1/48 SOUTHERN CROSS SPARTAS? MOSCATO HOBBY PROJECT PROPOSAL

[captain america]

Certain smartphones are now using .heic format for photos, which I understand offers higher resolution in a compressable format which takes up less storage space. Works perfectly on FB and IG, but I guess Invision is still playing catch-up.

[tekering]

On 5/3/2024 at 12:52 AM, captain america said:

A fellow MWer is currently working on the modeling of the pilot figure, and what he's doing so far looks excellent!

Will the pilot figure be a 1st/2nd Lieutenant, Sergeant/NCO or Corporal/Private? ☺️

[Big s]

1 hour ago, tekering said:

Will the pilot figure be a 1st/2nd Lieutenant, Sergeant/NCO or Corporal/Private? ☺️

Male or female also. There’s quite a few combinations 

[CoryHolmes]

On 5/2/2024 at 8:52 AM, captain america said:

My apologies for the slow progress: this mecha, by virtue of its variable geometry, is made up of many, many small parts and they require lots of time to shape properly.

I've been waiting my entire life for a good representation of the Spartas Hover Tank.  Take your time, there's no rushing perfection.  We can wait a little bit longer for another masterpiece.

[captain america]

On 5/4/2024 at 5:59 PM, tekering said:

Will the pilot figure be a 1st/2nd Lieutenant, Sergeant/NCO or Corporal/Private? ☺️

Whatever a 1/48 Jeanne Francaix is, that's what the pilot will be! Seems the 3D Dana Sterling pilot figure you linked to earlier is a real clusterscrew of a file. So bad in fact, that Carlos abandoned fixing it and is starting completely from scratch.

Edited May 6 by captain america

[tekering]

On 5/7/2024 at 5:44 AM, captain america said:

Seems the 3D Dana Sterling pilot figure you linked to earlier is a real clusterscrew of a file.

That's a shock, given what an amazing job he did with his TASC Marie figure...

Edited May 9 by tekering

[captain america]

Captain's log: Thursday, May 9^th, 2024.

I'll start this week's update with a quick image of the pilot figure (pic 27A), currently undergoing a serious 3D overhaul, courtesy of Carlos P. While Ted had pointed us to a pre-existing file, the file was probably intended to be much larger, owing to the fact that the creator had made the figure hollow—presumably to save on material when printing—the end result being a figure which is paper-thin in 1/48 scale, and as such requires a complete redo!

The main mecha itself is coming along quite nicely! Pics 27 and 28 show the leg, and all the complex engineering which is going into it. The shin-guard holder is made collapsible, which will allow Transport mode to sit flatter without sacrificing the look in robot mode. What may not be immediately evident is how painstaking it is to create all these sharp angles on the lower leg armor. The parts are small, and one wrong swipe with the sanding block would mean at least an hour of puttying and refinishing. I will wait to show you all the range of motion when the parts are further along.

Pics 29-31 (inclusive) show the arm, which is another wonderful clusterscrew. I'm talking specifically about the elbow. The good: I was able to retain a swivel at the shoulder, and reasonably good range of motion so it'll be able to hold its rifle up, though the joint itself may end up being rather fragile.

 

[captain america]

Pic 32: in order to allow the mecha to have a smaller waist as well as have clearance for the arms inside the mid-torso in Transport mode, the abdomen panels are also collapsible. They were a veritable bear to make, but the end result was worth it! In fact, you can see in pics

33 and 34 how nicely the sides transition to accommodate the arms and still offer relatively flat sides.

Pic 36: the front hood along with the lower part of the backpack and the two square openings at the bottom, which I assume are thrusters of some sort.

 

Edited May 9 by captain america

[captain america]

Pic 35: another critical joint on the figure is the hinge at the solar plexus. I made the parts here from styrene for the sake of simplicity. What's interesting is that this can also serve as an ab-crunch joint, and I added a swivel at the waist, so robot mode will have an unusually decent range of motion.

Pic 37: this is what I have after about 3 weeks of work. Once the feet and the extra armor parts are added, it will make much more visual sense. That's it for this week, and stay tuned for the next update

[CoryHolmes]

This is the part that feels like Black Magic to me.  Watching all these individual parts come together to form a cohesive assembly that you already had in your head just wows me.  Your work is, as always, a masterpiece.

[tekering]

Man, I love these updates.  Ingenious work on the elbows, Cap'; reminiscent of the approach you took with the Biopsycher.  

11 hours ago, captain america said:

the two square openings at the bottom, which I assume are thrusters of some sort

Yes, there are large verniers mounted in there, visible in several episodes.  Presumably, they allow the Spartas to hop around in "Walker Cannon" mode, and launch into the air when transforming to "Battle Sniper."

11 hours ago, captain america said:

Looking really good!  My only concern is the sharp corners on the chest block, an all-too-common mistake seen in VHT toy designs.  I'm sure you'll be rounding down those edges just as you have the abdomen panels. ☺️

Thanks for taking the time to keep us drooling! 🤤

[captain america]

7 hours ago, tekering said:

Man, I love these updates.  Ingenious work on the elbows, Cap'; reminiscent of the approach you took with the Biopsycher.  

Yes, there are large verniers mounted in there, visible in several episodes.  Presumably, they allow the Spartas to hop around in "Walker Cannon" mode, and launch into the air when transforming to "Battle Sniper."

 

 

Looking really good!  My only concern is the sharp corners on the chest block, an all-too-common mistake seen in VHT toy designs.  I'm sure you'll be rounding down those edges just as you have the abdomen panels. ☺️

Thanks for taking the time to keep us drooling! 🤤

Thanks, Ted! I was certain they were thrusters, though the temptation to call them tank headlights was indeed strong! 

The chest is still in a crude stage of development, and will indeed have chamfered edges, but I only make those refinements once all the necessary geometry is verified.

[captain america]

Captain's Log: Friday, May 17^th, 2024

 

Things are going well. VERY well! Considering I'm only a month into a variable-geometry model project, I have to say I'm quite surprised at the progress I've made in such a short time.

Pics 38-42 show the hovercraft mode looking very nice indeed. I put in a lot of hours fiddling with the geometry: sanding a little here, removing a bit of material there, constantly going back and forth with some details to get everything nice and flat. This is something which takes up a stupid amount of man hours, but the proof is in the pudding: this thing looks like $$ and I'm far from done!

Now comes robot mode, which is equally impressive! I received my order of aftermarket hands, and they fit perfectly in the forearms. Frankly, everything just looks... Wonderful! The only drawback is the parts count continues to rise, as I make improvements to the geometry in order to enhance posability and harmonize the two main modes. Frankly, it's worth it: no one has ever done justice to these mecha, so I'm going all the way. When I stop and consider how far I've come since the days of the 1/32 Legioss, which took me about a year, and here I am doing something almost as complex, but much smaller, in about a month. I can only give glory to God!!

 

I may skip next week's update as I have some other commitments, but rest assured that I'll be back with a vengeance in 2 weeks!

38.HEIC 39.HEIC 40.HEIC 41.HEIC 42.HEIC 43.HEIC 44.HEIC 45.HEIC 46.HEIC 47.HEIC 48.HEIC

[Ignacio Ocamica]

A work of art!!!!

[tekering]

On 5/17/2024 at 10:15 PM, captain america said:

Frankly, everything just looks... Wonderful!

Almost everything, but at the risk of once again criticizing a work-in-progress, I have to ask...

Why is your backpack so small, thin and insubstantial?

Furthermore, it looks like you've tried to reproduce the head of the Matchbox Hover Tank toy, rather than the Southern Cross Spartas design...

Perhaps some official promotional artwork can inspire you further...?

Please take my comments in the spirit of constructive feedback, and remember I'm your biggest fan...

...so I know you're capable of reproducing the look of the heads from the anime, once you've scrapped your first attempt and started over from scratch.

 

[captain america]

Hi Ted!

The slightly smaller backpack is born out of a necessity to appease two different modes. To be fair, the thruster module is separate, and what you see in the robot pics has those thrusters flattened for Transport mode. As such, they can be made to flare-out when not collapsed, so the backpack will be more faithful to the line-art when completed.

Your assessment of the head being partially inspired by the Matchbox toy is correct. I was also trying to harmonize what I saw in the various views of the line-art and other publicity renderings, none of which are consistent. The eye piece looks almost domed in some images, flat in other views, and recessed in other views (see image below). Also, the way the geometry is established in drawings does not line-up so well IRL, but I do agree that it can be improved, and it will be. It's good to have an extra set of eyeballs on the project!

[Big s]

Most of the colored pictures make it appear as if the main lense is a flat piece that lines up with the white outer face armor but is kinda slightly recessed where the red part is at an angle so the bottom of the red stitcks more forward ahead of the bottom of the lense and the top of the redlines up to the white armor. The lense is appears more straight in these pictures 

But those black and white pictures are more rounded at the edges and the lense is at a different angle where the bottom of the lense touches the bottom of the red armor at the face. It kinda gives it an odd upward tilted lense

[tekering]

Thanks for keeping the lines of communication open, Cap'!  My financial investment in this project is negligible compared to my emotional investment in the Spartas, so I really appreciate having your ear (and given the number of likes my previous comment received, I'm clearly not the only one). ☺️

14 hours ago, captain america said:

The slightly smaller backpack is born out of a necessity to appease two different modes.

Perhaps I misinterpreted your intentions for this figure.  Will this be transformable after all?  

I was expecting a model with specific parts to accurately represent each mode, not one that makes aesthetic compromises for the sake of transformation. 🤨

14 hours ago, captain america said:

Your assessment of the head being partially inspired by the Matchbox toy is correct.

Now I'm certain I misinterpreted your intentions for this figure. 😒

If I may assume the form of King Hamlet's ghost:

"This visitation / Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose" (Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 4).

You're obviously enjoying the engineering challenge this mecha represents, but I fear you may be heading in the wrong direction.  We're not asking you to redesign the Spartas, much less the vintage toy.  If the backpack depicted in "Battle Sniper" mode is too large to fit in "Sniping Clapper" mode, then give us a smaller piece to take its place if we want to build that mode.

I do realize there's a limited amount of resin allotted to the production of each kit (and silicon molds aren't cheap, either), so you want to keep the parts count down... but parts-swapping is unavoidable when adapting hand-drawn mecha.  Even the most sophisticated Valkyrie toy requires swapping out the hands to look decent; and since looking decent is the primary purpose of any garage kit, the compromises you're making may be inappropriate.

12 hours ago, Big s said:

the main lens is a flat piece that lines up with the white outer face armor but is kinda slightly recessed

This is precisely how the animators interpreted the line art, for the entire production run of the series.  Erroneous American toys are an irrelevant distraction at best, a ruinous disaster at worst. 😬

 

[CoryHolmes]

I'm always amazed and just how much fudging happens in the artwork, and how much just can't be carried over into a 3D form.  The artwork has the Battloid's chest as big and beefy, like a tank should, but in order to accommodate the other modes you've had to slim it down somewhat.

 

Kinda like the wings on a VF-1, always changing size between modes.

[tekering]

7 hours ago, CoryHolmes said:

I'm always amazed and just how much fudging happens in the artwork, and how much just can't be carried over into a 3D form.

On the contrary, Max Factory's new 1:72 Battroid is proof that accurate anime proportions can be perfectly carried over into a 3D form.

You're simply constrained by the same mindset that our erstwhile Cap'n seems to be labouring under, in that you're considering the need to accommodate the other modes.  We've all seen the CAD models and the 3D-printed prototypes MAAS and MEP failed to produce, and many of us had that Matchbox toy back in the day.  We all know the compromises necessary to produce figures that transform, and it's easy to get stuck in that paradigm.

But this isn't a transformable toy. 

The advantage to a model kit (especially a fan-produced garage kit) is the freedom to incorporate that fudging in the artwork, resulting in a more anime-style figure that properly reflects what we grew up watching on TV.  That's what I was expecting when this project was announced.

I'm just trying to get us back on track. 

 

Edited May 20 by tekering

[jenius]

Tekering, are you saying you want separate battroid and tank kits? You acknowledge that compromises are needed if the same parts will be used for all modes which is what I thought the goal was.

[Big s]

7 hours ago, CoryHolmes said:

Kinda like the wings on a VF-1, always changing size between modes.

Technically the wings are supposed to retract into the backpack. The legs on the other hand magically fatten up for battroid and slim down for fighter

[tekering]

42 minutes ago, jenius said:

Tekering, are you saying you want separate battroid and tank kits?

That's neither necessary nor viable, but I do expect a certain degree of parts-swapping.  I thought we'd be getting a model that shares most of the core components between modes, but would have specific parts for specific display options, like so many other Moscato kits have included.  I certainly wouldn't expect either of the heads or hands to be used in transport or cannon mode, for example; instead, there will be separate parts that look like retracted hands for those modes (parts that will not be required if you're building the robot).

Is it unreasonable of me to expect a properly-scaled, dedicated backpack piece for robot mode, along with the dedicated hands and head parts?

I just don't see why we need to be compromising accuracy for transformation, when the model won't actually be transformable. 🤨

[captain america]

On 5/19/2024 at 7:55 AM, tekering said:

Thanks for keeping the lines of communication open, Cap'!  My financial investment in this project is negligible compared to my emotional investment in the Spartas, so I really appreciate having your ear (and given the number of likes my previous comment received, I'm clearly not the only one). ☺️

Perhaps I misinterpreted your intentions for this figure.  Will this be transformable after all?  

I was expecting a model with specific parts to accurately represent each mode, not one that makes aesthetic compromises for the sake of transformation. 🤨

Now I'm certain I misinterpreted your intentions for this figure. 😒

If I may assume the form of King Hamlet's ghost:

"This visitation / Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose" (Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 4).

You're obviously enjoying the engineering challenge this mecha represents, but I fear you may be heading in the wrong direction.  We're not asking you to redesign the Spartas, much less the vintage toy.  If the backpack depicted in "Battle Sniper" mode is too large to fit in "Sniping Clapper" mode, then give us a smaller piece to take its place if we want to build that mode.

I do realize there's a limited amount of resin allotted to the production of each kit (and silicon molds aren't cheap, either), so you want to keep the parts count down... but parts-swapping is unavoidable when adapting hand-drawn mecha.  Even the most sophisticated Valkyrie toy requires swapping out the hands to look decent; and since looking decent is the primary purpose of any garage kit, the compromises you're making may be inappropriate.

This is precisely how the animators interpreted the line art, for the entire production run of the series.  Erroneous American toys are an irrelevant distraction at best, a ruinous disaster at worst. 😬

Considering Matchbox had no experience with transforming toys, and the source material they had to work with, I applaud them for what they achieved with the Hovertank. Some of their aesthetic choices and interpretations are questionable, but it was still a great attempt and managed to work a lot of bugs out of the transformation. 

 

The Tanku-Robo is following (largely) the same mindset I employed for the construction of the 1/32 Legioss: the model is not be made to transform outright, as the fragility of resin parts makes that completely impractical, but the geometry and dimensions are sound in that there is no cheating required in the form of parts-swapping to represent parts which morph dimensionally (differently sized/shaped parts, etc.) Because of the small size of this project compared to the Legioss, some minor parts-swapping will only be employed to achieve what cannot be done by mechanical means due to the limitations of the material and technology: tiny working hinges, thin overlapping structures, etc.) One example of this is the hips/crotch module: you will have one set for robot, and one(wider) set for the two other modes. Had parts been made of metal, they would be easily expandable/collapsible, but not in resin.

I can tell you that if you study the line-art sufficiently, there are so many cheats between all modes that if you want silly accuracy, the only way to achieve that is to have a separate, dedicated static kit of each mode, like what Imai did with the 1/72 Legioss plastic models. That is not now, nor has that ever been my design philosophy, as everything I've made has had a foundation in practical reality. I do believe that's part of the appeal of my models.

With that said, there's still some possibility for adjustment, even for the challenging backpack issue; let me see what I can do.

[captain america]

Captain's log: Friday, May 31, 2024.

After a long two weeks of grinding, puttying, sanding and adjusting, I'm finally getting there! Now it's reasonably close to a final product. There are still a few tweaks to made here and there for optimal fit, and still lots of surface finishing, but I elected to leave the primer off most parts to let you see just how little putty work was needed despite such a complex project. I'm happy that Ted pointed out the flaws in the initial head design, and I was even able to enlarge the backpack without severely affecting the overall geometry!

 

Pics 49-52 show the leg in its various configurations. I am still tweaking the toe which stores in the calf and deploys for Walker Cannon mode, cos it's not quite right yet. The ankle tilt is not as steep as the Bio Lloyd, but is still quite good. If anything, I think that actually works into the storyline of the series, as I had always imagined the bad guys having a more nimble/advanced mecha.

 

Pics 53-58 show the hovercraft configuration from various angles. Please forgive the floppyness: it's mostly holding with friction and a bit of hot glue and I don't want to damage the masters by manhandling them. Once I cast a few mirror parts I will be able to pose everything properly and show you how everything lines up nicely!

 

Pic 59: the head before and after corrections! While it looks drastically different, I was able to retain the same core module and alter the peripherals. I think the new head looks way better and is far more faithful to the artwork.

 

Pics 60-66 show robot form in all its glory! I skipped Walker Cannon mode, simply because the parts would need to be glued securely to achieve it, but the geometry is sound! I still want to slightly lower the butt-cover hinge, but otherwise I think she's looking fantastic! Still waiting on Carlos to finish the pilot figure, which I don't think will be a a major factor ATM. The next 2 weeks I'll be sanding/priming the current parts, making the final adjustments, finishing the weapons and molding some duplicate parts so Tanku-Robo can stand unassisted. I may one again skip next week's update for the sake of productivity, but it's only so I can provide a better update!!

49.HEIC 50.HEIC 51.HEIC 52.HEIC 53.HEIC 54.HEIC 55.HEIC 56.HEIC 57.HEIC 58.HEIC 59.HEIC 60.HEIC 61.HEIC 62.HEIC 63.HEIC 64.HEIC 65.HEIC 66B.HEIC

[Tober]

I would barely have believed it was possible for it to look that good! 

Congrats Capt'!

[Convectuoso]

Awesome!

[tekering]

On 5/31/2024 at 11:29 PM, captain america said:

I'm happy that Ted pointed out the flaws

That's most gracious of you, Cap'n.  It's an honour and a privilege to be contributing to this project, however minor my contributions may be.

By the way, the new head is fabulous work, 9/10.  I knew you could do it!  Robot mode is looking precisely as it should.  

Now, let's talk about transport mode, shall we?

The front fairing has a sharp downward curve, much more prominently visible in the animation than in the few control drawings the line-art provides:

The shape of the nose is one area where previous fan designs (and even Matchbox) have bested you. 

Again, I'm nitpicking an incomplete prototype, but the shape of your nose is all wrong here.   It's blunt and foreshortened, and for some reason the dorsal surface rises sharply to form a flat plane. 🤨

How did that happen?

 Next, I'm happy to see the shoulder joint has the familiar inset circle and triangular wedge visible, but why have you got rectangular blocks protruding from both sides?

I surely hope that's not how you're intending to attach the arms.  Not only does it look wrong, it's not going to hold the weight of the arms, much less support any articulation. 😒

I know you like to innovate, but I'm sure you can come up with a more elegant solution (even if it requires cheating). 😉

Finally, you're reinventing the wheel again...

I realize those crab-like claws sticking out of the front are intended to provide more ankle articulation in the legs, but they don't look right in robot mode and seriously malign the look of the Sniping Clapper.  Please, at least consider providing optional parts for a flatter, more anime-accurate appearance.

As always, I don't mean to be overly critical, but since I'm the only one providing any constructive feedback I feel compelled to point out every issue I see.  I know you can do better, and I'm trying to help you achieve your potential here.  

Edited June 7 by tekering
Broken links

[26662]

On 5/31/2024 at 10:29 AM, captain america said:

Captain's log: Friday, May 31, 2024.

After a long two weeks of grinding, puttying, sanding and adjusting, I'm finally getting there! Now it's reasonably close to a final product. There are still a few tweaks to made here and there for optimal fit, and still lots of surface finishing, but I elected to leave the primer off most parts to let you see just how little putty work was needed despite such a complex project. I'm happy that Ted pointed out the flaws in the initial head design, and I was even able to enlarge the backpack without severely affecting the overall geometry!

 

Pics 49-52 show the leg in its various configurations. I am still tweaking the toe which stores in the calf and deploys for Walker Cannon mode, cos it's not quite right yet. The ankle tilt is not as steep as the Bio Lloyd, but is still quite good. If anything, I think that actually works into the storyline of the series, as I had always imagined the bad guys having a more nimble/advanced mecha.

 

Pics 53-58 show the hovercraft configuration from various angles. Please forgive the floppyness: it's mostly holding with friction and a bit of hot glue and I don't want to damage the masters by manhandling them. Once I cast a few mirror parts I will be able to pose everything properly and show you how everything lines up nicely!

 

Pic 59: the head before and after corrections! While it looks drastically different, I was able to retain the same core module and alter the peripherals. I think the new head looks way better and is far more faithful to the artwork.

 

Pics 60-66 show robot form in all its glory! I skipped Walker Cannon mode, simply because the parts would need to be glued securely to achieve it, but the geometry is sound! I still want to slightly lower the butt-cover hinge, but otherwise I think she's looking fantastic! Still waiting on Carlos to finish the pilot figure, which I don't think will be a a major factor ATM. The next 2 weeks I'll be sanding/priming the current parts, making the final adjustments, finishing the weapons and molding some duplicate parts so Tanku-Robo can stand unassisted. I may one again skip next week's update for the sake of productivity, but it's only so I can provide a better update!!

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"The shape of the nose is one area where previous fan designs (and even Matchbox) have bested you."

"...the shape of your nose is all wrong here."

"I surely hope that's not how you're intending to attach the arms.  Not only does it look wrong..."

"I know you can do better..."

 

There's so much line art/animation magic (read: inconsistencies) frame-to-frame that the points raised above are nowhere near my radar.  I love what you've done thus far, and I'm honestly jealous that I'd have to resort to countless hours of CAD and CNC milling to get even close to what you've produced.  I consider myself a very strong maker, but there's just no way I could replicate what you've shared to date.  🙂  And no disrespect to @tekering because I’m certain the comments above are sincere, but I hope you avoid pursuing someone else's idea of perfection, and instead, just focus on actualizing what feels/looks right to you.  Outside perspectives and constructive criticism can be helpful...until they aren't: I know quite a few makers (myself included) who've chased third party perfection only to lose their way and ultimately abandon what was once a really promising (and fulfilling!) passion project.

 

Looking forward to seeing more!

Edited June 4 by 26662
Clarity

[tekering]

7 hours ago, 26662 said:

I hope you avoid pursuing someone else's idea of perfection, and instead, just focus on actualizing what feels/looks right to you.

Excellent advice!  I've taken commissions and chased "third-party perfection" myself, so I know where you're coming from.

Of course, there's no need to patronize Captain America, since he's been actualizing what feels/looks right to him for two decades now. ☺️

7 hours ago, 26662 said:

There's so much line art/animation magic (read: inconsistencies) frame-to-frame that the points raised above are nowhere near my radar.

 It's lazy and disingenuous (but all too common) to criticize mecha design based on animation inconsistencies.  Ammonite may not have provided Tatsunoko with enough reference art for the animators to understand exactly how to depict their designs back in the day, but there's more than enough visual material available for us now to determine exactly how the Spartas is supposed to look.  It's not my subjective idea of perfection (nor is it anyone else's); it's the way the design was intended to be depicted, regardless of who was drawing it.  This is a Super Dimension series, not some Transformers cartoon.  Show Ammonite some respect. 

Now, if you're arguing coloration or relative scaling, then it's easy to fault inconsistent animation there. 😤

[captain america]

On 6/4/2024 at 1:42 AM, 26662 said:

"The shape of the nose is one area where previous fan designs (and even Matchbox) have bested you."

"...the shape of your nose is all wrong here."

"I surely hope that's not how you're intending to attach the arms.  Not only does it look wrong..."

"I know you can do better..."

 

There's so much line art/animation magic (read: inconsistencies) frame-to-frame that the points raised above are nowhere near my radar.  I love what you've done thus far, and I'm honestly jealous that I'd have to resort to countless hours of CAD and CNC milling to get even close to what you've produced.  I consider myself a very strong maker, but there's just no way I could replicate what you've shared to date.  🙂  And no disrespect to @tekering because I’m certain the comments above are sincere, but I hope you avoid pursuing someone else's idea of perfection, and instead, just focus on actualizing what feels/looks right to you.  Outside perspectives and constructive criticism can be helpful...until they aren't: I know quite a few makers (myself included) who've chased third party perfection only to lose their way and ultimately abandon what was once a really promising (and fulfilling!) passion project.

 

Looking forward to seeing more!

Thanks for the kind words, and thanks for taking an interest in the project! As you might imagine, a project like this poses many hurdles, (what transforming mecha doesn't?!?) not the least of which is the animation style sheets, which not only conflict with the animation, but with themselves as well. Admittedly, I don't mind a bit of constructive criticism because there are so many elements to keep track of, and an extra set of eyeballs helps to redirect me if I stray. You can be a maker or you can be the art director, but it's hard to do both. With that said, all the issues Ted pointed out are not major and have already been addressed, and you'll get to see that in tomorrow's update. 

[26662]

5 minutes ago, captain america said:

Thanks for the kind words, and thanks for taking an interest in the project! As you might imagine, a project like this poses many hurdles, (what transforming mecha doesn't?!?) not the least of which is the animation style sheets, which not only conflict with the animation, but with themselves as well. Admittedly, I don't mind a bit of constructive criticism because there are so many elements to keep track of, and an extra set of eyeballs helps to redirect me if I stray. You can be a maker or you can be the art director, but it's hard to do both. With that said, all the issues Ted pointed out are not major and have already been addressed, and you'll get to see that in tomorrow's update. 

Love to hear it!  Really looking forward to your progress pix.

[CoryHolmes]

I hate to agree with Tekering, (that's a lie but it's fun to say 🤭) but the redesigned head is vastly superior.

 

About how does this scale with your Alpha kit, since that's also 1/48 iirc?

[Convectuoso]

5 hours ago, captain america said:

you'll get to see that in tomorrow's update. 

Can't wait

[captain america]

Captain's log: Friday, June 7^th, 2024.

Closing stages of construction have arrived. I made a few alterations to some of the parts to make them more conformal to the source material, and am now at the priming stage, getting ready to mold all the parts which require duplication. The first is the foot armor cover thingamabob, which you can see in pics 68 and 69. Admittedly, the pieces you saw last week were place-holders, but now I have a far better solution which looks right! That was a bit of a sticking point for me, because the clearances in the lower leg/foot area are very tight. The lateral armor pieces are separate (held with tack putty!) which will be needed to avoid binding the foot in robot mode.

Pics 70 and 71 show the deployed main gun and support autocannon. The kit will also include plugs to reproduce these in retracted mode inside the arm nacelles.

Pic 72 shows the rifle unit in hovercraft (stowage) mode with the raised stock and retracted barrel, but will have the optional long (extended) barrel and lowered stock.

Pics 73-75 shows the hood fairing, now sloped down as per the line-art. I did like the previous version with the squared nose, but apparently it was really bad for gas mileage!!

With these mods done, I can now begin mold-prep for the duplicate parts as I await the arrival of the pilot figure from Carlos. If the castings aren't ready by next week, (which is doubtful) I may simply skip an update, though the odds are pretty good that I'll be able to show a fully finished figure in the next 7-10 days, so stay tuned!!

67B.HEIC 68.HEIC 69.HEIC 70.HEIC 71.HEIC 72.HEIC 73.HEIC 74.HEIC 75.HEIC