 3~4mm gap between the tops of the red chest pods and the back edge of the air-intakes. What I do is to rotate the chest pods upwards to conceal the gap... sure the chest pods aren't flush with the blue torso halves anymore, but it still looks great overall.

Edited October 24, 2006 by drifand

[Guppy]

great work.. if the Froating Head saw these pics he'd slap himself for not adding the extra hardpoints himself.

[Twoducks]

great work.. if the Froating Head saw these pics he'd slap himself for not adding the extra hardpoints himself.

Yep, truly an awesome mod. I'm really getting tempted to do R_Deckard's waist-joint mod too.

[R_Deckard]

Drifand, nice work, especially on the extra armament. I might have to do that too.

Nice pics too!

Good work on the waist mod, thanks for the props. You can get the torso to slide down all the way, you just need to remove a little more material on the front hip plates. Also you might have to take the corner off the diecast back frame. you'll need a dremel for that. I cut off more than needed, but I believe the edge of the corner will prevent the torso from sliding all the way down when rotated.

Mine sits flush even when I have the waist rotated and the legs rotated up.

Notice how low the notch is on the front hip plates. Although it is not noticeable when the torso is slid all the way down. Also in this image look at the black diecast back frame and see that the corner is cut off to allow clearance for the waist to turn.

[David Hingtgen]

Just makes you wonder why Takara didn't do some of these mods during the prototype stage. Surely it's not because they "couldn't figure out" how to make their own design have a better range of movement?

Drifand---actually F-15's do have an additional hardpoint about where you put it. It's just never, ever, ever used, and I think it was finally removed on the F-15E.

Sigh---if MP SS was 1/48, he'd be as big as people want, and there'd be tons of 1/48 model kit parts to use on him for customizing. First thing I'd do is add droptanks under the Sidewinders.

[R_Deckard]

Sigh---if MP SS was 1/48, he'd be as big as people want, and there'd be tons of 1/48 model kit parts to use on him for customizing. First thing I'd do is add droptanks under the Sidewinders.

That would be the ultimate, I wish. It just makes way too much sense.

[Fit For Natalie]

Dude looks like lady.

You know without the bulk on his legs, Starscream looks very girly.

[drifand]

Deckard,

Woah, I'm not so sure I want to mess with METAL

The last time I did it was on the Aoshima diecast Terminator... forced to file down some plates because the darn toy couldn't pose well, but it was hell to work with.

Before I snip off more from the front skirt, I'd defintely want to assess the possible benefits. Let's hope Takatomy makes a Yamato-worthy improvement sometime in the future...

[Twoducks]

That would be the ultimate, I wish. It just makes way too much sense.

But such a big plane would horde a lot of space

R_Deckard, could you post some pics of the belly of the plane? I need to see if cutting the skirt and abdomen parts break the tight look of the underside too much.

[drifand]

First thing I'd do is add droptanks under the Sidewinders.

Hmm, I've seen pix of that setup BUT it did make me wonder: Isn't it risky? Always had the impression that missiles 'dropped off' the rack before the rocket ignited... What if the AIM-9 hit the tank underneath? Or do the missiles really just 'fly off the rails' straight out?

[The Shade]

drifand, that mod can only make me think of one thing to say:

"Now witness the firepower of this fully armed, and operational MP SS!"

[David Hingtgen]

There are two ways to fire missiles: drop, and rail-launch. Most missiles are one or the other, the AMRAAM can do either. The Sidewinder is rail-launched--it goes straight off, like a model rocket off the launch rod. F-15's almost ALWAYS carry drop tanks under the wing pylons---that's why the pylon is so big--you wouldn't need such massive pylons to carry air-to-air missiles.

It's usually pretty easy to tell what missiles do what--if there's no rail, they have to drop--Sparrow, Phoenix. If they're side-mounted (like Sidewinders) they have to be rail-launched.

Part of the problem is that MP SS has the missiles mounted wrong, in an impossible way. Ever notice that there's only 3 fins on the back, instead of 4?

You can mount most any combination of things to an F-15's wing pylons, the only exception I know of is: If a GBU-15 is carried, AMRAAMs can't be carried.

[eugimon]

Well, picked up my MP SS today from www.tmpanime.com.

The toy is very impressive, ingenious transformation sequence, tons of detail and very pretty. I do have the same issues that most everyone has been having though. namely, the plastic is a little brittle, the joints in the wings are showing stress cracks after one transformation and the arms dont sit flush in fighter mode... I think there's extra material in the should joint keeping it from folding flush.

Unfortunately, I think I'll have to choose a mode and display him that way.

[Twoducks]

Well, picked up my MP SS today from www.tmpanime.com.

The toy is very impressive, ingenious transformation sequence, tons of detail and very pretty. I do have the same issues that most everyone has been having though. namely, the plastic is a little brittle, the joints in the wings are showing stress cracks after one transformation and the arms dont sit flush in fighter mode... I think there's extra material in the should joint keeping it from folding flush.

Unfortunately, I think I'll have to choose a mode and display him that way.

This thread might help if you are referring to the shoulder created gap in fighter mode:

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/showthread.php?t=112473

I've read that a heat gun can eliminate stress marks if used carefully. It is supposed to meld the pigmentation so that it rejoins the plastic or something. Don’t know if it can actually “cure†the damage to the plastic itself.

BTW, did you follow the instructions when transforming SS or did you start with the part with the air brake?

[eugimon]

I started with that center back plate.. but one of the big problems is that there's a panel line right through one of the joints where the "c" portion matches up with the rest of the plate... and that joint happens to be where the whing folds back against the body.

I don't know if I would go so far as to cut up the shoulder joints even though that's what I was thinking on my lonesome when I was trying to figure out why it wouldn't sit flush. but I do thank you for that link