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1/55 Valk Custom - Thigh Swivel Mod Update


Skull-1

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ICK, don't get me started on how shoddy ball joints are... they used those in the newer TF line of figures (Beast wars and anything since) and they either come packaged loose as sin, or wear out so fast, even standing on a shelf, its not funny at all...

no offense to the mod, i still love it, but... ball joints... gah

BTW i may give this a try, but i bet i fu*# it up royaly if i do :p

lack of tools and knowledge are my worst foes....

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To be fair - I didn't use a stock ball joint - I engineered my own. The socket is custom cast into the upper thigh, and the aluminum ball is secured to the swing arm - and I have yet to hear of one of my custom ball joints getting loose over time...

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To be fair - I didn't use a stock ball joint - I engineered my own.  The socket is custom cast into the upper thigh, and the aluminum ball is secured to the swing arm - and I have yet to hear of one of my custom ball joints getting loose over time...

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sry if it seems i was mocking yours, i meant in general experience with ball joints on my parts they've been such, i really didn't widdle through your whole posting...

aluminum hmm, that might do the trick, the problem i've seen in ball joints is the plastic on plastic wear and tear factor that causes them to wear out real fast, and often the connection also expands from it beind hard pressed.

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That would be the key--finding a ball/socket joint that did not loosen over time.

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Well so far the Wave joints have won me they are not bad on price and a tight fit. If you compare them to the joints on the TF Alternators/Binaltech line then they are light years ahead. The TF ones are as random as the Yamie 1/60 joints when it comes to stiffness. I admit I dont paly with them as much as some but the Wave joints i have used so far have had a load of abuse from me being on my development 1/55 they are constantly being moved and unclipped and reclipped, as of yet they are as good as new.

I dare say that Skull or someone could design a more techincal wear test and come up with a defined result, but for me they are stronger than the original wobly bootlegs joints.

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Well so far the Wave joints have won me they are not bad on price and a tight fit.  If you compare them to the joints on the TF Alternators/Binaltech line then they are light years ahead. The TF ones are  as random as the Yamie 1/60 joints when it comes to stiffness.  I admit I dont paly with them as much as some but the Wave joints i have used so far have had a load of abuse from me being on my development 1/55 they are constantly being moved and unclipped and reclipped, as of yet they are as good as new.

I dare say that Skull or someone could design a more techincal wear test and come up with a defined result, but for me they are stronger than the original wobly bootlegs joints.

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http://mechaskunk.com/balljoints.htm

The Yellow Sub ball joints are MUCH stronger than the wave or kotobukiya ones...

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BTW when you say "bootleg valk" you mean those little 1/100 scale bootlegs that flood on ebay every so often, or is there a 1/55 one?

or is this just another jetfire referance i've missed (i'm a newb, i've a license to be retarded)

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Well the bootlegs fall into two catagories as far as 1/55 is concerned. You have the Joons bootleg which is second only to the original Taka or Bandai, these are the ones you see in the packaging similar to the Taka packing from the 80`s. Then you have the $5-$10 ones that come on a card and blister these are cheap all plastic casts of I think a late Taka. They are made of soft plastic much the same as a Hasegawa kit. Many of the parts are interchangable with the real 1/55`s. The are inferior to all in build quaility but they are great for customs. They cost nothing and can be glued with normal modelkit glue and filled sanded etc very easily. I have four of them that came on different cards two with fastpacks and two with out.

You can do all the mods Skull does with the exception of the taper swing bar as they are made of plastic. You can though sub the parts for the metal ones if you have some spare.

I have been modding one of these to do a more radical thigh and leg mod. the plastic parts are a god send as if I were to use the metal leg parts from an original it would take ages to file them out as I did in minutes on the bootleg.

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wait wait, yhis mod doesnt have an advantage in battroid mode?

you just gotta expiriment with it man.

IMG_3567.jpg

IMG_3565.jpg

IMG_3568.jpg

IMG_3569.jpg

Edited by zanderwitaz
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Yeah but it doesn't work as well as I wish it would. I guess I am expecting it to look too "humanoid" when it poses.

I like those shots though.

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http://www.hlj.com/product/YLSPPC-T06

http://www.hlj.com/product/YLSPPC-T05

The big ones look to be a good size for the hips - though I haven't gotten my hands on them - yet...  ;)

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I gues I`ll be getting me some of those.

As far as Batroid posing is concerned you have to think slightly differently the Gerwalk and Batroid have different requirement for mobility in the joints. You can do the middle ground but to get the best for each would make it not good in the others mode.

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In the first of second page of this thread, someone posted about using BIC pen holders as the swivles. I'm surprised I didn't post in here earlier, but I was actually trying this process out before I saw this. I have been working on it for the past 2 days, and so far, the feet stay solid inside and connected. I will have to do some more strenuous testing, but so far, this idea to connect seems very promising. The fact that it keeps solid, and doesn't get floppy is a great sign. I'll post a how to if it works well. Updates to come very shortly. :D

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That was my idea. :)

Yep. I haven't followed up on it in practice because I still have a few of my swivels left and one of the guys offered to cast some for me if I need more. I can't wait to hear what the BIC Pen Principle produces!! Keep us POSTED!!!!!!

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That was my idea.

Yep. I haven't followed up on it in practice because I still have a few of my swivels left and one of the guys offered to cast some for me if I need more. I can't wait to hear what the BIC Pen Principle produces!! Keep us POSTED!!!!!!

OK, My digital camera is dead right now, but good news. I have solidified all the extra parts, anchored in the pen pieces, and with great success, the pen tops work. Not only just work, but they are really solid, hold tons of weight, and only swivel if I want them to.

Skull-1, it seems as though we may have thought of this idea around the same time. I had just finished my Ostrich custom, and was looking for Elintseeker parts to do extra mod work, when I was drawing out some designs with a bic pen, twisting it while thinking of a swivel mechanism. The idea of using the arm pieces I read in here are great, but knowing how solid and durable the pen tops are, I had to try that. It was only recently that I stumbled onto this thread, and realized, hey, a good idea and nobody's trying it. So, I have put the pen top test to work, and I can say as a very picky customizer,,, "SUCCESS"!!!

I'll get some pics up very soon, as I need to charge my camera up. This may spark some others to try it, or to at least get the brains moving again in customizing 1/55s. Shoot, my 1/55 Bandai now moves like an MPC "Veritech", but doesn't have floppy leg syndrome.

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May have. If you didn't do it first you can take solace in knowing you arrived at the conclusion independently.

Here's my original post on the subject of BIC Pens:

http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...indpost&p=33478

The thought train rolled off at some point shortly after this. I was thinking for awhile on whether or not to post it. But I am known for using paperclips so why not BIC pens? LOL :)

http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...ndpost&p=362500

At any rate I cannot wait to see your results. I think that is going to ROCK big time.

Edited by Skull-1
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May have.  If you didn't do it first you can take solace in knowing you arrived at the conclusion independently.

Call it parallel evolution.

I have some more progress on my total posable conversion mentioned eairlier in this thread.

Skull do you want me to post here or shall I start another thread ( dont want to step on your toes).

Edited by big F
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Post it wherever you like. You *MIGHT* get more exposure in a new thread....

But I am not getting my toes stepped on if you post here. :)

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O.K have set up a new thread for my custom. Covering some old ground that I have posted here but also theres alot more that I have done since.

Check my sig for the link.

Edited by big F
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  • 1 month later...

BIC PEN TEST COMPLETED SUCCESSFULLY!!!!!!!!!!

THE BIC PEN WILL WORK TO MAKE A SWIVEL THIGH WITH LESS EFFORT THAN MY PREVIOUS MOD!!!!!!!

Photos to follow shortly................

WOOT! :)

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Sounds painfull.

Seriously Great work

Hahahaha yeah that came out wrong. :)

1/55 modders unite indeed!!! This is the easiest method to convert a 1/55 leg that I have seen and it works GREAT.

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Hahahaha yeah that came out wrong. :)

1/55 modders unite indeed!!! This is the easiest method to convert a 1/55 leg that I have seen and it works GREAT.

certainly is the simplest method Ive seen. Once Im done with the super posable all my others will get the Skull1 mod treatment.

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has anyone thought of a good solid way to give the "feet" more flexibility? this thigh mod looks pretty sweet, but with out a good foot mod i'm not intrested in opening up my valk.

the methods i used for my bootleg valks require a light valkyrie, my re-issue brownie would be too heavy.

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I don't have any foot mods that I am willing to try yet. I am not confident they will hold up so I haven't implemented them.

KidKorrupt has one and there are others...

Even without the foot mod the thigh mod looks awesome.

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The mod I thought out for more posable feet works in theory but when put into practice does not give you that much more movement over standard feet. I could give it more movement by sanding down the width of the feet parts a few mm more than I did but this was something I didnt realise untill Id painted them. When I do a super posable Gerwalk this will be adressed.

I think you could adapt my idea to allow you to use it on a transformable 1/55 with a little bit of refabrication in the hidden area inside the leg, akin to what Fulcy and Kid Kurupt did a while ago.

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that bic mod is looking tight skull-01 i'm going to have to try it when ever i find another boot to modify.

Thanks bro. It works even better than my previous mod. It also allows you to remove the leg should you need to for storage or maintenace.... Or just to make the think look like it crashed. :)

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Tested methods for both of these together have already been done by yours truly. I did the pen top mod awhile back, and yes, it is a great way to mod the legs. simple, yet sturdy. The diagram that Razor has posted is another mod I am currently doing, and it has worked. I made some slight modifications to it, like working some styrene around the back of the foot. The gap of the back leg to give the valk that angle is pretty spacious, and so, with that, I'm filling in the gap so that it doesn't look so "modified". So far, it seems to be working ok, and will have pics up once i find my camera charger. :D

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heres one...

IPB Image

http://www.happymoonasia.com/

great website!!

This isn't the mod I am looking for though. Didn't Fulcy do one that allowed the feet to move laterally so they stood flat when the legs were flared out?

I have done this foot mod and it didn't add much to the toy's poseability in my opinion... It wasn't a waste of time necessarly, but it just didn't do much...

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While interesting, ti doesn't really seem like it would add the degrees of motion the toy is missing... what you really need is a ball jointed ankle above the two-piece hinge joint.

Yeah getting that thing to swivel laterally is going to be a b*tch......

I am completely out of my league trying to solve this problem. Nothing comes to mind. Maybe a spring of some sort........

Thinking out loud here.....

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I have lost the link to the Fulcy mod (dam!!!)

The mods pictured above is somewhat similar to the one I have done (it gave me the ideas) I have put the ball joint in the middle but the movement is only slightly more than stock as I posted eairlier. I did try and work a way to put it above the whole foot assembly but couldnt find a way. This is something I will have to come back to. Also I will try and locate the fulcy mod it may be on a back up image of our works server. when I get chance I`ll look and post.

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