captain america

Hey everyone!

Just wanted to let you know that BIO LLOYD drafting is progressing well. Or rather, as well as it possibly can, given the nature of the source material. However abstract and disjointed the line-art from previous projects was, this one is its own, special kind of clusterscrew! It's not bad enough that the line-art just looks like a bunch of jellybeans cobbled together, and the multiple views contradict each other, I'm used to that. But the joints on this thing were really just phoned-in, even by Anime standards! As such, I'm performing high-level creative gymnastics to give this thing a reasonable degree of articulation while still keeping true to the source material. As I progress into the sculpting, you will start to understand why this will be a bargain, even at 300 bucks +.

A glimpse into my technical drawing madness:

2 hours ago, tekering said:

If parts are included for three Bioroid variants, I'll happily order three kits immediately. 

You'll be able to build any of the three variants (Cherry, Green Apple, Blueberry) from one kit.

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to share this project with you, because there seems to have been at least some interest in Southern Cross mecha.

A fellow MWer has commissionned me to make the master patterns for a 1/48 SPACE BIO LLOYD (Bioroid) complete with its FLYING CONVEYANCE (hover-sled) and I wanted to know how many people would be interested in a kit? Consider this to be that rare opportunity to get a properly sculpted model of this subject from this otherwise obscure series.

The kit will have the following features:

-built in accordance to original, primary visual source material

-integrated (free-pose) ball-joint system

-parts to build one of the three primary variants

-includes FLYING CONVEYANCE

Kit price until March 1st: $300 CAD + shipping

Kit price after March 1st: $330 CAD + shipping

Shipping charges will be determined at a later time. Take some time to think it through, see if finances permit. If you think you can manage it, then by all means, let your typing fingers do their thing. 

Too late to give the kid a new name. He's Baby Yoda, end of story. 

My first attempt at video! 

https://odysee.com/@moscatohobbymodels:7/M72-Gabriel-In-Box-Overview:b

Destructions!

Quick update!

All paid orders have shipped. Some people have asked if more kits will be available, and my answer is: it depends. The molds on this kit are rather substantial, so I would need a minimum of 10 orders to justify the retooling. If you're one of those interested parties, let me know via PM.

Casting and packing continues. Past the half way mark!

23 minutes ago, tekering said:

Obviously, 24-karat would be preferable, but 18k gold is nothing to scoff at... 

22 karat gold leaf or bust! Not the imitation stuff, it's trash.

1 hour ago, Darth Mingus said:

I like it.  It has the right presence, for lack of a better term.  The details look sharp, for a 1/100 scale kit, much better than the old Wave kits.  I am hoping this will be generally available.

I have the resin kit, and just as with the LED Mirage, there are some elements that are slightly better on the IMS kit. Of course the resin offering, being first and hand-made, is a pure work-of-art. The Mighty series kits are well done, but I never cared for the designs all that much. I also seem to remember them being a bit on the short side, but maybe that's just me.

Volks also seemingly has an Auge in the IMS pipeline. Maybe next year.

Meanwhile...

This might just be the cranky old perfectionist in me, but every time I see someone finishing the KoG without using proper gold, I'm irked.

Video footage of the built model of the IMS Knight of Gold. 

13 hours ago, Convectuoso said:

Has anyone else tried the adapter that was available on Thingiverse?

I just couldn't remember if the Tread's nose was supposed to be folded down or not

Yes it should be. Pretty good compatibility, all things considered.

2 hours ago, derex3592 said:

Beautiful job Cap! 

Thanks, it was quite a challenging project to mold. Despite that little difference in size, I really had to change-up my mold boxes and the whole thing needed over 10 lbs of silicone. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.

On 10/29/2020 at 12:21 PM, electric indigo said:

It's a new sculpt, the WSC proportions are quite different:

You're right. At a glance it looks almost the same, but there are some subtle differences in proportions and details. I still think the WSC version is the more elegant of the two. We'll have to wait and see how big this one is, but the price is fair, considering where plastic and resin kit prices have gone in the last 25 years.

Captain’s log: Friday, October 30th.

Sweet victory!! Molds are done, decals are done, production has begun, and parts look excellent. You can now send in the balance of your 1/350 Starfish payments. for those who have paid the $150 CAD deposit, your balance payment is $187 CAD.

I won’t be taking any new orders for this kit the time being: the order block is completely full and I want to concentrate on existing orders.

That looks an awful lot like Ikushima's Junchoon 2989 with the addition of a Peidoll spire.

3 minutes ago, no3Ljm said:

Thanks @Darth Mingus! So these figures can be like a desktop display. And at that size (5+/- inches) I think that's good enough to display it beside my RD L-Gaims. But then, the two Mortar Headds that I kind of like is not included in this line. But then KOG and the Mirage looks amazing as well.

The down side to those figures, other than being small and not particularly posable is the price. I don't think you'll find one (other than used) for less than $120. Five Star Stories doesn't cater to the casual fan.

14 minutes ago, no3Ljm said:

 

By the way, last question. Are you or anyone familiar with the Kaiyodo FSS figure releases? And if so, how big they are compared to any?

 

 

FSS figures or Mortar Headds? Kaiyodo have produced a shitload of them over the last 33 years.

Trust me, if you get a Mortar Headd kit, you'll want it t be static. They have so many frilly, fiddly parts on them and were designed seemingly without a care for the laws of physics or gravity. The Volks IMS series has superb detail, but they're old-school type kits that require actual building/painting skills; they aren't Master Grade Kinder Egg toys masquerading as model kits. 

I found some older pics of MH builds to provide a size comparison.

12 hours ago, no3Ljm said:

So I browsed some 1/100 resin kit and old IMS released kits online and noticed that at 1/100 these are huge mechas compared to a standard 1/100 RX-78. I'm really not that into kits lately but I do like the designs of Wolke Schätze and Junchoon (First Sally Type) since they resemble Nagano's L-Gaim MkII and L-Gaim respectively. So the way that Volks releases IMS 1/100 and 1/144 scale kits sporadically, in the hopes that they will cover all of FSS designs, I will wait for those two.

 

The Junchoon First Sally Type design dates back to the late 80's and is no longer "fashionable." Nagano loves to retcon his own designs, and Junchoon has been replaced with the Engage. Your chances of ever seeing the former in plastic are essentially nil.

As for rough surface texture on the Volks IMS kits, the Bang and Vatshu were the worst, but they were also the first of the series. The LED and Terror which I have are both nice & smooth, and I think it's fair to presume that the new kits will be at the same level, and perhaps a smidge better.

One thing I'll want to confirm is the alleged softness of the detail, which the video's author points out as being inferior to the resin kit. I suspect that his impression may simply come from the translucency of the kit's plastic. The IMS LED is every bit as good as its resin counterpart.

Thanks for posting pics of your build! Built Buster pics are rare in the wild, especially in the Zeta configuration.

17 minutes ago, no3Ljm said:

That’s cool. How usually big is a 1/100 scale of FFS kit against traditional 1/100 gunplas?

 

Depends on the Mortar Headd, and the time at which the kits were made. Older kits (late 80's) were much smaller. In the case of this Knight of Gold, the kit is about 27-28cm to the top of the head.

New video unboxing of the Knight of Gold IMS kit from Volks. Unlike the LED Mirage, it looks like they're offering the "lite" version first (ceremonial val balah). Presumably the buster launcher version will come later.

Quick Friday update: molding is well underway, with roughly half the molds now complete. The whole shebang will be ready by next Friday, when I will give the OK to make balance payments. Also, I wanted to touch on a subject that I think needed to be addressed. Many times on my kits, you'll see little (and sometimes not-so-little) triangular shapes in the recesses of 90 degree angles. These aren't added details, but rather molding gates that allow better resin flow and minimize trapped air (bubbles) in your castings. These are to be removed when building your kit. 

The 1/350 Starfish masters are finished! I decided to take pics before I get around to doing the final mold-prepping and the instructions. This kit not only has nicer detail than the 1.0 version, but I've made it more accurate as well. Little things like the torpedo launch tubes and fighter launch bay doors are more faithful to the line-art, and the greeblies in the engine housings are more refined. Garfish was the best fish, but now Starfish is the top fish!