Advice on customs (Working on bloodler build, StormSS idea)

[CeilYurei]

I want to build a Bloodler "upgrade unit" or similar unit to build my dream redler. This requires multiple weapon installations, including missile pods, beam guns, and a booster pack I would Like to try to keep it as close to the Saga-Series Bloodler as possible, though other ideas unclude gatling or vulcan cannons, Beam M or vulcan guns, and comformal missile pods (means they'd blend into the body/legs/wings) I'd like advice and pointers to any existing option units for any series that are the appropriate size. The bloodler would be the hardest since it's supposed to be stealth. I'm trying to find an F-22 or YF-23 or similar stealth fighter kit to cut up to make the pack. I want thrust vectoring. Interestingly you could probably cut up an F22 or YF-23 model kit to make the jet pack of the Storm Sworder Stealth or SSS

[Maethius]

If you can find them, the Kotobukiya MSG kits might be a great source for you. They are sprues of "techy-bits" designed to add flavor to custom models. Most of them I have located on Japanese sites, but you can also find them through eBay and Amazon. On many other conformal parts, sheet styrene and Green Putty can be your very close friends.

[CeilYurei]

Aug 3, 2016 16:28:19 GMT -5 Maethius said:

If you can find them, the Kotobukiya MSG kits might be a great source for you. They are sprues of "techy-bits" designed to add flavor to custom models. Most of them I have located on Japanese sites, but you can also find them through eBay and Amazon. On many other conformal parts, sheet styrene and Green Putty can be your very close friends.

Problem is I'm strapped for cash so want to do it cheaply. I also will build weapon racks to attach to the bottoms of the wings for another custom I once thought up. Though that one used the CP-09 too so I would need that. or to build them.

I looked those MSG kits while looking at this...almost all of those are for hand held weapons...and the ones that I can convert to maybe be zoid mounted I'm not sure. how...and molds? What do I do with those? And I'm not even really sure even what to do with this part set: www.ebay.com/itm/Kotobukiya-M-S-G-MSG-P135-Model-part-Weapon-Unit-Plaunit-Gatling-/141999980092 I guess I'd get tubes and assemble gatling barrels and then mount them? I've never customized before. These aren't exactly Legos... Theres some other gatlings too. Problem is not many would work for comformal builds. In a comformal build I need streamlined hatches that slide and similar gun ports. I might even build in pop out missile launchers like on the F-22.

SInce i want to make 2 cutoms...I did find a double beam gatling meant for the Unicorn gundam. I'd love to have a redler with the infamous BRRT power of the A-10. No slow pew-pew-pew-pew or bang-bang-bang or even ratatatatatata. i want BRRRT. Great, now i want BRRT on my Gojulas giga and some on my Godos. Actually, i want to turn my godos into a heavy weapons platform But first, the redler.

Maybe I'll try to make it so i can swap parts in or out. For a non stealth configuration, which all stealth fighters have for heavy assaults. means It'll take more engineering to slide the extra weapons into position, but doable. This will be the most heavily armed redler ever. Well, amybe not ever, but I will also add tail guns, which might mean the tail balde might become inoperable.

[Maethius]

The "molds" kits can be anything like round techy shapes, thrusters, hand holds, access hatches, light fixtures, sensors, etc. Some people use them to cover screw holes in toys while adding details, or to add texture to large, flat areas of a kit that lack personality. They can be useful as gap fillers, or to make commonly used Zoid and model parts appear differently, helping to distinguish your custom. The one you highlighted with all the circles can be dropped onto surfaces and parts of different sizes to reflect multiple fire rocket or missile launchers, or, most frequently, Gatling gun barrels (glue 6 stirring straws or lengths of styrene tubing between two of those rounds to create a Gat).

Here is a bit on their use:
Mech9 - review

There are some stores out there that are a lot cheaper than eBay; most of the expense for us USA folks is shipping from Japan:

Hobby Search
AmiAmi

[CeilYurei]

I think there was a missile launcher one too. ANd yeah I was thinking of making my own gatlings. If i did use and make my own gats I'd want a nice look at the official CP03 to know how to work it so it can turn more than the default 3 barrel linear cannon on my new hasbro Dark horn can. for example. Or to make a pair of back mounted or even a chin gat for a heavy assault redler. Or a non-stealth configuration of the bloodler. I might use larger tubes though, so the barrels aren't exposed. And so somebdoy doesn't do something like what happened to the deathsaurer at the end of CC, and shove or fire a rod or something and jam the gats.

[Maethius]

I've found it is much more challenging to make quality weapons for smaller Zoids. Lately, most of my customs have been large, but I have some reference pics for building smaller units as a part of my Siege Tortoise build. Oh, for those smaller guns, I've recently fallen in love with using computer cables to make ammo belts (last image below):

[CeilYurei]

I ahve the additional problem of wanting a STEALTH variant. This means no 90 degree angles on the added parts, no gun barrels or anything else exposed either. Except when firing. Not many people realize it, but the F35 and F22 actually ahve a DOOR over the gun barrel that retracts less than a second before firing.

-Opens link and just kinda stares blankly at all the parts and skill needed.- I don't have a lot of parts like that. or broke zoids to use. I ahve some mechanical pencils but all i reall have to use to make guns are legos.

[Maethius]

Comb thrift stores and look at stuff with a critical eye. I've grabbed McDonald's toys out of the 50-cent bin for a few unique parts before. Also, don't be afraid to apply a screwdriver to things! I've used parts from old clocks, toys, computers, electric razors, cell phones, dead modems, and even video tapes! Don't just use an old toy as a base, look at the pieces, and then look to see if you can just cut details out of the pieces. I've cropped tiny but detailed bits from the deck of a USS Missouri model and tucked them in plain sight on Eradicator, just to add a little texture.

Start slow, and grow with it. Being broke but having the desire can be a great way to get you thinking more creatively than those guys who can go down and drop $50 on Kotobukiya MSG kits every other weekend!

[CeilYurei]

Most of the old clocks I have are digital...but i do ahve an old desktop with a broke heat sink, might get somethoing outta there. Well, two old desktops. problem is that with living with my parents still I'm afreaid of getting yelled at. I will see what old toys I ahve lying around though. I might actually ahve an old F-15 model I can chop up and some other stuff. Too bad I never kept mcdonalds toys as a kid. SOme of them had light up parts with little LEDs that would be so useful now to cut out and use for lighted parts. I'll have to start looking around for detail parts. I don't ahve a storm sworder and redlers are cheaper so I'll focus on bloodler. And I can use the enebas one i'm getting from Omega to compare parts before gluing or affixing them to a regular (purple)one. I might also e able to make a gatling for my Dark Horn. I'm sure I got spring coils and stuff in SOME of the old toys I got lying around. Or at least parts to make the gatling barrels. Or general, unique energy cannons. I should look at old action figures. If I can find some old action figure guns I'm sure I ahve i can sue those too. Or various tubings and grating details.

[CeilYurei]

Maethius I'm more sure than ever that the Bloodler used parts of an f22 in the design, in fact it might have been part of a model making contest, which they used for some of the games, people made custom models and they used them in the game.

here's the f22, specifically  pic of the profiles with the top profile on the right: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-22_Raptor#/media/File:F22a3view.png the horizontal stabilizers are really similar in shape to the ones on the blooder's sprite, and a 1/72 F22 would actually be of similar size to a redler. since the Raptor is 1.92 meters LONGER. heck, you could chop and trim the fuselage a bit and plant it where the wings on the redler go, then mount the horizontal stabilizers as vertical ones. the placement of the engines on the 22 meanas you would need minimal trimming to make it work properly.

[Maethius]

You can also go on eBay and look for things like Warhammer 40k bits. While not the cheapest source for parts, dropping $5 on a sprue for a nice cannon or a set of heavy bolters or even an armor upgrade kit can to a lot to give your custom a unique look. When I made Eradicator I used 40k cannons and other bits, as well as parts from dollar store toys. They have some really AWFUL soldier action figures there (that probably have toxic levels of lead in them) for $1 that you can toss the figure but keep the weapons and equipment it comes with. The mould quality isn't great, but its also not terrible... just take a few moments to clean it up with a knife or file, then incorporate it. Nice thing is, most of those cheap action figures (including those at Walmart for the next rung up on the low quality ladder) have oversized accessories that you can cannibalize to make light artillery in 1/72 scale.

[CeilYurei]

Aug 19, 2016 11:15:42 GMT -5 Maethius said:

You can also go on eBay and look for things like Warhammer 40k bits. While not the cheapest source for parts, dropping $5 on a sprue for a nice cannon or a set of heavy bolters or even an armor upgrade kit can to a lot to give your custom a unique look. When I made Eradicator I used 40k cannons and other bits, as well as parts from dollar store toys. They have some really AWFUL soldier action figures there (that probably have toxic levels of lead in them) for $1 that you can toss the figure but keep the weapons and equipment it comes with. The mould quality isn't great, but its also not terrible... just take a few moments to clean it up with a knife or file, then incorporate it. Nice thing is, most of those cheap action figures (including those at Walmart for the next rung up on the low quality ladder) have oversized accessories that you can cannibalize to make light artillery in 1/72 scale.

i see you used a klingon bop in the design, did you use it's torpedo llauncher and disrupters somewhere else? The maquis raider allso has some cool parts.. i also got an olld millenium falcon star wars model that i'm ironicalllly hoping is broken in spots so i have an excuse to get out it's quad laser cannons. And yea some of those action figures even have rifles that look way too big for the figure but would look great as light machine guns on mecha. And they sell them practically in bulk. also, clever use of computer parts in the eradicator. my probllem is i get stuck, still not sure how to finish my heavy bore cpc for the giggles. but i got some ideas to try. And one funny thing is that the lego 2 and 4 shot missile pods i made look llike the belong on the kits that i spent 15 minutes looking fro the 2 shot pods before i remembered i mounted them on my llightning saix, lol. i was going to use them to hide unused connection ports on the cpc, guess i need another idea, to mount the fans would hide a few but not enough. I also wanted to mount the fans out from the body a little.

look what I already found: www.ebay.com/itm/RAZORBACK-ASSAULT-CANNON-TURRET-/201649981759
www.ebay.com/itm/RAZORBACK-LASCANNON-AND-PLASMA-GUN-TURRET-/201649982728
www.ebay.com/itm/40k-Death-Masque-Deathwatch-Space-Marines-Veterans-Storm-Shields-x2-Bits-/201649112090 eshielding, armor, or detailing for guns there
www.ebay.com/itm/40k-Deathwatch-Space-Marines-Venerable-Dreadnought-Torso-Panels-Seals-Icons-Bits-/201649120540 i spy at least 2 cannons and 2 partial guns waiting to be jury rigged
www.ebay.com/itm/40k-Deathwatch-Space-Marines-Vanguard-Veterans-Storm-Shields-Thunder-Hammers-x4-/201649120957 hammers? More like energy or machine cannons
Now if only i had the money for them all...

[Maethius]

That Klingon BoP is scattered everywhere! My current custom uses parts from 2 different scales of the li'l frigate. ^_^

[CeilYurei]

Aug 21, 2016 2:42:21 GMT -5 Maethius said:

That Klingon BoP is scattered everywhere! My current custom uses parts from 2 different scales of the li'l frigate. ^_^

Nice, if I could find spare parts for a Bop I'd do tht...but I love star trek too so if I got an intact one I'd end up just building it. A lot of Klingon ships have nice detail pieces, dominion and Cardassian ones might have good ones too. Federation ships tend to be too smooth looking. Unless you can find a small enterprise e or somthing then you coulld turn the escape pods into missile pods, problem is any small kits probably wouldn't have removable pods, if any do for that matter. Star wars ships are good for big guns but a battleship kit could work for that too. Just add details to make them look more like beam cannons.

And is your current custom that King GOjulals based one? I'm suddenly wondering what the heck you're doing to it and how many guns it'll have.    

[Maethius]

I've got 130 hours into the KG custom right now; masking it for paint!
Remember, it isn't the number of guns your KG carries, it's the caliber!