captain america Posted August 8, 2014 Author Posted August 8, 2014 Captain's Log: Friday August 8th. I had bacon and eggs for breakfast as a personal reward for a long week of work on the 1/48 Goh-suu. In fact, I had started a few days early simply because I was getting excited and wanted to take advantage of the few extra "empty" days at my disposal. This is turning into a more fun project as I progress into it but allow me to start at the beginning so that I don't get too far ahead of myself.Big things have humble beginnings, and so it is with the Goh-Suu, which shall hereinafter be referred to as King Crabb The Merciless! So yeah… As with all significant projects, line art and specs are collected from various sources on teh interwebs, studied, and then technical drawing begins. I think that more than any other Inbit line art that I've had to deal with, these have to be the most utterly inconsistent of the bunch, so technical drawings are a must!DSCF5058: Once those are done, they are printed to scale and I then select some semi-appropriate blocks of modeling board and assemble my basic working tools.DSCF5059: since I have to hack the board with rough cutting saws, the cuts aren't perfectly straight and so comes one of the most important steps in the process, which is taking a rough cut block and making it square.DSCF5060: large blocks are milled square on my trusty old milling machine.DSCF5061: next, the technical diagrams are meticulously cut-out…DSCF5062: from the large modeling board blocks, smaller blocks are cut on the band saw…DSCF5063: stencils are affixed to various blocks with spray glue…DSCF5064: and then those blocks go back under the band saw to be refined yet further.DSCF5065: more complex components (in this case the cockpit hatch frame) will go from the band saw to the mill, back to the band saw, to the grinder, to the Dremel. A lot of thought has to be put into specific operations so as to avoid losing reference points.DSCF5066: here we have a few parts that are starting to actually look like something. More to come later today Quote
captain america Posted August 8, 2014 Author Posted August 8, 2014 (edited) Continued…DSCF5067: this is the main body/cockpit module being hollowed-out.DSCF5068: a crude cockpit assembly minus the transparency. This will be a particularly complex portion of the build so I want to take my time with it.DSCF5069: the "battle bra" cups in their initial form.DSCF5070: some ball-joints will be needed in the kit at the shoulders, elbows, and the hips so a little bit of work on the lathe will help take care of those.DSCF5071: after much Dremeling of the chest module as well as some hand-sanding, the part is developing some lovely curves. The drawing looks like a lot of simple blobs smushed together, but that's easier said than done in 3-D. Lots of back-and-forth between Dremeling, sanding and puttying starts to go on at this stage in order to make sure that everything mates together perfectly. In this particular pic, the "battle bra" is being fitted to the chest. When the putty begins to harden, I'll be able to carve the excess putty with a knife, and then sand it smooth later with rough sandpaper.DSCF5072: More press-forming, this time for the shoulder pads. What I haven't photographed but remains a significant process in the build is the Dremeling. I try to avoid using the camera at those stages because it produces a tremendous amount of dust which isn't good for electronics, but trust me, there's no getting around it.DSCF5073: speaking of which, here's a fine (much pun intended) example of the process. The shoulder on your right is fresh from under the Dremel, while the one on your left has undergone some manual sanding as further refinement.The last three pics are of what I have done so far, crudely mocked-up. So that's what almost 8 days of work looks like, and still many more to come. Enjoy the show, and be sure to tune-in again next week! Edited August 8, 2014 by captain america Quote
Kelsain Posted August 8, 2014 Posted August 8, 2014 I can't afford the things that you make, but I always enjoy watching them come together! Quote
derex3592 Posted August 8, 2014 Posted August 8, 2014 (edited) "creepy emperor voice"---gooooood....gooooood.... Cap'n, your design of the blueberry crab is outstanding by the way. Perfect for easy painting and straightforward assembly. IMHO a bit better than the Pinky crabs. Hoping the new guy follows suit. Thanks for all the hard work! Ohh...can we have the blue resin for this one? I just like it better..seems easier to work with. Edited August 8, 2014 by derex3592 Quote
Tober Posted August 8, 2014 Posted August 8, 2014 DSCF5070: some ball-joints will be needed in the kit at the shoulders, elbows, and the hips so a little bit of work on the lathe will help take care of those. What size/brand of ball joints will work with this kit? Quote
captain america Posted August 8, 2014 Author Posted August 8, 2014 (edited) "creepy emperor voice"---gooooood....gooooood.... Cap'n, your design of the blueberry crab is outstanding by the way. Perfect for easy painting and straightforward assembly. IMHO a bit better than the Pinky crabs. Hoping the new guy follows suit. Thanks for all the hard work! Ohh...can we have the blue resin for this one? I just like it better..seems easier to work with. You know that all the resin I use is the same, I just pigment it differently... Right? Ball-joints: I make mine custom, based on what the design requires. This will be a fairly tall (about 20cm) model, so with the weight I would advise against trying to make it posable. Edited August 8, 2014 by captain america Quote
Phyrox Posted August 9, 2014 Posted August 9, 2014 Hmm, I am starting to regret not getting this guy, looks marvelous so far. Quote
CoryHolmes Posted August 9, 2014 Posted August 9, 2014 Wow, that's a lot of progress so far. How many hours do you think it took you to get to that last photograph? Quote
captain america Posted August 11, 2014 Author Posted August 11, 2014 Wow, that's a lot of progress so far. How many hours do you think it took you to get to that last photograph? I'm guessing 70-75 hours, and that's including the lower leg which I restarted. I was going to make the part solid but it's so large that it would require a massive amount of resin to cast, so I started over so as to make the structure hollow. Quote
Squigglysquid Posted August 13, 2014 Posted August 13, 2014 Would love to get in for one. Moved and have been busy and have not the best internet, so haven't checked the formums really til now. Have room for one more pour (I imagine at 200$/ea the list I might have some room to wiggle in? ;P Looks good so far! Quote
captain america Posted August 15, 2014 Author Posted August 15, 2014 (edited) Captain's Log: Friday August 15th. It's been a crazy week of intense work. Many many hours put in, even if it doesn't necessarily show… It's a phase in every modeling project where you pour on the hours, but it feels like you're standing still progress-wise. That means that the end is approaching. I think.DSCF5078, DSCF5087: I don't photograph these steps very often, but this bench sander is an important tool in profiling parts and conforming strictly to my cookie-cutter plots.DSCF5080: This is something else which I improvised in order to get very parallel blocks: it's a sharpening stone set in my drill press and set to high speed. Combined with the bench sander, these tools are massive time-savers but they do kick-up a helluva dust storm, filter or no filter.DSCF5085: the fingers are being shaped on the mill, but will be finished manually with files and sanding blocks.Now we get into the juicy stuff…DSCF5088: I've done extensive work on the cockpit over the last few days. Here I'm testing everything for fit.DSCF5089: a clearer view of the tub. Despite the fact that I managed to make everything fit creatively, the views of the cockpit in the line-art cannot possibly fit inside the Gosu, unless the mecha were at least 30% bigger. But have no fear, I'll work it out.DSCF5090: the canopy surround that doubles as a means of lowering the seat for the pilot. This is another massive WTF technology that they clearly gave ZERO thought to designing properly. The part in question will be very thin and I will have to make a separate mold to cast it since some areas are a little less than 1mm thick.DSCF5091, 92 and 93 respectively: it's starting to come together slowly. Sorry for the wonky pose and the head is just held in place with plasticine, it will actually sit lower as per the line-art. All of the big stiff is done now, so the next week will allow me to concentrate more on details. I never thought I could get so much done in three weeks, but there you have it.By next week, King Crabb should be almost done, barring any unforeseen mishaps. At the very least certain parts will be ready for mold-prep… Can't wait Edited August 15, 2014 by captain america Quote
Perrych Posted August 15, 2014 Posted August 15, 2014 Looks awesome! Can't wait to see this finished! Quote
DarkArchon3000 Posted August 15, 2014 Posted August 15, 2014 This looks so cool! Amazing work as always. Quote
Tober Posted August 16, 2014 Posted August 16, 2014 (edited) Looks amazing. May you have continued success in your battle against the repressive forces of anime magic! Edited August 16, 2014 by Tober Quote
captain america Posted August 21, 2014 Author Posted August 21, 2014 Just a quick heads-up guys: the masters are almost done but I won't be posting an update this week as I'll be at Otakuthon all weekend here in Montreal. Quote
ruskiiVFaussie Posted August 22, 2014 Posted August 22, 2014 (edited) Ah man what a DIAMOND Edited August 22, 2014 by ruskiiVFaussie Quote
captain america Posted August 26, 2014 Author Posted August 26, 2014 Masters are now done, primer is drying. Aiming to post pics tomorrow, fingers crossed! Quote
Jasonc Posted August 26, 2014 Posted August 26, 2014 Masters are now done, primer is drying. Aiming to post pics tomorrow, fingers crossed! I really need a pilot for this. Quote
DarrinG Posted August 26, 2014 Posted August 26, 2014 EXO said he'll create one - but needs a cockpit assembly piece to make it the right size. Hey - that is a great ploy to try to get a Gosu ! Quote
Ignacio Ocamica Posted August 26, 2014 Posted August 26, 2014 I need pics like an addict needs his meth fix Quote
captain america Posted August 27, 2014 Author Posted August 27, 2014 Masters are... Complete. King Crabb lives!!!! A few pix of the masters below. I left out parts like the fingers and canopy hatch joint mechanism because they're very frail... And pics of the buckler are coming, I just wanted to let the primer dry. I made the neck such that you would also be able to pose the head looking up (in flight) and came up with a foot design that allows you to get a really wide stance if desired. The cockpit... That f$*&@ing cockpit... I actually came up with a mechanism that kinda makes sense for the seat lowering, but boy was it a PITA trying to make sense of that whole clusterfrack of improvised Anime style sheets. They really winged the mechanics in this series more than in any other that I've seen... Anyway, I maded it work without butchering the design too badly. Will begin mold-prep tomorrow and that should keep me occupied for the next week, give or take. First castings are not too far-off Quote
Hoptimus Posted August 27, 2014 Posted August 27, 2014 WE ARE NOT WORTHY>holy crap. I wish I was Rich. I would just hire you to make Mospeada kits for LYFE!! Quote
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