New Year's Resolution: Scratchbuilt 1/100 Gundam Thrones

[GlauG]

So, something got me thinking, and one of my modelling resolutions for 2009 is that I'd like to scratchbuild something, from start to finish, as best I could.  I get easily frustrated with projects, especially ones that involve modifying stock kits heavily, but for some reason I find this more relaxing. 

I chose the Gundam Thrones from Gundam 00 for a few reasons; I don't know if Bandai will make kits of them, but if SEED/Destiny are anything to go by, they either won't at all, or won't until I'm hopefully done.  The designs aren't too complex; the legs and arms aren't exactly identical, but close enough that making a single one of each and recasting it won't look amiss.  Lastly, since they're basically the same with different shoulders/backpacks/hip skirts I can have fun with the "modular" design, and if it works out successfully, I'll be able to cast up enough parts that I can make one of each Throne. 

Some personal goals I have in mind;

1) Try and use as few parts from other Gundam kits as possible.  I will be using a lot of WAVE/Kotobukia option parts for joints and details, though.

2) Try and perfect (or at least improve) my resin castings.  Impatience is usually the big kicker for me, but university leaves me with long stretches of time during which I have much better things to be doing than modelling, so I can actually leave things to set etc...

3) Try and finish this before starting any totally new projects. 

I'm sure I'll stray from at least one of those, but it's worth trying. >_>; 

I drunkenly started this while I had some friends round last night over New Years', while we all played videogames/watched movies/played MAID the RPG etc etc, and so far it's going well.  Been cleaning it up today but not really made much progress for all that. 




The side of the leg needs poly putty to shape out the curved surface, and I need to work on what kind of joints I'll be installing at the knee and ankle, but so far, so good. 

[GlauG]

Forgot to update this here, too.  Not much, just done some work on the torso.  Shaping it with poly putty is both fun and frustrating all at once...





Edit:  Torso shape's starting to show now.  Modding some option parts for the chest vents, and I finally caved and used a modified Bandai kit part as a base for the "collar"...

[Marc]

I meant to comment this earlier. I like your project. The Thrones are strange designs but I came to like them, especially the new one from the second season which I actually really like, very sleek and aggressive looking.
So I'm looking forward to this build, looking good so far!

[GlauG]

Thanks Ezechiel.   Unfortunately for me, the Arche Gundam (Season 2 Throne Zwei thinger) is actually pretty different to the original 3, so it'd take a lot of work to make one even out of this. 

Did a bit of work shaping the torso and calf today, and spent the rest of it playing with thermal-set plastic.  I'm trying to find a way of casting the stuff into useful joint pieces, as it's slightly less brittle than resin tends to be, but not much luck so far. 





Unfortunately my uplighter lighting causes havoc with taking photos of anything on my desk, but I'm really pleased with how even the sides of the leg seem to be now.  Once I work out how I want the ankle and knee joints are going to work, and then putty/smooth the whole thing, that will more or less be done.

[dr_feelgood]

this is insane! Im loving the legs! will watch this thread!

[GlauG]

So, got a little time to work on the Throne.   I made the mistake of buying Rock Band II on Thursday, so my productivity is kind of shot. 



Added some kind of joint to the leg.  Not entirely happy with it, it must be said.  It's made of Kotobukiya option parts and some Volks ABS bits, as well as plasticard and epoxy putty.  The problem is that the only ABS joint that fits feels kind of flimsy.  It'll be better glued, when the final cast assembled version is done, but it kind of bothers me for now. 



You can also see how weirdly long those spikey bits on the throne's ankle are.  Believe it or not, they're to scale, size-wise.  The Thrones' legs are always bend forwards in an odd way, so they don't touch the ground or anything. 



Internals on the leg.  That skinny ABS joint is part of what bugs me atm. 



And those of you with eagle eyes and a good memory will recognise the back of the leg as part of the knee from the 1/100 Aegis Gundam with Kotobukiya option parts added.  I'd feel bad, but it's the right size and shape, and it saved me a few hours...

Next up I'm working on the torso and the ankle/foot.  The pink parts are recast and modified from Exia's GN Drive pieces, and the torso will be built around them.  If anyone has any good ideas for a hip joint that's reasonably poseable but easy to reproduce in resin, I'm all ears, btw. 

[Cmdr Harabec]

Looking good! The various option parts really look nice, and the sculpting of the leg seems pretty spot-on.

As far as a hip joint goes - the easiest design I can think of is a boom with a hole in the middle of it, which allows it the legs to rotate forward and back a bit when a beam is put down it. Of course, it means one leg has to be back when the other's forward, but it would certainly be quite easy to create and pretty stable in resin.

If you wanted to take it up a notch, you could make the assembly rotate vertically by putting it all within a box, with two pegs on the front and back - still the problem of opposite effects of the legs, but it wouldn't be much harder to make.