Gundam Vidar....

Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans is worth watching not only for the amazing mechanical designs, but also for the fact that do a lot of things with the story an characters that turn Gundam tropes upside down. The Vidar is actually the (better looking, in my opinion) version of the Gundam Kimaris, a villain mobile suit gets a lot of neat battlefield moments in the series. This one is made from RAFM Heavy Gear parts, a Mekton, a Battletech Commando, a Marauder, and various other bits and bobs.

The actual Vidar has wing shields on extendable arms on its thruster backpack, but I just plain didn't have the bits, and so opted for sensor aerials. They look like vestigial wings, which is rather the point. 

Those big things on the hips are binder that hold replacement foils for the Vidar's close combat weapons; oversize armor-pierceing fencing foils. It's also meant to have a set of hidden handguns in the front armor panels, but there's only so much you can do at this scale. 

Those shoulders are from the Insane Kangaroo Hunchback model, which comes with parts for every variant and thus a wealth of conversion fodder. It has the wheelie heels for ground mobility, because it's meant to be a space unit adapted for ground combat. It still has the huge thrusters in its calves, knees and backpack, so it's more than capable of getting airborne in the lower gravity of Mars. 

Happy Cyber Monday, people. 

The O

Paptimus Scirocco's the O is one of the more recognizable mobile suits from the Zeta Gundam anime series, and is a really solid, iconic design. Boasting a large, overpowered beam cannon, heavy armor, and high mobility, the O was far from ponderous or slow, and boasted a set of sub-arms under its skirts, making it a formidable hand to hand opponent as well. 

So, having a bunch of spare parts in hand, I built it as a Heavy Gear. 

The legs are from a RAFM Grizzly that came in a sealed blister with no torso. The torso, backpack, and arms I had on-hand from a RAFM Spitting Cobra since the late 1990's. The skirts are missile pod doors from Alternative Armies. (as is the head bit)  You can actually order bits from them via email, and the AA staff is friendly and very easy to work with. I, of course, got more than just a few doors. More on that later. The sub-arm sticking out is from an old RAFM Stone Mason gear mini. RAFM's quality control was atrocious, so this blister, which was missing parts in the old days, became just spare parts. Those bits on the shoulders.... I forget where they came from, but they looked like folded-up sub-arms to me, and bulked up the shoulders satisfactorily.  

That backpack is from the Spitting Cobra as well. Those thrusters on the butt? A Silent Death fighter. As with all Heavy Gear minis of the period, it's really served well by bits broadening the shoulders so you can more solidly attach the arms to the torso. 

The O traditionally carries an enormous beam rifle, but this one turned into something slightly more mundane. That gun is two plastic heavy bolters mated together; I debated for a long time whether to include the clip and make it a machinegun, but as it has a port for ejecting spent casings, I found a suitable bit for one.

Happy Monday, people. 

WIP: Threat Approaching, Boss Battle Imminent....

I know, I'm still on the mecha kick, but this thing has no brakes. I started trying to make the original Jovian Chronicles Dragonstriker, a boss mecha from one of the two Mekton-era modules, but, as with other models, it has since morphed into an updated neo-version of itself. 

I've also dabbled a bit in FFG X-Wing style rules for the old JC stuff, as there is no good mecha combat system currently in existence. Behold:

For those not in the know, the Pathfinder is sort of the baseline Jovian hero mecha.

And the Wyvern is its burly tyrannical Earth nemesis. Resemblences are intentional, as JC was cooked up as a not-Gundam Gundam game, and the art was largely based on Gaia Gear. If you don't know what that is, Google it. It's Gundam with the Sci-Fi knob turned up to eleven. Beautiful stuff. Seriously.  

I can hear you 40kers breathing out there. There's lots for you too when this is over. 

It'll be done when it's done.

Happy Saturday, people.