Custom 1/55 VF-1S project for the new year

[mitch]

Hi everyone.

I'm organizing a project for next year after Christmas - My first 1/55 custom! I've already started a checklist of things I want to do and have been researching other MW members posts on what they have done.

Right now I'm looking at doing:

1) Thigh swivel joints

2) Painted cockpit interior

3) Scratch-built missile pods

4) Head modifications

5) Panel lining and paint

6) Some kind of hand improvement

This will be the first time I attempt a custom with this much of an over-haul and I would really appreciate any help or advice from anyone kind enough to offer it. Specifically, I wanted to ask the following...

I would ideally like to have a pilot in the cockpit and thought of using one from Hasagawa, but it looks like they work best for 2-seaters. Does anyone have any tips on how to make one or have a custom pilot-in-cockpit for sale?

I have an idea how to shave down the head to give it less blocky features, but does anyone have a custom VF-1S head for sale?

I've got several ideas on how to give my valk new hands, but I wanted to ask what other people have used or where to get them. Gundams? Transformers? Scratch built?

There are other things I might be interested in doing like nosecone extension, collapsible neck, custom feet or tinkering with the gunpod a bit, but steps 1-6 above are what I realistically think I could do with my skills and what I have.

If anyone can help me out with castings of a seated pilot or a resculpted 1S head, I will gladly pay whatever they are asking for them, or alternatively I in return will offer a set of missile pods. I will be making the box-type that houses 5 missiles under the wings, and am working on the premise that they will be clipped to the wing in a similar (but more streamlined) way as the the missiles that came with the old Takatoku strike, and of course if anyone has better ideas on how to attach missiles I would really like to learn them.

Thanks everyone.

[mojacko]

wow...sounds like indeed a major overhaul....but it looks gonna be interesting??? are u giving yourself a timeframe for the project??? seems a lot of work to be done with!!! goodluck and keep us posted!!!

long live the chunks!!!

[Skull-1]

The simplest hand mod I know is to simply saw the fists off and mount them with a nail. They will then be able to twist at the wrist.

You can move on from here by removing the slider notches making them reversible. Thus in fighter mode you don't see the hands any more, just a flat plate per the animation.

Takes little effort.

[big F]

You can simply mod the feet to look more like the hasegawa ones as I did in my thread, just miss out all the fixing I did other wise they will be non transformable.

The Chunky Mafia have all the answers

Edited November 19, 2008 by big F

[Skull-1]

I have multiple examples of modded feet in my gallery. They really make a difference.

[mitch]

Thanks for the tips guys. I'm not sure how long it will take to get the custom finished, but it's a labour of love and I'm determined to see it through no matter how long it takes to get it right. My first custom was a repaint of a VF-19S which took months to finish because I disassembled the valk, made some minor alterations, sanded and sprayed each piece individually, waited for a week for each piece to dry and then put it all together again. I'll try to post some pics of that when I get the chance.

I saw this thread on seibertron.com the other week and it intreagued me enough to order some 'flexible pipe' to see if it can be applied to the 1/55:

http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/new...sformers/14382/

I also had a brain-wave the other day as to how to do a collapsible neck which would allow for added posability - a sliding ball joint that is mounted in a cylinder rather than a cup! I have no idea if it will work, but I hope my success or failure will be instructional (or at least entertaining).

[big F]

I saw this thread on seibertron.com the other week and it intreagued me enough to order some 'flexible pipe' to see if it can be applied to the 1/55:

http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/new...sformers/14382/

Looks from size in ther pictures that thery will fit so I would say yes.

[mitch]

Okay,

I got the 'flexible pipe' in the post the other day and they do indeed seem to be in scale with the chunky's hands. On the down side, looking at the hole from the molding on the left hand may cause some problems down the road when it comes time to drill holes or cut a trench for the new fingers, so I may need to scratch-build the main body of the hands. I it comes to that and it turns out the fingers don't bend enough to fit I will not be amused. Still, I've got time to plan it all out.

I've also been working on a pilot - I took the pilot from my Toynami VF-1S and made a quick mold of Roy above the knees. I've got a friend to cast up a duplicate, so tomorrow I will know how it came out (I'll be saying my prayers for no air bubbles before bed tonight). If it comes out well, I'll be atempting to modify it to resemble the flight suit from DYRL.

Fingers crossed...

[optimator88]

I have multiple examples of modded feet in my gallery. They really make a difference.

I checked out your examples but I couldn't tell exactly what you had done to the feet, although something was definitely different about the "Dream Catchers" ones. Could you explain what you did?

Awesome looking chunkies by the way

[Skull-1]

I checked out your examples but I couldn't tell exactly what you had done to the feet, although something was definitely different about the "Dream Catchers" ones. Could you explain what you did?

Awesome looking chunkies by the way

Thanks for the compliment!

Basically what I did was sand the lower half of the foot with a file to make them look more like the animation.

If you are not going to remove the "thruster venting" at the bottom of the foot (which I am doing on one of mine as we speak--wow what a nightmare) I recommend putting some filler on the inside of the thruster before sanding. You want to reinforce it because filing it down without doing so doesn't leave much structure and you could wind up breaking the foot.

[mitch]

Hey everyone.

So the pilot experiment seems to be working. I got a nice little casting with only a few minor bubbles on the surface from tiny air pockets in the mold which were quickly taken care of with an exacto knife. I've started work sculpting the shoulder pads with some miliput epoxy putty in the few moments I've had spare, and it looks promising so far.

As of now, I've also got together some of the materials I'll need for the hands, missile pods, thigh joints and have a re-cast strike pack ready to be worked on. I'm off home for Christmas and new year, so I'll be getting started in January. I promise I'll get some photos taken and put up when I'm back so I can start to spruce this thread up a bit. Thank you again to everyone who has posted messages of advice and support, I hope I can put together something that is worthy of being displayed alongside the awesome customized specimens we see on the boards and in the galleries here at MW.

Happy Holidays everyone!

[mitch]

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a good holiday season. I’m back in LA now, and I’ve started work on my project. I’ve got quite a bit to do for this custom, so it may take me some time, but I’m determined to see it through. I’ll be able to post about once a week as I don’t have regular internet access, but please bear with me.

Okay, here we go…

Here’s the Pilot. As I posted before, it’s a recast of a Toynami 1/55 pilot. I then used Miliput (a 2-part epoxy putty) to sculpt the shoulder-pads for the suit as seen in DYRL, and then added the disc on the chest using Styrene. I primed it with Rustoleum Plastic Primer, which seems to take a few days to dry completely for some reason. It was still early in when I got this picture taken, so I’ll get a chance to smooth off the areas with the bumps on the helmet and shoulder (they are hardly visible really, it’s just that this is a close-up). I’ll attach it and then paint it once I’ve opened the fuselage on the valk I’m using as the base for the custom and had a chance to remove the cockpit.

Since then I’ve started work on a new head. I can’t sculpt well enough to make one from scratch, so I’m modifying the head from a beat up old Takatoku. I’ve rounded the corners on the front of the face, cut out the visor, lightly drilled the barrels of the head guns, brought out the brow more to improve the profile, and sanded down the base of it’s neck. I’ll have pictures of it next week.

Also, here are some pictures of the project I worked on last year (and my first Macross custom). A while ago I saw the pictures Valkyrie Addict posted of his VF-19S painted in the Ichijo Skull-1 scheme. I thought it looked so cool I decided to use this scheme for a custom of my own. Mine doesn’t look nearly as good, but like I say it was my first transforming robot custom, and of course, I used Bandai's 1/65 figure as opposed to the kit. Although this line of Valks was disappointing in many regards, I still admire the engineering that goes into any transforming toy, and they are at least sturdy. Another thing that separates them is that I wanted my one to keep the front stabilizers from the Basara '19C, as well as the forward swept wings, simply because I prefer the visual aesthetic.

I also added detail to the shoulder vents and filled the holes on the legs and shield.

[mitch]

Here are the pictures of the head. So far I’ve cut the visor out, rounded the face, cut the ‘jowls’ under the chin, extended the brow, and tightened and lightly drilled the lasers.

Aside from needing to replace the visor, I’ve been thinking of ways to do the extending neck, and I think I have it figured out. I’m looking for some styrene tubing that is the same diameter as the ‘neck’, so I can extend the central column and run it into the head to add stability. If it works and if anyone is interested I’ll do a diagram to show exactly what it is I did.

This is the casing of the missile pods I am working on. Since these were taken I have added the front and rear panels with the missile warheads and exhausts attached. I had to cut a lot of styrene but I used it as an opportunity to get some new tools and materials that I can use later on.

I got the ‘Flexible Pipe’ that I mentioned a few posts back and looked into using them for fingers, but I’ve decided against using it on this project since they don’t have enough bend to make a decent fist or hold the Gunpod, but if anyone wants to buy one and a half packs of Small (3mm) Flexible Pipe then drop me a PM.

Instead, I’m going to try and use some hands off of a Transformers Altinator, as they have movable fingers, are about the same size as the original hands, and can firmly grip the gun handle.

[optimator88]

Looking good. Can't wait to see how those missiles turn out

[mojacko]

nice work on the fire valk....i have the same valk waiting to be repainted.....but mine is bootieeeee.......i got it all blakc and dirt cheap.....hehehehe.... i like the hikaru skull scheme......but i think i'll try a different scheme for mine.......(if i find time to do it!!!)

nice work on the missile pods.....looking good on the custom mods mate

[mitch]

Here is the (almost) finished head. The collapsing neck I devised out seems to be working well so far, but I may tweak the sliding mechanism slightly with some light sanding. Since taking these pictures I’ve filled the gap between the Visor and the Faceplate as well as the small holes at the base of the chin that were created when I trimmed the jaw. I’m thinking of scribing a line on the neck to represent the layered under-jaw plating. That aside, this is how the finished article will look. Like I said last time, if anyone is interested I will post a diagram to show how I went about doing this mod.

[mitch]

Here is where the Missile Pods are at. Next week I should have some pictures of it with the clip attachment if it all goes well.

As for the hands, I’ve hit another snag. The hands from a TF Altinator a bit small and would have made holding the Gunpod either difficult or impossible. I may just end up using the hands from the standard 1/55, but putting in a pivot so that they can at least rotate.

[mojacko]

sweeeeet work on d missile pods!!! cant wait to see your hands mods......keep em comin mate

[big F]

As for the hands, I've hit another snag. The hands from a TF Altinator a bit small and would have made holding the Gunpod either difficult or impossible. I may just end up using the hands from the standard 1/55, but putting in a pivot so that they can at least rotate.

You could use the casts from Dyno He did some great ones for the 1/48's they come in sets and dont look wrong on the 1/55's

Eaither that or just make some new ones yourself, the standard ones are fairly meh especially if you are going to so much trouble with the rest of it.

[mitch]

Hey everyone, sorry I haven’t posted for a while. A lot of this project has been trial-and-error for me and the hands, head, missile pods and thigh pivots have needed a lot of planning and forethought before I tackle them.

Over the last two weeks I’ve devised how the missile pods will be attached to the wings. I was initially planning on using the clip off of a pen-lid (a type of Bic pen that you can get in the UK) because of it’s aerodynamic shape, but after trying to connect it to the spacer that sits on the top of the ‘pod, I found that it is made of a type of plastic that repels pretty much everything, so I switched to using some scratch-built clips made of copper wire (to prevent snapping over time) coated with rubber insulating sheaths used in electrical wiring. This not only prevents scratching the wing’s paint and slipping, but when heated they shrink to fit the bent copper clip. The next time I post I’ll have pictures of the finished, painted ‘launcher.

I also found out that the old Strike Pack forearm clips do not fit the Bandai re-issues (they apparently also started gluing near the nose of the valk). The angles on the forearm were slightly altered and don’t sit flush with the inner gradient of the attachment. So rather than start attacking the clip I just used a set of older arms and cleaned them up (see below) and will use them.

I’ve finished painting my pilot and cockpit. I added a new display screen with the mirrors at the top as seen in DYRL’s cockpit variation.

I removed the yellowing on some of the parts I’m using off of an old valk. If no one has heard about the technique that I read about on the forums here titled 'fountain of youth', then I have to tell you it really works!

Step 1 – Take the plastic parts that you want to remove the ageing on and remove all screws and metal components. You can also wipe them down with alcohol to clean them if you want.

Step 2 – Put the parts in a clean glass jar, preferably with a lid, and pour in some Hydrogen Peroxide (I used the 3% stuff you can get from any pharmacy or supermarket). Use enough H2O2 to completely immerse the plastic.

Step 3 – loosely screw on the lid (allowing the oxygen released by the H202 to escape and prevent the build up of pressure), and place it somewhere where it can get a lot of sunlight, like a south-facing window.

Step 4 – wait for about 4 (sunny) days and the H202 will bleach the plastic back to it’s original luster! It doesn’t even affect paint or tempo printing, it just cleans them! Remove the pieces carefully and rinse thoroughly with cold water to remove any residual H2O2.

IMPORTANT: Hydrogen Peroxide in any concentration should be handled with care. You should really read the thread before you start.

Take care when using H2O2, do not get it in your eyes, and wear gloves.

Now that I’ve got clean parts to work with I’m going to have a go at the thigh modification I’ve read about...

[mojacko]

wow....the cockpit is surely awesome....i like what u did.....nice!!!

[MechTech]

Looks great! I was starting to think this thread was dying a premature death! - MT

[mitch]

Nope, this thread is still going strong. Part of the reason I'm posting my progress is to keep me motivated because I want to have something to show every week. Unfortunately, I don't have regular 'net access at the moment (most of my spare cash is going on this and is in my DX VF-25 fund), and last week I had the set-back of the missile-pod clips and the waiting time for paint to dry and H2O2 to do it's magic. Sorry for the delay, I promise I will keep posting until this piece is done.

My VF-19S that I was working on this time last year took months to finish because aside from filling holes, adding vents and attempting to custom build a new gunpod (which failed horribly) I was removing each individual piece from the figure, spraying them with Krylon Fusion paint, waiting the recommended 7 days for each piece to dry, masking, spraying, waiting again, panel-lining, re-assembling, applying decals and sealing. Hell, I'm getting tired just remembering all that!

Basically, the reason I'm doing this is kind of a tribute to various things - to DYRL, one of the most stunning animated films I have ever seen, to the various artists who created and contributed to the rich and wonderful world of the Macross mythology, to the other customizers out there who inspired me to do this, and to the 1/55 Valkyrie figure itself. It is a masterpiece of design, engineering and 4-dimensional planning that over 20 years after it's inception is still being reproduced almost exactly as it was all that time ago. I may be adding to it, but it is really only small aesthetic things. I would say that every single valk made by bandai could have been improved with maybe one or two tiny changes that would have made a drastic improvement on each figure - knees that bend on the VF-17, die-cast hip joints on the VF-19 that would allow for them to slide up to sit higher on the torso and maybe have a degree of motion, and all of them (except the '17 of course) could use thigh swivels. There are obviously other things that could be changed on them (and I'm still waiting on my VF-25 figures before I pass judgment on them... come on BBTS!!!), but I see good things in all of them IMHO.

So anyway, it may sometimes take a little longer than I would like to post my progress, but it will get finished, and if anyone has any questions I will gladly answer them, and any suggestions are always welcome.

Thank you.

[mitch]

Not a lot to show for it this week I’m afraid. Work has been really busy and I was procrastinating for a while about doing the thigh mod, but now I have a fairly good idea how I’m going to attack this and should just need a set of small clamps to hold it closed while the glue sets (For those of you who have never taken a 1/55 apart before, the ratchet joints housed in the thigh are set on springs).

Here are some pictures of a completed missile pod. I’ve tested it out and it sits snugly under the wing.

At the weekend I was able to find some time to start the thigh mod. I started using Skull-1’s thread as a foundation, but instead of using pens for a friction joint I am custom making them to ensure I get a tight, solid join and to theoretically make it easier for me to position them inside the thighs.

I’ve also started on the feet. I used an epoxy putty called miliput to fill them and have been sanding them to taper slightly towards the outside face and create the raised plate above the ‘toe’. Once that’s done I’ll scribe the line around the base of the feet and they’ll be ready for painting. I’ll have photos next time.

Just for documentation’s sake, here’s a shot of the missile clip that didn’t work out. Like I said before, a lot of trial and error...

[mitch]

Here is one of the feet I mentioned last time:

Both have now been finished and are ready to paint. I’ll be doing that when all the modifications have been finished. Once I have the 1S together and finished I’ll then assemble and paint the Strike Pack and it’ll be done.

I’ve also finished one of the thighs since I was able to post last time:

I engineered the thigh pivot using 2 strips of 2mm thick styrene glued together to create 4mm plugs that sit inside the thigh that I hollowed out using a Dremel. I was originally thinking of using a short length of styrene tube to make the core peg of the pivot, but I realized that the heat generated by the friction of the pivot turning would weaken, distort or snap the tube. Luckily I found some copper tube that was the same diameter as the styrene so I used that. I drilled the plugs and got them to line up, then glued the peg into the top plug using some 5min epoxy, and glued that into the top of the thigh. Using that I was able to position the plug in the bottom section of the thigh so that they lined up, and then glued that in. I ran into a problem when I found out that what had initially been a snug fit of the plug had loosened, probably from the afore mentioned friction of the peg twisting in the plug that had occurred while I was testing and fitting it. To try to correct this I ran a very thin layer of zap-a-gap super glue around the inside of the lower plug using a Q-tip, and filled the open space inside the lower thigh section with some Milliput putty. Keeping the peg wet and pushing it into the plug made a closer fit that created a greater surface area for the peg to be in contact with and help make a more secure fitting.

After the second thigh is done I just need to do the hands. I chased up the tip that big F posted about some recast hands from Dyno, and these look great. The hand that holds the Gunpod needs to be filed out slightly for the grip to fit, but that shouldn’t be too much hassle. I was hoping that the hands would be the right size to allow for them to retract inside the fore arms, and they do (with the obvious exception of the open hand), except they would have to sit at an angle. Instead, what I’m planning on doing is creating a fixed ‘block’ in the forearm that looks from the outside like the ‘shutters’ that seal the hands in in Fighter mode, and make a socket for the hands to fit onto.

Finally, I have managed to get hold of some adhesive white vinyl sheet that I want to use to cover the landing gear tabs on the shins, which I believe is similar to what the latest 1/55 reissues have to hide the die cast areas. Here’s hoping that the adhesive is strong enough to stick.

[big F]

looking good.

[Skull-1]

I’ve finished painting my pilot and cockpit. I added a new display screen with the mirrors at the top as seen in DYRL’s cockpit variation.

Now that I’ve got clean parts to work with I’m going to have a go at the thigh modification I’ve read about...

Oh man that so totally rocks. I never even thought of doing that!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sweet!

[big F]

Oh man that so totally rocks. I never even thought of doing that!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sweet!

Yeah it does, makes a whole hill of difference to one area that is really a let down on the 1/55.

[Skull-1]

Yeah it does, makes a whole hill of difference to one area that is really a let down on the 1/55.

So awesome.

I can't wait to find a place to live so I can get back at this. I miss it.

[505thAirborne]

Thats an amazing custom job so far!!!

[mojacko]

welcome to chunky mafia!!! wish i could find more time to finish my stuff!!! this thing is looking great!!! keep it up bro.....

[big F]

Me too Bro all I seem to do lately is just dust them.

[mojacko]

Me too Bro all I seem to do lately is just dust them.

we really have to get our b*tts movin to finsh our stuff....hehehehehe

[mitch]

Hey everyone. I’ve had a lot of overtime at work recently so I’ve not been able to get too much done on this, but I’ve cleaned up a couple of the hands and prepared them for painting. The trigger hand had to be sanded out so that it’ll grip the standard 1/55 Gunpod snugly:

[mitch]

Aside from that, I’ve started getting the second thigh pivot joint together and managed to get the head and neck painted:

I used Krylon Fusion White, Green and Red Testors enamel, and decided to go with a Gundam brand pen for the panel lining. For sealing, I used a 50/50 mix of Testors Dull Cote and Gloss Cote to get a more satin finish when shot through an airbrush. The visor and forehead light were given a finishing coat of Tamiya Gloss. The ‘arrows’ on either side of the head were decals taken from the sheet supplied with the 1/55 reissues from a few years ago. I painted the base of the neck where it meets the shoulders, but not the neck itself, as paint would be scratched off as soon as I retracted it for the first time.

Just in case anyone’s curious, The Missile pods were painted with Testors Spray Enamel Flat Grey Primer and White enamel paint, The Cockpit was the same primer, red and chrome enamel, a black acrylic-based ink (the brand is called ‘Golden’ I think), and the seat was a mix of yellow and blue ink from Gundam Markers brushed on. The Pilot was based in Krylon Fusion, and various acrylics and enamels. The sealing on all of these were the same as the head.

Thanks for your interest, till next time…