A VF-1 Experiment

[TadCooper]

Hello there. So a couple months back, I picked up one of the 1/100 Toynami figures. After sitting there looking at it, posed in all it's Gerwalk glory, a thought crossed through my mind. "I want to motorize this sucker." Robotics has been a side hobby of mine, mostly for the engineering puzzle solving aspect of it. So I'm going to give this a shot and see how far I can get.

I bought a couple of 1/72 Hasegawa kits to try to be lazy and just modify them for gears, etc. But sadly the size is just too small to fit what is needed. The larger kits just cost too much to justify. (most the money needs to go into parts for robotics) So, I'm just going to have to be not lazy and model the thing for 3D printing. I'm setting up for a 1/50 scale (keeps the math simple) And due to requests of some people I know, I'll be doing a progress thread. I decided to place it here mostly from when I was looking for reference images and I came across Dan Bickle's work from a few years ago . He had some great ideas on inner workings and it's fantastic inspiration. I hope he's able to get around to finishing his project. (If anyone knows if he's still active, please shoot him my way. I'd love to pick his brain)

So the few images here are just the blockout's I've started. I wanted to wait till I had some more detail, but of course it's just an excuse to keep putting off the official start of the project. I will be cutting in detail as I go. Though in the beginning here, getting the overall shell set is more important, as putting in joints and pistons will drive where certain cuts will be. My goal is to keep the same movable exterior as the models and figures, but I may have to make a few concessions for the sake of functionality. 

I'll reveal what I want to do overall as I get to those stages in the project. This is more of a 'is this actually possible?' project than pushing for a final product. But it would be awesome to actually finish. It will be quite a journey and hope everyone enjoys it as much as I will.

[jenius]

That seems like a ton of work. This is backordered at HLJ but it looks like a cheap option: https://hlj.com/1-48-scale-vf-1s-a-valkyrie-skull-squadron-hsg65792

[Sanity is Optional]

You can always use photogrammetry to scan in the parts of an existing model to use as a starting point as well.

I've heard good things about Meshroom.

[TadCooper]

19 hours ago, jenius said:

That seems like a ton of work. This is backordered at HLJ but it looks like a cheap option: https://hlj.com/1-48-scale-vf-1s-a-valkyrie-skull-squadron-hsg65792

Yeah I've looked at that one. Sadly, I need some of the parts out of either the Gerwalk or the Battloid model. And I haven't found another 1/48 with those. And yes, will be a bit of work, but I don't really mind with the modeling. Just a few extra steps. The upside is that I can build in brackets for motors and joints instead of trying to glue them in after the fact.

 

10 hours ago, Sanity is Optional said:

You can always use photogrammetry to scan in the parts of an existing model to use as a starting point as well.

I've heard good things about Meshroom.

I'm still on the fence with making 3D meshes from photos. It generally uses contrast with color and brightness to build from. In general it would work to get the base mesh form set, but would require quite a bit of cleanup for my purposes. Work's great for organics though.

 

 

Sorry for the negative responses, haha. I don't mean to be such a downer. Thank's for the input though. I've resigned myself to building in 3D. It will take a bit longer that way, but if the robotic  aspect of the project drops out, I'll at least have a cool model. 

[Sanity is Optional]

42 minutes ago, TadCooper said:

Yeah I've looked at that one. Sadly, I need some of the parts out of either the Gerwalk or the Battloid model. And I haven't found another 1/48 with those. And yes, will be a bit of work, but I don't really mind with the modeling. Just a few extra steps. The upside is that I can build in brackets for motors and joints instead of trying to glue them in after the fact.

  

I'm still on the fence with making 3D meshes from photos. It generally uses contrast with color and brightness to build from. In general it would work to get the base mesh form set, but would require quite a bit of cleanup for my purposes. Work's great for organics though.

  

 

Sorry for the negative responses, haha. I don't mean to be such a downer. Thank's for the input though. I've resigned myself to building in 3D. It will take a bit longer that way, but if the robotic  aspect of the project drops out, I'll at least have a cool model. 

Eh, no worries. I was mainly thinking of using the scan as a template, and the extruding actual solids to match it (but having proper symmetry and consistent curves).

[TadCooper]

Small update. I ran into the first engineering snag of the project. I was modeling off of the Hasegawa 1/48 design, where I found that the underside of the body was too thick. The 1/48 model has the intakes dropped a bit lower and the curved fuselage further down to match. The problem with it is when in Battloid mode, the two halfs cut into each-other with no room for the shoulder joints to lock in. So I ended up going with the 1/72 design, at least in that area. I'm still going to try for the lower intakes, but will have to see how that pans out.

 

Also had to bump up the thickness of the hull. Originally I was looking at a 3 cm at 1/1 scale, but at 1/50 that transfers to .6 mm. It's doable with 3D printing, but I'd prefer a bit more stability, so I decided to bump up to 5 cm. That give's me a solid 1 mm thickness at printing. So a good amount of space for engraved panel details and inlets.

Edited May 25, 2019 by TadCooper

[Bolt]

Good on you mate!

[Rodavan]

Nice model