1/55 Valk Custom - Thigh Swivel Mod Update

[Skull-1]

WOOPS.

Wrong one.

[Skull-1]

Here you go.

Nothing major changed yet but I got the legs painted properly and some decals added.

Will be done when Devin gets some decals to me.

[Skull-1]

Having issues uploading attachments. Let's try again...

Awaiting finished decals and canopy. Otherwise complete....

Filled in all the screwholes on the arms and backplate. Will probably do the legs later.

http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=17887

Edited March 26, 2006 by Skull-1

[nightmareB4macross]

Looking good. What else have you got in mind for this custom?

[Skull-1]

Custom pilot markings, a clear canopy with frames, detailed cockpit/pilot and additional weathering. Nothing outlandish. I was going to fill in the arm channels for the sliders but decided that I wouldn't since I have already painted it. The next Valk will have Yammie-style arms and hands (non-articulated).

I have pretty much maxed out my skills on this one. I pushed the envelope as far as I have on any custom. Obviously I am not in ROLO or KK's class, but I am trying. The A stance on this Valk is by far the best I have done. It doesn't rotate the heels inward as my dark blue Valk did. I discovered the key to this by accident and I am glad it came out well.

Details:

- Tab-free Tail Fin Friction Mod (this bad boy will hold its tail fins and tail pack in any position WITHOUT scraping any paint off.

- Swivel Thighs for A-Stance in Gerwalk mode

- Paired Gun Pods (left and right hands)

- Collapsing/Telescoping Gun Pods

- Anime-style Beveled Foot Thrusters

- Detailed landing gear bay for main wheels

- All screwholes filled in (except the inside of the legs -- that's next)

- Tapered nose

- Tapered Swing Bar (AGGRESSIVELY tapered -- I think this is the best one so far)

- Yamato-style Thigh Paint and texture

I think that's it. I am still learning. My next one will probably be a "SUPER O" or VF-1D (custom red and white trainer scheme). Not sure. But I have already moved the forward nose blisters down on that one.

I really just need Devin's decals. I have some custom decals on it now but I don't have all of them to finish it. Dev is printing out some custom insignia for this one. I hope it will look great when done. We'll see.

Sorry no progress, but I have simply run out of things to do with it.

Edited March 27, 2006 by Skull-1

[big F]

Well the object of my modding was to achive a more anime realistic 1/55. I was not bothered about it being able to transform so I got a bit more creative shall we say....

My reference point

The Hasegawa 1/72 legs

The 1/55 starting point

HMMM!!!!

First thing to do make the intake part more acurate. This took longer than I thought it would as

I remodeled it twice. I have even moved the blister forward to be more acurate.

I cut away the whole bottom part with my trusty Exacto saw. then I bonded on a peice of 2mm styrene cut to size and mounted a bal joint I got from HLJ. This will attach to the new thigh when I finish it.

Next the hip joints.

These have been located in the acurate position for the anime. I drilled holes into the middle

of the blisters as where the articulations would be. once positioned I used 5 min epoxy on the

inside of the nose to hold them in place along with two small screws. they are now rock solid.

The next step was to add the ballsocket for the hip joints

This was held in place and bonded in with 5 min epoxy again. it wont come out at all now. Once

this was done i filled down the original leg inner ( the bit with the bar on) and then cut it to

size. This would have taken ages if it was a metal one. Next time I will probably just make new

ones out of 2mm styrene.

Well thats it so far I have just made up some new styrene templates for the new thighs. I will

post as soon as they are done.

Edited March 27, 2006 by big F

[Solscud007]

how will it transform? or will it just be battroid?

[big F]

how will it transform? or will it just be battroid?

384715[/snapback]

It will be just a Battroid. I already have ideas for a Gerwalk equivalent, but thats a long way off yet. I have still got to do the changes to the arms and body yet. Its gonna take some time. Once the legs are done thats the main obsticle out of the way.

[kanata67]

big F, big F,  i'm a little shocked you'd put a jetfire in the same standing as a $5 bootleg.

I'm even a little offended you'd cut up a jetfire over a re-issue valk.  Jetfire might not be popular but he's WAY more rare.

pls don't hurt your jetfires, people!

379210[/snapback]

a yellowed intact jetfire still makes a great custom starting point for a seeker or o conversion. As numerous and messed up as my spawn/vf merges have been I always started with a jetfire or vf that could never be refurbished completely. As is I have I don't know how many vf legs and nosecones extra are lying around as arms, tail asemblies and intact backplates are hard to find. All my customs are based on repaired rather than refurbed vf's. the difference being... if I can use all intact factory parts I don't care how yellowed they are, but if I have everything I need but a backplate and I have a cracked backplate I can repair... horrible custom mods here I come.

[KingNor]

I got some of those HLJ joints and put them in a cut up Eva figure i have. i like them alot, even the small ones can hold a significant amount of weight. I do worry about them in a valk though.

When i get some money together i'm going to try another valk custom. I want to try puting the Feet sections on ball joints to get lateral movement :-D

The stickers on the Blue Valk are looking really good.

[KingNor]

Big F What is that putty you use to fill in the gaps on your 1/55?

all my customs have nasty openings in them i'd like to patch.

[big F]

Big F  What is that putty you use to fill in the gaps on your 1/55?

all my customs have nasty openings in them i'd like to patch.

393314[/snapback]

Well for big openings I have started to use Automobile two part body filler. Its softer to sand than the usual Tamiya standard filler I use.

It mixes well with the Tamiya and Mr. White putty filler and works well as I can build up on it after putting in the bulk with car filler. I have also used two part apoxy glues like Devcon. Its great for areas than need strength for loading (like the baljoint areas) but it is more difficult to sand.

The car filler works very well and is cheaper than Tamiya, it paints well and can be sculpted and sawn as well.

I have bought some more bits and bobs while Im in Japan Including more parts for customs and a boxed complete Taka VF1-J which cost me Y2000. cheap as chips. I have more macross stuff than room in my case.

Edited July 23, 2006 by big F

[Skull-1]

I can't seem to capture the accurate color without it blurring.

Still need the 209 decals to go on it but I didn't order them properly from Dev. Damn.

Also need to find a decal placement guide for all the markings that aren't on it yet.

[Skull-1]

I keep getting a 404 when I try to upload this sucker... Very annoying.

http://www.Robotech-AOD.com/images/ValkToy...02005-05-11.jpg

Edited May 12, 2006 by Skull-1

[Skull-1]

Maybe these are better. I don't know how to use this camera! Any way, this thing is still under construction but once it is finished it should look fantastic.....

I still have a lot of touchup work to do before the final clear coat.

The "scratches" and imperfections you see in the photo do not show up to my eyes. The paint is as smooth as glass to the naked eye. I am growing frustrated with this digital camera making the thing look bad.

Wish I knew how to adjust it to show what it actually looks like. The blue is still darker than the picture lets on...

Edited May 13, 2006 by Skull-1

[ghostryder]

That's a nice chunkey, love the improved landing gear and visor! What brand auto paint did you use?

[big F]

Thats the trouble with digital cameras they show up everything.

Great custom though

[Skull-1]

That's a nice chunkey, love the improved landing gear and visor! What brand auto paint did you use?

416235[/snapback]

Wow, I didn't realize anyone had posted about this thing.

I used DUPLICOLOR.

It is tough as nails.

[Skull-1]

Thats the trouble with digital cameras they show up everything.

Great custom though

416249[/snapback]

It's showing things that you can't even see. Things that aren't even there I am convinced.

I am staring at it on my shelf right now and the paint looks as SMOOTH AS GLASS. But try to get a photo of it and it looks scratched and pitted.

I am utterly and completely confused.

* * *

I just did an update to it. I put another set of decals over the tail insignia and it brightened them up. They look even better.

I will post some more pictures when I get a little more done on it.

I may be moving so it could be awhile and I have to put another decal order in with Dev.

Edited July 14, 2006 by Skull-1

[orguss01]

SOL and I were talking about this project at the con..long live the 1/55 Edited July 16, 2006 by orguss01

[Skull-1]

Talking in what way? I hope in a good way!

[Vermillion21]

I keep getting a 404 when I try to upload this sucker...  Very annoying.

http://www.Robotech-AOD.com/images/ValkToy...02005-05-11.jpg

398780[/snapback]

Sweet custom "chunky-monkey" mate!!

[Skull-1]

Thanks. Still working on it and it hasn't been clear coated. That should smooth out the paint even on a DIGITAL CAMERA. LOL

[orguss01]

Oh yeah, about the 1/55 and how some guys need to keep it alive, nostalgic 1/55 stuff, how much the A stance makes it a whole dif. piece.."Dream Masterpiece 1/55"

Talking in what way?  I hope in a good way! 

416673[/snapback]

[Skull-1]

WOW. Those are some heady words. Thanks for the compliment.

The "A" stance makes all the difference in the world in how the thing looks. It's dramatic really. The trimmed swing bars are doubly nice. I did everything twice before I figured out how to do it right. All the mistakes I made on the blue were avoided on the green one--or should I say, all the mistakes I made on the green one (i.e. things I did differently from the blue one and though were screwups) turned out to be the way to do it right! So I accidentally stumbled onto better ways of doing it. I think I have the system down now. LOL.

Edited July 19, 2006 by Skull-1

[zanderwitaz]

what do you mean the swing bars were trimmed?

anyways, heres my valk. needs paint, but the joints are done. swivel leg mod, and corrected shoulder positioning. soon to be roy's VF-1s. enjoy!

[Skull-1]

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!! I like the arm mod. Do they still click into the stowed position in fighter mode? NICE!

As for the thighs.... Did you use my version of the mod by chance? If not, how did you make the joint for the thigh?

SWEET!!!!! That is so f'ing badass!! LONG LIVE THE 1/55!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also, just for the record... I have modified my thigh one additional time PURELY by accident and achieved better results.

I was trying to improve the angle of the feet when in the "A" stance and cut the thighs from front to rear (high to low). Wrong!!!!!! It made the rear of the feet almost touch when swiveled. AWFUL.

So I filed and filled them then reversed them. Now the cut starts at the lower front of the thigh and ends at the rear slightly higher at about a 30-45 degree angle. The result is an almost flat footed "A" stance.

Compare the leg angles on my blue Valk to the Green one. The green has a better stance.

So cut from low to high, front to rear on the next one for even better results.

* * *

Take a look at my swing bars and compare them to a standard set.

You will notice that mine are thinner. I filed them way down and they make a huge difference.

Edited July 22, 2006 by Skull-1

[Skull-1]

KingNor we need to add a member to our super poseable crew.

[zanderwitaz]

Thanks! I just did it strait across for simplicity. I was inspired by your blue valk, so I gave it a try. I cut them in half with my scroll saw, and then used two lego 1 X 2 technic swivels and the plastic dowel. ( I used these: http://media.peeron.com/ldraw/images/2/3004.png with the holes in them)

So, I trimmed them down, glued them in and connected them with the lego dowel.

To make sure they will swivel tightly, i added a drop of super glue to the dowel, so its super snug.

the coolest thing about using legos is that i can detatch the legs whenever I want. makes taking apart the valkyrie much easier! Gerwalk is my fav. mode, and the A stance is awesome.

for the arms, I took out the screw on the shoulder plates, sanded down a little rut, and glued the plate pieces together. Since its at the top of the plate, they still lock in in jet mode because it is the bottom of the plate that locks the arms in.

Im going to do this to all my valk customs!

Edited July 22, 2006 by zanderwitaz

[nightmareB4macross]

what do you mean the swing bars were trimmed?

anyways, heres my valk. needs paint, but the joints are done. swivel leg mod, and corrected shoulder positioning. soon to be roy's VF-1s. enjoy!

418201[/snapback]

That's an awesome mod. I wonder how come none of the previous 1/55 masters never thought of this??

[GrimlockCW]

wow....

damn i feel insignifigant compared to you people!

if i sent my spare jetfire overto someone think it could get modded for a fee? i'm tool-less and hobbyshopless where i am :/

i think i have the parts to do it (i've like 4 scrapped jetfires and rebuilt 2 and a half, began to repaint 1 as a valk, but stopped midway since i went to the military, but now i'm out and wanna complete!)

BTW when you say "bootleg valk" you mean those little 1/100 scale bootlegs that flood on ebay every so often, or is there a 1/55 one?

or is this just another jetfire referance i've missed (i'm a newb, i've a license to be retarded)

Edit: looking over, looks like a 1/55 bootlegs from somewhere... where are those sold at?

agian, i'm retarded, so don't hurt me to much!

Edited July 22, 2006 by GrimlockCW

[fulcy]

That's an awesome mod. I wonder how come none of the previous 1/55 masters never thought of this??

418269[/snapback]

http://mechaskunk.com/images/hips/

I did the same mods about, oh, 6 years ago, and made about 50 valks with the modified hips/knees/feet... One guy bought 30 of them I believe...

[big F]

BTW when you say "bootleg valk" you mean those little 1/100 scale bootlegs that flood on ebay every so often, or is there a 1/55 one?

or is this just another jetfire referance i've missed (i'm a newb, i've a license to be retarded)

418275[/snapback]

Well the bootlegs fall into two catagories as far as 1/55 is concerned. You have the Joons bootleg which is second only to the original Taka or Bandai, these are the ones you see in the packaging similar to the Taka packing from the 80`s. Then you have the $5-$10 ones that come on a card and blister these are cheap all plastic casts of I think a late Taka. They are made of soft plastic much the same as a Hasegawa kit. Many of the parts are interchangable with the real 1/55`s. The are inferior to all in build quaility but they are great for customs. They cost nothing and can be glued with normal modelkit glue and filled sanded etc very easily. I have four of them that came on different cards two with fastpacks and two with out.

You can do all the mods Skull does with the exception of the taper swing bar as they are made of plastic. You can though sub the parts for the metal ones if you have some spare.

I have been modding one of these to do a more radical thigh and leg mod. the plastic parts are a god send as if I were to use the metal leg parts from an original it would take ages to file them out as I did in minutes on the bootleg.

Edited July 22, 2006 by big F

[Skull-1]

That's an awesome mod. I wonder how come none of the previous 1/55 masters never thought of this??

418269[/snapback]

http://mechaskunk.com/images/hips/

I did the same mods about, oh, 6 years ago, and made about 50 valks with the modified hips/knees/feet... One guy bought 30 of them I believe...

418276[/snapback]

To be fair, our mods are not the same. My approach is perhaps more crude/unsophisticated than yours. My reasoning is simple in that I do not yet trust the frictional properties of ball joints. I haven't even had the chance to get my hands on any to see for myself.

Thus I looked for another solution.

I was, interestingly enough, inspired by the MPC I believe as it swivels the thigh similarly to the way I do mine.

My mod has the uniqueness of using 100% 1/55 parts. There are no outside parts introduced. I kinda like that.

I have also experimented with the foot mods and the super poseable knee mods and they don't add much to the poseability when used with my thigh mod so I did not encorporate them.

My mod also has the disadvantage of being fairly useless in Battroid mode. But since GERWALK is my favorite any way, my goal was to make it look good there.

I wanted a simple modification that could enhance the Gerwalk mode while using nothing but 1/55 parts. In that I succeeded.

I reinvented the wheel...and it's not the best wheel...but it works. I thnk it looks very "anime correct" with the "high angle" cut.

----

For those who are interested I would be willing to do the mod for you. However, you might be better off getting Fulcy's thigh ball joint mod instead.

Edited July 22, 2006 by Skull-1

[GrimlockCW]

That's an awesome mod. I wonder how come none of the previous 1/55 masters never thought of this??

418269[/snapback]

http://mechaskunk.com/images/hips/

I did the same mods about, oh, 6 years ago, and made about 50 valks with the modified hips/knees/feet... One guy bought 30 of them I believe...

418276[/snapback]

To be fair, our mods are not the same. My approach is perhaps more crude/unsophisticated than yours. My reasoning is simple in that I do not yet trust the frictional properties of ball joints. I haven't even had the chance to get my hands on any to see for myself.

Thus I looked for another solution.

I was, interestingly enough, inspired by the MPC I believe as it swivels the thigh similarly to the way I do mine.

My mod has the uniqueness of using 100% 1/55 parts. There are no outside parts introduced. I kinda like that.

I have also experimented with the foot mods and the super poseable knee mods and they don't add much to the poseability when used with my thigh mod so I did not encorporate them.

My mod also has the disadvantage of being fairly useless in Battroid mode. But since GERWALK is my favorite any way, my goal was to make it look good there.

I wanted a simple modification that could enhance the Gerwalk mode while using nothing but 1/55 parts. In that I succeeded.

I reinvented the wheel...and it's not the best wheel...but it works. I thnk it looks very "anime correct" with the "high angle" cut.

----

For those who are interested I would be willing to do the mod for you. However, you might be better off getting Fulcy's thigh ball joint mod instead.

418337[/snapback]

ICK, don't get me started on how shoddy ball joints are... they used those in the newer TF line of figures (Beast wars and anything since) and they either come packaged loose as sin, or wear out so fast, even standing on a shelf, its not funny at all...

no offense to the mod, i still love it, but... ball joints... gah

BTW i may give this a try, but i bet i fu*# it up royaly if i do

lack of tools and knowledge are my worst foes....

Edited July 22, 2006 by GrimlockCW