Hazel's head test assemble - 3rd round...

I am back hard at work on the head, I had to insert the pins and rods needed to mount the head onto the neck and the two antennas onto the side of the tomahawk. I also started work on the 4 explosive struts on each side of the hazel's neck that keep the Hazel's head mounted onto the primrose unit, You don't see these parts in the models, but they are visible in the cover illustration for the AOZ book.




Now that I am done mounting all of the rods and pins, I did another test assemble.



I am making progress, but not the kind of progress I thougth I would...

What we have been waiting for!

I spent some time today test building the Hazel, I have completed most of the repairs to the parts, and I inserted some rods into the primrose unit to provide some support. Now the cockpit does not tip over any more and fall off on to the floor.

I still had to use tape to hold the model together, but it is not drooping to one side like before. On the other hand, I will have to correct the angle of the arms, they are drooping forward. I did not put the lower arms on, I am going to have to build two joints for the elbows. I was hoping that the arms would be able to rest comfortable in a forward position, but the subarms are in the way.



I added a piece of styrene to the one of the legs, but it is not enough, this really annoys the hell out of me. How could I have miss judged the height of each part of the leg. This is why the two legs still look funny, one of the legs is still short. I am still finding cracks in all of the leg parts, the parts definitely move jiggle around more than they use to.



I am so happy, the model actually stood still with all of the parts and it did not fall over. :D



Well, enjoy everyone... :-)

We all have been waiting for this moment.

The Big Crash...

I hate Friday the 13th...

I was trying to do a test assemble last night, but the Hazel fell forward off of my table and on to the floor, the two front armor plates and the leg struts are all broken... :( had my back turned and did not see what happened, but I did hear a loud boom, and saw all of the pieces all over the floor of my apartment. :( was hoping to do a complete test build, but now I have to repair the damaged pieces, and check all of the other parts. Most of the parts are not damaged, but I can hear things rattle inside of the leg parts... :(





I am still going to press on with the Hazel, but I need to do some repair work...

Hazel test assemble...

I have been hard at work on the Sub-arms and the joints for the front side skirts since the last update, The one issue that I ran into for this part of the construction was that I built the two joints that connect the two front skirts to the hip to thick, so I had to sand down all of the parts. Another issue I ran into is that the mount that connects the two sub-arms to the abdomen was to short, so I had to make it taller and longer.



You can see here that the side mount is much taller than before.


Here is a shot of the two front skirts and the joints.


I finally cut and glued the brass rods for the sub arms, here is a shot of the completely assembled subarms.


Ok, I attempted my first test assemble of the Hazel, I got as far as assembling the entire lower body minus the sub-arms and the slide mount. I ran in to a few problems along the way which has caused me to stop the test assemble in mid construction.

The problem is that the knees wanted to keep bowing outwards, and the ankle joints had to much movement. This also contributed to the knees wanting to slide outward. I am going to have to put extra rods in the hip and knees to prevent unwanted movement in the abdomen. Right now the abdomen has a tendency to side to either the left or the right; with out extra tension in the joints and some extra support, the legs will fall over. In several of the photos, I used a wine bottle and my cellphone for a size comparison. On top of everything else, I made the 4 piston rods to short, so when the legs are fully extended back, the rods will fall out of the strut housing, you can see this in one of the photos, the rods have fallen forward.

I hope that next time, I will be able to do a full test assemble, I was not surprised that all of the pieces did not hold together this time. But I am happy that I tried, now I know that I need to work on making the knees stronger and add extra support to the hips.

Here are a few photos of the test assemble effort.


Another issue that I ran into is that the back thruster flaps are to long, on top of that, all of the holes that I drilled for them are useless. So now I have to shorten the flaps and drill new holes. :( This is why I did not add the flaps to the rear of the legs.


As you can imagine, this beast is huge, I was shocked as to how massive this thing is after I completely assembled the feet, legs, and abdomen. Despite all of the problems, I am happy that at least I am on the right track, all of the pieces fit, and there were no major flaws in the design.

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The Hazel construction update

I have not forgotten about this thread or this build, I have been busy working on the surface detail since the last post. I went back to work on the Tail unit, and glued the top plate to the rest of the tail unit, I used some strip styrene underneath to re-enforce the top plait, I spent some more time filling and sanding down the seams. I have also been working on the abdomen as well, I have been working hard to get all of the pieces to fit properly. I went back to the hands, lower legs, and added detail that I needed to make the parts stand out more, this included the Primrose unit, I added the slots for the two front lights, I also went back to the two front armored skirts and added some detail to them. I have not decide if I am going to keep them like that or not. The other big thing I did was dress up the hands and added some parts for a german tank model to dress up the wrists.





The biggest task was to get some serious work done on the sub arms, I had to move the connecting joints that attach the Sub-Ams to the abdomen to the back top corner instead of the center, again I checked the plans and drawing that I created and realized that I had drilled the hole in the wrong place. I also added the Y shaped seam that is on each of the Sub-Arms and the support struts on the bottom, I decided to use thin styrene to construct the struts since they will not be visable one all of the parts for the Sub-Arms are assembled.

I also added some re-enforcing struts on the top and back to each of the connecting joints, I also started work on the armored covers that go on top of the rollers that connect the two Sub-Arms to the Abdomen. I still have to build the fingers and the motor for each of the lower arms.





This past weekend, I bought the brass rods that I needed, and cut them to the length that I needed, I also drilled out the connecting holes for the rods. I have started to glue the rods to the Abdomen and the thruster pack, since I am only test fitting the parts at this point, I am not going to glue all of them now.



After long last, I have test fitted all of the pieces for the body, I had to build a extra part so that I can connect the cockpit to the Hazel's body. But this is not a issue, I am not designing the Primrose unit to transform. The head looks kind of funny, but that is because I added a piece of plastic inside to help the head line up with the neck. As you can see below, the project is starting to come together. Yes, the hips look wider than the primrose unit, but I have checked everything, and looked at several photos to be certain. the Hazel's Primrose unit is suppose to look much smaller than a normal torso unit.



I still have a lot of work to do, I am not done by a long shot.
____________________________________________

It's been a few months now, I have been hard at work on my hazel the past few days, I got side tracked a little bit. I was busy playing Tomb Raider Underworld, if anyone has played the previous two games, the story is very interesting since it ties the previous two games together.

I have been hard at work on the front leg struts, I started out with left over styrene tubing, it's probably plastruct, but don't hold me to it. I have had it for a while, and I don't remember the brand, but I have been using brass rod to build the internal part of the shock rods. Since there is a gap between the brass rod on the inside and the outer plastic tube on the outside, I had to use some aluminum tubing that I had to fill in the splace.



All I did was role the aluminum tubing under a Xacto Knife a few times, and the short piece of tubing will break off. I had to use a hand saw to cut the plastic tubing to the desired length and then sand it down flush. All of the pieces had to be super glued together.



Here are the two completed sets of leg pistons, I know that the exact length may be off, but the most of the front struts will be hidden from view. you will only see the bottom portion of the support struts anyways. I did not build the rear struts because there are two hosed that run the length of both legs in the back. I am following the drawings of the Gundam GM Quell, since the Hazel and the Gundam GM Quel shared the same basic leg design, with the position of the front and the rear leg, both sets rear struts will not be visible.



I was going to construct the two ankle joints from scratch, but since I had a few extra scrap parts left from the arms, I decided to recycle the remains of shoulders in the construction of the ankles. Along with some styrene strips, Brass rods, and Milliput putty, I have finished the anke joints.



In the second photo, I have super glued the rods to the top and bottom of the ankle joint. There will be a 3rd rod that joins the two halves together.



Here is a test assemble of the entire internal foot unit and ankle joint. I have build the two sockets that the 2 foot thrusters will sit in.



I still have some extra filling and sanding to do on the ankles, but otherwise I am almost done.

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More sanding, and more updates...

It is another week, and it is time for a update, I have been having a difficult week at work, everyone including yours truly has been in a rotten mood. So it is time for some stress relief, and time to work on the rest of the Hazel that I have neglected. :meh:

Upper Leg unit

After repeated sanding, the exterior joints of the outer shell became very weak, so I ended up having to re-enforce the outer shell with milliput putty. While I was at it, I glued, filled and sanded down the other wall of the interior portion of the upper leg. Once done, I glued on the front armor skirt support stopper. The Gundam GM Quel has one mounted onto the top of each leg, I am guessing the thing prevents the armored skirt from slamming into the leg when the Mobile Suit is moving. I also drilled out the hole where the socket joint for the legs will connect to the legs to the abdomen.



Arm and exterior plates

I have also been working on the arms and the lower legs, I added the exterior detail to the outer surfaces, so far I have worked on the lower arms and legs, plus the primrose unit. This photo shows you the work that I have done for each of the parts. I have cut the general shape of each plate then I glue it on, then sand and fill in the seams around the corners. I also ran into a problem. The .10 styrene is to thin, as a result, it is warping when I glue down the sheets to the parts. So I have not choise but to fill and sand down the cavities that are left behind. This is why I have putty applied the lower arm as shown in the below photo.



Primrose Unit

I spent the previous 3 months or so working on the legs and other parts, it is time to give the primrose unit some attention, I started by building the front door for the cockpit, and the exterior detail for the cock pit, and the wings of the primrose unit. I used styrene tubing, and thin sheet styrene to build the exterior detail. I have been following the photos and drawings that I have, but since all of the primrose units built were all slightly different, this will give me some leeway for the details.

I have added the two slots for the wing lights, what I found is that I over sanded part of the wings so they look crooked. I had to correct the angle by sanding and filling the gap that remained after I glued the new piece of styrene. Now, both primrose unit wings are the correct shape, I worked on the two wing mounts that the anchor the wings to the abdomen. As you can see in one of the photos below the anchors attach to the back of each wing.

There is still more sanding and filling ahead for me.



High Speed Power Unit

I also had to work on the High Speed Power Unit, this time I had to create the support struts that go on the front and the back of the power unit. I cut tube styrene, and used some thin sheet styrene to create the support struts, and the nozzles at each end of the Power unit. I had to extend the length of the rear side walls with some scrap styrene and putty, once the putty has set, I sanded down the rear to obtain the desired shape. The two thruster nozzles were harder to create than I first thought, I had to repeatedly sand and cut the styrene to obtain the desired shape. The other remaining task was to create the internals of the Power unit. I am going to simulate the internal mount that attaches the Power Unit to the Thruster Pack, I turned the Power Unit over to give you a idea as to what I am planning. I



Also, on the maintenance crew unis, I had a look at the last episode of Gundam 83, I saw that the maintenance crews for the Titans wore the same grey uniforms that the EFSF wore. I guess I am going to have to watch Z Gundam and and see if there is a difference, I know that Orange is for Anaheim Electronics.

Legs, Legs, Legs....

It has been a while since I have updated this thread, but rest assured, I am hard at work on this model. Most of the time in between updates has been spent sanding and filling. At the Comic-Con, I got a good idea of the size of a Mobile suit after I saw the Iron Monger at the Marvel booth, it did a great job on inspiring me to press on with my work, even though most of the time has been spent sanding and filling. I went back to work on the legs, I ran into problems with several parts of the hazel, I noticed that some of the pieces were to short in a few spots, so I had to use lots of milliput, patience, and sanding to correct the angle, and shape of the legs, and make the sub-arms longer.

One evening I decided to look at my plans for the Hazel and examine all of the parts, I discovered that I the sub arms were to short, so I have to correct the length of the sub arms by cutting away the bottom part of the upper sub-arm and reposition it. This also ment that I had to rebuild the lower half of the upper arm, and re putty and re sand both of the upper arms. I had a closer look at the AOZ book that I have, I saw that I am missing a crucial piece of detail a the top of the upper arm. so, I had to build this part back in to the upper arm.

I am so Mad at myself for not seeing this sooner.



I noticed several things wrong with the parts for the lower leg, the angle of the thighs armored plates were bent in to much, so I had to correct the angle, and all for pieces of the lower leg had to be completely symmetrical with one another. In the photo below, you can see that this is not the case, so I had to spend some time sanding and filling all of the parts. I also have started to ad the detail for the lower leg's access levers and the hinge,i am not going to make the doors open and close. I don't want to create any more work for myself than I have already have.

.010 styrene sheets were used to create the seam of the access panel on each of the lower legs, I drew out the shape of the access panel's seam, measured and drew the guide lines then cut the pieces of styrene. I still have to sand down the pieces of styrene that I used to build the bays were the access levers are housed.



Since I am working on the lower leg, I decided to finish the work on the rear thruster for the lower leg. I added the ports for the rear thruster nozzles, and built the rear fins.



Once that was done, I had to add in the detail for the rear of the knees, I had a look at the Gundam GM Quel's legs, and there is a intercooler fin box at the back of each of the knees, so I used .010 styrene to build the individual fins in the fin boxes. I am going to use the same idea for the 2 sets of thruster nozzles for the High Speed power unit, I am dreading the assignment!!! Assembling the the fin boxes was a major pain in the ass!!!

Compared to the intercoolers, the support arms for the knees was not so bad, ow that the task is done, I don't feel so bad.



Once the knees were completed, finished work on the individual parts for the tow front armored skirts that protect the hips. I added the surface detail in the front and in the back. I drew out the patterns that I wanted, and I drilled holes in the corners, then cut the styrene in between the holes to create the desired patterns I needed for the skirt details.



At this point in time, I have finished correcting the shapes of the lower legs, glued together a few of the parts for the shoulders and the legs, build some extra detail parts for the feet. I decided to simulate the arms that lift up and out the armored shell that protects the components in the feet. When you look inside the cavities of the feet units it is really empty, so I needed to add some detail to these spaces.

At this point in time, I am starting to add in the surface detail as I go along. I am not going to do a test assemble yet. The feet are not finished yet. I still have to re-enforce the heels and the feet before this can happen.

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The Hands of Hazel

Besides following the US open, my other project for the weekend was to build the two hands for the Hazel, I already had the .100 thick and .25 inch wide styrene strips already. My big worry was how I was going to build the joint covers for the fingers, I got lucky and found the hollow square strene tubes that are close to the size that I need. All I had to do was to cut the tubes to shape and cut out the wall on one side.

I decided against using the EZ8's hand for the model because the shape of the Hazel's hands and the EZ8's hands are totally different. So I had to scratch build the hands myself.




I used a hacksaw to cut the pieces that I needed, all in all, there are 20 pieces of Square styrene that I cut for the hand. I am so happy that the hobbyshop had this in stock, it saved me a lot of work.



I spent Saturday and Sunday cutting and sanding all of the pieces of styrene for my hand, I started out by test building a few fingers before I got the right size that I needed. I eventually got the right one that I needed.



After spending Saturday evening and Sunday morning cutting and glueing the pieces that I needed, I spent the rest of the day sanding down the small pieces, and test assembing all of the parts of the fingers and narrowing the with of the styrene strips so that they will fit into the space of the square styrene tubes.



This is a picture of the test assembled hand, I spent the previous 3 days measuring and cutting the parts for the hand itself. That was the easiest part. The fingers were a real pain in the but to sand and cut. I decided to round the corners, this created lots of extra work for me.



Now, I have to build the armored cover and the surface detail on the top of the hands, and build the wrist units.