WIP: miriya's first 1/55 custom ...

[miriya]

Thanks for all the tips everyone. I have been lagging on the completion of this. Just too much work (Always getting in the way of fun!). But I have the valk half assembled now and it is just chipping to all hell. Now I am wondering if it is even worth it to give to my son as it will leave red (probably toxic) paint chips all over my apartment. You guys who do custom 1/55 valks must be very patient and genius. It has been fun doing this but the results have got me a little bit discouraged. I do know that I did not do it right and should not have cut corners so it is my fault but I am wondering if I will have it in me to do the other custom I wanted to do.

I will post more pics soon.

[miriya]

CRAPPP!!!

I am almost finished putting this together and it seems that there is a piece missing. I do not have anything to connect the head to the neck. I have looked all over for the part and am not even sure what it should look like but regardless, there is no extra part that does not obviously belong somewhere else.

I have taken apart my Knock Off version to see if I could use the neck pole thing from that but it is a completely different size and shape and will not work with this VF-1J.

If anyone has any input for this please post here and PM me. Thanks.

[miriya]

Nevermind!

I found the piece. I thougt it was for something else.

I have completed it and transformed it.

Man, re assembely was quite difficult.

It looks pretty cool. If I can find my camera I will take some pics and post today. Otherwise tomorrow.

Thanks for all of your help guys.

Peace....

[misterryno]

Nevermind!

I found the piece. I thougt it was for something else.

I have completed it and transformed it.

Man, re assembely was quite difficult.

It looks pretty cool. If I can find my camera I will take some pics and post today. Otherwise tomorrow.

Thanks for all of your help guys.

Peace....

TODAY!!! WE NEED PICS TODAY!!!

[miriya]

TODAY!!! WE NEED PICS TODAY!!!

Dude! I cant find my camera. Must have left it at home.

[Valkyrie addict]

WE NEED PICS NOW!!

hahaha, sorry to hear all your misshaps but even the most experienced modeler finds himself with the same problems you describe, hehehe... and there is never enough patience for modeling, hahaha hope this doesn't put you into making more customs or starting to scale model

[miriya]

OK kids,

Here we go. These are the finished pics. You can see that most of the chipping occured while putting the arms together. The rest looks good. Overall it looks pretty cool and actually the bad pics do not do much justice. The interesting thing will be the "After" pics when I post pics in a month of how much chipping occurs after my son plays with it for a while.

Oh, another thing is that Minmei keeps moving around inside the cockpit. You can see her off to the side in these pics but she does sit straight sometimes too. I may have to glue her in place.

[misterryno]

OK kids,

Here we go. These are the finished pics. You can see that most of the chipping occured while putting the arms together. The rest looks good. Overall it looks pretty cool and actually the bad pics do not do much justice. The interesting thing will be the "After" pics when I post pics in a month of how much chipping occurs after my son plays with it for a while.

Oh, another thing is that Minmei keeps moving around inside the cockpit. You can see her off to the side in these pics but she does sit straight sometimes too. I may have to glue her in place.

WOW!!! That is one crraaazzzzzyyy lookin valk. I like it!

Really sucks to have all those chips though.....sorry brother that happened to you .

[miriya]

WOW!!! That is one crraaazzzzzyyy lookin valk. I like it!

Really sucks to have all those chips though.....sorry brother that happened to you .

Thanks!

[DarkReaper]

Did you use a rattle can paint that is suitable for plastics so that it is softer and less brittle?

[miriya]

Did you use a rattle can paint that is suitable for plastics so that it is softer and less brittle?

Yeah, the kind I used was Krylon Fusion for Plastics which states that it chemically bonds to the plastic preventing chipping. Also I cleaned all the pieces with soap and water and let them dry before applying the multiple coats. Finally I dipped each piece in Future and let dry. and did that future dipping a second time as well.

Next time it is automotive enamel for sure!

[misterryno]

Yeah, the kind I used was Krylon Fusion for Plastics which states that it chemically bonds to the plastic preventing chipping. Also I cleaned all the pieces with soap and water and let them dry before applying the multiple coats. Finally I dipped each piece in Future and let dry. and did that future dipping a second time as well.

Next time it is automotive enamel for sure!

I just don't get it. I used the same kind of paint as you for my customs too and I had the same problem. Krylon are LIARS!

[miriya]

I just don't get it. I used the same kind of paint as you for my customs too and I had the same problem. Krylon are LIARS!

People should not toss around the phrase, "chemically bonding" casually. When I hear "Chemically bonding" I think of superglue and this poo is not like superglue at all.

[miriya]

Well now I am thinking that I probably cant/shouldnt give this to my son afterall.

It should have been obvious that the paint would be toxic and maybe the future too but I just read the paint can which states that the product contains chemicals known to the state of california to cause cancer. And with this thing chipping like crazy I dont want to expose him to this. I could not find anything on the future bottle about toxicity so I am not sure about that too.

So now what do I do? He knows that I am doing this project for him. He has seen the progress. He has not seen it finished yet and I think that I should show it to him. But he will be very sad if I tell him that he can not have it because it is too toxic.

I dont have the time(=money) to srip the paint off of this now to give back to him.

Any ideas?

[misterryno]

Well now I am thinking that I probably cant/shouldnt give this to my son afterall.

It should have been obvious that the paint would be toxic and maybe the future too but I just read the paint can which states that the product contains chemicals known to the state of california to cause cancer. And with this thing chipping like crazy I dont want to expose him to this. I could not find anything on the future bottle about toxicity so I am not sure about that too.

So now what do I do? He knows that I am doing this project for him. He has seen the progress. He has not seen it finished yet and I think that I should show it to him. But he will be very sad if I tell him that he can not have it because it is too toxic.

I dont have the time(=money) to srip the paint off of this now to give back to him.

Any ideas?

no man....you can give it to him....just tell him "whatever you do......DO NOT put this anywhere near your face"

[miriya]

no man....you can give it to him....just tell him "whatever you do......DO NOT put this anywhere near your face"

Ya think so? I mean I put so much time and work into this and I know that he really wants it so I want to give it to him but I also do not want to give him cancer.

I just picked this thing up and there are little bits of paint chips sort of appearing constantly (probably from the insides too) and I dont want that poo getting blown into his eyes, nose, or mouth or having the bits that come off of it and on to the ground be picked up when he is rolling all over the floor like kids do too. You think I am being overly protective?

[misterryno]

Ya think so? I mean I put so much time and work into this and I know that he really wants it so I want to give it to him but I also do not want to give him cancer.

I just picked this thing up and there are little bits of paint chips sort of appearing constantly (probably from the insides too) and I dont want that poo getting blown into his eyes, nose, or mouth or having the bits that come off of it and on to the ground be picked up when he is rolling all over the floor like kids do too. You think I am being overly protective?

Well.....if it is still chipping like mad....then I would not give it to him either. But will he understand why you are not giving it to him is the question? I sure hope he does. Just tell him that you need to fix it and it could take some time. He seems to be a very bright boy and I think he will be cool with that.

[miriya]

Well.....if it is still chipping like mad....then I would not give it to him either. But will he understand why you are not giving it to him is the question? I sure hope he does. Just tell him that you need to fix it and it could take some time. He seems to be a very bright boy and I think he will be cool with that.

Thanks for your input Ry. It is a good point. He has been very patient with me doing the custom. He keeps saying, "it is a long process. Right dadda?" But I do not think he will totally understand. I mean he knows what toxic means and he will probably get it intellectually but he will probably be really pissed off if I tell him that I am sorry but he cant have it now. In terms of telling him that I have to fix it, that may become problematic because I dont think that there is anything I can do at this point other than just caugh up the dough and get him a 1/55 milia (too bad yours is not for sale now!).

[miriya]

Well Crap! I just looked on the Krylon website and it says that all their paints are non-toxic when dry. So does that mean that the carcinogen warning was for the wet paint? I will assume so for now.

[big F]

Well Crap! I just looked on the Krylon website and it says that all their paints are non-toxic when dry. So does that mean that the carcinogen warning was for the wet paint? I will assume so for now.

I think it is only for the wet paint. quite a few paints have that stated on the can for when its wet. The really nasty ones have all been banned for many many years now.

[miriya]

OK,

My son will get this tonight. THanks everyone.

[DarkReaper]

Maybe you could simply manhandle the toy for a week, move every joint a bajillion times and transform it endlessly until all the paint that could possible flake off is gone. It's most likely going to look like poo after that, but it's probably not that different from what your son will be doing.

[miriya]

Maybe you could simply manhandle the toy for a week, move every joint a bajillion times and transform it endlessly until all the paint that could possible flake off is gone. It's most likely going to look like poo after that, but it's probably not that different from what your son will be doing.

Thanks for the idea. THat is an interesting idea but I have a feeling that paint chipping is going to be an unending event. Now that I have gone online and resaerched a bit, confirming that both Fusion paint (when dry) and Future are non-toxic, now I feel safe letting him play with it.

[misterryno]

Thanks for the idea. THat is an interesting idea but I have a feeling that paint chipping is going to be an unending event. Now that I have gone online and resaerched a bit, confirming that both Fusion paint (when dry) and Future are non-toxic, now I feel safe letting him play with it.

Well brother. I hope it works out for ya. I wish I still did have that 1/55 Miriya for sale for you.

[MacrossMan]

He is a lucky guy. He can almost transform it by himslef.

he asks me, "dada can you transform him in gerkwalk mode?"

and then he makes up his own modes, "wow, dada, look at this mode!"

When we got the amputee pilots in the mail I showed them to him and asked if he know their names and he said,

"That one is Karu Chijo" and I was blown away! Of course he heard me trying to properly pronounce Hikaru Ichijo previously when I told him who piloted his VF-1J. Then I told him that the othe one was lynn minmei and he liked her better because she had an orange flightsuit.

He also knows that my 1/55 valk is called cannon fodder and he calls it that. "Dada, is cannon fodder a good guy?" and of course he knows what boobie ducks are.

I offered to show him episode one of SDFM the other day but he said that he wanted to wait until he was a big boy.

By the time he is 6 years old he will probably be a new edwards test pilot!

Little boys are way awesome when it comes to this stuff miriya! I went in my son's playroom the other day and he had transformers set up in poses throughout the room in certain places. When I asked him what he was doing he said "I am collecting them daddy". The boy is 6 years old and can transform leader class Optimus Prime in under a minute. I still haven't quite figured out how to transform him. Every yellow car we see he yells out Bumblebee!!! We saw an old late 70's Camaro one day and he about jumped out of his skin with excitement. He's a lot of fun.

[miriya]

Little boys are way awesome when it comes to this stuff miriya! I went in my son's playroom the other day and he had transformers set up in poses throughout the room in certain places. When I asked him what he was doing he said "I am collecting them daddy". The boy is 6 years old and can transform leader class Optimus Prime in under a minute. I still haven't quite figured out how to transform him. Every yellow car we see he yells out Bumblebee!!! We saw an old late 70's Camaro one day and he about jumped out of his skin with excitement. He's a lot of fun.

That is aswesome! I think the same thing whenever I see a yellow camero!

[Black Valkyrie]

Thats a fully red one, you can say Basara`s Valk.

[miriya]

[miriya]

Thats a fully red one, you can say Basara`s Valk.

True.

It is funny, because he does love it but he said last night that he wants me to paint all the grey parts red too! He really wants it all red. When I originally was going to do this I showed him my milia valks and asked if he wanted like that and he said that he did not want white on it. When I gave it to him yesterday he was very happy there was no white and he said "Dada, I no like white. Only my favorite color is red." Another thing is that he was inspecting it and telling me that it was chipping and white underneath. Then he kept saying, "Dada, can you please put more clear coat?"

[David Hingtgen]

Just a little FYI, not sure if you've seen it, but a PURE red valk is canon---Basara's VF-19P in M7: Dynamite---even more red than his standard one.

[misterryno]

Well brother....I must say.....it looks hella sweet in fighter mode!

[DarkReaper]

Well brother....I must say.....it looks hella sweet in fighter mode!

So, how many space whales did it kill already?

[Valkyrie addict]

you make the chunky monkey look goooooood!! good stuff... fighter mode looks awesome...nice scenery by the way

EDIT: careful with the car hood there, hehehe!

Edited August 27, 2008 by Valkyrie addict

[miriya]

you make the chunky monkey look goooooood!! good stuff... fighter mode looks awesome...nice scenery by the way

EDIT: careful with the car hood there, hehehe!

Thanks. I work in the redwoods! Sweet gig in many ways.

Oh, and DarkReaper, that is a space whale carcass that the valk is sitting on, not a chrysler.

[ruskiiVFaussie]

Looking great Miriya!!! hot rod red ftw!