Online Model Contest

[Real G]

Hey guys, I was wondering if you heard of the online mecha contest being hosted by Zakuaurelius? The theme is “Old to Gold”, any mecha kit from 1996 and earlier. It must be an older mecha kit, ie no spaceships, planes, etc. An example: Macross Battroid and Gerwalk are OK, the fighter form is not.

This contest sounds tailor made for certain individuals - MZ3 you reading this? I’m throwing in because I have a lot of older kits sitting about. Plus I need a kick in the pants. The host does not require WIP photos, but I thought I’d share them here for fun. I will post pics of my project shortly - it’s a Gelf from the 1987 TV show Dragonar. Anyone want to join me?

Anyway, sorry for the late post, the contest runs to Sept 17. I’m not sure if it is permissible to share links to this kind of stuff, so go check out Zakuaurelius’ youtube channel for details.

[kyledehart5]

Cool!! That’ll be a fun one. Look forward to seeing your work!

[Real G]

Kyledehart, join in on the fun!  

Here is my (attempted) entry:



It's an oldie and moldy 1987 kit that's been in my stash for a long time.  The kit allows the builder to make one of three versions.



I am going with this one.



So the plan is to rehab some of the joints for better poseability (the kit already has polycaps), improve some of the inevitably wonky details, and add clear parts for the sensors.  I had a quick look at the parts last night, so I know what needs to be done.

FYI Dragonar was a Japanese TV show that aired in 1987 and was supposed to be the next best thing after Double Zeta Gundam concluded.  But as we all know now, there is no such thing as the next best thing after Gundam, so the show did its run and faded into obscurity.  Personally, I liked the more light-hearted nature of the story compared to Zeta and Double Zeta Gundam.  The mechs (Metal Armors) were pretty original looking and had their own distinctive flavor.  The good guy team comprised of Dragonar-1 (close combat), Dragonar-2 (heavy weapons) and Dragonar-3 (electronic warfare).  The Gelf was the bad guys' answer to the Dragonar team, with similar variants.

The development line art for the designs were pretty dumpy looking, but the animators took heavy liberties in the show to make them look more dramatically heroic (or evil).  The kits were kind of dumpy, but can be argued to be close to the line art.  For laziness' sake, I'm not going to be hacking this kit into a super villain anti-hero.  Actually for me, just pushing it across the finish line will be a miracle.

[Real G]

Many moons ago, I built the "boss" bad guy's ride, the Falguen:



I added the wings ("lifter unit") from sheet plastic and junk parts as I felt it really added to the look of the mech.  The Falguen was my first major modification to a mech type kit.  I tried to enhance some of the joints. particularly the hip and midsection, but felt it was only partially successful.

This is a Gewei (ge-bai), one of the standard grunt mechs of the baddies.  I just added clear parts to this one.   Sadly, none of the kits came with clear parts.



Some of the mechs had add-on wings, but others had them built in, like the Dauzehn and Schwalg:





Yeah, I never built any of the good guys.  Maybe some day...

[kyledehart5]

Your lineup of baddies all look great!! Very cool. Mecha stuff is one area I’ve yet to dip a toe but I sure enjoy looking at the builds.

[mz3]

I saw something about it. I'm not much of a contest person. Maybe I'll do it for fun. See what I have in my stash. I've got an old mecha Godzilla I've been wanting to start.

[Real G]

I confess I have no interest in the prizes, but I thought it would be fun, and get me to finish an old stash kit. Plus a Dragonar kit entering the mix will provide a splash of variety. I wonder what the other builders will bring?

[mz3]

I think I'm going to do another xabungle kit. See what happens.

[Steve Zuleski]

Wow, that's wild!

[Real G]

Jul 18, 2024 11:20:36 GMT -5 mz3 said:

I think I'm going to do another xabungle kit. See what happens.

Ooooh, a Xabungle kit! Yes! So cool, so classically 1980s!

[Real G]

I will now violate one of my own forum rules for the first time, specifically cut-n-pasting from another forum.  I am sorry but I'm just too tired this morning so please forgive me.



Some progress pics:



A quick test fit to have a look at the overall model, and to identify areas that will need work.







Dragonar kits were kind of made on the cheap. I guess to be fair, they WERE cheap to buy. Anyway, it was common to have moveable parts without the benefit of polycaps, but the main guns on the Gelf HAD to have polycap action:











No need for Model Viagra!







The mod was also to accomodate a possible lifter unit in the future. It was always my intent to make wings for this guy, but under the time constraints of the contest, they will have to wait.



Next up was separation of the skirt armor from the body. I saw this neat trick on Youtube, where the guy scribed lines where he wanted to cut parts away then carefully applied Mr Color Thinner. He then initiated a small cut to start the separation. The Bandai plastic, notorious for cracking from thinner, neatly parted!



And it worked!







Now to clean up the cut area and extend the skirts up.







Reworking of the hip joint and neck area to follow.

[kyledehart5]

Great work!!

[mz3]

Welp, I'm in....






Atleast I sent the email.

[kyledehart5]

That’s a pretty cool looking unit right there

[Real G]

Mwu ha ha ha! Thanks MZ3 for joining in! Your Xabungle mech will no doubt turn out excellent!

[mz3]

I hope so. This thing is just as nasty as the Dugger with the seams between parts.

Spelling hard

[Real G]

Jul 25, 2024 8:52:35 GMT -5 mz3 said:

I hope so. This thing is just as nasty as the Dugger with the seems between parts.

That’s 1980s-era kits for ya!

The kids these days have it so good, with parts that are molded in the right colors, snap fit assembly, great fit and articulation, and they LOOK LIKE THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO! Back in the day it was hit or miss getting polycaps in your kit. And there were no aftermarket ones you could buy, so you had to carefully save the unused ones from previous builds. I hand carved rocket bells for several kits to replace the kit parts, as there were no aftermarket ones. And a lot of the kits were stumpy looking! The SOP was the ubiquitous 3mm thigh extension. I remember that one well.

[Real G]

But there were great looking kits too. The Xabungle series was one of them. Another was Takara’s Dougram kits.

[Real G]

...and then there were the terrible donkey-balls bad kits.



This is the original 1/144 Gouf from Mobile Suit Gundam.  Look at those weird skinny proportions and lousy pose.  Yuck.  The kids paid money for this junk back in the day?  Yeah... they did.  And in droves.

Bandai milks the Gundam franchise like some overly enthusiastic octopus turned dairy farmer, and so this lousy kit was reissued with snazzy new box art, which hid the old junky kit inside.  Bandai "improved" it by having the parts factory painted on the runners, a precursor to the color separated kits we enjoy today.  I was not fooled by the new packaging but liked the art enough to buy the kit.  I figured that I would try to extensively mod it into something that looked passable and could at least be posed a bit.



The incomplete model took a tumble off a shelf and sustained some damage.



This was built decades ago, without a lot of the materials and resources we have today.











I need to finish up this guy!



Why am I showing this old junk?  Heh-heh, I'm the Model Devil.  It's what I do.  I'm always whispering into unsuspecting ears, suggesting things, influencing others without direct intervention...

Oh no wait - that was from "Constantine".  

[kyledehart5]

Got to love model companies. They get their money out of their tooling. Not that I blame them but it is funny how some tooling just gets re-release after re-release slammed out.

[Real G]

Looking through the latest IPMS rules, I noticed that in the mecha category posing will now be a consideration in judging. Finally! No more Gundams standing straight up, with elbows pointing out, and feet with that odd outward tilt.

img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/ac24d88a-08a8-47fe-961a-a53559fd3d36/Final%20E-Board%20Approved%20%20Specific%20Class%20Rules%201.pdf

Part of the enjoyment I get from these kits is trying to get cool poses out of them. You can’t do that with an F-100 unless you are making a ZELL launch diorama.

So I'm wading into the Rubicon:



These old kits have terrible articulation compared to their modern counterparts.  I don't think I'll be able to get ab crunches out of this guy, but the side skirts have to be able to swing up in order for the legs to move forward.  I have added a rod with polycap to the hip part, to allow it to extend and rotate.

The head will get a new clear visor with some detailing behind it.

[mz3]

So many seams to fill and sand...




I got a secret weapon though...

[mz3]

Reciprocating pen sander...





The best tool I've ever bought.

[Real G]

Ooh I gotta try one of those sanders! I was also looking for an ultrasonic knife.

[mz3]

I've only had it for about a week, but it works wonders. It's easy to control, it has different speeds, the sandpaper that comes with it lasts longer then other sanding tools.

I also bought a sonic blade. It melts plastic, but goes through resin pretty nice. It does kick up a ton of dust with resin.

[deafpanzer]

Love mine too!!! It was worth every dollar I paid for this.

[mz3]

Wow, I sure did pick a good one for this...




Fun

[Real G]

Argh, mold slip, the bane of mostly older kits!

I have not been idle the past few weeks, marshalling my dark forces and gathering parts for the project.

This is the ghetto way of modding joints. Back in the day, I would have made a nice inner frame to hold the new polycaps in place. But I am just too lazy now, so I just cut up bits of sheet plastic and shimmed them in. At least it works and no one will see the jumble of junk once the arms are closed up.







I bought a second kit that was languishing at HLJ for spare parts and to permit butchery and inevitable mistakes.  That's why the elbow joint is a different color.

Now, what was all the fuss for?  It was to allow the forearm to rotate about its long axis for better posing, plus the slight extra length at the elbow joint now permits a full 90 degree rotation.  The wrists had a 2-axis polycaps, but all modern kits have ball joints for full 360 degree action.  For really cool wrist action, the ball joint should actually be nestled up into the hand, but I kept things simple.

MZ3, how is your Government Type Walker Machine coming along?

Hurry Star Force, there is only one month left...

[mz3]

Ugh...












The Dugger was a reprint from very recently. This is an old kit from the 80's. Every piece has been a nightmare. Everything is off. I put the leg together to see how bad it was, the lower leg won't let me cement it straight in any direction. I'll have to rescride tons of areas.

With the Reisen Panzer complete and nothing serious going on now, model building or work wise, I can start hitting this more. There's a ton of work. Should have done the Crab type. I have that one sitting here, it's much smallet and better looking in my opinion.

[Real G]

I went into the hospital yesterday for a biopsy, my first time going under.  There were 2 hours of prep and endless questions.  I remember straightening up on the OR table, looking up at the ceiling (wondering if those were HEPA filters in the AC registers), then *boop* I'm in the recovery area 1-1/2 hours later.  I slept most of the afternoon when I got home, but despite taking a painkiller the hospital gave me, after dinner I didn't feel like sleeping more.  So I pulled out my toolbox and continued work on the Gelf.



The arm joint mods are now done.  There are spare magazines for the rail gun main armament that slot into the front of the forearms.  I removed the "meh" molded mag stubs and plan on making nicer ones with defined slots.  Other than that, I need to make an insert for the left shoulder sensor with a clear cover.  The rounded right shoulder armor fits loosely so it was a subject of much cogitation.  I learned that word from a short story titled "Soft Ions" in Omni magazine, published back in the early 1980s.  The article was allegedly written by AI software.    If true, looks like chatbot has been around longer than we think!

But anyway, the floppy shoulder now has a solution, so along with the sensor detail insert and spare magazine slot mods, work will proceed this weekend.

Hurry Star Force, there is only one month left...