Bandai/Gundam Stands Adapters For Yamato Valks

[EXO]

Hi everyone. I just wanted to start a proper thread for this. I put up adapters for Gundam stands that can hold up Yamato valks. Here's some images that CoreyD posted on http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=37622'>his thread.







Heres' the link for them:
http://www.shapeways.com/shops/exodigital'>http://www.shapeways...hops/exodigital

And here's the HLJ link to the stands:
http://www.hlj.com/scripts/hljlist?Word=gundam+stands&DisplayMode=images&Dis=2&Sort=std&qid=IHYE32P2QUVS4Q&set=1&q=1&MacroType2=displaybse'>http://www.hlj.com/s...ype2=displaybse

It's an inexpensive solution for your display needs.

Thanks!

I've uploaded the adapters that removes the need for the hinge. It makes for a more sturdier stand and can actually hold a 1/48 with Fast Packs. I had to create ones with angles that bank because removing the hinge means less pose-ability There should be enough variety to suit your needs.

I've also renamed the product so the number of different ones won't be confusing.

B2Y - Bandai to Yamato

B2Y classic - the original ones that people have been purchasing that goes on the hinged part of the stand. Allows more pose-ability but won't hold heavier valks
B2Y unhinged - comes in three varieties: level, Starboard (banking) and Port (banking)
I've also bundled them up in different sorts for price breaks.

[ErikElvis]

Nice! just picked up 2 stands and 2 adapters.

[CoreyD]

For those of us who live in the US, this store has the same stands for pretty cheap as well: http://www.gundamstoreandmore.com/ban948216.html

[neoexcaliber]

Will these hold up bigger valks like the VF-22S as well? That's a pretty simple solution.

[Chronocidal]

If you check the other thread, there are a few pics of a VF-22 on them, but that's one of the lighter "big" valks. Anything much heavier than a fast-packed 1/60 VF-1, and you'll probably have issues. Anything like the VF-17/VF-19 is probably out, unless you find some way to support the bulk of the valk behind the mounting point.

[neoexcaliber]

If you check the other thread, there are a few pics of a VF-22 on them, but that's one of the lighter "big" valks. Anything much heavier than a fast-packed 1/60 VF-1, and you'll probably have issues. Anything like the VF-17/VF-19 is probably out, unless you find some way to support the bulk of the valk behind the mounting point.

I see. Thanks for the information. Guess I'll try to get some people for a bulk buy.

[anubis20]

Anyone need some of these stands? I have about 20 sealed.. 10 bucks shipped for each.

[Mommar]

Has anybody tried any of the other Valks on these stands yet? VF-1 with the fully loaded packs is about as heavy as they go right? The newer 17's and 19's are right out then but I wonder if some of the other Valks would work.

[Chronocidal]

I'd think there's a pretty good chance these could support something like a VF-11, even with packs. Aside from that though, there aren't really that many other valks to try.

VF-22 works decently it seems from those pics, though balancing it might get tricky. For the SV-51s, they came with their own stands, so that's not really necessary, but I think VF-0s are going to be too heavy. The YF-19 might work, but then you're starting to dip into the ones that are really off balance around the stand mount.

Now, the question I have.. if you ignore the fact that the pivot on the tip of the stand isn't that strong, are the stands themselves sturdy enough to support heavier valks? The pivot seems to be the weakpoint for all of the heavier valks, but what if you just re-define the problem?

Say you just mount the adapters sideways, so the pivot lets you roll the valk instead of pitching it up or down? Or what if you just accept that the pivot can't hold the weight, and let it sag until it hits the maximum travel the adapter will allow? Would the stand support a Fire Valk if you accept that it's just going to have its nose pointed at the sky?

If I recall correctly, the actual model adapters that those stands use normally are octagonal, allowing you to mount them at 45 degree increments, kind of like how the SV-51 stands do. That won't work with these adapters, since they go over the outside of the tips, but if the tips are square like I think they are, they should let you attach the adapters sideways.

On another note though.. has anyone tried these with stuff in battroid mode yet?

Edited December 6, 2012 by Chronocidal

[EXO]

I wanted to wait until I got the new adapters in but I'll post these here just to show how well they hold some of the other valks. I don't recommend 1/48s with the Strikes or Supers at all. But it can hold the valk by itself... probably on the heavy side. These are the prototype adapters. Coreyd has the ones on Shapeways on his pics.

I don't have a 17 or a 19... sold my Isamu and haven't gotten an of the M7 valks yet. I'll take the adapters and the stands to someone else's house though to take more pics once my order arrives.

[CoreyD]

I think I mentioned it in the other thread, but I tried a YF-19 and the screw mechanism on the gundam stand isn't strong enough to keep it upright.

[Chronocidal]

Well upright, sure, but what if you just let it sag to however far it will go? Will the stand support the overall weight, or just collapse?

[Chronocidal]

Ok, I didn't have my camera handy to take pictures here, but I've tested these stands out with pretty much everything I have now, with some surprising results. Note about the stands, they have a tendency to twist due to their construction. I'd recommend gluing them together, and avoiding heavily loaded sideways mountings.

VF-11: No trouble really, packs included. I was able to give it a variety of pitch and bank angles, and it held up decently. The VF-11 isn't much heavier than a VF-1, so it's not too surprising.

VF-0: REALLY surprised here.. but this goes to show how important the location of the stand mount is. Note, I wasn't following the instructions for how the stand mount was meant to attach, so I may have mounted it backwards. Doing it how I did though, the stand mount was firmly centered around the knee covers, and it balanced nearly perfectly. I was able to sit it on there, and pose it at any pitch angle. Then I added the Ghost booster to it, and it still worked. I didn't have it fully loaded, since I didn't want to dig for all the missile packs, but I'd say a fully loaded VF-0 has potential. I wouldn't recommend any sideways banked poses though.

VF-19: Believe it or not, the stand will hold it up, but only in one position, and I'm not sure I'd trust it anyway. Basically, I mounted the stand pedestal with the legs spread as far as I could while keeping it stable. You'll want to use the small square add-on piece, and mount the stand in the center of that, with the second leg placed on the farthest hole on the opposite side of the base.

Banking isn't possible, and you only get one pose: nose angled up, with the valk drooped as low as the stand's pivot tip will go before the adapter collides with the pedestal and holds it in place. It's also not very sturdy, so probably will need the stand glued together for this one if you want to risk it.

Note on this one: It's actually decently well supported, but the weak point is how the adapter (badly) attaches to the VF-19. I actually had the valk fall back, with the mount still firmly attached to the stand adapter. It just doesn't clip on very well at all.

VF-17: Same situation as the VF-19, though in this case the mount attaches very solidly to the belly, so no risk of the valk popping off. It'll sit in the same nose-up pose when the adapter stops the pivot.

The thing I'm realizing though... I honestly do not think the folks at Yamato have even the slightest idea of what they're doing developing these stand adapters. The only one placed anywhere near the actual center of gravity of the valk is the VF-0, which is why it works so well even with the Ghost mounted on its back.

The VF-17 is actually a facepalm-worthy case of this.. The stand mount is a long plate that attaches to the belly... and they put the stand peg on the front half of the plate.. they easily could have shifted the peg back another whole inch, and helped take stress off the stand, but nope.

Anyhow, these are all done in fighter mode, and I'll see if I can get a few pictures up soon, possibly with some gerwalk and battroid poses as well. The issues in almost every case are just ones involving the center of mass of the various valks, so I'm expecting gerwalk and battroid to work much much better, even for the really heavy valks.

Edited December 8, 2012 by Chronocidal

[Chronocidal]

Update: Tried a couple gerwalk modes.

VF-11 works fine. VF-17 actually also works decently, since putting it in gerwalk places that mounting point pretty much right at the center of mass, and you can adjust the angle decently without it tipping forward or back.

VF-19 is pretty much a no-go though, unless you put it in an extreme nose-down pose. The mounting point is so far forward, moving the legs forward does nothing to shift the balance.

Basically, bottom line about these stands: If you glue them together, or maybe reinforce some of the pivot points on them, they should be strong enough to support pretty much any valk (barring something huge like fully loaded 1/48ths and the SV-51). The ability to pose the heavier ones is very limited though. But the stands do look like they can potentially support even the heavy valks in terms of weight.

Have to try battroid poses later, and hopefully come up with a few pictures of all three modes for everything I've tried.

[Mommar]

Thanks for checking this out. I've got some stands and adapters on order and was going to do just this. I guess the only one left to try out now is the VF-4 when it's released.

[Chronocidal]

If the stand mounts for the VF-4 are as far back as they look to be, I don't think that should be too bad... but the metal content might make the stands quite unstable.

Really, what it boils down to is that the stands have quite a few quirks in terms of construction. The way the support post attaches to the main arm is a tricky thing, and since both can twist at the base, you often wind up with the two pieces out of alignment.

The safest thing to do would probably glue the entire stand together from the start. You lose any adjustment, but it will be quite a bit stronger. The one stand I have assembled seems to lean one direction quite a bit, so I haven't left anything on it for very long.

Edit: Quick note, I tested a few battroid modes, and most seem to work fine, even if the fighter mode is too heavy to use. Had no problem keeping the Fire Valk upright in a semi-actiony pose, likewise for the VF-11 and a strike packed VF-1. Haven't tried my VF-17 or VF-0 yet, since I couldn't find their battroid adapters.

One thing I did notice though, I can't actually get my stand to support a fully loaded VF-1 in fighter. The stand hinge just gives way after a little while.

So, I have an idea for a future version of these mounts. How about an adapter with a built-in offset? Basically, it'd be the same top and bottom, with some sort of extrusion between the stand mount and the valk mount, specifically to push the center of mass to a decent location. They'd probably cost at least twice as much, since you'd be adding a decent amount of material, but they'd be much sturdier in general, since the valk would be located farther forward.

Edited December 8, 2012 by Chronocidal

[Froy]

Quick shots of the 17

This is the only point I found for the joint to hold it stable. (In my opinion is no no) Battroid is good.

[EXO]

So, I have an idea for a future version of these mounts. How about an adapter with a built-in offset? Basically, it'd be the same top and bottom, with some sort of extrusion between the stand mount and the valk mount, specifically to push the center of mass to a decent location. They'd probably cost at least twice as much, since you'd be adding a decent amount of material, but they'd be much sturdier in general, since the valk would be located farther forward.

First of all, thanks Chrono for the review and images and to everyone else that has put up images and their opinions... It really helps decide on what type of valks to get these for.

I'm not sure if an offset will work because the center of gravity will still be where the Yamato adapter will connect with the valk. For it to work, the adapter with an offset would have to make contact with the valk to carry that weight that is being offset. What would be needed is a new adapter that should be placed along the valks center of gravity. Like for the 1/48 VF-1. I would probably build a new adapter that could attach along the forearms in fighter mode. On the connections that the gunpod isn't using. It would need space for the gunpod also. I'm inclined to say that if the adapter was there we'd probable be able to display the 1/48 at a level position... nothing fancy like banks or dives.

[Chronocidal]

Actually, no, the center of gravity is entirely unrelated to where the stand is mounted. That's actually the entire problem, because Yamato didn't even attempt to put the mounts near where the balance points of their valks are.

It'd be nice if we could get the weight centered on the mount, but I don't know if it's actually necessary. The adapter isn't the point that needs the stress taken off it, it's the hinge.

Here's a quick pic of what I'm thinking.

This doesn't take the stress off the actual mounting point, which still could fail. All it does is shift the weight so that you don't have a ton of force acting way behind the stand hinge, making it droop.

You might need to experiment on a good extension length so you could use this type of thing on multiple valks, but I think it'd be simpler than trying to make something like a cradle.

The place where this gets complicated is that you'll definitely run into gunpods unless you keep the initial mount pretty tall.

Developing new mounts entirely for everything might be a much better way to go though. I still wonder how hard it would be to find hidden places to drill holes for simple mounting points to use in fighter mode.

Clipping around the arms would probably work on the VF-1, but you'll need something that attaches to the metal backplate for the VF-19, and I don't know what you'd attach to on the VF-17.

Edited December 8, 2012 by Chronocidal

[Froy]

More pics. sorry for the blurry pics.

For my surprise VF-0 works really good.

VF-11 is very decent.

VF-1J GBP is nice too.

And the VE-1, the stupid off of center Yamato stand adapter makes it lean to one side but the effect is not bad at all.

[Chronocidal]

Yeah, actually mounting stuff off center or leaning like the VE-1 is what concerns me most about these stands. Unless you glue them together, they can flex around quite a bit, and they tend to twist under certain loadings.

By the way, thanks for covering me on the picture side of things, Froy.

Edited December 8, 2012 by Chronocidal

[Mommar]

What they seem to need is a secondary brace.

[Chronocidal]

Tried out some coloring methods, and coloring these with a standard permanent marker works great. They seem to absorb the ink pretty well. Think this might have been mentioned before, possibly in the other thread.

[EXO]

I was just sending this to my friend... he asked me how to color these things.

As you can see the color matches the ink on the paper, not the caps. And try not to touch the color after you put it on the surface or it gets all over your fingers, then on everything you touch. Maybe do one side at a time. But the color lays on evenly. Better than dyeing because you can put different colors on the same piece for other stuff you bought on from Shapeways. I got to get me a set of Sharpies.

[ErikElvis]

In stands like this it seems to be the pivot point thats the problem. Any way to make a new [pivot point that you can release the screw set how you want it then tighten the screw again?

[Chronocidal]

You'd need some sort of ratcheted joint to do that, so I don't know how easy that would be to do. These stands really weren't meant for stuff as heavy as these valks, so Bandai probably never even considered such a thing necessary.

[ErikElvis]

I was thinking like a ratcheted joint that doesnt ratchet. you kind of just adjust it then tighten the screw. I have yet to look at one of these stands up close. So I dont know if you can pull that pivot point off or not.

[CoreyD]

I wish we could just forward this thread to Yamato and be like..."see all the trouble we're going through? just re-issue the stands already!!!"

[Froy]

I was thinking like a ratcheted joint that doesnt ratchet. you kind of just adjust it then tighten the screw. I have yet to look at one of these stands up close. So I dont know if you can pull that pivot point off or not.

Like the SV-51s stands?

[Chronocidal]

Like the SV-51s stands?

That's actually more what I meant by a ratcheted joint. Bottom line, you need teeth on it. The Bandai stands already have a screw, but it doesn't stop the stand from drooping, because it's just a friction joint.

The SV-51 stand doesn't even have a screw, it just has a ratcheted ring with teeth that interlock once the pin is pressed into place. That's really what we need.

Well.. either that, or new mounts for every fighter mode that relocate the mounting point to somewhere that makes sense.

After fiddling with my VF-1 though, my biggest annoyance with the way Yamato does stands is how ridiulously labor intensive it is to remove a valk from the stand. At least with the VF-19, it's just a clip that is (a bit too) easily removed from the belly. But the VF-1 requires you to transform it halfway to battroid just to attach or remove the stand mount. I wound up cutting and filing down the pegs on a VF-1 fighter adapter to see if I could make it possible to attach it without pulling the intakes loose.

[EXO]

I've thought about the type of ratcheted joints ErikElvis was talking about before. I'm just wondering at what point a simple fix becomes an expensive one. It's like somebody else mentioned, these stands are not meant for toys this heavy in the first place. It's just suppose to be a quick fix for valks the stands can handle. But I did send for for a fix posed version that has an angle. If it works out then I'll put it up. Maybe I can make one with ratcheted joints. But I can't really afford to keep testing all the little things we can do with the stands. It just adds up, especially when you're off by a couple of mm. And you have to send for a new one just to make sure it's ready for people to buy. Just adds up to quickly.

Crono, you're right about these Yamato adapters though. They really take up a lot of time to attach on there. You pretty much have to decide how you want to display these things for a long long time.

[aceoftherebellion]

Really, if we're talking about fixed angles anyway, wouldn't it be considerably more simple and cost effective to just glue the gundam stand itself in whatever fixed angle is desired? All of the extra effort seems a little unnecessary, considering how relatively cheap these stands are in the first place.

[EXO]

The people that wanted to glue their stands probably already did and that's why they haven't posted...

[CoreyD]

I used super glue and epoxy to lock down my stands and it's about as secure as it's going to get. There's an inherent weakness to the materials used in the braces of the stand that we're not going to get around, no matter how many different adapters we build.

It is what it is, a best available stand that's reasonably cheap and won't rip the paint off of our valks. Again, major props to exo for creating the solution for my somewhat harebrained idea.

[Chronocidal]

I didn't want to glue mine together yet, but they would definitely benefit from it. They're meant to be very posable, and they do really well with stuff like the Macross Frontier kits, but mounting bigger stuff gets tricky.

I am having a thought though. Since the adapters clearly hold onto the tabs on the stand mounts well enough, I wonder what else they could be attached to? I don't want this to turn into a stack of adapters that eventually winds up with you plugging your valks into a USB port, but how hard would it be to make an adapter that fits on the end of something like an acrylic rod?

Or, a better question.. how hard would it be to cut/shape an acrylic rod to fit into one of these adapters, and bend around into a traditional stand shape?