LEGO rebuildable/transformable VF-1A

[paramat]

Legs, arms, shoulder brackets, vertical stabilisers, chest plate and cockpit shield are all detached and re-attached during transformation (hence 'rebuildable'), all else is hinged and connected during transformation.

My flickr photostream for more details and larger photos: http://www.flickr.co...s/11181786@N02/

Special thanks to the Macross Mecha Manual for fighter mode schematics. I love that site.

Canopy shield rests on the head base under the chest plate. Detaching the legs unlocks the fuselage hinges and frees the chest plate and canopy shield to lift out and be reattached.

The cockpit rotates on the end of a swing arm. When rotated back for battroid mode the swing arm is flat against the floor for unobstructed access to the hatch (the seat does not rise through the hatch) I could only make the hatch work by flipping the head back instead of forward ...

Luckily LEGO mecha joints look a little like an engine, i managed to squeeze a turboshaft and turbine in there too ...

Edited May 10, 2012 by paramat

[Archer]

That's pretty cool! Can you upload instructions or blue-prints for how you made it? Thanks!

[paramat]

I don't have instructions but i'll upload a few more detail pictures to my flickr photostream so you can try to figure it out yourself if you want to I'm sure you'll be able to improve on it and make it your own way.

Edited April 25, 2012 by paramat

[paramat]

Added photos to first post

[nightmareB4macross]

Effort an A++!!

Effort to transform it........

Edited April 25, 2012 by nightmareB4macross

[Reïvaj]

That's a great job, paramat! Congratulations and thanks for sharing!

[3D-Brainx]

That's amazing! I want one!

[paramat]

Hey cool i appreciate the comments. I'm sure it could be improved, and maybe i'll return to it when i can face it again. I have mixed feelings about it, obviously the upper arms are not good and too many parts have to be detached and relocated. Engineering a fully connected VF-1 transformation at minifig scale is difficult, to do so while keeping everything clean and well proportioned is even more difficult. I have noticed that existing minifig scale LEGO VF-1s with fully or almost fully connected transformation adjust the proportions or details quite a bit, and that is cool and something i might try, but for this model i decided prioritise a clean, well proportioned design over a fully or almost fully connected transformation. However i would forgive anyone (and myself) for relocating the legs by hand, as Kawamori's mechanism is so super compact and complex.

Edited May 10, 2012 by paramat