Looking for feedback on new project idea.

[Greyryder]

Let me know how this sounds to you guys. I've never done any real toy modding, before. All advice is welcome.

I'm looking to do a minor rebuild on a Banpresto (dont look at me in that tone of voice) Super Valk. I'd like to improve it's apearence a bit, and make it a little less likely to fall apart when it's being hadled.

Aside from a repaint, and tightening up some of the joints, I've already decided to replace the shoulder boxes. They'll more securely trap the ball joints, and I'll probably screw the back plate on them so I can tighten the joints up if need be, later on. I already have a pretty good idea of how I want to do this. I might even be able to simply modify the existing shoulders, but I'd like to have a backup, incase my experiments fail. scavenging parts from my CF is not an option.

I've already gotten the arm armor to stay on, and I'll tweak that a bit, before I'm finished. I'll also be improving the missle detail on the arm armor. I've modified the heat sheild so that it actually stays on. Still needs work, though.

I'm also thinking of doing away with the swing arms. I already want to correct the underside of the nose section, and was thinking of making it swing open to place a "pelvis" that would run between the hips into it. The idea was to run brass rod, and tubing between the hip ball joints, and have it be trapped inside the nose cone, in batroid form. The legs would have to be removed from the Valk to reposition them during transformation, but that doesn't bother me. My thought was to use a small brass hinge (as hidden as possible) in front of where the head sits in fighter and gerwalk modes. I'd like to use a similar hinge on the upper back panel.

Everything else I want to do is minor tweaks of the existing mechanism, and making removable landing gear that work with or without the FAST packs.

Any tips or advice? Remember, telling me not to attempt such a foolhardy scheme will only encourage me.

[Eternal_D]

Any tips or advice? Remember, telling me not to attempt such a foolhardy scheme will only encourage me.

then all I can say is don't attempt such a foolhardy scheme.

I've got a few of the banprestos and what really sucked about them was the fact the pieces fell apart so easily, so if you can fix that and make it look bettr on top of that I say go for it!! remember to post pics.

[Greyryder]

Cool. Well then, I guess I'll have to put my limited skills to work on it. The sheet styrene, and brass rod and tube are easy enough to come by. Just gotta find a source for the little brass hinges I'm going to need.

[Greyryder]

No advice from the more experienced members? I guess I'll just give a progress report to anyone interested.

Anyway, I found an easy way to modify the shoulders to not only better trap the ball joints, but also tighten them up a bit. I'm deffintaely doing the shoulder mod to my CF. I'll put up some diagrams as soon as I get some drawn. It doesn't take much more than a knife some some super glue, and some scrap sheet plastic.

I've got the back plate hinge replaced, but now I'm not so sure of the point. It's necessary to get the head through, I might as well pull out the hinge, and glue the piece in place. I've also got the fast pack mount fastening much more securely, without having any parts wrap around the back. And the arm armor fastens securely. Heat shield stays in place now, too.

I've also got the nose modified, and it holds the new "pelvis" securely. I can put it through all transformations with no problems. Just have to finish building up the area around where the head sits in fighter mode.

I've started painting, and I'll get picturesup just as soon as I can figure out how to turn on macro mode on the digital camera.

Does anybody know how I can tighten the leg joints up, especially the knee? I can, with a little patience, tighten up the hip ball joints, but I can't get into the lower hip and knee.

[Mervin]

Keep it up dude. For tightening the joints, coat the joints with nail polish.

Here are my plans for mine :

- replace the rubbery head laser with a metal rod

- make the gunpod holder on the forearm smaller, make the space small enough just to fit the gun handle

- repaint it

[Greyryder]

The problem is, I can't get into the joints to put anything on them. I can't get the leg sections apart. They're cemented together, pretty good. That screw in the lower leg doesn't really do anything.

[Greyryder]

It still needs a little detail work, here and there. And I haven't made up decals yet. I haven't painted over the insignia on the FAST packs yet, either.

Here's some pictures of it in gerwalk mode:

The pictures are a little lighter than hte actual paint, or maybe it's just my monitor settings. The first one is without flash, and the colors just came out funky. The second one shows the nose modifications, and the area around the head that I built up.

Edited March 12, 2004 by Greyryder