YMS-09S Dom Schneider.

[Sharkdog]

Thanks for the input, everyone!

I managed to snag some smaller links, and the results are pretty good! Here's a side by side of the different sizes I currently have (with the spring not actually being a set of links).

YMS-09S Dom Schneider.

I'm thinking #3 myself, but I'd love to hear more opinions :)

The links are made by a company called Adlers Nest. They machine lots of stuff like this, and it's fairly affordable here, and I was pretty happy when I found them in a store!

The links come in many sizes, and they've got lots of other stuff too, ranging from gunbarrels to thruster verniers and even nozzles for in the verniers!

http://www.adlersnest.com/page087.html for the links, or just plain http://www.adlersnest.com
They have pictures of pretty much everything they have I think (even though their website is a bit tough to navigate)

[Hunter Rose]

Looking good!

Yeah I think 3 as well, 2 looks too small and 4 looks too big (but it would look good on a pimp variant! )

For me personally the plain spring is a definate no, it looks too plain and really doesn't suit it.

Looking forward to seeing more

[psecody]

I like number three as well. This is an awesome build! It's giving me the itch to go model some stuff, but alas I have to finish my 1/72 A6M5 converted to A6M2 project before I go on to something else or it will never get finished.

[Sharkdog]

Thanks!

I haven't had a lot of time lately to work on it, but I'm almost done reshaping the upper legs, and I've also done a bit of work on the fuel tanks.

I'll get some more pics up soon :)

[fil dunn]

looking great, i think number three too! cant wait to see more

[Sharkdog]

Time for a quick update!

I've been pretty busy for some reason, so I haven't done as much work on this as I would've liked.

Anyhoo, first things first: I did more work on the legs!

After matching up the Rick Dom II's upper legs with the Dom's lower legs, I noticed that I wasn't really happy with the 'double joint'.

YMS-09S Dom Schneider.

So I did what anyone else would do in my place.... I got rid of them! I started with just cutting them off along the curve of the part itself, using one of those fancy little photoetched saws. The cut was pretty clean, and I cut it out a little deeper, before mixing up a bunch of epoxy putty to fill it all up and reshape the leg.

I don't have any pictures of the interim here, because I forgot to take pictures. After applying the putty (a little too thick, I'd say) I started filing and sanding it. I filed to get the general shape, and then sanded and sanded and sanded to get it the way I wanted (mostly using 320 and 400 grit sandpaper).

After all that, this is the result:

YMS-09S Dom Schneider.

I'm actually very happy with it, although they do still look a little rough, but right now I'm kind of tired of sanding. I've test fitted them on the legs, and that leaves me with this:

YMS-09S Dom Schneider.

I'll have to get some primer and prime the whole part to get a better look at what I still need to fix (and also to fix some pits I've accidentally made while filing). I also still have to lengthen the upper legs a little bit, but I want to get this done first so I can glue the parts together and consequently cut it in half to stack some styrene
Unless it's recommended to first glue it all together, and then look for imperfections after.

- - -

Fuel tanks!

I really like the extra fuel tanks on the Rick Dom II, and I definitely wanted some tanks on here. Except I found that the ones on the Rick Dom II were a little on the small side!
Luckily, I found some option parts by wave for just this problem. They have tanks in various sizes, and here's a comparison with the Rick Dom II's original fuel tank.

YMS-09S Dom Schneider.

The nozzle on these tanks is straight, and that'd make the tank stick out straight, which just looks silly to me. I wasn't sure at first on how to get the inserts slant so they can fit in the holes at an angle, but then it hit me that I could just take off the tops of the original ones, and glue them onto the new ones, so I got to cutting off the tops!

YMS-09S Dom Schneider.

I then added a layer of styrene to the new tank 'plug the hole', and then glued the pegs of the old tank on there.

YMS-09S Dom Schneider.

That's starting to look pretty good. To smooth out the curve at the top, I (again a bit royally) applied some epoxy putty, let it cure and then got to sanding again. I probably could have used just standard putty, or just a lot less of the epoxy putty since I sanded about 75% of it off, but the end result looks pretty good to me!

YMS-09S Dom Schneider.

Again, it might still be a little rough after sanding. I'll also have to prime this part to see what I still need to fix.

After all that, I test fitted the tanks again, and they look pretty sweet. I've also picked up some metal thruster bells and I've test fitted a few on the backpack to see how it would look, and I'm pretty excited about using them because they look stellar.

YMS-09S Dom Schneider.

I still intent to use the smaller fuel tanks, and mount them on the legs along with an extra pair of thrusters. I've still put this off because I didn't feel ready yet for that level of scratchbuilding (ooooh, I have to make a box... scary!).

The next update unfortunately won't be for another few weeks, as I've got a visitor that needs entertaining, but I'm still having a lot of fun with the build!

Stay classy, and thanks for stopping by.

[Hunter Rose]

Great work shark, the thrusters and the larger fuel tanks look really cool and you did a good job on the legs. I'm sure your scratchbuilding will turn out fine, I'm a fairly new to it myself and I find that you can watch all the tutorials you like but the best way to learn is to just do it.

Looking forward to seeing more.

[IcecoldJV]

How you doing on this Sharkdog? Just wondering, haven't seen any progression lately and I figured that everyone in the world is faster than me at building a model (i'm slow as hell). Figured I'd drop in and say a bit.

[Sharkdog]

Hey J, I appreciate you checking in!

Unfortunately I don't have much to show right now. I've actually not been able to devote a lot of time to this project these past few weeks, somehow I've managed to become busy with lots of little things.

But fret not, I'm definitely still committed to this project, there's lots to do and plenty of ideas floating around in my head. Right now I'm working on coming up with a good design for the thruster that I'm going to put on the lower legs. Whenever I did have time to work on it, I've mostly spent it filling some seamlines and such. However, I've also put a little magnet in the head, so the visor part clips onto the helmet part, as it kept falling off. If you're using the Dom/Rick Dom head then I'm sure you know what I mean :)

[Kane82]

Sharkdog, if you're calling it the "schneider" which is German for "cutter, or blade" I believe, you may want to add small blades to the forearms or something. 

Just a suggestion, but it might give the name a little more validity. 

[IcecoldJV]

Sweet, good to hear you haven't given up on your project. I've been kinda screwed on mine for the last two months, what with work and the lack of any to fill gaps and mold specific areas too. I'm thinking of using modeling clay, but I don't think that's gonna work out well in the end. Anyway, I hope you get some time for this, it's a pretty cool concept.

[Sharkdog]

Thanks :)

I know Schneider means cutter, I was originally going to name it something else, and the pilots last name would be Schneider. I scrapped this when I decided that this Dom was going to be a mostly close range type suit. I already had the idea to give him two heat sabers, and I'm thinking of giving him an extra disposable (in combat) two handed axe of sorts.
Those in combination with the gatlings on his arms (no beam weaponry for this guy!) should give him enough power to 'cut' through the front lines :)

Here's a very quick update, with a design I'm toying around with for the thruster that I want to build onto the leg:

YMS-09S Dom Schneider.

YMS-09S Dom Schneider.

This is all still just papercraft, I had kind of hoped to get around to at least making a prototype out of plaplate this week, but I didn't get around to it. I also plan on having some sort of tube run from the top part of the fuel tank to some point on the thruster.
Take it as more of a teaser! Comments are always appreciated.

I'm putting this project on hold for a little while again, since I'm going to be away from here for about a month and a half. Luckily, I've got some neat ideas and projects waiting for me where I'm headed, so hopefully I'll get some time to do those and then come back with fresh ideas for this project.

[apocalypse]

The Thruster housing looks a tad too big and clunky.
Maybe if you went with a conical shape might blend better.

[Sharkdog]

I agree that it might be a size or so too big, and that I might end up shrinking it a little bit. I'm pretty happy with the shape right now, so I don't think it'll change much from that design :)

[IcecoldJV]

Just a question, maybe you can get a picture of it or explain or whatever... How does that added booster look when you have the foot connected to the lower leg? Maybe you can toss us a couple pictures of it from the front, back and sides and we can let you know how we feel about it.

If this model were a real MS, it would be intended for space-use only, right? If that's the case, maybe think about adding two bonus boosters to each leg. Just a thought.

[Sharkdog]

Not sure what you mean, but the foot is connected in that picture (though you obviously can't see it very well). I have two side shots (one with a slightly older version of the papercraft), so I hope that'll get you what you're looking for. Unfortunately I don't have the model with me right now so I can't take a front shot :)

YMS-09S Dom Schneider.

YMS-09S Dom Schneider.

It'll definitely be primarily aimed at space use. I'm not sure what you mean by two bonus boosters. Two of these or two smaller ones?

[Hunter Rose]

Hey Shark nice to see more progress

Have to say I really like the leg booster especially the cool (what I'm assuming is) fuel pod for it.

[IcecoldJV]

Sorry, just being silly when i say some things, i'll be straight forward about it...lol

I couldn't tell if the foot was connected to the lower leg, that's why I was asking about seeing a picture with the feet attached. What I meant by 'bonus boosters' were that these boosters are added to an already booster heavy mobile suit, hence 'bonus boosters'. Anyway, what I was also saying is that maybe it looks a little funny with just one booster on the leg, maybe add another one next to the already added one.

Either way, it looks better than I had imagined when I saw the first picture. Good on you. In my opinion, maybe try mocking up another booster much like the already added one and put that next to it (of course on the outside of the leg, not the inside). You don't even have to make it a side-by-side booster set, even if there was a small gap between the two it would look nice. But like I said, it was just an idea, all up to you.