Hi there!

This is my final project in college, I wanted to redesign an old transformer from the 1980's cartoon Transformers in the new style seen in Micheal Bays movies. The character I chose is Astrotrain, a Transformer that could change form from robot to freight train. To make him more suited to be seen in Ireland I changed his alternate form from a freight train to the Luas found in Dublin. He isn't able to transform but he turned out to be one hell of a model kit! My project was 15 weeks long where I had to design the robot and the Luas and make a short video of the transformation. The model is made up of 220 individual pieces and stands 34 cm high.

Here is a video of the robot in action!

Step 1: Designing the Luas and Astrotrain

The First thing I had to do was make the Luas a popular Irish transport found in Dublin. Using my friend to stand beside it I took a few pictures of him beside it to make out a rough height of the Luas. once I made out the dimensions I begin to model it in 3ds Max in college, when the Luas was finished I designed the robot. Once astrotrain was finished I broke it down into individual pieces,saved them as STL files and sent them to the 3d printing company Shapeways located in New York.

Step 2: Sanding...

Once I had all the pieces I realised how much pieces I had to sand and prime! ...over and over again...

The first thing I did was get my dremil and drill a small hole into every piece and slot in a small rod which allowed me to prime and dry without the paint sticking to any other surface. After the first prime it was time to begin sanding with 600 grade sand paper.

When using the sand paper if you wet it first it makes the who process about ten times easier. once the pieces are all sanded back it is now time to stick the rods back into them and re-prime all the pieces. Its now time to sand again but continue moving up the grades up to 1200 grade sand paper and you will have a nice sharp finish on the 3d prints.

Its now time for the paint job where I used acrylic paints along with a specially mixed can of spray paint to the metallic silver/purple paint job of the Luas transport.