Upgrading a classic: yet another custom Bandai/Matchbox 1/3000 SDF-1

[pengbuzz]

8 hours ago, tekering said:

After a two-year hiatus, I'm finally back at it!  From here on out, I'm going to post weekly updates to this build until it's finally completed.

Despite the narrative significance of the Macross bridge, Takatoku made absolutely no attempt to reproduce it on the toy.  All we got was a solid red inset in the conning tower, where the bridge should've been visible (had there at least been a clear plastic piece)...

So the first thing I did was to hollow out the "head."

I've got plenty of dental files for detailed work like this:

Nevertheless, it's very difficult to be accurate at this scale.  As you can see, the opening is very small -- less than a centimeter, in fact -- and I needed a special macro focus lens just to photograph it properly.

Now, scratchbuilding a bridge at this scale would be impossible, of course (and I don't have access to a liquid-resin 3D printer), so kitbashing is the only viable solution here.  ILM elevated kitbashing to an art form making Star Wars, creating incredibly detailed studio miniatures by adding little bits and pieces from unrelated model kits, so that will be both my inspiration and (thanks to Bandai) my source of parts:

Bandai's insanely small "Vehicle Model" line of Star Wars kits includes a highly-detailed Star Destroyer I can cannibalize parts from, approximating the multi-level "face" of the SDF-1.

Once the seam lines in the conning tower are removed and the "head" is painted, I can add a transparent plastic cover.

When I did mine, I used a head magnifier and simply cobbled together several layers of plastic:

After that, I made a cover by "heat and smash"-ing some soda bottle plastic over the end of a paintbrush handle:

Looking forward to seeing how yours comes out, Tekering! Good luck!

[Mog]

Welcome back to the grind! 

Im sure I’ll be shocked, amazed, (and probably a little jealous ) of what you pull off.

Looking forward to the updates.

[derex3592]

I will absolutely love watching the great @tekering put his skills to this project! 

[sqidd]

Ya know. When this is done Arcadia or KC will release a TV version. Because "The Universe". Everyone will owe you one.

[Mog]

^^And we’ll be like, “Yeah, @tekering’s version is better.”

[pengbuzz]

2 hours ago, sqidd said:

Ya know. When this is done Arcadia or KC will release a TV version. Because "The Universe". Everyone will owe you one.

Yeah... everyone knows a company won't release something unless/ until they see someone do it first!

*secretly wonders if they have spy satellites positioned over the modelers'/ kitbashers' homes*

[tekering]

Thanks for all the kind words, gentlemen.  I appreciate the encouragement. 😊

This week, I've focused on the conning tower sensor package and communication relay equipment -- you know, those two iconic circles inset on the starboard side of the bridge, and the antennae on top -- very little of which was represented on the vintage toy.

Like, they didn't even try. 🙄

So, I drilled, cut, and filed out most of the area where the detail was missing, and mounted a styrene plate behind it.

Wave has a set with multiple sizes of verniers intended for this kind of customizing, and I figured a couple of the tiny ones would suit my needs well enough:

They're the right size, but too thick to suggest the massive scale I'm after.  I used my dental files to drill out the center of each, giving a greater sense of depth and considerably thinning down the sidewalls.

After painting, they started to look as I'd envisioned.

I then used parts from Tamiya's "Waterline Series" of 1:700 battleships to kitbash the communications array on top of the conning tower:

The large antennae behind the conning tower (which were properly represented on the original toy, until they inevitably broke off) were reproduced using two different gauges of paper clips.

With tiny holes drilled into the plastic to securely mount the metal parts, I can be assured these antennae will never break off! 

On 6/4/2022 at 1:18 AM, sqidd said:

When this is done Arcadia or KC will release a TV version.

That's the basic aesthetic I'm working towards, which is why I've decided to eschew photo-etched parts, hyper-detailing or realistic weathering for this project.  I'm trying to maintain the look of a mass-produced toy, rather than a model kit.  

The most difficult part of this process, for me, is deciding where to draw the line.

[sqidd]

Take note Arcadia!!!!

[derex3592]

I'm already blown away!!! 

[pengbuzz]

14 hours ago, tekering said:

Thanks for all the kind words, gentlemen.  I appreciate the encouragement. 😊

This week, I've focused on the conning tower sensor package and communication relay equipment -- you know, those two iconic circles inset on the starboard side of the bridge, and the antennae on top -- very little of which was represented on the vintage toy.

Like, they didn't even try. 🙄

So, I drilled, cut, and filed out most of the area where the detail was missing, and mounted a styrene plate behind it.

Wave has a set with multiple sizes of verniers intended for this kind of customizing, and I figured a couple of the tiny ones would suit my needs well enough:

They're the right size, but too thick to suggest the massive scale I'm after.  I used my dental files to drill out the center of each, giving a greater sense of depth and considerably thinning down the sidewalls.

After painting, they started to look as I'd envisioned.

I then used parts from Tamiya's "Waterline Series" of 1:700 battleships to kitbash the communications array on top of the conning tower:

The large antennae behind the conning tower (which were properly represented on the original toy, until they inevitably broke off) were reproduced using two different gauges of paper clips.

With tiny holes drilled into the plastic to securely mount the metal parts, I can be assured these antennae will never break off! 

That's the basic aesthetic I'm working towards, which is why I've decided to eschew photo-etched parts, hyper-detailing or realistic weathering for this project.  I'm trying to maintain the look of a mass-produced toy, rather than a model kit.  

The most difficult part of this process, for me, is deciding where to draw the line.

Nice additions!! I recently added the 4 comm antennae to mine (pics of that yet to come), and have to add the two circles to the right side.

That said; I ended up having to replace the railguns on the shoulders (the ones I scratched up began to fall apart! O.o 😞

             

Also did a wash overall:

 

And of course, a test shot with a photoshop background:

The ship still needs work, but I hope I can get it at least to a level that compares to Tekering's masterpiece!

[Mog]

I see you added the clear window for the bridge area as well. 

[arbit]

@tekering Great progress on this old beast.  Looking forward to seeing more progress.  I remember when this was still an awe inspiring grail toy, and even today we don't have a 1/3000 TV SDF-1 toy. Why?

[Nyankodevice]

On 6/10/2022 at 1:09 AM, arbit said:

I remember when this was still an awe inspiring grail toy, and even today we don't have a 1/3000 TV SDF-1 toy. Why?

they dont look at Macrossworld forums

or they would have seen all these beauties including my SDF-1

[Nyankodevice]

On 6/8/2022 at 8:45 AM, tekering said:

Thanks for all the kind words, gentlemen.  I appreciate the encouragement. 😊

This week, I've focused on the conning tower sensor package and communication relay equipment -- you know, those two iconic circles inset on the starboard side of the bridge, and the antennae on top -- very little of which was represented on the vintage toy.

Like, they didn't even try. 🙄

So, I drilled, cut, and filed out most of the area where the detail was missing, and mounted a styrene plate behind it.

Wave has a set with multiple sizes of verniers intended for this kind of customizing, and I figured a couple of the tiny ones would suit my needs well enough:

They're the right size, but too thick to suggest the massive scale I'm after.  I used my dental files to drill out the center of each, giving a greater sense of depth and considerably thinning down the sidewalls.

After painting, they started to look as I'd envisioned.

I then used parts from Tamiya's "Waterline Series" of 1:700 battleships to kitbash the communications array on top of the conning tower:

The large antennae behind the conning tower (which were properly represented on the original toy, until they inevitably broke off) were reproduced using two different gauges of paper clips.

With tiny holes drilled into the plastic to securely mount the metal parts, I can be assured these antennae will never break off! 

That's the basic aesthetic I'm working towards, which is why I've decided to eschew photo-etched parts, hyper-detailing or realistic weathering for this project.  I'm trying to maintain the look of a mass-produced toy, rather than a model kit.  

The most difficult part of this process, for me, is deciding where to draw the line.

nice.. this looks clean, awesome job... keep up the good work

 

[tekering]

I was hoping to have made improvements to the Prometheus this week, but I had trouble finding consistent reference to work from... 'cause it doesn't seem to exist. 😑

At the top you see the cleanest and most detailed orthographic view, as provided by Hasegawa (from their 1:4000 SDF-1 decal placement guide).  Their model (right) reproduces the shape of the deck precisely as their instructions depict...

However, the drawing directly below it shows significant variations in deck width and conning tower placement, thus the proportions are a little different.  This is how official animation model sheets depicted the Prometheus when attached to the SDF-1.  The Takatoku/Bandai/Matchbox deck (right) seems based on this image...

...except official animation model sheets depicting the Prometheus by itself show considerable differences in shape and proportions again, as the third image illustrates.  This design tapers towards the bow, and is thinner even than Hasegawa's modern interpretation.  Given the extremely thin deck of the 2016 MegaHouse toy (right), I assume they were working from this image in particular.

Line art of the ship in profile is a little more consistent, but the merchandise is far less accurate from this angle; the proportions are way off, and the hulls are substantially different from each other.  Hasegawa's is clearly the best representation, but that's not saying much...

At this stage, I'm about ready to toss the old Prometheus toy in the trash and start from scratch. 😒

It's way too small, to begin with.

Hasegawa's line art confirms the proper size of the Prometheus deck, but their design is somewhat suspect; their TV model was reverse-engineered from the movie design, as you can see in this side-by-side comparison I made.  Notice how the movie-style legs have a completely different shape to them, forcing the support craft further away from the central hull.  The legs also end up too short, leaving the Prometheus prow jutting out past the SDF-1 itself! 🤨

This image further illustrates the danger of relying on secondary reference sources, like Hasegawa's.  See how their hybrid design ends up placing the bridge conning tower in a totally different location than the original animation model sheets depicted?

Oh, and speaking of the conning tower location:

The original toy tried to reproduce the way the conning tower changed position during transformation (ridiculous and nonsensical, but canon nonetheless), and -- while the attempt at anime-accuracy is appreciated -- the results were half-assed at best, requiring a huge L-shaped support that stuck out of the central fuselage.

I have endeavoured to correct this problem, and reposition the conning tower more accurately as well:

Mind you, I'm not much of an engineer, and failed to come up with a more practical solution than what the Japanese designed 40 years ago.  My approach was simply to mount the two parts of the conning tower on metal rods:

I've drilled two corresponding holes into the base of the conning tower, so that the pieces can be mounted differently depending on which mode the toy is displayed in.

It's not a very toyetic solution, but I'm more concerned with aesthetics than playability. 

[sqidd]

55 minutes ago, tekering said:

It's not a very toyetic solution, but I'm more concerned with aesthetics than playability. 

Considering what you're working with and what I'm guessing you want to end up with this sounds like the best approach.

[pengbuzz]

3 hours ago, tekering said:

I was hoping to have made improvements to the Prometheus this week, but I had trouble finding consistent reference to work from... 'cause it doesn't seem to exist. 😑

At the top you see the cleanest and most detailed orthographic view, as provided by Hasegawa (from their 1:4000 SDF-1 decal placement guide).  Their model (right) reproduces the shape of the deck precisely as their instructions depict...

However, the drawing directly below it shows significant variations in deck width and conning tower placement, thus the proportions are a little different.  This is how official animation model sheets depicted the Prometheus when attached to the SDF-1.  The Takatoku/Bandai/Matchbox deck (right) seems based on this image...

...except official animation model sheets depicting the Prometheus by itself show considerable differences in shape and proportions again, as the third image illustrates.  This design tapers towards the bow, and is thinner even than Hasegawa's modern interpretation.  Given the extremely thin deck of the 2016 MegaHouse toy (right), I assume they were working from this image in particular.

Line art of the ship in profile is a little more consistent, but the merchandise is far less accurate from this angle; the proportions are way off, and the hulls are substantially different from each other.  Hasegawa's is clearly the best representation, but that's not saying much...

At this stage, I'm about ready to toss the old Prometheus toy in the trash and start from scratch. 😒

That's basically what I had to do; I ended up making both barriers from poplar wood.

3 hours ago, tekering said:

It's way too small, to begin with.

Hasegawa's line art confirms the proper size of the Prometheus deck, but their design is somewhat suspect; their TV model was reverse-engineered from the movie design, as you can see in this side-by-side comparison I made.  Notice how the movie-style legs have a completely different shape to them, forcing the support craft further away from the central hull.  The legs also end up too short, leaving the Prometheus prow jutting out past the SDF-1 itself! 🤨

This image further illustrates the danger of relying on secondary reference sources, like Hasegawa's.  See how their hybrid design ends up placing the bridge conning tower in a totally different location than the original animation model sheets depicted?

This is why I lengthened the thigh and lower leg of the ship itself on mine.

3 hours ago, tekering said:

Oh, and speaking of the conning tower location:

The original toy tried to reproduce the way the conning tower changed position during transformation (ridiculous and nonsensical, but canon nonetheless), and -- while the attempt at anime-accuracy is appreciated -- the results were half-assed at best, requiring a huge L-shaped support that stuck out of the central fuselage.

I have endeavoured to correct this problem, and reposition the conning tower more accurately as well:

Mind you, I'm not much of an engineer, and failed to come up with a more practical solution than what the Japanese designed 40 years ago.  My approach was simply to mount the two parts of the conning tower on metal rods:

I've drilled two corresponding holes into the base of the conning tower, so that the pieces can be mounted differently depending on which mode the toy is displayed in.

It's not a very toyetic solution, but I'm more concerned with aesthetics than playability. 

I suspect this is why they went with the setup they did on the DYRL version: non splitting/ moving.

 

[tekering]

Damn, this is really starting to bug me. 😑

The bridge is supposed to sit between the shoulders in "Attacker" mode, with the conning tower sitting almost parallel to the VTOL thruster assemblies on either side of the chest.  This establishes the eyeline for the bridge crew, as I've outlined in red.

The toy positions the conning tower much too high, meaning the bridge sits well above the shoulders. 🤨 

This is a big reason why the proportions look so far off-model in this mode.

...and now I can't unsee it. 😒

Gawd, how am I gonna fix this? 😬

[pengbuzz]

2 hours ago, tekering said:

Damn, this is really starting to bug me. 😑

The bridge is supposed to sit between the shoulders in "Attacker" mode, with the conning tower sitting almost parallel to the VTOL thruster assemblies on either side of the chest.  This establishes the eyeline for the bridge crew, as I've outlined in red.

The toy positions the conning tower much too high, meaning the bridge sits well above the shoulders. 🤨 

This is a big reason why the proportions look so far off-model in this mode.

...and now I can't unsee it. 😒

Gawd, how am I gonna fix this? 😬

That is because the center piece that swings down and forms the top of the torso is too tall. If you look at the side-by side for a moment, where the square end of it ends on the schematics, it begins on the toy (my lines in blue)

I took a look at mine on a side profile and snapped a pic; looking at this from the side, you can't really do too much about where the square cut-off on the front begins; that's to clear the main body when it rotates 45 degrees. But one thing that is possible is to cut the top of it off at just above the indented circle, then use heavy sheet styrene to rebuild the top at a much less steep "ramp up". after that, it would be a matter of taking some off the bottom of the removed part that the bridge is attached to, and gluing it into position.

 

Yeah, it would be quite a bit of work; with the fact that you put pins into place for the bridge on yours to change positions, it would be more feasible than trying to retain the sliders on mine ( I might go with your idea for the bridge, to be honest!). But this is the best that I can figure for the ship.

That, or we draw up our own blueprints!

Edited June 24, 2022 by pengbuzz

[tekering]

48 minutes ago, pengbuzz said:

But one thing that is possible is to cut the top of it off at just above the indented circle, then use heavy sheet styrene to rebuild the top at a much less steep "ramp up".

As much as I appreciate your "can-do" attitude, bud (and I really do -- you're an inspiration), that segment is already properly-shaped and angled for cruiser mode:

...so it's not too tall, it just sits too high after transformation.  I've got to figure out how to slide it further down into the fuselage so that it sits lower between the shoulders in "Attacker."  🤔

[pengbuzz]

7 minutes ago, tekering said:

As much as I appreciate your "can-do" attitude, bud (and I really do -- you're an inspiration), that segment is already properly-shaped and angled for cruiser mode:

...so it's not too tall, it just sits too high after transformation.  I've got to figure out how to slide it further down into the fuselage so that it sits lower between the shoulders in "Attacker."  🤔

Yeah, you've got a point there I hadn't considered!

I would have to say then that it's the placement of the hinge pin for the angled segment; it's probably too low on the piece, causing it to skew upwards.

Let me look at my spare SDF-1 and see if I can work something out. That just may actually be easier!

[Mog]

So, what’s the latest?

About the only idea I could come up with for your dilemma @tekering would be to install sliders or a groove inside the lower/front white parts (apologies for the crappy rough sketches):

. . . But I don’t think the design of the toy allows for that mod:

Please keep us posted;  I’m sure you’ll come up with a solution. 

[pengbuzz]

1 hour ago, Mog said:

So, what’s the latest?

About the only idea I could come up with for your dilemma @tekering would be to install sliders or a groove inside the lower/front white parts (apologies for the crappy rough sketches):

. . . But I don’t think the design of the toy allows for that mod:

Please keep us posted;  I’m sure you’ll come up with a solution. 

That's about what they did with the Yamato/ Arcadia version, if memory serves (or it could be the main body they did that with).

[tekering]

On 7/9/2022 at 12:48 AM, Mog said:

Please keep us posted;  I’m sure you’ll come up with a solution. 

Thanks for the vote of confidence! 😊

I'd imagined that very solution in my head, but I wouldn't know how to go about implementing it...

On 7/9/2022 at 12:48 AM, Mog said:

So, what’s the latest?

I've completed the rough assembly and worked out the pose I want my "Bug Face" Bioroid to assume on the Biover sled...

As always, when I encounter a modelling dilemma without a clear and obvious solution, I put the project aside to work on something else while I await inspiration.  It's a very dangerous time, when more tempting projects divert my attention away... and before I've even realized it, years have passed and the original project is all-but-forgotten... 😔

...and after more than a year of anticipation, there's nothing more distracting than getting a new Moscato Hobby garage kit...! 😬

If I didn't have a commission to finish by the end of the month, I'd have probably forgotten all about the SDF-1 by now. 😔

[tekering]

Focusing on the little restoration tasks for the time being, mostly concerning the infamously brittle and fragile blue parts that crack if you breathe on 'em (and snap if you happen to sneeze accidentally).  It takes a lot of glue, putty and sanding, putty, sanding, more putty, more sanding, and several layers of paint to finally hide all the cracks and seams.

Here's a before-and-after pic:

Also of interest may be what I first discovered when disassembling the shoulder joint:

There were tiny cobwebs in there! 😮

At some point in the last four decades, the world's tiniest spider must've taken up residence inside the shoulder joint. 😶

Similarly weird discoveries were made in the shoulder housing adjacent to it:

Apparently, microscopic birds were nesting in the shoulder housing, too. 😅

[derex3592]

Whoa!  Are those Invid hives hiding in a forgotten part of the SDF-1???!!!

[pengbuzz]

2 hours ago, tekering said:

Focusing on the little restoration tasks for the time being, mostly concerning the infamously brittle and fragile blue parts that crack if you breathe on 'em (and snap if you happen to sneeze accidentally).  It takes a lot of glue, putty and sanding, putty, sanding, more putty, more sanding, and several layers of paint to finally hide all the cracks and seams.

Here's a before-and-after pic:

 

From my experience, the blue plastic is particularly poor; it reacts badly to the UV in natural daylight and is so brittle that you can snap it easily between your fingers. I used devcon plastic welder to reinforce cracked and broken areas; be advised that if you glue an area, reinforce it as much as humanly possible! I ended up having to bond the bolts for the shoulders (which I also ran through the metal boom pivots) to the metal frame that the center torso rotates on, so as to avoid placing any stress on the blue chest housings!

[Big s]

It was an alien ship to begin with

[tekering]

Celebrating the little victories:

Cannons have been straightened out, and reinforced with 2mm metal rods. 👍

Another problem finally solved, after annoying me for decades. 😅

Can you tell which barrel was missing from the toy I bought, and needed to be fully scratchbuilt? 😋

[pengbuzz]

1 hour ago, tekering said:

Celebrating the little victories:

Cannons have been straightened out, and reinforced with 2mm metal rods. 👍

Another problem finally solved, after annoying me for decades. 😅

Can you tell which barrel was missing from the toy I bought, and needed to be fully scratchbuilt? 😋

Nice job!

(BTW: bottom one. )

[derex3592]

Very nice! That ALWAYS annoyed the hell out of me on the OG toy! 

[Mog]

Can the angle be changed, or are they fixed to stay straight?

[Big s]

1 hour ago, Mog said:

Can the angle be changed, or are they fixed to stay straight?

They look fixed in these pictures 

[pengbuzz]

18 hours ago, derex3592 said:

Very nice! That ALWAYS annoyed the hell out of me on the OG toy! 

Yeah... sometime I have to fix that on mine. Materials have been a bit short as of late.

[tekering]

On 8/1/2022 at 2:13 PM, pengbuzz said:

BTW: bottom one.

Figures a prolific scratchbuilder like you'd be able to tell.  

I'll bet you could whittle a whole Zentradi armada out of a rotten 2x4. 😅

On 8/2/2022 at 2:41 AM, Mog said:

Can the angle be changed, or are they fixed to stay straight?

The aluminium rods allow for a little fine adjustment, but I decided not to articulate them further.  While it would make logical sense for them to be independently-targeted cannons, there's actually nothing in the anime (nor the animation model sheets) to indicate that they are... and furthermore, no existing toy with such a feature, either.  

And you know, sometimes unnecessary articulation can actually be an inconvenience:

It's not like I'd ever want to display those rail guns pointing in different directions anyway.