1/100 Armored Factory

[sketchley]

From about a year ago, I started working on the 1/100 Armored Factory rerelease.

The assembly of the "factory" itself was pretty straightforward, but I got bogged down on the vehicles (old school kits have some truly small parts. E.g.: side mirrors!).

This past weekend, I finished the Armoured Valkyrie. It's a major milestone, as I've been working on it for a good chunk of the year.

The kit itself is alright, but lacks any gimmicks such as missile hatches that one can open (or are glued open). The possibility is also extremely limited, and the lack of a gun pod is also a shame. It's truly a kit made to be displayed as something waiting for/just completed maintenance in the hanger.

After a few times moving the limbs in the limited range that they can move, some of the joints have become floppy... that said, the feet have a good range of movement, giving it stability in the full range of limited poses the legs allow.

The head and beam guns also move - though, as I painted the kit after assembly, the paint prevents the guns from moving.

On the subject of paint - the light gull grey that I used is a major pain! I didn't realize it when I purchased it, but its from the Mr. Hobby Water based line, and it caused no end of trouble, especially when putting acrylics on top!

Suffice to say that there are layers of paint covered by layers of clear coat. Even then, some of it has come off from friction, etc.. Gah!

Looking back, aside from not starting to paint it on the sprues (lesson learned), my one regret is not having filed down the seam lines. After so much sweat and tears with the paint, those seem lines bring the kit down. >.<

On the other hand, I had a bit of fun mixing paint to get some custom colours for the first time (light blue forearms, green sensor on back, light green visor). Though, I almost cried manly tears when I noticed a chip on one of the forearms!

And as this topic is geared around the Armoured Factory, here is the Armoured Valkyrie in the "Factory" itself (its still a work in progress - I'm waffling over painting the entire thing, painting only a few spots, or just laying on the decals!)

With the 1/100 Phalanx and Tomahawk (another work in progress), it's actually become quite an interesting diorama!

Edited August 28, 2014 by sketchley

[sketchley]

Almost forgot - I thought that a tawny VF-1 would make a great GBP-1S, especially as we never see them.

The armour colour is based off of some of the colour schemes in one of the Variable Fighter Master File books. Alas, tawny just doesn't go well with it. Maybe I should've gone with a Max blue or Miria red...

[Iron Man 150]

That's really neat. I love Dioramas. I saw that the set came with a lot of jeeps and accessories. Could you do a hand swap from another kit that had a Gun Pod? I hope you will paint the whole factory! I was thinking about getting this but I keep telling myself I have enough models in boxes.

[sketchley]

(...) Could you do a hand swap from another kit that had a Gun Pod? I hope you will paint the whole factory! (...)

Alas, as its an old school kit, any parts changes have to be done during assembly. Though, it's possible to drill a hole in the hand and put a gun into that.

As two "factory" dioramas come with the kit, from the start I was thinking of doing one plain, and the other spruced up. However, after assembly, I'm thinking that only with a few dabs of paint in the right places, even the plain one will get a lot of pop.

[PetarB]

Wow this one brings back memories...

[AcroRay]

Back in the 80s, I recycled a 1/72 variable kit's GU-11 for the Armored Battroid. It actually looked rather nice in spite of the scale difference. And it was easy to re-fit to the big ham-hand: I just cut down the stock & the finger-guard to fit over the fist & trigger finger, and glued it in place. Unfortunately I don't have it anymore to provide a photo.

The 1/00 armored factory kits were - and still are - great fun.

[MechTech]

Its great to see one of these being built. I still think its one of the must have kits!-MT

[P.W.Royce]

Love it. The custom paint job on the armored 1J is cool. Wish I had the motivation to take mine out of the box and start it.