My Custom Chunkie

[big F]

Well some of you chunky lovers will remember some of this from my post in

Skulls-1`s thread

But I didnt want to steal the limelight away from what has turned out to be an excellent mod.

So here goes My own take on the whole chunky mod scene.

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....

We`ve all seen a bootleg 1/55 but just in case here goes.

My starting point.

The leg in unmodded condition

First thing to do make the intake part more accurate. This took longer than I thought it would as I ended up remodeling 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.

Edited August 3, 2006 by big F

[big F]

Next up the hip joints

The next step was to add the ballsocket for 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. They are now really solid and have been poped in and out of joint dozens of times and are still as fresh as the first time. This was one area of the mod that I was worried about as I didnt want something like the floppy joints on some of my Yamato 1/60 Valks. Luckly It is rock solid. So Far.

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.

Once added to an actual leg part the hips mod was proven to be strong and not at all floppy. I was really happy about that.

Next up was the thigh mod I didnt want to change the overall lenght of the leg as I think it is in proportion with the Valk the only thing about the legs appearance Ive never been happy with is the top joint that screws through the metal and plastic parts at the bottom of the intake part of the leg.

I checked out some line drawings had a look at my Hasegawa kits and some of my Kaiyoda and Bandai Gashapons, I finally came up with a plan.

I had already decided that the top of the leg would have a ball joint to attach it to the intake part. This would allow it to move subtle ammounts to help in posing and stability much in the same way the leg move in the Hasegawa models.

I cut the top of the thigh part off to allow the seating of the ball joint cup ant then cut out of 2mm styrene some new side that were more anime acurate and that would be as long as the original joint was. The added bonus would be they were as wide as the intake part of the leg, and thus would look better IMO.

These were then bonde on and the gap filled with auto filler sanded and finnished to fit to the leg top.

Once I had this done I set to the new thigh with the saw once more and cut off the bottom part that is the Knee cap. Ive always like the way they are on the 1/48 and in the Anime they stick out and give the leg more substance so I did this to mine.

1mm foam backed styrene was cut to size and glued to the front of the kneecap to give it more stickingoutness ( if there such a word)

After that it was just a matter of adding the ball joint part and filling in arround it to make it really strong.

Here you see the whole of top of the leg in primer and semi finished state.

Edited August 3, 2006 by big F

[big F]

On to the bottom of the leg the shin and calf area I supose you could call it.

I was fairly happy with the way this area is there were a few things I would have done but I didnt fancy my chances at getting both legs to look the same so I didnt bother.

First up was to get rid of theose horible bootleg wheels. they are nbot that good on the Taka and Bandai ones but compared to the bootlegs EWWWW!!!!.

split the leg in half by unscrewing it took out the undercaridge wheel and chopped out the fiddly bits, I also removed some of the hatch area to allow better filling.

I added a 1mm styrene part to help give the filler more strength. filled and leveled and panellined to show the landing gear hatches they look much better.

I took the opertunity to cut the top of the leg to allow better move ment of the knee as per others Gerwalk mods like Fulcy and other such pioneers of Chunkyness .

While i was at it I realised I woul have to shave a few mm off the back of the leg where the foot is to allow my modeed foot to work.

Heres the outer side with its final coat of Mr putty sanded ready for panellines and primer.

And the innerside with the pannellines already done.

While I was at it I filled the screw holes over as I plan to Glue the halves together when Im done.

[big F]

The foot I thought of just filling the screw holes like I did on my Miria custom but as that was supposed to be a custom take on the Bandai one I didnt go overboard with the mods.

I figured as this was going to be a Battloid and would never need to be closed I bonded them open I added a Balljoint to the middle where the locating screw usually goes then ground down the old screw post and fitted a ball joint there the foot now has more mobility and to a degree some more side movement due to my taking about 2mm out of it`s width. I then added the stepped area to the front part of the foot from some 1mm styrene and put the pannel line into the bottom of the front part.

Sorry for the picture I just couldnt get very good shots of this. It shows it in final sand prep before I shot it with primer

Edited August 22, 2006 by big F

[big F]

Well now the first leg is finnished what would I do different next time

Well next time I may not do the ball joint at the top of the leg as it cant move all that much so I could get away with out it. next time i may do a hollow foot instead to make it more like the Hasegawa models feet. Next time im going to do it slightly different on the landing gear hatch to make it more easy for me.

I may yet put the inspection hatch removal turn thingies ( the little round circles with the line in the middle) that you have on the inside of the legs Shin/calf area.

Otherwise onto the next bit without boring you with another identical leg build.

I had forgotten about the front landing gear hatch so I filled it and re panellined it.

next I started to look at the chestplate This is one of those areas the really stands out on the Vf1. It`s one of those bits thats instantly recognised. I have always thought it was one of thre better bits on the 1/55. But there`s still room for improverment.

I hate the little intakes that are just stickers or tampo print. I love the ones on the 1/48 and Hasegawa efforts. So I decided to do some.

So far so good easy when you have the right tools.

I next noticed the lack of hatch turn thingies (someone tell me what they are actually called). So out came my Kotobukiya and Wave spares box and I found these guys.

The smallest one (7mm) are just right. I measured out and drilled a 6.2mm hole and they sit in slightly proud of the surface. Once glued in I sanded off the excess. now they look flush. I added primer and took a look. I needed to fill in load of scratches and blemishes on the is part (as with most bits) after all you cant complain about it for a $5 bootleg. It was then I got thinking about the nosecone it to has the thingies and so I repeated the process for it too.

You can see here this is in between primer filler sand stages trying to get out the blemishes.

Heres the leg so far compaired to the original one for an idea of what the differences are. the new legs will make the valk about 2cm taller than stock due to the more correct hip positioning

Next stop finish the intakes on the chest plate and Im looking at the sholders as well.

Edited August 4, 2006 by big F

[hirohawa]

Very cool!

Looks great!

[big F]

Nothing really interesting to report at the moment. I have been busying myself doing the other leg. The only good thing about this is, as I have already done one leg it has been so much quicker to do the second one. I took measurements of all the Styrene bits I made and where I made cuts in various parts e.t.c . This has meant that where I spent a couple of weeks on and off playing with the overall finnish and mechanics of the first leg I have done nearly all the work on the second one in 2 days. I would have been quicker if I didnt have to wait for filler and Epoxy to dry.

More pictures soon including the legs attached to the torso and my new more mobile sholder joints

Edited August 6, 2006 by big F

[mslz22]

I've wanted to do a ball joint non-transformable mod like that for years, just never got around to it. Looks great, can't wait to see it finished.

[big F]

I've wanted to do a ball joint non-transformable mod like that for years, just never got around to it. Looks great, can't wait to see it finished.

422986[/snapback]

Thanks for the coments

I was begining to think that this was a dead thread as only two members have replied.

Edited August 6, 2006 by big F

[Vermillion21]

Looks good so far mate ....

[Skull-1]

That sucker is gonna' ROCK!!!!!!

[Ishimaru]

Looking good Big F...looking good.

[big F]

Well I wasnt going to post today as I havent really got much to say, but I was just sanding down one of the thighs and I sanded through the car body filler into a void that was filled with un hardened filler. Ewww its gone everywhere. You dont know how hard this stuff is to clean off. That`ll teach me to mix it more thoroughly next time.

Edited August 7, 2006 by big F

[MechTech]

Looks great so far Big F. When the chunkey monkeys were the only option, I always wanted to fix the chunkiness in some parts. I never wanted to mess with the ABS though. - MT

[Lonely Soldier Boy]

I've wanted to do a ball joint non-transformable mod like that for years, just never got around to it. Looks great, can't wait to see it finished.

422986[/snapback]

Thanks for the coments

I was begining to think that this was a dead thread as only two members have replied.

423041[/snapback]

I don't post that often, but I'm very interested in the progress. It's a lot of fun and knowledge. Keep it up, man!

[big F]

Well while waiting for some filler to dry I started looking at the arms and sholders. From looking at the line art and the Hasegawa instructions (and kits) I noticed that the 1/55 arms are a bit out of proportion, now some of this is to aid the perfect transformation and some of it is also due to Anime magic, as my Battloid isnt going to be transformable I thought I should make it more acurate in this area. It`s always bugged me that the 1/55 cant move his sholders up or down. So I thought about fitting some ball joints.

Off came an arm and into bits it went. at first Isanded down the collar part arount the arm where the ratchet parts fit on the normal 1/55 as they make the arms stick out too far IMO, my reasoning behind this will hopefully become clear when its finnished. once this was done I found the ball joint cup fitted purfectly in the ratchet housing, its a shame it will make the arm still stick out . I started by removing the post on the shoulder mount and replacing it with the ball joint.

Before look.

notice the lack of ratchet on the part as Bootlegs dont have them

And after the mod

I may still have to trim down the lenght of the post as it may be too long, but I wont know for sure untill the shoulder is mounted.

Next stage was to add the ball cup to the shoulder itself. I marked out the area where the forearm moves in so as not to intrude on this area, that is one joint that I will probably leave (at the mo) as it works ok.

This is the rough position the socket will go I still have to remove some of the top screws mounting as this will get in the way. I will and keep it but will have to use a longer screw to allow me to remove some of its screw post onthe other sides part.

Well thats it for mo as unfortunately for me Silver Dragons rather good Super Ostrich kit turned up this week and I have been a bit distracted by it. Hmmm Next custom.... Super O custom al la

The full posts on these can be got at :-

KidKorrupt

Jasonc

Much respect to the both of them.

Edited August 15, 2006 by big F

[hirohawa]

Can't wait to see the next update.

[Hoptimus]

I cant wait to see this when its done.

[big F]

For the last few days I have been tidy up things and doing other non Macross things. Why waiting for some primer to dry I was drawn to my Bandai and Hasgawa kits just to look at some pannel markings so I could decide where to put some of the ones that I felt were missing from the 1/55.

This ended up with my trusty metal rule being used to measure out the various parts on the two Valks after my discoveries I ended up getting my 1/60 and 1/48 Yammies in on this. The length of the leg part (see picture below) is different on each so I worked ou the average of tehm and found the legs on the 1/55 are about 5mm too short.

After measuring all the Valk types I have I found

1/48 is 117mm real scale is 5616mm

1/55 is 86mm real scale is 4730mm

1/60 is 78mm real scale is 4680mm

1/72 is 72mm real scale is 5184mm

The average is 5042mm I worked out the 1/55 should be 91.6mm nearly 6mm too short.

The arms are just as bad I suspect this was to make it kiddie friendly no pointy ends. Easily fixed.

But what about the legs mmm!! Looks like Im going to have to do a cut and shut to extend the length. luckily I have some spare legs.

This would account for the squashed look and the fact that you could never place the landing light stickers anywhere without them getting in the way. the Stablaiser wings are also too low.

I`ll get my Exacto saw...........

Edited August 15, 2006 by big F

[do not disturb]

I was begining to think that this was a dead thread as only two members  have replied.

423041[/snapback]

*sniffle* perhaps if this were in the custom toys section, you might have gotta more replies....haha! j/k it looks like its coming along nicely, can't wait til you get this sucker painted.

[Skull-1]

The "hatch turn thingies" are vernier thruster ports IIRC.

[zanderwitaz]

I know you'll never believe this, but I thought of something similar ball joint shoulder mod.around the same time. I used part of the arm jonts from the 3.50$ bionicle figures, and the sockets fit miraculously.its a complete sucess and the battroid han hold the gunpod wit 2 hands. I also did some trimming to allow the arms to bend in a little more, like a regular human.

Edited August 16, 2006 by zanderwitaz

[zanderwitaz]

heres another pic. I had to shave off the cuff to get good mobility out of the ball joint. I also have a ball jointed head modification I will post soon. So far, I have a valk with ball jonted hips, arms, and head, and swivel knees. It is indeed a sight to see once all these mods are all done!

Edited August 16, 2006 by zanderwitaz

[Fortress_Maximus]

Looking good! Can't wait to see more pics. Thanks for sharing.

[big F]

Hey thanks for sharing your mod pictures. I did look at using Bionicles but they are a bit pricey in the toy shops round here, plus I wasnt shure how many in a kit and which kit to get.

Im glad Im not the only one mad enough to do this to a harmless $5 bootleg.

Thanks Skull I knew someone would know what to call them. I did think they might be like release catches for pannels like Dzuz (think I splet it right) catches you get on the bonnets of racing cars etc.

Leg sawing has begun for those who care. So far it hasnt hurt "much".

Edited August 16, 2006 by big F

[zanderwitaz]

Big F, I used the Garan kit and the Piruk kit. the other kits have bulky arms with round and ribbed surfaces which make them hard to sand mount. each kit comes with 9 ball joints and sockets. 6 are easy to use, the other 3 need more sanding (the head and ankle joints).

I recommend the Garan kit for leg joints and the Piruk kit for arm joints. Im next going to make swivel wrists, more posable thrusters, and ball jointed elbows. Im thinking about just making a general super posable 1/55 thread so we can all post in the same thread and so I can stop myself from hijacking your thread.

[big F]

Sounds good to me. I think there needs to be a 1/55 custom thread on this forum.

Thanks for the info for the joints

[zanderwitaz]

any updates for us?

[hirohawa]

Bump for an update

[big F]

Sorry I have been fixing the legs as per my new extender mod.

You`d think it was just a case of slice right through and add 6mm from your donor leg glue in place and paint. MMMM.

Well one thing I found the legs are not exactly straight and you have to plan where to cut depending on where it is safe and convenient to cut then add this to the fact that you have got to plan where your donor leg has to be cut to ad the right amount. The problem is not as simple as cut them both in the same place and then cut the donor again at 6mm, as when you do this it dosent line up so well. The legs curve slightly.

I have done the best I can It is structurally sound as there is plenty of reinforcement behind it on the inside of the leg parts, but ad this to my trying to cut a straight line on something that gently curves and you get gaps.

Filling the gaps is time consuming, everytime I think I`ve done it I sand down the excess and I can still see the gap. Ah the joys of modeling and toy customization.

On the plus I have completed one side and apart from a couple of small blemishes which can be got rid of before I paint it.

I will post some in progress pictures later on just to show you where im at.

I have found that you can make 1/55 Super deformed legs with the left overs, oh no here comes another project :0

Edited August 22, 2006 by big F

[big F]

O.k here is some progress pictures for all those who are waiting for my updates.

Here you can see the almost finnished side, you can see the two different colours of plastics used in these bootlegs, Yamato would never get away with that lol. You can see also the small blemishes and the small stabaliser wing which I removed to help in the stretch operation, besides it is fixed too low when compared with the lineart and Yammies and Hasegawa works of art. I'll fix back in its mew proper location when I'm done.

This gives you an idea of the insides. First I attached some strips of 1mm styrene with super glue and then strenghtened it with two part epoxy. You can also see the 1mm shuttering I placed into where the landing gear sits, this will help when filling this area later.

Just to show you the completed hip joints and a look at the breast plate with its modified ducts and RCS thruster ports which have still to have some very fine putty placed roun the edges of the holes to smooth them in completely. the sanded area just below the cockpit area is where I had to correct a panelline, it looks bad but is smooth so I just have to re do the line and ad primer.

Well thats if for now folks untill next time hopefully finished leg/legs and some finnished shoulders and forearms for you all to look at.

[hirohawa]

Wow. That is alot of work.

What are you going to do for the head?

Looking forward to teh next installment

[big F]

Durring our imposed exile I did do some work on the leg stretch and feet. I have also worked on the shoulders and forearms. I had to do a bit of reworking as one of them fell apart. At least now thought they are as strong as the originals and look a whole lot better.

Here we go.

The leg stretch is fairly well coverd here already so I wont post picture of that. Teh only thing I will say is that I will be putting the RCS thrusters onto the lower legs as they kinda missed that in the Bandai sculpt I am also going to be putting the landing lights on now I have more room.

The next area that got my attention was the shoulders, this was an area that I wanted to do originaly. The 1/55 has always suffered with crap posability on the arms mostly due to it`s lack of mobility in the shoulders.

Solution add ball joints.

Turn this into this I cut off the post and drilled out the center of its root point then screwed a ball joint post the the spot using a spare 1/55 screw.

Next stop is the shoulder point.

First off I marked out where the bicep part would track back and forth in the shoulder to make sure I didnt interfear with its`s working.

Once that was established a small ammount of trimming was done to the plastic lugs inside and a bit of test line up.

When I was happy I mixed up some Devcon and splerged it into place. It held fast and just needed a bit of filling to allow the two halves to close properly.

The finnished article.

Youll notice the post is quite long on the shoulder this will not be a problem as I intend to sit it slightly in on the chest from where it would originaly sit on a 1/55

You can also see the attachment to the Bicep area that I made using 1mm styrene. this was to allow me to get rid of the rounded end and make them more Anime correct. They have been filled and the chamfer lines put back in.

Edited September 11, 2006 by big F

[big F]

Doing this made the arm unable to turn in the forearm so I extended it by cutting off the swivel at the end and placing a peice of 2mm styrene in and reattaching the swivel using another spare screw.

Then the finnished bit

With that done I moved onto the forearms as they are not quite anime correct they are too short.

Firts I put in pannels to the hand ends as I ntend to use some after market hands to replace the originals.

As I had planned to extend thefore arms to make then right, I marked up and started to cut and file.

This is the first area I missed up partly my lousy cutting and the fact that I didnt let the glue go off before messing arround with it. So I have junked this part and will redo it properly. Next I added a filler to the inner part of the fore arm to hide the slide mechanisum and help strenghten the extension.

You may be able to see that I slightly mess it up again (rule 1 NEVER work when you are tired) Gonna take it appart and put a thinner 1mm filler instead to help in the shape as there would be too much filling and sanding using the 2mm peice.

I have looked at the head and come to the conclusion that The Bandai and bootleg heads kinda got it right in some bits so I will try and merge the two to make a correct one. Kinda like polishing a turd or making a slik purse out of a sows ear.

Thats it for now

Edited September 16, 2006 by big F

[Lonely Soldier Boy]

Wow. Can't wait to see it assembled. Keep it up, man.