Hasegawa Armored Battroid Conversion

[Replicant Mechanic]

If any of you are like me then you are a little miffed that Hasegawa has only done regular and strike Valkyries and has snubbed the Armored Valks. In my humble opinion the Hasegawa Valkyries are the best macross models to date so an armored Valkyrie is a must have.

With this in mind I have been working on a resin conversion kit for the standard VF-1 Battroid kit. I had hoped to have it finished in time for Wonderfest 2004 in Kentucky this year but because the quality of the Hasegawa kit is so good doing a conversion that is of equal quality is a time consuming project. I had hoped to have a couple of them ready for a Macross diorama I wanted to display in the WF model contest since I figured they would be unique but alas it is not to be.

At this point I have shelved the project until after WF to free up my time for other projects but I hope to finish it some time this summer. The main snag I ran into was the missile packs. I wanted them to be able to open and show the missiles but this has been a bit of a problem.

I see that a number of people on this board scratch build. Is anyone else here working on a similar project? If so I would like to compare notes.

[EXO]

Are you talking about the GBP armor? AFAIK they have made the Elint and Ostrich armor (and those don't have missiles.) I don't know of anyone that is scratchbuilding any for the Hasegawa right now, but such projects have been accomplished by Japanese hobbyists.

Here's 2:

[Replicant Mechanic]

Wow, nice pics! I had not seen that before but yeah, thats about what I am trying for. I do not read Japanese so tell me is that a kit preview or something? If it is I will just scrap what I am working on and wait. That looks really good and I would hate to put all the time and money into producing a couple of these if I can just buy them. I am working on a set of masters that I can use to make resin copies of so I can produce a small run of them to build a diorama with 2 or 3 of these things being loaded for action. Needless to say the cost of the rubber and resin is fairly expensive so my wallet would be grateful if Hasegawa would get off their butt and turn these things out.

[Myersjessee]

I would love to see a GBP Hase conversion kit! Please keep us informed! Can you share some pictures?

[EXO]

These are built by amateur modellers, not by Hasegawa themselves. It would be interesting to see how you get around the small wings on the lower legs. That's usually where people end up halting their projects.

Term "amateur" used loosely!

Edited April 6, 2004 by >EXO<

[Valkyrie]

Nope, it's not a kit nor a preview. It's a one of a kind scratchbuild. Hobby Japan seems to like to taunt us with stuff like that... I really wish they'd make resin conversion kits of some of the stuff they feature...

As far as I know, no one else is working on an Armored Valkyrie conversion kit, so I really hope you can finish it some day! I'm sure a lot of us (myself included) will be wanting to buy copies from you

[Less than Super Ostrich]

so I really hope you can finish it some day! I'm sure a lot of us (myself included) will be wanting to buy copies from you

Ditto!

[Shawn]

think you'll like this one too

http://www.dsnw.ne.jp/~comet/model/armerd.html

S

[EXO]

If you haven't seen those then maybe you haven't seen this one either...

[Replicant Mechanic]

Well I guess I will have to keep working on it. Wonderfest is only about a month and a half off so I will most likely start up on it at the end of May. I will try to put up some in progess pictures when I start back up but right now it is sitting in an air conditioned storage unit where I keep my unbuilt and already completed projects. I don't have enough work space to keep anything I am not currently working on at hand.

EXO can you tell me where those pictures you posted came from? If possible I would like to hunt down a copy of that magazine.

I had not planned on the leg missile pods opening up but since seeing the one pictured I might have a go at it. The biggest problems so far have been the opening missile pods and as you ponited out the wings on the legs. It looks like the parts used in those pics are plastic and not resin which is what I am using for the masters but unlike the one in the pictures mine has to be able to be duplicated in resin. Which is of course where the problems come in. The easiest solution for the leg wings would be to remove them but I want to make this as authentic as possible so the leg armor needs to go on around them. That is going to be tough without making the legs look disproportionate but I have some ideas.

I had only planned to make enough of these to meet the needs of my diorama as well as a couple for a friend of mine who would kill me if he did not get any but if other people are interested I guess I could make a few extras.

[Grayson72]

Dude you could sell like 20 or more on this site, I'd definiately get a few. Can we see progress pics? please?

[tom64ss]

EXO can you tell me where those pictures you posted came from? If possible I would like to hunt down a copy of that magazine.

Probably the magazine section in the main site :

http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/magazi...azines_menu.htm

Welcome to the MW boards Replicant Mechanic. Check out the main site. There's lots of great stuff there.

[EXO]

Tom's correct. I got those pics from the Magazine section. A lot of those customs are made scratch from styrene sheets, styrene rods, and plenty of putty. There are a lot of members here that are pretty good at it.

Check out Fulcy's shoulder armor for his 1:48 AG project. It's made from styrene and will be fully recastable.

[Grayson72]

Good lord, that looks so precise! how the heck did Fulcy do that?

[fulcy]

Good lord, that looks so precise! how the heck did Fulcy do that?

two words:

Mad Skillz

[bsu legato]

Wasn't there talk of a kitbash using an old Imai or Arii GBP-1 kit? I think it was back on the old boards.

Edited April 6, 2004 by bsu legato

[Myersjessee]

Good lord, that looks so precise! how the heck did Fulcy do that?

two words:

Mad Skillz

Word Brother....Mad Phat Skillzz....It's Valk-shizzle armo-zizzle.

[Grayson72]

Good lord, that looks so precise! how the heck did Fulcy do that?

two words:

Mad Skillz

Don't suppose you'd be willing to share those mad skills with us?

[Less than Super Ostrich]

fulcy got da skillz to pay da billz

[wm cheng]

Hey there RM,

If you were (or anyone else) doing a resin upgrade kit for the Hasegawa Battroids to the GBP armour - I would definitely be interested.

Please post a progress thread - I would follow with great interest.

Welcome to the boards!

P.S. by the way, great work Fulcy!!

[ChristopherB]

Edited so as to not detract from the original intent of this thread, which is a member's project to make custom GBP armor for a model.

Please see this thread regarding discussion of the VF-1AG Yamato Toy Thread, as opposed to a model thread.

VF-1AG for 1/48 Yamato Valkyrie Toy Thread

Edited April 8, 2004 by ChristopherB

[Replicant Mechanic]

I will post updates and pictures of this project as I continue to work on it but as I am trying to get some other models done for wonderfest (which is fast approaching) I am afraid it will have to sit on the back burner for a few more weeks. I would like to finish this project some time this summer but I am anal about details so it may take a little longer. It has to be done right or not at all.

Thanks to everyone for your positive feedback and encouragement!

[ChristopherB]

Edited so as to not detract from the original intent of this thread, which is a member's project to make custom GBP armor for a model.

Please see this thread regarding discussion of the VF-1AG Yamato Toy Thread, as opposed to a model thread.

VF-1AG for 1/48 Yamato Valkyrie Toy Thread

Edited April 8, 2004 by ChristopherB

[Neova]

I FINALLY found an Armored Battroid kit and now see this thread. If you can do as good as those pictures, put me down for a full battalion!