bzwacks

Took a break from my 1/1000 SDF-1. Not a model, but a Gundam MSIA Xamel Toy that I have attempted to make it into a Fix Figuration version. To be more exact, I painted this around 20 years ago and found it in a bin of MSIA and decided to resurrect it and redo it with some new tidbits / 3d printed parts.

Finally printed out the main parts and painted them their base colors. I have a lot of work to do still in terms of greeble and detail painting, but now the proportions feel right and to my liking. Compared to the image above, it's night and day in terms of proper scaling. I still have one pet peeve left, which is the ARMD carriers now feel a tad short. That will be the very LAST thing I do and THEN, I'll be done.

BEEFY! Finally got around to printing the revised parts. Up next... sand, fill, paint, repeat.

For those that are curious, here is a comparison of the current ( one that was actually 3D printed on the right ) vs. the future ( corrected proportions on the left ) SDF-1 Models. I will print only the parts that were revised, but it's still about 14 parts. It will add probably about 4-5 inches in overall height.

Some last details on the Daedalus. I will call this 99.9% done for now. Once it gets settled into it's new home, I'll decide if I want to go through the ordeal of printing out some of the proportional adjustment parts. For reference, that would be the lengthened mid section of the main gun and reprinting the legs with a little more width ( aka girth).

Added some more details and weathering to the Prometheus.

Well, that is humongous! I think that would have cost around $500-600 in just PLA alone. What material is this made of. I think my tally came in around $200 in PLA. Probably another $80 in paints.

I would love to make it out to SDCON. I live on the eastcoast of the US unfortunately and I'll have to plan that trip by driving ( If I want to bring all of my homebrew creations with me ) I've only see a few other giant SDF-1 creations ( kids logic and the papercraft one come to mind) If you have images of others, please post them here. I would love to see them!

So, this is what I would call 97% complete. There is some greeble and weathering that needs to happen, but not much more. There may be a reprint of the middle part of the gun. Overall the guns feel a little short, but I'll determine that after I set it up in my collection. There are other proportional fixes that are also in the que, but those will happen later. It will be the centerpiece and it may not bother me as much when it's surrounded all with a bunch of other mech.

I have 4 printers. Even though each piece took anywhere from 7-13hours to print, they were all printing at the same time.

In the midst of applying putty / filler and sanding for test fitting the main hull. It's made up of 4 parts.

Busy bee today. I've been in a holding pattern since I have a lot of things in the render farm for work and that has afforded me time to get to the final pieces of the SDF-1. I have always leaned toward the DRYL version of the SDF-1, but I prefer the Prometheus and the Daedalus from the TV version for the arms. So, why not have the best of both worlds! About 70% complete on the modeling on the Prometheus.

I learned that the Bandai Macross Quarter is roughly 1/1000...which is about what my build is around. So, I dug up my Quarter and grabbed the micro VF-25's and Koenig Monsters that come with it. Even though they are different series, they look at home on the ARMD.

Thanks! I'm not sure at this point if I will release with STL's publically. People have contacted me about the 3D work and I will be following up some of those avenues to see what comes of them. It's always a little of surprise when people show interest in my hobby ( Macross, not 3D...I do that professionally).

Test fitting at 90%. A lot of little pieces to still print. Painting has started, but a long ways to go. In an effort to get pieces to be as good as possible, some are being reprinted so that tolerances are tighter and closer. The "feet" have been remodeled and are being reprinted as we speak. The ones in this footage are a too small. Some thing you really don't notice until it's IRL. It's standing @ 48inches. That is the Yamato 1/3000 standing next to it.

Some Progress on one of the ARMDs.

My friend, you have the right mindset. I can probably print a pair a main guns that have the ends burnt off. That would be great fun. My only problem is that I need more room to display it in it's lake setting...I need to get a bigger house!

It can be disassembled. 90% of it is held together with bolts and screws. Greeble and a few details are glued. This one is not transformable yet, but I plan on updating a few parts so I can print a transformable version with minimal fuss. Everything was designed from the outset to be transformable in the future. The best way to make this toy-like, like a Transformer ( with just friction and ratchet joints) would be to get the frame milled from metal and have mechanical metal joints. Not impossible, but will take time. But it's so freaking large, that transforming it would be a team effort LOL.

New gun tips. Amazingly enough, it's perfectly balanced...even without legs. The main guns are splaying out a little bit. That's due to the lateral strain on the main frame. I need to either print a new support bar or make one out of metal.

Very true. I do photogrammetric modeling sometimes and work with a vendor that does it for big movies. The iphone software is OK for certain things, but generally junk. I used a Revopoint MINI Camera for some reference scans of the ARMD, but everything else was just 2D photos that I used as background images in my modeling software for reference. The Revopoint scan ( below ) couldn't capture enough minute detail for it to be useful in a meaningful way.

Sometimes it's good to show the mistakes. I'm reprinting the top portions of the main gun. In this test fitting, I noticed they are a little too short, so I lengthened them a little. Even though I did orthographic modeling of the SDF-1, sometimes the compensation for lens curvature isn't totally correct. Not a big deal, because they'll be done printing by this time tomorrow. So far the balance is pretty good. In this photo, everything is held together by screws / bolts or tension fittings. I try not to use any glue on items this large. Only greeble will get the glue treatment .

Tacos are always an option!

I love the fine detail that Resin printing can get, but unfortunately I don't have a space to set up a resin printer. My office will not allow something that is so smelly to run in a shared space and my girlfriend would kill me if I put something in the house that makes her get headaches...she already complains enough when I do small spray paint runs.