I recently finished this vintage Japanese soft vinyl garage kit of the Studio Nue version of the power suit from Starship Troopers. The Powered Suit is an iconic mecha design in Japan, and you should read my review of the kit over at CollectionDX for more info and some history.
If you just want big pictures of a chunky mecha kit painted up, continue reading…
I don’t have anything to report yet on getting the Bounce Tortoise into resin because I ave been busy with work and commissioned models, but something amazing did show up in the mail yesterday. When I learned that Shapeways competitor i.materlise offer 3D prints in solid brass, I was intrigued. When I saw the example prints on their site, I knew I had to have one. The process for 3D printing to brass is to 3D print the wax and do lost wax casting. The result is polished and plated, with a variety of finishes offered. I went for the high gloss polished gold plating, and the results are stunning.
I will have a review and full write-up of this sweet vintage kit on CollectionDX hopefully soon, but I literally just finished the kit tonight and wanted to get some quick shots posted. Proper studio shots to follow.
I’ve been showing off blazing white prints for the last few posts, and I thought it was time to finally show off the detail of the Bounce Tortoise design. The WSF Polished prints have some surface texture to them, and the detail is not razor sharp, but I could not wait any longer to try painting one of these guys. This is a PBT-0xx print as shown in Adventures in Shapeways Part 2, before some changes and tweaks were made to the detail and size. It was still a blast to paint.
This 1/60 scale PBT-000 Bounce Tortoise print is not for any higher purpose or machination, I simply wanted a stainless steel print of my power suit.
In Adventures in Shapeways Part 3 I discussed the 1/60 scale Bounce Tortoise print. Today we’re going to discuss the larger, more Deluxe Bounce Tortoise in 1/35 scale, again shown next to a 1/35 scale Scopedog, and a 1/35 scale Maschinen Krieger suit.
In Adventures in Shapeways Part 2 I showed off the very first test print of the Bounce Tortoise power armor. A new shipment came earlier this week with much more exciting prints.
I know I’ve been quiet for the summer, but I finally have new things to show, but I think you guys are going to like them. In my last Adventures in Shapeways post, I showed off some basic modeling and print tests that were just a way for me to get a handle on making something on screen and having it show up at my doorstep. Now we’re into real designs, starting with the PBT-0XX Bounce Tortoise prototype. Power armor in the Starship Troopers, Dorvack, and Machinen Krieger tradition is one of my favorite things. With the infinite possibilities afforded by CAD, I decided to start with a power suit.
B-Club is the specialty item arm of Bandai. B-Club makes PVC character figures, model detail parts, soft vinyl toys and kits, and more. They’ve released numerous reissue Bullmark kaiju vinyl toys, but have also released soft vinyl model kits over the years. At some point, B-Club released a line of 1/75 scale kits of mecha from Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket. I don’t really care for the miniseries, but I like the machines in it quite a bit. When I learned about the line, I knew I needed to start tracking them down. Soft vinyl robot kits are a strange breed, but I love them. I wrote along, indulgent thoughtpiece about vinyl robot kit in a review over on CollectionDX. Go there to read lots of words, and scroll down for more and bigger pictures of the finished Zaku.
The Microman Bio Mechanic suits were model kits released at the tail end of the original Microman line and reissued by Romando in the 90’s. You can read a thorough history of them at Microforever, but the sparknotes version is that they are chunky, rugged snap-fit battle armor kits for Microman figures. This one started out life as the tan and brown Desert Filtered type, but I was on a blue kick when I airbrushed it a while back. Microman is a pretty veteran toy franchise, so I went heavy with the weathering as if this unit had been there since the beginning.
Prometheus Rising Studios 