Online Model Contest

[project510]

Fantastic work guys! Keep it up! Enjoying all of it.

[Real G]

I had gone in circles trying to figure out how to keep the shoulder armor from flopping around after assembly.  After many overly complicated Willie E Coyote schemes, all it took was replacing the locating pins with longer ones and drilling holes into the polycap stubs.



Now the shoulder armor stays put and can still articulate independent of arm movement.

The simple polycap for the head was replaced with a ball joint, allowing a greater degree of movement.  The opening in the body will be infilled with a detail insert.







The head can also tilt a bit now.



So the arm mods are almost done.  The Gelf is beginning to look like it's ready for a fight!

[kyledehart5]

Looking really cool!!

[TJ]

Very ingenious on the fixes

[mz3]

I almost quit this build a few days ago. This thing is nasty.



I slapped most of it together a few nights ago just to get an overall idea about this thing. I got a bunch of pics of how bad this thing is.

But, Saturday morning at like 2 am I was hit by inspiration. I have a mg Rick Dom "1.5" I've been working on that has all the old joint parts from the original kit. Hips, waist, ankles and poly caps. So I started hacking everything back to scratch.



Original hips



Dom hips



I cut up the original parts and used it to fit on the Dom poly caps, then made a thin shim on top. Then used epoxy sculpt to hold it in place.





I was going to build it out of box.

[moramartht]

This thing is nasty.



I was going to build it out of box.

I think I may have one of these in the Deep Stash; I'm so not going looking for it...

Cheers,

M

[mz3]

Aug 18, 2024 15:45:27 GMT -5 moramartht said:

This thing is nasty.



I was going to build it out of box.

I think I may have one of these in the Deep Stash; I'm so not going looking for it...

Cheers,

M

Well, I mean, it's only hours and hours and hours of sanding.

[Real G]

I was going to write "Well it's good enough for Government work", but I didn't want MZ3 to come over and punch me in the face, so...

Using the Dom 1.5's spare hips is a stroke of genius!  The Dom is a pretty darned good kit, and a significant improvement over the 1.0 version.  What I liked best about it was that most of its improvements were hidden, yet they contributed to better posing.  I was surprised Bandai went this subdued route to product improvement.

I reneged on making new slots for the Gelf's forearm spare magazine holders and just fell back and punted.  I cut the magazine stubs off the spare kit's arms and glued them to the kit. Now the magazines have a proper gap between them and look good enough for... government work.  



I also took the right shoulders from the spare kits to repurpose them into hip joints.



Blacking out the internals of robot kits is important to keep unpainted plastic from peeking out of the joints.  I spent a few hours brush painting the backside of parts Testors flat black, with their airbrush thinner used to keep the paint flowing in the torrid heat.



The knees don't bend 90 degrees, and Bandai's approach to the kit joints makes modification without drastic work difficult.  But yesterday morning while preparing breakfast the phrase "hiki-dashi joint-o" flashed in my addled brain.  What is "hiki-dashi joint-o"?  I'll work on the knees tonight and will post the results shortly. 






 

[406 Silverado]

You guys sure are bustin' out with the creativeness on these builds. WOW!!

[mz3]

Aug 19, 2024 16:01:14 GMT -5 Real G said:

I was going to write "Well it's good enough for Government work", but I didn't want MZ3 to come over and punch me in the face, so...

*clenches fist*


I should have posted the Dom. I making a ton of mods to it. Some of the things bandai did are good. But some seem kind of useless.

[Real G]

Aug 19, 2024 17:18:49 GMT -5 mz3 said:

Aug 19, 2024 16:01:14 GMT -5 Real G said:

I was going to write "Well it's good enough for Government work", but I didn't want MZ3 to come over and punch me in the face, so...

*clenches fist*


I should have posted the Dom. I making a ton of mods to it. Some of the things bandai did are good. But some seem kind of useless.

I definitely would be interested in what you are doing to the Dom.  Overall I liked what Bandai did to make the 1.5 version.

As an aside, back when the 1.0 version came out, there was much customer expectation and angst, as the kit had been announced, then delayed, then delayed again.  Bandai apparently shifted their attention to kits from newer series and let the MG Dom slide for well over a year.  When the kit finally came out, the magazines were not kind to it, saying it was not very interesting.  This was a time when Bandai was piling on the innovations to their MG line at each release, so the magazines and customers were expecting something really spectacular given the long wait for such an iconic mobile suit.  I recall the review article in Hobby Japan concluded with something like "if this is where Bandai is going with the MG line, I don't need it."  The review was so negative that I decided to pass on the kit.

I am glad I did though, because when I got the Dwadge, I noticed the improvements to the basic Dom were really to my liking and asked myself if Bandai would do a Dom 1.5.  And they did.  Hooray!

[Real G]

Okay, time to explain "hiki-dashi joint-o".





By adding a pull-out (hiki-dashi) second joint at the knee, the leg can now bend much more than the stock kit.  So important for that hakuryoku (powerful) anime pose.





I got the hip mods figured out as well.  I think the range of motion of the feet are adequate, so they will just be detailed.

[mz3]

Now that's good! I'll have to remember that.

I'll make a new thread for the Dom.

[kyledehart5]

That is very cool!!

[mz3]

Pics...






Sliced the waist off.














The arms are spring loaded and are a pain to move. The plastic of the upper torso around the openings to more them is thin and I was worried over time it would just break. So I decided to set the arms in one place and fill in the openings. I used the shoulder parts provided to hold them in place. Without the spring it seems alot more stable. I added a little bit of detail inside, I cut the doors out to add a little more detail. These will get painted today and I'll start putting the upper torso together.

[Real G]

The designers for Xabungle certainly put in a lot of interesting features into the walker machines.  I never noticed the sliding arm slots until now.    But I think they either ran out of coffee or the green tea spoiled when they penned the Sendvead Type:

www.hlj.com/1-144-scale-sendvead-ban937926

What the heck is that thing?  It looks like a chompy robot frog with crazy extend-o arms.

Anyway, keep up the hard work MZ3!  Scrape those annoying "part pucker" edges down and push on!

[mz3]

If there's a 1/100 scale if that I'm getting it!!!

[Real G]

Aug 21, 2024 20:29:34 GMT -5 mz3 said:

If there's a 1/100 scale if that I'm getting it!!!

MZ3, you are so naughty! Now behave or the teacher is going to make you sit next to her in front of the class!

Oh wait, as an adult that doesn’t sound so bad…

[mz3]

Well, I think that kit was only made in 1/144. Or it just isn't around anymore in any other scale. Couldn't find anything bigger than this. Bummer

[Real G]

Here's a misleading photo of the Gelf:



No, it won't be able to kneel down this much.  Note the right hip is not even connected to the leg.  But it will be a lot more flexible than the base kit.  Modding the Falguen's hips taught me some important lessons in improving articulation.

[Real G]

Oh wait - I lied.



But the waist interferes with upward movement of the legs, so no super squat poses when done!



It's starting to come together now.  I have about a week left to complete the modification work, then two weeks for painting and finishing.

MZ3, I hope the Government Type isn't giving you the Xabungles!  Keep the tools sharp and the sandpaper fresh - and the sledgehammer nearby!  

[mz3]

It's not. I just had to work for a few days. We try to pack in as much as we can on Thursdays and Fridays. I usually don't get any model building done then. I think all I really have left is figuring out the new waist. Slice and dice more of the leftover Dom parts. Then on to sanding and scribing for days on end.

[kyledehart5]

That’s looking good. Some nice work going on here.

[mz3]

Mas....

Bare with me if I repost something. I've got alot going with this one.

Painted the inside of the shoulder. It was a quick paint job, so it's not the nicest I've ever done. But it can't be seen very easily, so blah...













Torso was cut in half. I used part of the Dom's waist for the upper waist here. Then cut up the Dom's ankle for the lower waist. The polly cap was too big, so I had to cut out a bit to get it to work. The ankle parts with the cap were too wide for the lower waist, so I had to groove it.









I also had to grind the area around the joint for everything to fit and work.



I can not recommend the Dspiae grinding pen enough! It is an awesome tool to have!






Still have a TON of clean up, but I think that's it for any major mods to this. I will add a bit of support to the anklewaist area before I actually put it together. I already test fitted everything so I confident there are no adjustments needed.

[Real G]

Great progress MZ3! I am also finalizing the modded joints for the Gelf. I just got the waist connection done and will attempt to attach the skirts after dinner.

[Real G]

I added a small detail part to the front of the neck.







And then the final major work to join the hips to the upper torso.







The waist joint combines a bunch of features like hip twist and skirt movement.  The large ball joint in the torso serves more to allow slight adjustments of the upper body to allow the other parts to move.







Getting the side skirts to move proved tricky.  They have to kind of slide up and into the torso.  I used some small ball joints to assist in fine positioning.

Hurry Star Force, there are only three weeks left...

[kyledehart5]

Great work continues. Looking. Super cool!!

[Real G]

Aug 26, 2024 23:28:52 GMT -5 kyledehart5 said:

Great work continues. Looking. Super cool!!

We aim to please.  

Actually, I'm aiming to finish.  

A small setback - the tube used to hold the crotch armor split while being glued in place.



I knew better but tried to use the tube anyway.  Nothing left to do but cut the tube out and replace it with something more robust.  The good thing is that the hinge works properly, allowing the armor flap to tip outwards without fouling the upper torso.

[mz3]

That sucks.

I got 7 days off after tomorrow, so I'm going to hit it hard. I've started the filling and sanding process. I want to have it ready for paint by this weekend. Hopefully...


Edit- Ha, I just realized this weekend is closer then I thought. Duh!

[Real G]

Aug 27, 2024 19:15:27 GMT -5 mz3 said:

That sucks.

I got 7 days off after tomorrow, so I'm going to hit it hard. I've started the filling and sanding process. I want to have it ready for paint by this weekend. Hopefully...


Edit- Ha, I just realized this weekend is closer then I thought. Duh!

But Monday is a holiday!