| ASTROTRAIN
(DIE-CAST)
PROJECT #157, #110
CLASSIFICATION: CUSTOM
BASE VEHICLES: HOT WHEELS LOCOMOTIVE; DIE-CAST SPACE SHUTTLE
FIRST APPEARANCE: "BLASTER BLUES"
"Silence, Thrust! I am in complete control!
Complete control!"
Comments: Astrotrain's space shuttle
mode was made from a six-inch long space shuttle toy. (I wanted it
to be substantially larger than my other die-cast repaints, since Astrotrain
expands to enormous proportions in the cartoon when he transforms.) I
did have to make some modifications to the rockets, since the shuttle had
four of them but Astrotrain only has three. The details on his body
are all hand-drawn labels that I glued in place. (The cargo bay opens
up, too.)
For his train mode, I added the engine thrusters
and slipped some painted sheets of plastic into the cabin to create windows
and also add some desperately-needed color contrast. (Unlike the Hasbro
toy, which has some black die-cast parts, Astrotrain's locomotive mode is
almost entirely purple in the cartoon.) I'm not really pleased with
this one (it's a freaky Hot Wheels design, and the only toy train I could
find at the time) so I'll be redoing this one later. |
