Uploaded September 2023 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Figure purchased from ShowZStore: showzstore.com
Get yours! showzstore.com/fantoys-ft-54-powerglide_p3591.html
Figure Note:
Stop-Motion Transformation of FansToys FT-52 Warthog. Astonishing little magic trick. Amazing how they get that little robot out of that long and lanky plane mode. But it’s not without its flaws:
If you find the knees on your robot mode are too extended, it’s because the part of the engine that slides down into the rest of the engine actually pops down an extra little bit and it can be a bit scary to take the leap and push hard enough to get it to pop. The sequence is shown in the jet-to-robot so the whole set of knee joints get compressed to achieve that final pop. It doesn’t look accurate for robot-to-jet, because you would actually have to EXTEND all those sliders before you made the final pop. If you prefer to be gentle you could always just not make that final pop and live with the robot knees being extended a bit. If you DO pop them (in either direction) be sure to tightly control all parts (the thigh, the shin, and the intervening linkages) so when the pop happens you don’t damage anything.
The metal part of the knee assembly is directional. It can slide in with the little knee hinge rotated one way and also with it rotated 90 degrees the other way. But it will NOT slide in rotated 180 degrees or 270 degrees, so look for your two positions where it CAN slide in. The little metal bar is actually off-center a bit from where it meets the little hinge. On MY copy, the metal bars are not mirror symmetrical, so one zigs one way and the other zigs the exact same way. You can’t turn them around because they won’t slide inside the red part in the 180 or 270 orientations. It’s possible they accidentally assembled the same red part on both legs and that’s why they behave like that, or it’s possible it’s simply designed that way and they’re all like that. The consequence is one will fold about 90 degrees at the hinge for plane mode and the other one won’t quite fold as far, and that means to get the plane body straight one of the thighs has to twist a bit to compensate. I abandoned the idea of applying for a replacement part since it doesn’t look like the lower leg comes apart in any practical way without a lot of pin pushing and frustration. So I’ll live with it. Let me know if yours is the same way.
Also there is a small tab on the hip skirts with a little tiny burr of plastic that is absolutely supposed to be there. It has to tuck above the tab on the wing that it mates with. If you go to place the wings and they won’t go far enough for you to use the front skirts to lock them, there’s a good chance you haven’t gotten that burr on the hip skirt to sit above the wing tab and instead the wing tab is pushing on the hip skirt and not seating cleanly.
Support Note:
Like what you see? Send me a tip! paypal.me/peolesdru
A-10 to Robot: 0:09
Robot to A-10: 1:22
Speed run to Robot: 2:35
Speed run to A-10: 2:58
2x Run: 3:21
End credits: 3:44
Production Note: Not too bad. I actually used scotch tape to tape the thighs together so they wouldn’t separate during the shin transformation. It’s on the far side so fairly invisible to the camera.
Viewing Note:
If you want to follow along, I recommend skipping to the speed run and using your , and . keyboard keys to advance by single frames. Every step of the transformation is documented in the frames of the video, in what I consider to be the best sequence. With minimal rubbing and minimal parts-parking.
Music: The music is by Ethan Meixsell - ethanmeixsell.com
Songs: “Collision” and “Thor’s Hammer” If you’re the kind of person that reads this far, you’re probably also the kind of person that is surprised I didn’t use “Double Helix”. It took a mighty will and effort, but I resisted the urge to use that song once again for a plane.
Figure purchased from ShowZStore: showzstore.com
Get yours! showzstore.com/fantoys-ft-54-powerglide_p3591.html
Figure Note:
Stop-Motion Transformation of FansToys FT-52 Warthog. Astonishing little magic trick. Amazing how they get that little robot out of that long and lanky plane mode. But it’s not without its flaws:
If you find the knees on your robot mode are too extended, it’s because the part of the engine that slides down into the rest of the engine actually pops down an extra little bit and it can be a bit scary to take the leap and push hard enough to get it to pop. The sequence is shown in the jet-to-robot so the whole set of knee joints get compressed to achieve that final pop. It doesn’t look accurate for robot-to-jet, because you would actually have to EXTEND all those sliders before you made the final pop. If you prefer to be gentle you could always just not make that final pop and live with the robot knees being extended a bit. If you DO pop them (in either direction) be sure to tightly control all parts (the thigh, the shin, and the intervening linkages) so when the pop happens you don’t damage anything.
The metal part of the knee assembly is directional. It can slide in with the little knee hinge rotated one way and also with it rotated 90 degrees the other way. But it will NOT slide in rotated 180 degrees or 270 degrees, so look for your two positions where it CAN slide in. The little metal bar is actually off-center a bit from where it meets the little hinge. On MY copy, the metal bars are not mirror symmetrical, so one zigs one way and the other zigs the exact same way. You can’t turn them around because they won’t slide inside the red part in the 180 or 270 orientations. It’s possible they accidentally assembled the same red part on both legs and that’s why they behave like that, or it’s possible it’s simply designed that way and they’re all like that. The consequence is one will fold about 90 degrees at the hinge for plane mode and the other one won’t quite fold as far, and that means to get the plane body straight one of the thighs has to twist a bit to compensate. I abandoned the idea of applying for a replacement part since it doesn’t look like the lower leg comes apart in any practical way without a lot of pin pushing and frustration. So I’ll live with it. Let me know if yours is the same way.
Also there is a small tab on the hip skirts with a little tiny burr of plastic that is absolutely supposed to be there. It has to tuck above the tab on the wing that it mates with. If you go to place the wings and they won’t go far enough for you to use the front skirts to lock them, there’s a good chance you haven’t gotten that burr on the hip skirt to sit above the wing tab and instead the wing tab is pushing on the hip skirt and not seating cleanly.
Support Note:
Like what you see? Send me a tip! paypal.me/peolesdru
A-10 to Robot: 0:09
Robot to A-10: 1:22
Speed run to Robot: 2:35
Speed run to A-10: 2:58
2x Run: 3:21
End credits: 3:44
Production Note: Not too bad. I actually used scotch tape to tape the thighs together so they wouldn’t separate during the shin transformation. It’s on the far side so fairly invisible to the camera.
Viewing Note:
If you want to follow along, I recommend skipping to the speed run and using your , and . keyboard keys to advance by single frames. Every step of the transformation is documented in the frames of the video, in what I consider to be the best sequence. With minimal rubbing and minimal parts-parking.
Music: The music is by Ethan Meixsell - ethanmeixsell.com
Songs: “Collision” and “Thor’s Hammer” If you’re the kind of person that reads this far, you’re probably also the kind of person that is surprised I didn’t use “Double Helix”. It took a mighty will and effort, but I resisted the urge to use that song once again for a plane.
