pengbuzz

UPDATE: right now, working on replacing the nose landing gear doors. The thin wisps of plastic holding the old ones gave out on one side, and rather than trying to repair them. I'm putting in a different hinge method that will be more stable over time. Also: working on reshaping the legs (looked at the animation art and determined the lower leg was a bit too "blocky". Also, the ventral strakes on the legs (fins) were located too far back on the leg (should be closer to the landing gear doors), so I took the liberty of replacing them and relocating them. Yeah, by the time I'm done, this will probably have 1% each of the Bandai and Imai kits and 99 percent pengbuzz-produced parts. But at least it'll be unique! I'll see about pics this evening; right now, pretty tired so I'm going to go lie down for a bit. Stay tuned...

Definitely; the more you do now, the (hopefully) lesser headaches that should pop up later on. Anytime someone makes a transforming mech, there's always stuff that comes up; but so for, you've got this planning done in spades, and the quality shows! Looking forward to seeing this progress.

Wow, that model is just SMOKING!!!! I love the paint and weathering on it! A true class act, mintox!

Okay, time for another death-defying, high-risk, high-calorie ("GET ON WITH IT!!!") update: Well, the Vf-1S can now stand in Battroid mode; the link-up system for locking the front to the back isn't in place yet, so the shoulders are kinda droopy at this moment. That should be fixed soon; that said, the canopy shield stays in place, the lock mechanisms for the legs/ retainers for the chestplate are glued in place (pics next time around for these) and the detent for the head in Battroid mode are set: As to the legs: I removed a chunk of the nose "side-blisters" to install some square-channel plastic I had to scratch up. The leg pegs will go into these channels, and should lock into place (as soon as I use plastic-welder to re-form the blisters and tighten the fit of the channels up: I'll also scratch-up some covers for the holes in there; the landing gear missed the assembly inside, so no worries about that. More to come ...stay tuned....

No, I was just trying to get an idea on just the head itself. I have one I want to sell, but not sure what to charge for it (like 1 or 2 bucks).

Thanks! Yeah, I don't like the spindly arms on the other one, so I'm staying with these. The kit is almost at the point where it stays together on its' own; I might reduce the shoulders' width slightly, but I'm a bit indecided on that as of yet. More to come as I build; stay tuned... As for the Mospeada Ride Armors; I think I would sooner take a 1/6 figure and build the bike from scratch myself.

This might sound a bit stupid, but have to ask: how much is a 1/72 Bandai VF-1S head (model kit) worth?

This so far...

Wow! Some really impressive work here Andrea! I'm definitely going to be interested in seeing the next progress pic!

Okay, decided to take a couple of more pics: So far, what I have in Battroid mode.Thighs look a little slim, but maybe it's just the size of the shoulders doing that. Speaking of arms: Took the elbow joints from the Bandai and incorporated them into the Imai. The hole fits the peg inside the forearm joint, and just a modification to implant the shaved-down shoulder joint into the Imai housing. Stay tuned...

Now we know how they did it on South Ataria Island to rebuild the Macross! Nice job!

I've had success with Devcon plastic welder: I'm using that on my Imai/Bandai kitbash and it holds the abs and other parts quite well. You may want to try it if you can find it. Stateside, it's at Ace Hardware. Overseas and outside the US; not so sure.

Well, I managed to save the chestplate, but I had to backtrack on a few details I wanted for the Vf-1S. In any event, I was not very happy with the upper thigh/ intake on the fighter, so I went ahead and did some "splicing": I ended up grafting the thigh from my crappy Bandai VF-1 onto the rest of the leg for the Imai VF-1. It scales pretty closely with the line art in fighter mode. I cannot vouch for how well the gerwalk form for the legs squares with how it appears in the line art/ anime, but it looks a LOT better than the Imai original. I just have to fill in and prep the extra space and get that down to acceptable levels between the knee cover and the upper thigh. I might do poseable kneecap armor like on the Yamato version. As to the swing bar for the legs: I'm seriously thinking of just making the legs "plug-ins" like on the Bandai and the Yamato v.1 valks. Trying to sort the swing bar and all of that past the head in fighter mode and getting it to come around the nose in Battroid mode is getting wearisome. Plus, gluing the bar in place and just covering it with the "reactor shield" (as I like to call it) would do a world of good in stabilizing it. Last: working on a "gun transplant" for the head lasers: I like how they pose on the Bandai version, but i have mine "fire linked" on the Imai (turn one side and they both turn). Just the lasers aren't all that good looking on the Imai, and one kinda popped off on me. Stay tuned folks: looks like it's gonna be a "Macross Summer" for me...

I may incorporate that into my viper.

Thanks for the vote of confidence vince, but it really crimps the transform (the whole point of it! lol ). The break is clean through and it's in 2 pieces that I'm trying to rejoin into 1. Gonna have to see if plastic welder can fix it. Plan b: see if anyone here has a spare in their parts box. Stay tuned folks (or tuna'ed, as Hikaru can attest when he and minmay were trapped together).

Looking forward to this.

Had a bit of a set-back tonight: the chest-plate snapped in half lengthwise down the center bulge while I was working on it. (That's what I get for over-customizing I guess) Seeing if I can repair it, but it's not looking good. I'll try to get pics when it's dry.Worse case scenario: I'll have to find a new chestplate (don't have one to replace this). Stay tuned...

Actually, I use masking tape as a major component in building a lot of my customs. Just use multiple layers of Krylon clear cote and it will stay on just fine. I have models from 12 years ago that the tape is still holding strong. BTW: don't use cheap masking tape: that WILL flake off no matter what. I recommend Scotch regular Masking Tape.

Would the crickets be in Gerwalk mode?

Thanks MechTech. It's good to finally work out some issues I remember with this one. Right now I'm just waiting on some money for a two-part epoxy like adhesive by Devcon called "plastic welder". That should help with a lot of the issues and help reinforce some of the weaker areas that might not stand up to transformation stresses. Also, I'm thinking about improving the poseability on the head; that might take some thought as well, I'll look at Yamato/ Arcadia's VF-1's and see how they solved it. Stay tuned folks...

Okay, some more updates folks: I got the swing-bar mechanism designed and test-fitted for the legs. This is it with the arms folded over it in fighter mode: Arms removed, slide mechanism for the arms clears the bar itself: And this is with the slide mechanism for the arms moved out of the way; the bar (plastic for the tests but will be replaced with metal for full operations) sits in a channel below the arm transform. I colored the end red so it's visible amongst the grey plastic parts: And here is the arm swung down to Battroid position for the legs: As you can see, the cross-bar for the legs isn't installed yet. I want to make sure that when the hinge is installed it remains stable; I had to cut considerable amounts of plastic away to make room for this, and the installation will require reinforcement and new support structures for the backpack hinge and the ventral panel of the fuselage. Yeah; I really don't want parts coming out at the worst possible moments! lol After the leg joints are established, then the lock mechanisms for the legs in fighter mode, Battroid mode and the head flip mechanism. Also need to address the chestplate issue. Stay tuned...

Thanks! As for the legs: I plan on a swing-bar that will have clips that snap into the blisters on the nose section. It's a little hard to describe now, but I already have the swing-joint implanted in the main body. In the next day or two, i should have the setup built up enough to demonstrate what I mean.

Well, a while back, I obtained the Bandai VF-1s kit, and built it... Worst. Mistake. Ever. The thing was a royal pain to assemble, parts broke or didn't stay on (and I've had more than 30 years experience building models!), and ultimately, I gave up on the blasted piece of garbage. And I thought that would be the end of my aspirations for a VF-1S transformable kit in 1/72... Until recently. I finally got my hands on a 1/72 Imai VF-1S. As I was building it, I remembered all the things I didn't like about the kit and decided to do the brave thing: use what I know of the Yamato/ Arcadia VF-1's (used to own the 1/48th VF-1S a few years back): Here you can still see the old backpack hinge system, but I used styrene card to accurize the ailerons. I also took the opportunity to do some panel line work on the dorsal surfaces: (yeah, still in progress here) Also reworked the intakes on the legs a bit; gotta see about redoing the plates on the intake covers (or maybe scratching up new ones that pull out): I also saw some blank areas on the "backpack" that could use some detail: I then saw the huge "block" of styrene that composed the upper chest and shoulder region on Battroid mode; I felt the need to do some cutting and detailing: (Yes, the thrusters are in the wrong way, but I'm redoing all the detailing). But the more I thought about it, the less I liked the exposed hinges on the tail. To that end, I decided to rework them and eliminate the issue: A better view: At this point, I admit to getting carried away: I looked at the top vents on the chestplate, and decided to rework those as well: Then the ultimate insanity hit me... TWO cockpits?! TWO? This is 2016, I think it's time for ONE: As we speak, I'm working on a swing-bar mechanism like Yamato has on theirs, and working out details like a flip-joint for the head, ad possibly their version of how the chestplate moves down into position. All of that said: suggestions are welcome on this build, as I still need to dress the work up once it's solidly set in place. I always wanted to rework one of these, but never had the courage until now. Stay tuned...

Now THAT'S a tub!!! Looking forward to seeing how this unfolds...

I really like what you're doing with all of this! It's really great to see you bringing the characters of Macross to life.