Remember the Robotech kits from Revell?

[John Everett]

It's 1982 all over again.

I used to be able to buy one of these for $15.


Don't say this image doesn't bring back memories.


Not many parts


The kit is supposed to be 1/72......Yeah, right!


This figure is a leftover from the diorama completed a couple of days ago. A whole new figure will be made to pilot the robot.



The kit will be heavily modified and bear only a slight resemblance to the box art. I'm sure I'm not going to use the kit hands and will go with something more industrial.


Just the basic idea taking shape so far. Suggestions are always welcome.

[deafpanzer]

SWEET!!! Count me in... should be fun!

[moramarth]

I remember seeing some of that stuff remaindered years ago; I wish I'd sprung for the Mech assembly diorama, but it was still a bit pricey...  I do think  I've got the two items on the second line up on the leaflet (the Assault Squad and the Robot Recovery Unit) buried somewhere in the Deep Stash...

Cheers,

M

[kaytermarram]

Figure is spot on, head looks like taken from Vin Diesel! And the pics remind my of my youth way back in the past. Never had some of the Revell kits, but now I long more and more to build a Mech, too.

As for ideas: I would superdetail him galore, add some extra armor and maybe open some paneels for interior details.

Frank

[wbill76]

Looking forward to seeing what you produce out of this John, should be fun to watch.

[John Everett]

Thanks for stopping by!

Sorry Frank,

No military robot here. I'm going the civilian/work-bot route with this one. Even as a kid I was a dubious that a weapons system as advanced as a giant walking robot would still need a fragile and vulnerable human inside to drive it.

A short visit to the RC airplane section of my LHS provided most of the new arm components.

I'm actually thinking about pseudo-biological motion system for the arms. If so, it would all be sculpted from epoxy putty and laid over these "bones".




I wont be able to get much done over the next few weeks with Christmas coming along. But I might have an update before the end of the year.

[kaytermarram]

Looks even cooler and comes absolute unexpected!!

Frank

[moramarth]

Love where you're going with this, particularly the bogie units!  You're right that the new arm begs for an actuating system, but I'm not so sure about making it bio-mechanical.  It shouldn't be to difficult work up, especially if you intent to have it fixed after you determine the final position.  As it is the new fingers are great, they look genuinely prehensile.  With regard to the driver/operator, I believe you said the figure was temporary and you were thinking of another for the final version.  My I be so bold as to suggest down-scaling to 1:48th?  You'd then be able to give the figure a more "nested in" rather than "perched on" look.  As it is he'd need some sort of roll cage - Health and Safety and all that,you know...

Regards,

M

[Leon]

I like your plans for this John! Looking pretty cool so far.

[John Everett]

Thanks for the input Moramarth. But I can't go to 1/48.....I don't have any figures in that scale!

But I've got a whole bucket full of unused 1/35. So there you have it.

Some small progress:

Filling in the void spaces.


New driver figure underway.

[kaytermarram]

Sculpted clothing is spot on and looks excellent! Greatly done, love the folds in the jacket. This build will rock!

Frank

[Deano]

I like the fact you are going for industrial rather than military . You could maybe make one of the hands a crusher ? nice work John !

[dierk]

I like where this is heading! Can we expect a black and yellow striped industrial look?

[dupes]

The Robotech Defender kits were an interesting bunch. Most (but not all) of the designs were borrowed/stolen from other anime series. Scale-wise they're all over the place...some are 48, some are 72, but as they're based on different technologies (as it were), all of the 48s don't match the other 48s and the 72nds don't match the other 72nds! Very confusing.

What isn't confusing is that several of them translate almost exactly to 1/60 scale Battletech mechs! I've got all of the ones that work out properly. The Ziyon here IS a Battlemaster, but far too small (the mech itself is actually 1/72 when compared to others from the Battletech universe even though the figure might indicate otherwise).

So there you go - your useless information for the day!

[John Everett]

Dec 10, 2015 9:56:30 GMT -5 dierk said:

Can we expect a black and yellow striped industrial look?

I'm going to reserve the yellow-black schemes for accessory items in the scene. But there will a good number of these types of items.

For the Work-bot (I haven't come up with a better name yet.) I think I've decided on a white-red scheme. Various boxes, wires and gizmo things will add to the color selection. But white-red will dominate.

So now that the colors have been decided, it's time to get some paint moving.

Doog's Black base technique. Seems to work pretty well for creating subtle shadow effects in corners and at edges.





Oh yes.....Almost forgot....I'm also adding a boat.

I was so damned impressed with JoeyDee's "Last Airborne" ship that I stole his idea and plan to do a small boat fashioned after Ian McQue's famous artwork

Nasty old Lindberg kit purchased for $3 at club auction.




No bad feelings whatsoever in cutting out whole sections for the "Sci-Fi drive units".



Thanks for dropping by. The work schedule has changed and I've got a couple of extra days to build.

[John Everett]

Progress. I've named it Carl! (long story)

Getting some of the first layers of oil based weathering on Carl.










Also trying to decide how Carl and the boat will interact in the scene.






Cut the foam and placed first layers of "scenics", in this case, paint and baking soda for texture.

[k1w1]

This is looking interesting ................. Will be watching to see where it goes.

[Leon]

Nice progress on Carl,John! Love the paint scheme.Looking forward to seeing what you do with this.

[armorguy]

I had a lot to catch up and this is fun !