VB-6 Monster project update thread

[mooseydoom]

mmm... monster... ::drools::

thanks for the pics, Vallkyrie. I'm still in for this model. Even if it takes another year to recast.

[pfunk]

count me in sir, nothing like building something yourself,,, thats we all have models of the toys we have anyways,,, thats the way I look at it

[Valkyrie]

Wow, thanks a lot for everyone's support. The project shall continue!

Expect another update next week

[ChristopherB]

Ken,

Thanks for the good news.

The last thing I wanted is for all of your hard work to be wasted, or for all of the interested customers to be let down.

I can only imagine how difficult this project must be, and I know the prospect of a soon to be released and less expensive Yamato VB-6 must be discouraging.

Since your initial post, I've only had one person PM me to cancel, so the list remains full of customers.

I appreciate your commitment to the IHP VB-6 recast.

Sincerely,

Christopher

[Valkyrie]

Alright, got a bit of good news for you all

I just got a package in the mai a couple hours ago. The same guy who loaned me the Monster kit was kind enough to also loan me his white, IHP version of the same kit, at my request. He won it on yahoo japan a few months ago, and when he got it, he mentioned to me that the casting quality on it were MUCH better than the green kit. That was a bit frustrating to me, since I had already spent a lot of time and money making molds of the green kit at that point.

But, after posting last week's update, I got an idea that, honestly, I should have thought of a lot sooner...

The way I've been going, I'd have had to make a whole new set of molds when I was done doing all the cleanup on the parts (and I'd still have a long ways to go there). So I got to thinking that if the white kit is as high quality as he says... I could just scrap my progress recasting the green kit, do a straight recast of the white kit, and I'd be done! No more parts cleanup needed, and no more moldmaking than I would have had to do with the original plan!

So I proposed the idea to the owner, and he accepted my proposal. And now I've got the white kit in my posession.

Will it be as easy as I had hoped? Well, no. But it'll still make this project move along a hell of a lot faster!

The castings are indeed much better than on the green kit. The two kits were actually cast from the same set of molds. But the green ones were cast after the white ones, and the molds had become quite worn out at that point.

The green kit was missing a good 80% or so of its screwholes, because those parts of the molds had been torn away. The white kit is also missing a few, but not nearly as many as the green one.

Aside from a few (and I mean very few) damaged screw holes, the white kit is really, really, good, aside from a few damaged nozzles on the nose. So I'm still stuck repairing all those.

So anyway, here's what's gonna be happening. As soon as I finish scraping up a bit of cash for another round of resin and mold rubber, I'm going to be starting on molding pretty much the entire white kit. I'll be substituting in my cleaned-up casts from the green kit whevever possible, and doing whatever I have to do to fix up the overly damaged pieces (mainly those damn nozzles).

One downside this new plan has, though, is that the final kits will need a bit more cleanup, becuase the original kits have a lot of pour stubs on them, and I won't be able to get rid of most of them now. Not a big deal really, as they're easy enough to cut off

And now, the bottom line. I think this new plan is going to work for everyone, as it'll get done a lot faster (I'm guessing it'll take less than 2 months), getting you your kits quicker, and giving me more time to work on other projects sooner.

Plus, they'll be cheaper! Less work for me equals more savings for you I'm guessing they'll be around $200, rather than the originally planned $250

I'll try to get some comparison pics up later tonight

[Angel's Fury]

Sounds good to me Ken. Looking forward to your comparison pics.

[AlphaHX]

Thats great news! Well, not only for us who are getting the recast but especially for you since it'll save you a good amount of work.

PM'd you Valkyrie.

(I would like to contribute)

[ChristopherB]

Thank you for the update, and I'm glad that you were able to find a quicker, easier, and less expensive approach.

[isamu_dyson]

I'm still in.. can't wait to have it