captain america

Pics with the Matchbox toy for comparison.

I have to credit the original line-art for that. The side/front/back views are surprisingly consistent for the Graug; much more so than for the other mecha I've tackled thus far.

Pics 8 and 9 cover the creation of the main cannon, which, to be honest, had me rather worried initially. Modelling board is quite brittle and long, spindly shapes are just devilish to machine. I was able to get around that by machining the barrel to one constant diameter initially, and then feeding it incrementally as the knife carved angled "steps" centimetre by centimetre, and then I manually sanded and polished it as the lathe was turning. The resulting barrel surpassed even my expectations! Pics 10 and 11 show most of the parts temporarily fitted in their current state. You really have to see it with your own eyes to appreciate how truly huge the Graug will be when complete. In fact, I will take a pic later of my sculpt next to the Matchbox toy, which itself is rather large, but still dwarfed by my sculpt. That just about covers this week's update. Stay tuned for next week's episode: Graug With The Wind!

Pics 4 and 5 deal with the main engines atop the cockpit pod: the overall shape is acheived on a lathe, and then milled flat where I want it to mate with the pod. I've elected to hollow all these parts out in order to save precious weight, which is critical if the finished model is to stand upright under its own might. Pictures 6 and 7 cover the arms, which also are being turned on the lathe; a rather cobbled-looking set of stove-pipe-like appendages. I'm still debating whether to cast the arms as one segment or separately; strength being my operative concern.

Hi folks. As you can likely tell, I haven't been on the forums much lately, since I've had my nose to the grindstone all week. It seems to have paid off though, as I have made a tremendous amount of progress since last week, to wit I bring you this week's "how-to" episode, entitled The Graug That Would Be A Prince. The first pic will take us back to the last part of last week's tutorial, whereby I was machining the ball for the foot. Here is that same part sporting a bit of corrective putty, its shape now almost perfectly set. The second and third photo are of the crude beginnings of the cockpit module. Slabs of modelling board were heated, curved and combined with some CA glue and some putty, and will have required a tremendous amount of grinding, shaping and sanding to acheive the necessary compound curvature (which we will see later.

Pic 11: the same piece is then taken back to the bandsaw to make the cut-outs for the foot pads... Pic 12: ...And then over to the milling machine to surgically machine the flats... Pic 13: ...And back to the lathe again to obtain the necessary curvature. This multi-step process is fairly common-place, even for what will likely seem like benign looking pieces when they are completed. In next week's update, you'll get to see that infamous foot "ball" in all its glory... Along with other things. Stay tuned

Pic 8: using the same process described in 3-6, several parts have begun to take shape. The circular component at lower right wil become the "ball" of the Graug's foot. More on this later... Pic 9: same as above, but with more leg showing. Those drumsticks are just massive! Pic 10: the "ball" of the foot is carefully turned on the lathe to transform it from a jagged shape to something quite circular.

Pic 4 shows the beginnings of the process, with a plotted part cut out and used as a template directly onto the modelling board Pic 5: the part is carefully cut from the slab on a bandsaw. Due to the thickness of the material and the tightness of certain radii, it will take many passes to get the part relatively chiseled. Pic 6: the same part is then put through the mill to get rid of the excess that the band saw couldn't. This step allows for greater precision, but due to the curvatures, I will still resort to a bench grinder to get the shape just right. Pic 7: you may not be able to tell, but this will become the main cockpit tub.

Hi folks. As promised, here is the first update of the building process for the Graug. The first couple of photos should be relatively common, showing just the raw building blocks that will be transformed into a model, and the original artwork from which all my plots are based on. The soda can is to give you an idea of just how big this thing is going to be... And even at that, my Quamzin figure will fit very tightly indeed. The third photo is of some of the plots that will serve as templates for parts.

Hi everyone. This will be the official "how I take a bunch of blocks and build a Graug in less than 45 days" thread. I figured that a whole new thread was appropriate, since this is pure scratchbuilding. The first photo-update will probably be uploaded tonight, or early tomorrow morning. There isn't much done yet at this stage, simply by virtue of the fact that there are sooo many components to make and some of them are quite large and time-consuming... Plus I have to run out for supplies. Stay tuned!

Correct. As for the Hasegawa kit conversion, it wasn't me.

If I ever did decide to kit-ify the Legioss, I would definitely re-tool a few things, namely the nosecone and landing gear bays... But we aren't there yet.

Assuming I could track-down and find all of my masters, that would be a possibility. Not kidding

I'll have to agree that they are both very different in their approach. Not so much red versus green apple, as much as perhaps apple versus orange. Hasegawa kits are models, in the purest most traditional sense. Yes, they're detail is unmatched, however, construction is VERY simple. You've never built Hasegawa's 1/48 F-14 or F-18s, or Tamiya's 1/12 Williams FW-14B have you? They are many things, but not simple. In fact, they are infinitely more challenging since complexely-curved shapes must be both bonded and alligned, then skilfully puttied, sanded, lightly rescribed, and then painted; sometimes sub-assemblies must be painted and then inserted into another construct, whereby it must be carefully masked again to avoid overspray when painting the surrounding construct. And then you have decals (don't even get me started on those!) With a Perfect Grade, you just need to "assemble" and be able to exert enough strength to snap fit the parts together. Even if one does decide to paint a PG, it barely (if at all) requires any skilful masking or puttying. They certainly do have more pieces in a kit than almost anything else I can think of by any other company, but more parts does not mean more complex. If anything, the only challenge I can think of comes from designing them. Hase puts more emphasis on appearance, painting, etc. Yes, because true models are made for display, to be enjoyed with one's eyes, not fingers Bandai PG's look great as well, even without paint. Unless I'm doing a custom scheme, I don't even paint mine, just washes/weathering. However, Bandai kits, especially MG and PG, focus more on the assembly side of things. Moving parts, very elaborate, more sturdy, and yes, made for light play. Made for light play... The operative word to describe a toy That's the whole point I was trying to make. Bandai "kits" don't cultivate true modelling skills, such as painting, puttying, masking, sanding/finishing, decaling, etc. The very fact that most Gunpla "builders" just snap their kits together sans paint and slap-on stickers is pretty much what a Kinder Surprise toy is: molded in color, no glue required; just snap & apply stickers and voila: instant gratification. Please don't take this as me poo-poo-ing on Bandai or MGs, or even your enjoyment of the latter, because I like them too. In fact, if/when that PG VF-25 comes out, I'm down for two without batting an eyelash--and this, from a guy who hasn't bought himself a "real" model kit in almost 4 years.The very fact that PGs are toy-like is what makes them so interesting to me, even if they aren't real models.

Hasegawa, like Fine Molds, is a true model kit manufacturer: their crispness, attention to detail and ultra-fine recessed panel lines have never been matched, let alone surpassed by Bandai, who, for all intents and purposes, merely make highly-detailed toys that one must assemble one's self. This isn't to say that Bandai is bad or inferior; I myself just love their Perfect Grades (and have snapped together more than a few with much pleasure) but if you stop and think about it, a PG is really just an overly-elaborate Kinder Egg toy... Without the awesome chocolate outer shell

The 20 Graug spots are now filled! I've already begun prepping and will have the 1st update by Friday. I hadn't realized how massive the Graug would have to be in 1/72 until I started printing the plots out. It might not have as much mass as a Monster (which poses its own set of problems) but it will certainly be a challenge to keep in balance, what with those spindly limbs and what have you.

Ok, it's five after 6pm EST. All those notified in wave 1 who didn't get in on time are now on hold. Viceland and Codam 23, if you're still interested, I'm waving you in...

Less than an hour to go, and 5 spots yet unfilled.

As of 3:26PM EST, 9 spots still unfilled. I've begun making print-outs and HOLY FRACKING SH%$#@ this thing will be MASSIVE!!!

Ok, here goes. I will be sending out PMs to the initial posters of this thread along with deposit info, and will wait til 6pm Eastern time. If payment isn't received by that time, I move to the alternates. Fingers crossed...

Not at all. Everyone else has work/obligations to tend to, including myself. I really don't think it's going to be some 20 minute affair, but more likely a protracted deposit "window" extended over several hours at least. You can also make arrangements with a third party to make the deposit in your stead, if you're really hell-bent on it. There are always solutions if we are willing to discover them.

Bingo! And depending on the nature of Bandai and the Whory Froating Head's collaboration, it's entirely possible that the VF designs were done specifically with product already in mind, or perhaps with input directly from Bandai, which they were notorious for doing with Gundam. Either way, I wouldn't lose any sleep over transformation/proportional accuracy, if indeed they do go that route. Could it be a static, non-variable model? While it's possible, I feel that this scenario is highly unlikely. I liken Macross Flontier to Evangelion: something non-Gundam that Bandai saw potential in, and was able to sink its marketing claws into; good for Bandai, and good for the fans.

Correct! I will post here as well as notify people via PM. I'm thinking around 1pm-ish Eastern time.

Yes, United States Dollars. For the moment it looks oversold, so I will proceed in the order of posting to collect deposits. If someone misses their turn, I'll wave you in. Not trying to be difficult or anything, just want to be fair to those that stepped-up the the plate first.

A million? Never. I start to go bonkers after a few dozen castings The molds may or may not be able to take more than 20 casts, it's hard to say. The bigger the part, the greater the exotherm produced by the resins and this degrades a mold exponentially quicker than lots of tiny pieces, and the high-strength stuff is even worse. 20 pieces is what I felt I could guarantee safely. I might be able to handle an extra 1 or 2 castings, but that's really it.If I don't feel I'm able to do justice to more than 20, I reserve the right to simply refund those that fell outside the limit and call it a day. The quality of my work is more important than a few extra digits on a bank balance. Oh, speaking of bank, with their ever-changing policies, they "offer" to freeze funds and charge "extra" fees now for M-Os, so Paypal has actually become less of a hassle... At least for the time being.