VB-6 Monster project update thread

[Valkyrie]

I thought I'd put up a thread with some of the pics I've been taking, to give you all an idea how the project is coming along.

First, I got the hardware from McMaster-Carr, with the help of Fulcy. Some of them were perfect, but others weren't. So I'll be putting in a second order and try to get the RIGHT right ones this time

Molding is going well. It's pretty slow going, but there've been no mishaps. And I'm burning through mold material a lot faster than I thought I woud be...

Here's my new record for my largest mold to date

And the parts cast from it

two more molds (one half of each) and their casts

another mold, awaiting the second RTV pour

final mold and casts

latest mold finished. I haven't cast from it yet

And this is where I am right now. About to pour the second half of this one.

Also, I've been doing some experiments, trying to make sure the screw holes in the joints will be as durable as possible. And I think I've got a good start on a solution.

The screws get screwed into pilot holes that the kit builder has to drill out. The screws are machine screws, which aren't self-tapping. But if the hole is sized right, they'll still do quite a good job at tapping the holes themselves (by that, I mean they'll cut threads into the hole so they can be screwed in and out)

Now, the big factor in how well that all works is the hole size. If the hole is too big, the threads it cuts will be too shallow, and the hole will strip easily. If the hole is too small, it won't be able to screw into it at all.

So I think I've come up with a good solution. I'm going to order several differnet precision sized drill bits, and figure out which one is ideal for each size screw. And I'll include one of each of those drill bits in with the kit.

Fortunately, they're pretty cheap (about $1 each), and I think they'll go a long way in increasing the finished kit's durability.

Edited March 29, 2004 by Valkyrie

[Chindenathus]

Valkyrie,

I'd just like to say you Rock!

Thanks for the update.

And once again thanks for the hard work.

[Grayson72]

Those pics are awesome! Your molds don't look like they have any outlets for the air to escape? How do you ensure no air gets trapped in the nooks and crannies and make sure there's no bubbles?

[Valkyrie]

And while I'm at it, I've gotta ask....

I'm wondering how much interest in this kit has waned in light of the news that Yamato may have a Koenig of thier own in the works.

http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=6736

Of all you who are on 'the list', will you still want to order a VB-6 recast even if Yamato DOES make a toy of it?

It's looking like it might actually happen. But I'm thinking if it does, it'll either be very large (1/100 or bigger) and be much more expensive than the kit. Or it'll be a smaller scale (1/144 maybe?), and the kit will be bigger and therefore bettter

[Valkyrie]

Those pics are awesome!  Your molds don't look like they have any outlets for the air to escape?  How do you ensure no air gets trapped in the nooks and crannies and make sure there's no bubbles?

You're right, most parts only have one gate, out the top. That's because I made them as vacuum cast molds.

Vacuum casting is kinda like fighting inside the Matrix... Some rules (of conventional casting) can be bent. Others can be broken

[pfunk]

no worries with me man,,,im still in

[Ghadrack]

Here either, you know the old saying, "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush", the rumor that Yamato might make a toy, someday, on some far distant planet has no effect whatsoever on my desire to have one of these beauties .

Keep up the great work man!

[EXO]

honestly... I'm weighing my options right now. I'm most likely to get the kit because there's no solid news from Yamato and there won't be any until after the kit is long finished. As of now that thread is just a rumor.

[Myersjessee]

gorgeous molds Valkyrie! Very nice work.

Man..I want to cast in the Matrix....

[Valkyrie]

gorgeous molds Valkyrie!  Very nice work.

Man..I want to cast in the Matrix.... 

LOL!

The molds look quite rough to me, actually. Mainly because the layout is so disorderly and I've gotta leave in all the 'sprues' attatched to the parts.

But the casts come out clean, and that's all that matters. And I don't have to worry much about mold life at this phase.

Edit:

BTW, I fixed the broken pic link in the first post. Sorry 'bout that.

Edited March 29, 2004 by Valkyrie

[wwwmwww]

Of all you who are on 'the list', will you still want to order a VB-6 recast even if Yamato DOES make a toy of it?

YES!!!!

[Myersjessee]

Of all you who are on 'the list', will you still want to order a VB-6 recast even if Yamato DOES make a toy of it?

YES!!!!

DITTO!

Ken...your to anal retentive...who cares if the molds are disorderly...as long as the parts are nice...and those look very clean! Nice work! Keep it up...and please keep the pictures coming when you can...I'd love to see this come together....

Mods....any chance we could get this pinned?

[flash]

I'm still in!

Assuming they got me on the first list. I'll buy one!

(want to make sure that all your hard work gets rewarded dude)

Brad

[Neova]

Here either, you know the old saying, "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush"...

You know, I always say "The bird in the bush is worth 2 in the hand."

I'm still in for my 2 Valkyrie.

[goldenboy_forever]

Oh my god! such skill, such courage to tackle anothers imagintaion thats come true!

Great work man keep it up

I'll be intrested in your kit not yamatos first I keep my word

If you get a chance throw in some more panel lines if you want to add more detail to the kit. actually scratch that I could probably add it in my self when I recieve one later from you because I know you want to keep it as original as possible.

Thanks for the updates

My mom tell me I drewl when I sleep because I dream of delicious food but I think its because I dream about the vb koeing

[Grayson72]

My mom tell me I drewl when I sleep because I dream of delicious food but I think its because I dream about the vb koeing

Ewe TMI!

[trueblueeyes]

I will have to admit I have bought and will buy every Macross toy Yamato decides to release (within reason of course). That said, I also buy every model I can find. A year ago, I would have been happier with my toys than with my stack of unbuilt models. However since I have started actually building some of the models, my appreciation for them has greatly increased. These days I am much more excited over an annoucement of a new model than a new toy. Nothing like actually working on something to make you appreciate it I guess.

I can't wait to get the VB-6 re-cast!

Melissa

...and thanks again to you Ken for all your hard work. Looking good!!

[Angel's Fury]

I'm still in. Anyways, Yamato's might be more expensive than what you're currently working on.

[Grayson72]

I will have to admit I have bought and will buy every Macross toy Yamato decides to release (within reason of course). That said, I also buy every model I can find. A year ago, I would have been happier with my toys than with my stack of unbuilt models. However since I have started actually building some of the models, my appreciation for them has greatly increased. These days I am much more excited over an annoucement of a new model than a new toy. Nothing like actually working on something to make you appreciate it I guess.

I can't wait to get the VB-6 re-cast!

Melissa

...and thanks again to you Ken for all your hard work. Looking good!!

Hey you need to share your pics of your built models

[FlyingPika]

wow very impressive valkyrie, im sure the quality will be as stunning as my VF-4. I still working on getting a lone from my parents before i add myself to the list tho

Ps, how do you make those like male and female slots? i cant figure out any practical way other than sticking in sockets in one one side, then moulding off the other side.

I not a caster of any n'th degree but just curious, cause the alignment looks perfect.

[Pat S]

I'm still in! Any possible Yamato Konig will never look as good as a completed model

[Valkyrie]

Thanks a lot, guys. I'm really glad to see that you all still want this kit as much as I do

[Chindenathus]

I'm still on board for all 3 I requested, the kit looks absolutely magnificent and with much better part detail than what Yamato would offer in "toy form".

Quick question for Valkyrie:

Any thoughts on my recommendation for casting these in a color other than white?

A good nuetral grey is still my recommendation.

[Valkyrie]

Alrighty, time for a long overdue update.

First, some very good news. The first batch of molds is finally finished! I'm working on building up a kit as best I can to get a feel for how it all has to go together. Along the way, I'm taking notes to help with the final clean-up job, and for tips to include in the instructions. When the build-up is done, I'll ship it and a couple art books off to Devin to help him work his decal magic

And now, a few pics I took over the past week or so...

I had problems with one of the molds just because of how big it was. When I cast from my molds, I back the mold halves with plexiglass panels, and hold them together with rubber bands. But this mold was so large, the center always flexed out, resulting in massive amounts of flash.

But I soon overcame that with a new binding technique I came up with

I didn't bother trying a second time, but I'm sure I can get rid of that last little bit of flash too.

The mold of the cannon cover thing. This mold was a huge pain in my ass

Even with my new mold binding tricks, it took no less than 7 tries to finally get a good cast from it.

Similar problems with this one, but it was much easier to get under control.

This has to be the most unique, and one of the more difficult molds I've ever had to make. The clay job took a good deal of planning. And there are some things I wish I had done differently...

...but it doesn't matter, cause it worked well.

Another angle.

So far, this is the only mold I've ever had to bind on all 3 axis...

A couple molds later (including a massive 3.5 pound arm mold), and the first set of molds was finially finished. 18 molds total, I think, consuming far more mold material than I had anticipated. I threw my Zippo into the picture for scale.

[Valkyrie]

And the pile of parts. I only cast once from most of the molds, so it's about 50 duplicate parts short of a complete kit.

The mostly built leg skeleton...

...And this is where I am now. A few of the exterior parts are on, but there's a long way to go... it's pretty slow going

In other news, I ordered and picked up a bundle of boxes for the kits, and I think they'll work pretty nicely. The dimensions have been posted in the box art thread.

I picked up a second McMaster order, with better screws, and a few drill bits. I'm really happy with the screws this time around, but all the drill bits I got are a bit to big. I'll be ordering another assortment tonight and trying again. Good thing they're cheap!

[Angel's Fury]

That looks very nice Valkyrie! I take it that you strengthened the parts where the screws go, to prevent wear on them? From what I see, I think it's close to orderin' time!

[Pat S]

Man, that's a lot of work. THANK YOU for working so hard!

[ChristopherB]

Ken,

Wow!!!

Thank you very, very much for sharing your trials and tribulations with us.

I never knew or truly appreciated the amount of work involved, and I'm so glad that you took this project on!

You rock dude!

Sincerely,

Christopher

[Angel's Fury]

Ken,

Wow!!!

Thank you very, very much for sharing your trials and tribulations with us.

I never knew or truly appreciated the amount of work involved, and I'm so glad that you took this project on!

You rock dude!

Sincerely,

Christopher

Chris just took the words right out of my mouth.

[Myersjessee]

Looking good Ken...keep it up! (the preview looks awesome!!! )

[g3173]

Ken,

Wow!!!

Thank you very, very much for sharing your trials and tribulations with us.

I never knew or truly appreciated the amount of work involved, and I'm so glad that you took this project on!

You rock dude!

Sincerely,

Christopher

Chris just took the words right out of my mouth.

Ditto

[Jung]

thanks for the updates! Wow, just looking at the legs shows the complexity of the kit

[Valkyrie]

Another quick update...

Last night, I put one of my biggest fears to rest when I sucessfully replicated one of the counterbored screw holes that were lost due to IHP's damaged molds. And the counterbores are important, because they allow the head of the screw to sit below the surface of the parts. In most cases, that just makes for a better looking finished model. But in some cases, it solves clearance problems. And, of course, my goal is to make this kit as good as it was always meant to be. So I'm making every effort to do the job right.

IHP most likely used CNC to create them all. But since I don't have his resources, I had to find the next best thing. Or rather, the next best thing that I could afford

And so I threw this together; a poor man's milling machine. I mounted a cross-slide vice to the base of my drill press, raised a bit and offset by a wood base I made. Simple, yet effective

It's nowhere near as accurate as a real milling machine (there are no measuement readings on the dials), but I'm finding that it can still do the job well enough. I just have to 'eyeball' it very carefully.

Here's one of the missing holes I had to replace

And here's the result a couple drilled holes later. Damn near perfect, I tells ya

That's it for now. More later.

[Myersjessee]

keep on pressing...errr...drilling...err...well going.

[Angel's Fury]

keep on pressing...errr...drilling...err...well going.

Ditto. Lookin' good!!!