Jasonc

Thanks guys, I do appreciate it.

4 hours ago, MechTech said:

That's cool! I'm glad to see you doing this! The model is rarer than moon rocks on earth! - MT

Yeah, they definitely are, and when they do show up, they are in the realm of selling organs for what you actually get. It's one of those mechs that I was always kinda mad that they didn't make a real toy out of it. It should've been made, and sadly never did. I always found the design of it to be a bit on the obscure side with the short stubby kinda nose, but had a very beefy look.

On 3/22/2023 at 5:13 PM, Chronocidal said:

Oh, ok, that explains a lot about the shape and arrangement of things.. though that opening on just one side throws my asymmetry alarm off the scale.  

Yeah, it bugs me, too. The kit has an indent as the protrusion, but this line art, and interesting enough, the art on that very same kit shows it as a piece that really just sticks out. I've been able to do the cutting into the piece, and FINALLY got it to where I think it looks like it should. Here's the update so far. I've had very little time, especially today, and tomorrow I probably won't update since I'm going with the wife to buy a new car. Then Saturday is overtime work, so maybe Sunday. I added the little center back piece in the center, as well, so those are done. I think next I have to put in the ratchet system for the bottom arm cover. That may take a short minute, but that's not going to change the image much. Anyways, here's an update image.

Not much of an update yet. I've been trying to make sure and look at all angles of line art to make sure the lines are as accurate as possible, and still be able to convert the legs. Honestly, the fact that it only has the main legs moving as pretty much the only part of the transformation helps, but as of now, I do plan to make the harness for the arms open and close, along with the cockpit, and maybe at least have the arms be able to either slide out a little, or provide parts that can be swapped out to fix the anime magic of those tremendously long arms. I will also make some hard points on the wings, and probably use the Yamato/Arcadia VF-1 pylon dimensions so that they can be interchangeable. The tail fins will also be able to swing down as they're supposed to, along with articulation in the legs. I need to engineer how I'm going to lock the legs in fighter, but that doesn't seem too hard to do. Anyways, here's the latest. Obviously, a bit of a way to go. Being at work for 10 hours doesn't leave a lot of time for my projects.

The second picture is just a material change that I use to compare line art to where I'm placing dimensions. As of now, I'm quite happy with how close it's staying to the line art. I hope I can keep up.

As it has had some issues with loose attachments and the sort, which I expected, I decided to revise some parts. This is actually my 4 revision finding parts that need work, and it won't be the last with the bottom handle I'm sure, but I think it's finally getting to the last parts. I was able to thicken the handle swivel by bringing it into the base a bit, and the wing part that rotates now has the pin up further, to guide part of it into the main body. I'm hoping it locks like it should, but this is printed material, and I can't expect it to hold perfectly.  I think the friction hold might do OK, so after the next print, I will give it a go.

I hope this project is continuing well. I'd love to see how your printed part came out.

I'm done for today as I have a major cold, but managed to get at least the measurements about as correct as I can. I again used a 1/60 scale figure to use as a reference for the cockpit, and with that, worked my way outward. I also used an Arcadia Valkyrie as reference, and so, this will be about 2.5-3 cm shorter than a valk (roughly). This is just bare bones work on the nose and cockpit, so a lot of detail will go into it for panel lining. I can't say how happy that I have this line art as a reference. Usually there is no direct profile looks, so this does everything. I will have my work cutout for me as this project moves, but I can definitely say that I already have what I'm going to do for the legs mapped out, and the articulation of the legs should be able to allow it for A stance, and all the dynamic poses I can make. That said, I may end up printing it, then recasting it for myself, as printer resin isn't as strong as some of the higher end Smooth On products that have a reall good strong plastic feel. I want this project to be able to be a bit durable, I dare say toy like.

Hi all, just an update. We are slated for 10/7, but due to staff shortages and our graphics designer being really busy, we have not set up any official announcements. I'm hoping this weekend that we can set it all up and get the registration going, but it's a small crew this year. We are also going to be making some changes, but that shouldn't hinder the event itself. Macross, even while in it's 40th anniversary stage, has been kinda quiet with the ending of Delta, and the younger fans, as I'm sure you're aware, follow anime like pop music. That said, we'll be looking for panelists, a few vendors, and some special guests this year. I hope to have news soon.

Thanks. It's coming along. There's already tweaks that need to be made, so those are getting done.

I almost forgot the pic that explains it all...

I had a chance to look at what I have, and these images show the key part of its transformation. I am starting today.

I should've also mentioned that this is in 1/60 scale. I'm not sure if it can be scaled into 1/72, as the pin placement might be a little thin, but maybe with a little tapping and widening, it can be done.

For awhile, I wanted to work on my Solidwork skills working on the Macross the Ride Camera pod that is associated with the VF-11 Thunder Focus. I started working on it about 5 years ago (I can't even remember), but it was when I first got the kit. In any case, as I've been working on possibly doing the Orguss Bronco II, I ended up finding this old file, and decided to finish it, with a couple moving parts, like the handle, and a removable slot for the pod to carry in Jet mode. This is it finished, and I'll be printing it out to see how it all fits and moves soon. My biggest concern is the fitting of the attachment for it's jet/fighter. I may need to adjust that, as well as placement of where the 1mm pins will go, but aside from small adjustments, it's done. it has 5 pieces. Only 1 piece, the back end, needs glue. The rest should fit with pins. Depending on how the bottom fits, I may end up making it able to pull out and collapse, but that'd require more work on making it work right, and be able to stay in place depending on what form it needs to be in. Anyways, here it is.

I need to finish this. I've been on part 99 for a long time ( I think it's 99). The legs are a real piece of work getting it all to fit properly.

40 minutes ago, Bolt said:

That sounds like quite a bit of adjustment, to get it to look right. Converting anime magic to 3d reality is magic in itself many times. Good luck on that, I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with .

Thanks for asking this. This actually made me think of an idea to compare the thickness of the legs of the kit to the legs of the Arcadia/Yamato Macross kits.  While they aren't the exact same, they may help provide some reference point that I can start from in helping get a more accurate scale.

1 hour ago, Bolt said:

So how's it going with this ? Are you finding the proportions to your liking?

I haven't started designing it yet, but from the kit, there are a couple things I'm not liking too much. Most of it comes from the look of the legs. In GERWALK, it is coming out a little "chicken legged". They are a little on the skinny side, which I may need to make them a little thicker. With that comes a bit of design changing in the main body to accomodate that. I still haven't pulled out the other designs I have in my Orguss file collection, so I have to see what I have that I can use to supplement the designs. As the kit I have is 1/48, I'm trying to see if I need to adjust the width of the nose and cockpit to adjust for a true 1/60 character, as the figure in the kit that fits in the cockpit is closer to a 1/72 figure. which is about 2 scales off of what the kit says it is. There's a few adjustments needed, and I'll need to get them on paper to make sure it comes out how it should, or at least as close as possible.

So, it looks like we'll be having SDC return in 2023 on October 7th. At least that is the plan. Tickets will hopefully go on sale soon. Stay tuned.

14 hours ago, snakerbot said:

Me too. Not that I've been wanting it since college, but I just really like bright colors, even on planes. I'm still waiting for Aisha Blanchette's pink VF-19E.

I think I'm in agreement. I've seen other variant color schemes in the past, but whenever I think of the VF-5000, this is the first color scheme that comes to mind. For that, I have zero complains.

In the pictures below are the connections and the top of the back half where the FPs would go. Here is the leg connection as well. You can see it's quite a simple connection. If I were to make the legs movable, I'd probably have to make the cabin go less into the back half, so that there's enough space if you wanted the fee to convert more to a standard Rabbit form. The 3rd picture shows the inside cavity that'd need to be a bit more shallow.

2 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

Could be cool, but I'll be really interested to see how you translate the art into three dimensions.  I don't know how much art of the design exists, but I'm thinking it might be reasonable to take a bit of artistic license to the proportions, and stretch it out a little for a longer fighter mode.  

It looks like the legs stick really far out the back in fighter, and slide even further back for gerwalk, but the part sticking out ahead of the wing in fighter mode looks awkward. I wonder if it would look better or worse as some sort of intake.. or if that's what it was always supposed to be?  Hard to tell.

From just the line art here, it does look (and I could be wrong) like the legs extend out a bit when in GERWALK. I'll confirm this for certain, but I do have the old kits as well, so I can also use those as reference to get the best profile. I also have some old design works of Orguss with some designs that were never used, and I think the Bronco II was in there. If it's pretty vague, I'll most likely refer the kits to get the proper aesthetics of it, and just tweak it to make the transformation look proper in both forms.

Hey all,

So, now that I'm done with the Rabbit, my next project I've been considering is Super Dimension related, but not too Macross related. I've been thinking of doing a scalable Bronco II from Orguss. The difference between this, and the kits that are out there (and quite expensive) is that this will have mechanics and joint pieces to make it be able to switch from it's jet to GERWALK. I'm not sure how many people would be interested in this, but if you are, let me know. I probably wouldn't do any recasting or printing for a project like this, unless that person is willing to pay around $250 at least for it, but I'd make the files available for ones own printing. 

Another thing I'd probably include that hasn't been done, is make the re-entry armor. This would make this a lot more work, but to me, having a kit/toy that had all the fixings would just feel like it is complete.

I'd probably do it in versions that can be scaled from 1/72, 1/60, and 1/48, with a list of parts that make GERWALK transformation and poses possible. In any case, like I said, it is loosely Macross related (especially with staff and the Macross references in the series). LMK

4 hours ago, Bolt said:

I'd love to see the breakdown on parts for this kit !  I'm considering kit bashing the legs myself, the hardest part would be finding another set of bunny feet, or sacrifice the only set i have. Firstly, I've got to see just how the legs look on this , in real life. Could be silly. About the booster attachments, i wonder the same thing, as they have to mount above the radar..

I'll get pictures of the parts in question, mostly the back part and the legs? If so, I'll get those up tonight.

Based on that odd image of it with the VT-1 fast packs, if you look at the VT-1 next to it, the spacing of the fast packs are equally distance, which to me, would indicate that there is a FP plate mounted on it in the center, and would probably need to be raised up a little. 

2 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

QFT. Kawamori's a phenomenal artist, but sometimes his color choices leave somewhat to be desired. I'm also holding out for the B variant, so I hope this gaudy teal & yellow version sells like hotcakes, if they indeed release it. I hope they do; we need more Macross valk variety on the shelf. The VF-1 and YF-19 are great, but there are yet a number of designs that need toy treatment, and this is definitely one of the nicest ones.

I'm not going to say you need to buy it for this option, but this reasoning is the exact reason why, if this gets made, will be the only one. People relying on others to hopefully make this happen is probably in a number of minds. That said, I do hope they make other variants, but I'm not gonna hold my breath.

On 2/12/2023 at 10:28 PM, Bolt said:

Very cool. They really need the Queedlunn's  for each !

If this vendor releases it in Summer, I may have to track this down, or take another trip out. Hopefully it is just next year, so I can take another trip. I can't make 3 in 1 year, although that would be awesome if I can go 3 times.

15 hours ago, Robin-11 said:

Do we know how tall Minmay and the other two figures are going to be?

I don't know if they've been scaled, but Minmay looks to be about 1/7

I got to see it in person. I'll be honest, it looks smaller than I imagined. I'm not talking g about it in actual scale, I just imagined it being quite large.

That said, it does look very nice. It looks like some of the colored parts were casted in that color, not painted. My photos probably suck, but here's a couple...