In Progress » Zephyranthes Reginæ

12.26.2005 » Naming Conventions

This project is based on an idea that one of
my forum members (GrinchWSLG)
had a long time ago on my first and now dead forum. His idea
was for a mass-produced version of the Gp01 called the ‘GM
Patriot’. The name didn’t do anything for me, but the idea
was pretty cool. I waited and waited for him to do it (because
I wanted to do one too, but not first since it was his idea),
but he said he won’t for a long time and that it’s cool if
I wanted to go ahead since they’ll be different anyway.

So first up I started on some research for a
new name. Since the other GP series mecha are named after
orchids, parts of a flower, or the gerbera daisy/fish (neon
tetra?) I decided to take that route. The Gp01 was named the
Zephyranthes after the orchid. I found that there were many
varieties of Zephyranthes orchids so I researched the traits
of several of those varieties. Pretty easy considering they
were all
on one page! 😉 I found the Zephyranthes Reginae which
grows in Mexico.

“Zephyranthes reginae is native to
Mexico. It has moderate sized light yellow flowers. Like
Z. citrina, it does not offset much, but a large
colony of them can be built up quickly because
of the abundant, possibly apomictic, seed production.”

That sounded like a mass-produced flower if
ever there was one which was perfect for this project. I took
the “ae” at the end and changed the character to
æ to combine it so that it was more
like the AE logo of Aneheim Electronics Inc., the company
that developed the mobile suits in the Gundam Project. The
whole official project name was now: Gundam Project
Mass-Produced Zephyranthes: Type Reginæ. The
MS code being GPM-01R. Since Grinch will
eventually be doing one then his could potentially have a
‘P” designation for Patriot or maybe he’ll change the
name to another orchid.

12.26.2005 » GM Stylings

Meanwhile I was deciding what I wanted to do
to make this a mass-produced Gp01. I have a left-over GM Quel
head which is a contemporary MS so I decided to use that.
I’ll also be building the Gp01 head so that I can swap it.
I figure the Gp01 head could be an officers-use variety ala
Macross. Gun-wise I’ll be using the Ako Creations Mega Beam
Rifle and the Beam Spray Gun from the GM Type C, another contemporary
MS weapon.

I didn’t want to just remove detail from the
Gp01. In fact, I want to do excessive detailing for this project.
And make a nifty looking kit in the process. I got a lot of
inspiration from the other GP suits, the Aneheim Electronics
Ex-MS from that book cover, and the Gerbera Tetra. Here’s
a list of things I want to do:

• New backpack design to incorporate
  4 thrusters
• Utilize Mecha
  Skunk’s machined aluminum thruster bells in the backpack
• Make backpack cover flip up to
  reveal thruster details
• Create sturm booster ala Gerbera
  Tetra which attaches to new backpack
• Hollow out Gp01 shoulder thruster
  detail and add new detailed thrusters
• Make center portion of shoulders
  flip up to reveal thruster details
• Modify chest vents similar to my
  Hazel [Stutzer]
• Add chest detail as seen on many
  Ex-S projects
• Make shoulder pegs movable instead
  of fixed
• Add extra detail for guns
• Add hard-points for guns
• Make both the Quel and Zephyranthes
  heads
• New smaller shield design based
  on upper portion of Gp01 shield
• Add details to leg internals
• Remove thruster details from backs
  of calves
• Add detail to neck
• Use extra rear skirts from Gp01
  to replace ugly front skirts
• Add fuel pod hard-points on rear
  skirt armor
• Create fuel pods for rear skirt
• Possibly square off the knees
• Make thruster bells movable using
  steel balls and ring shaped rare earth magnets
• Make shield, leg armor, sturm booster
  and fuel pods detatchable using rare earth magnets
• Detail-up using pin-heads and silver
  crimping beads
• Custom decals
• And more as I keep adding things
  to the list!

It’s a huge list of things to do, but I’m very
excited about this project. I went with a red color with white
highlights in tribute to the Gerbera Tetra, one of my favorite
mobile suits and part of the Aneheim Electronics Inc. Gundam
Project. Plus the red will look very slick with the internals
which will be done with my new favorite metallic internal
paint: Alclad II and the natural bare metal of the Mecha
Skunk thruster bells. The finish of this project will
be ‘factory fresh’ and clean.

Below is a diagram I drew of what the backpack
might look like when done. I rarely keep consistent between
my sketches and the final piece though so this is very likely
to have design changes:

12.30.2005 » Progress beginnings

So far while waiting for Hazel
[Stutzer] stuff to dry I hollowed out the shoulders for
the new thruster assemblies, started roughing up the sturm
boosters to fit the rear skirts, and cutting misc parts out
from the sprues. Each of the sturm tanks were so far made
from two 1/4″ lengths of styrene tube and two 1/4″
lengths of styrene H-column from Evergreen styrene. These
were stacked and glued to form the rounded edged boxes. Then
I stuffed them full of old sprue and Magic Sculpt to fill
in the holes. I’ll need to fill in the outter edge gaps next
then sand them smooth before detailing. Here’s some pics:

01.01.2006» Backpack

Today I had all day with no family around to
work on this project so I got a lot done. I cleaned up a bunch
of parts, but mostly I worked on the backpack and center sturm
booster. The backpack has a center portion which the sturm
will mount to using rare earth magnets. On the sides of this
center are two boxes that house the main backpack thrusters.
I’ll probably be making these so that they are able to flip
upward to reveal the thruster details. The center sturm needed
to be bigger to look right so I used larger tubing with the
same 1/4″ H-column inbetween. I added layers of styrene
to fill up the center cavities. The boxes are made from pieces
of styrene using L-columns as supports. You can see the supports
glued into place for the outter back walls of the boxes. Everything
is sticky-tached on so excuse the lopsidedness of it. Here’s
some pics:

01.03.2006» More Backpack

I’m still plugging along on all the mods I’m
doing to this thing. Most of my focus at the moment has been
on the backpack which is turning out rather well IMO. I added
the back panels, did a lot of clean-up, added beveled panels
to the out-sides of the booster boxes***, and started adding
some bevels to the surfaces. When I use a file to do a bevel,
I like to first color the edges with a red marker so that
as I’m filing down the corner, I can see a white edge appear.
This line inbetween the red helps me keep consistant with
the bevel edge widths and angles. VERY helpful! The marker
is faded from later smoothing of the surface with light sanding.
Here’s a pic:

*** The beveled panels on the side and back
of the center box are .020″ thick sheet styrene that
I cut and pre-beveled before glueing it to the out-facing
edges.

01.05.2006» More of everything
so far…

I’ve been working on more than just the backpack,
but that’s been taking up the bulk of my efforts at the moment.
I’ve also been starting some of the other modifications that
I was planning. First off is the ankle gaurds. I like those
for the Gp03 better since they don’t go all the way around
the back. So I cut off the back portions of those for the
Gp01 and filled them and the outside gaps with Magic Sculpt
(MS). I also started on the modified vents for the chest.
I filled in the lower portions with MS and sanded them flat.
Then I dusted it all with baby powder and added more MS inside
the angled space left over. What that extra MS is for is to
flatten and bevel a new intake cover that will look more like
that of my Hazel Stutzer. When dry, I’ll pop-out the MS blocks
and file to shape. More on that later.

On the backpack I used my large file and beveled
the corners and edges. This not only makes them look nicer
and more refined, but also more like a kit part rather than
something I made myself. On the center part you can see the
2 drilled out round flat verniers from Kotobukiya. I have
the next size down that will fit inside those after painting
and inside that will be a ring magnet. The ring magnets will
be used to attach the sturm booster. On the outside edges
of the center part and the inside walls of the side boxes
I drilled tiny 1/16″ holes that line up. Each hole will
contain a 1/16″ W x 1/32″ H rare earth magnet. The
4 magnets/box will hold them to the center part and allow
for them to be removed easily for displaying the aluminum
thrusters. Also shown is the beam saber mount from my extra
GM Type C backpack.

FInally are shots of the 3 sanded sturm boosters.
You can see where I rounded the outermost edge. On the flat
inside edges I drilled holes for 1/8″ W ring magnets
to use for attaching them to the mounts I made on the rear
skirts. Those can be seen in the second pic. A 1/16″
aluminum tube will help to hold the ring magnets together
via the 1/16″ hole in their center. Four magnest will
be used to hold each tank onto the MS. I’ll aslo be pinning
the 2 rear skirts together on the insides of the balls so
that the remain parrallel. A pin will be used on the rear
center to keep them from sagging.

01.07.2006 » Beam Cannon and
Chest

First off, I’m just about done with the chest
vent mods. After filling the existing vent holds with Magic
Sculpt (MS) I let them dry. Since I dusted the vents with
baby powder first, the new parts popped right out when dry.
I then took my large file and began shaping the parts. After
I got the parts flat and beveled I used my scriber saw and
made the seam across the front. Here’s a pic:

Also yesterday I pulled out the Ako beam rifle
that I had snapped together months ago and was planning on
using for my Hazel Stutzer. Since I modded another beam gun
for that I decided to use it for this. While looking for styrene
tubing the same size as the barrel so that I could avoid some
sanding I came across the barrel for my large cannon I was
making for my on-hold Sazabi. I had already added rifling
to the inside of the barrel and it was the perfect size. Suddenly
I decided to use that barrel, but much shorter. Then I removed
the ribbed midsection of the gun and found that the short
cannon looked good there without it. Then one idea led to
another and I decided to make something similar to this ore-gun.
So I added more barrel on the back of the gun, removed the
handle and added a large drum in it’s place, and started modifying
the handle to be mounted on the side. I like that side mount
for large weapons as it makes them easier to hold for the
MG kits. Anyway, here’s a pic of the progress on the “Beam
Cannon” so far. I still need to add an obligatory grab
handle and possibly some tubing.

06.17.2006 » It’s BACK!

Been a while since I’ve worked on this. Not
because I didn’t want to, but because I was waiting on some
parts. MechaSkunk’s machined Aluminum Bells are just about
ready for sale so it’s time to finish this up. The painting
is all done and the kit is ready for decals. I’ll take pics
of those when I get to it. I just finished the base and thought
I’d share. Keenix found some great plastic box picture frames
at Michael’s that work great for bases. Ar $1.99 each I picked
up a few for future kits. I designed the base in Flash based
on my decals and printed it out on photopaper. I mounted the
paper to a thin sheet of styrene for sturdiness and set it
into the frame held in with rare earth magnets. I think it
looks great. Later I’ll drill a hole for the clear rod which
will hold up the GPM. Pics:

06.18.2006 » Paint and Bells

I got my aluminum bells today from Fulcy that
runs the MechaSkunk
store. They’ll be up for sale very soon. I polished and painted
the insides of them blue. As for the rest of the kit, it’s
painted and well past the pic below as I just finished the
flat coat. A wash on the internals and a coat of paint on
the lenses and I can start building it. Here’s some pics:

06.19.2006 » Building

Man… building this thing is taking nearly
as long as painting and decaling did. This is because I need
to take my time to avoid damaging the finish. Plus I have
a lot of magnets to deal with and beads/pin heads to glue
into their holes. Anyway, enough talk, here’s pics.

06.20.2006 » I Love Aluminum
Bells!

The building of this kit is progressing slowly,
but like I said above, there’s a lot to do and add and it’s
all delicate work. I finished the magnetic mountings for the
bells. I used a 1/8″ ring magnet, a 4.5mm steel “bb”,
part of a screw-on jewelery clasp and MechaSkunk’s bells.
For the backpack I left the center pins long since they looked
good that way there. For the shoulders and large sturm booster
I cut them short with my razor saw. The 1/16″ x 1/32″
magnets used to hold on the sides of the backpack are also
working phenomenally allowing those parts to be removed easily
to show off the bells. Here’s pics!