1/48 SOUTHERN CROSS BIOROID

[Ignacio Ocamica]

17 minutes ago, tekering said:

 

This has got to be your finest work yet. 

 

 

+1

[505thAirborne]

You've produced some amazing kits & the attention to detail has been second to none... that said, this might be your Masterpiece. 

Edited March 17, 2021 by 505thAirborne

[captain america]

29 minutes ago, tekering said:

Okay, admittedly -- based on your previous work -- I might've had unreasonably high expectations for this kit, but... 

 

...you've nonetheless exceeded my expectations by a considerable margin! 

This has got to be your finest work yet. 

 

Now I'm starting to regret only ordering three... 

Thanks Ted, that means a lot! Despite being a jellybean nightmare, I've been thoroughly enjoying myself and the challenge the source material posed. Just understand that it's not over yet, I still need to complete the sled and adjust it so that it and BIO LLOYD fuse into a synergistic, Spartas-crushing machine!

And if, at that later time you decide that you might want to acquire more LLOYDs, just LMK and if I can get an extra 10-12 orders, I'll make new molds. I'm tempted to make the (potential) second run more selective, in that you'd be able to get just the parts for one version, and the sled as an option.

[Convectuoso]

As the others said, this may be your finest work to date.

Impressive work, Captain!

[tekering]

4 minutes ago, captain america said:

if I can get an extra 10-12 orders, I'll make new molds.

That shouldn't be difficult, now that it's easier to see what the final figures will look like; the better the images, the easier the marketing becomes. 

In fact, if I prioritize these builds over all the Zentraedi and Invid kits on my workbench (and stop accepting commissions in the meantime!), I could provide photos of completed and painted 'Lloyds in a couple of months.

 

Of course, the quickest way of ensuring a sold-out second run would be to announce the production of a 1:48 Spartas to display them with... 

[Tober]

2 hours ago, captain america said:

Bam!

Red (SATAN CLAWS) and blue (BIG BOI BLUE) versions shown. Please forgive the few minor details that aren't proper to the blue version (toes, codpiece, placement of the hose) since this baby's just holding with hot glue. Preliminary work has already begun on the sled, so you'll get to see some progress on that next week.

 

 

 

Great work Capt'!

Do you have any interest in doing the other Bioroid variants? 

[captain america]

3 minutes ago, Tober said:

Great work Capt'!

Do you have any interest in doing the other Bioroid variants? 

Like the Biopsycher?

[CoryHolmes]

1 hour ago, captain america said:

 so that it and BIO LLOYD fuse into a synergistic, Spartas-crushing machine!

B... but that would require having a scale-correct Spartas to be crushed...

 

How do you recommend painting this kit?  I didn't realize just how many teeny tiny little pieces are in it until your photo!

[captain america]

1 minute ago, CoryHolmes said:

B... but that would require having a scale-correct Spartas to be crushed...

 

How do you recommend painting this kit?  I didn't realize just how many teeny tiny little pieces are in it until your photo!

If you go to the Moscatohobbymodels page on Facebook and scroll down my timeline (November to early January), I did a full build tutorial for my 1/48 M-72B Gabriel kit, which is similar enough to the BIO LLOYD, albeit slightly smaller. In it I go through the building process, puttying, posing, pinning, painting. That's a good start to help you along with your eventual build.

[Tober]

9 minutes ago, captain america said:

Like the Biopsycher?

Is that the foot soldier?

 

There are seven variants if you include the red officer as one. They were posted here by Seto Kaiba. 

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Bioroid Type I (Early Period)

 

Bioroid Type II (Early Period)

 

Bioroid Type I (Middle Period)

 

Bioroid Type II (Middle Period)

 

Bioroid Type I (Late Period)

 

Bioroid Type II (Late Period)

______________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Seifriet's modified Early Period Bioroid Type II with a red paint job

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[tekering]

16 minutes ago, captain america said:

Like the Biopsycher?

Yeah, the "Middle Period" Bioroid Type II would certainly be the next most logical choice, based on their significance in the anime...

Of course, that would require an entirely new and expensive commission (provided Cap' would be even be interested). 

5 minutes ago, CoryHolmes said:

How do you recommend painting this kit?  I didn't realize just how many teeny tiny little pieces are in it until your photo!

The bigger the parts count, the easier it is to paint! 

It's much easier to paint separate parts in separate colors, rather than having to paint single parts in multiple colors. 

[CoryHolmes]

14 minutes ago, captain america said:

If you go to the Moscatohobbymodels page on Facebook and scroll down my timeline (November to early January), I did a full build tutorial for my 1/48 M-72B Gabriel kit, which is similar enough to the BIO LLOYD, albeit slightly smaller. In it I go through the building process, puttying, posing, pinning, painting. That's a good start to help you along with your eventual build.

I'm not on Facebook (heathenous scum that I am), but I'll borrow my brother's account.  He doesn't mind his personal data being mined

12 minutes ago, tekering said:

The bigger the parts count, the easier it is to paint! 

It's much easier to paint separate parts in separate colors, rather than having to paint single parts in multiple colors. 

Is an airbrush necessary, or would spray cans / brush paints do a good enough job?

[Convectuoso]

1 hour ago, tekering said:

Of course, the quickest way of ensuring a sold-out second run would be to announce the production of a 1:48 Spartas to display them with... 

True

28 minutes ago, CoryHolmes said:

B... but that would require having a scale-correct Spartas to be crushed...

True

[tekering]

25 minutes ago, CoryHolmes said:

Is an airbrush necessary, or would spray cans / brush paints do a good enough job?

If you want that anime look, spray cans will certainly suffice.  

Airbrush work is recommended for a more 3D look, if you want to suggest real-world lighting; brush paints are good for weathering and surface detailing.  It's all a question of aesthetics, really.

46 minutes ago, Tober said:

Is that the foot soldier?

Do your homework, Tober!  The Biopsychers are name-checked in ep.16, "Hunter Killer" and ep.17, "Biopsycher." 

Watch the anime! 

[Tober]

26 minutes ago, tekering said:

Do your homework, Tober!  The Biopsychers are name-checked in ep.16, "Hunter Killer" and ep.17, "Biopsycher." 

Watch the anime! 

People watched it!? 

[tekering]

41 minutes ago, Tober said:

People watched it!? 

Not merely watched, actually enjoyed it.

 

Allegedly. 

[captain america]

8 hours ago, Tober said:

People watched it!? 

Several times. Sometimes frame by frame... And enjoyed it! 

[derex3592]

Absolutely incredible work sir! I have to agree, this might be the best looking one yet!  I can't wait to see @tekering crank these out in different colors!  

[captain america]

A quick overview of the differences between the three types you can build; part of why it took so long to finish the masters. Because of the shape of the central back blob on Big Boi Blue, that also required a different head hinge, and a whole bunch of other nonsense I won't trouble you with.

 

Edited March 17, 2021 by captain america

[TheLoneWolf]

Astounding work! I've always considered the Bioroids as ugly in the animation and line art, but your craftsmanship has truly made me appreciate their designs.

[CoryHolmes]

When it comes to those little fiddly bits, were you able to carve out one master and then modify the individuals as needed, or did you need to sculpt each one by themselves?

[captain america]

11 hours ago, CoryHolmes said:

When it comes to those little fiddly bits, were you able to carve out one master and then modify the individuals as needed, or did you need to sculpt each one by themselves?

Depends on the part. Some parts had to be sculpted molded, cast, and then modified (chest, thighs, toes, etc.), others needed to be full scratch (heads, pistols, back blobs) because they were just so different.

[Podtastic]

On 3/17/2021 at 3:46 AM, tekering said:

Of course, the quickest way of ensuring a sold-out second run would be to announce the production of a 1:48 Spartas to display them with... 

So are you guys going to revive that thread and check if everyone is still on board? Wasnt the Spartas very close to the CF target? So close that everyone on board contributing + 50% for a kit (20 people vs 10 order gap) would have met the target?

[tekering]

1 hour ago, Podtastic said:

So are you guys going to revive that thread and check if everyone is still on board?

Let's wait until the Lloyds are distributed, and then see how much increased demand there is. 

[vladykins]

I love all Cap's designs- if I didn't suck at modelling I'd end up buying a ton.

[captain america]

Captain’s log: Wednesday, March 24th.

 

Now that LLOYD is done, I can turn my attention to tackling his airborne conveyance. While some among you may consider the sled to be an after-thought project, I can assure you that it isn’t. In fact, it’s very much its own modelling project, with this portion being even more complex than the 1/350 landing frigate, and much, much larger! And while we’re on that point, allow me to illustrate why this project is such a challenging clusterscrew!

 

In image 53, we see a screen capture of a BIO LLOYD atop its hover sled, which I used as a rough standard to calculate the proper size of the sled platform. This also mirrors what I’ve found in the original line-art. You’ll notice that I layed my technical drawings over the image, and even made the sled a tad smaller than the control image.

 

Now turn to image 54: this illustrates the plan view of the sled platform in relation to LLOYD.—and bear in mind that I undersized it! That sled would be so big that a small family of BIO LLOYDS could pitch a tent over it and live inside it!! Clearly this is absurd, so I went back and fiddled with the dimensions… Which leads us to image 55. The sled platform is now as wide as LLOYD is tall. Still large, but more sensible in scale and proportion to carry one fighting unit.

 

With all that nonsense out of the way, I can start cutting modelling board, ad so that’s what I do. In pic 56, I’m slicing through almost 20cm of material, which is no simple task! In fact, it took me almost 6 minutes to make just one slice in the material, for fear of putting too much pressure on the saw blade. Once I got my two slices, I needed to clean and even-out the surface to make both slices identical, but the plates are so large and flat that they can’t be securely clamped to the milling machine, so I used the drill-press and trusty grinding stone in pic 57. 

With the surfaces now equalized, I was able to attach paper templates and trim away the excess material, which is shown in pic 58. 

Pic 59: the very awkward and difficult sawtooth partition being machined, but just barely. Their combination of depth, irregular angles and curvatures meant that I could only do part of it on the mill; the rest had to be done manually.

Pic 60: the aft portion of the sled is even longer! So long that I needed to recycle the cutaway scraps from the front to make a part large enough to match the paper pattern.

Pic 61: wat my lathe work station looks like when I start. Pic 62 is what it looks like after just 5 minutes!

Pic 63: the sled platform parts are now keyed and penciled so that I can Dremel the beveled edge all around.

Pic 64: beveled edge complete! I intentionally made the platform a little thinner than it should be, so that I could  use styrene sheet to build-up the rest (see pic 65). This was necessary in order to reproduce the different elevations  of the platform, as well as the cross-section segments…. Which obviously don’t align with the upper surface. Screw you, Studio Ammonite!!

Pic 66: the saucer shapes on the bottom of the hull are quite large in diameter, larger than any of the bar stock I have. Therefore, I will do something you probably shouldn’t without adult supervision: jerry-rig something that’s just barely safe to machine. In this case, a large Renshape slab CA-glued to a resin mandrel so that I can turn it.

Pic 67: white-knuckle time! This is something I’d NEVER, EVER do with metal, but modelling board is relatively easy to cut and more-or-less forgiving. I had to monitor my speed very carefully because of the vibration induced when cutting such an unsupported shape, but the operation was successful! More pics of my death-defying antics to come next week, so stay tuned!

 

[Big s]

That bio lloyd was definitely pitching a tent

[tekering]

You're like a magician, generous to show us how the magic is done... 

...and I still can't get over how great "Satan Claws" looks. 

[derex3592]

"All Bioroids to their hovercraft!"   Great work Cap!!! 

[captain america]

Just an FYI, guys: In the last few days I've found myself mostly unable to access my own Failbook page. They have this SEE OUR NEW FEATURES popup window that is totally unclickable. I was able to act quick enough to disable it today, but the writing is on the wall, so this will be my default place to post until I can set up my own blog or something. Far, far from failbook. The work on the sled is actually further ahead than what I posted yesterday. Getting LLOYD into position was a bit of a PITA, but wait until you see this thing mocked-up. Dreamy!! 

[captain america]

Captain’s log: March 31st, 2021.

Work on the hover-sled continues unabated. One of the oddest and trickiest parts of the design is the front dash/bumper/control column housing, mostly because it uses some very wonky geometry that someone could only come up with by freehand sketching. Fair enough!

Pic 68 shows preliminary construction on this part, and me machining as much as I can before going manual on it.

Pic 69: the aft portions of the sled that hold the (thrust?) nozzles. I needed these to be symmetrical and perfect, so I made and machined them both at the same time. 

In pic 70, you can start to see the front fairing being fleshed-out. I had to cobble it together with many sub-assemblies, which are now being fit-adjusted t the sled with putty. Same goes for the control arm in pic 71.

The aft portion of the sled saucer has these sidewalls that taper upward. There was no point trying to make these from modelling board, as styrene sheet is far easier and more pliable. Of course, because the whole edge is both beveled and curved, you can’t just apply any old piece of styrene, because it won’t fit. Studio Ammonite sticks it to me from the great beyond yet again… Thankfully, I’m not that easily stumped. Using some masking tape, I carefully segmented it to follow the taper of the saucer to create a tape template, which is what you see in pic 72. The tape is then used to cut the styrene winglets, which is what you see in pic 73. That covers the inner layer, but the outer layer has those vertical slits that are prominent throughout the saucer, so I had to mark, cut, and then strategically place those outer styrene layers over the base layer. 

The result is what you see in pics 74-76. Human scale comparison provided by the enigmatic 1/48 Marie Angel. The hover-sled is now 95% done; just a few little details to add before I can commence molding this monstrosity.

Alright, so now you’re asking yourselves just how well LLOYD fits onto his sled. Well I saved the best part for last, so that you can judge for yourselves. Bear in mind that LLOYD is being propped-up with a screwdriver up his corn chute, because the kit hasn’t been pinned. That said, I think he looks bloody epic!

It’s hard to see in these pics, but LLOYD has both ab-crunch and waist-swivel features, which were necessary to allow the proper reclined stance on the sled. Unlike the animation, which just drew its various limbs squished to achieve a desired pose, I had no such luxury; I actually had to make everything work. Hard part’s almost over, so next week I go back to mold-prep. Stay tuned!

 

 

[CoryHolmes]

Hot damn, that last pic looks ah-mazing! 

[Bolt]

He's a genius!!

 

[Big s]

Looks really great 

[derex3592]

The Robotech Masters would be VERY pleased!!!  Great job!