Lysus' Fallout Trooper and HK-147

[Lysus]

Happy new year! Let's model some apocalypse, eh?

I have very likely bitten off more than I can chew, but let's just go for it. I'm going to use these:



That's a Bandai 1/12 Stormtrooper and First Order Stormtrooper, a Kotobukiya Frame Architect, and a Bandai 1/144 Gunpla Builder's Parts Dark Matter Booster.

The Plan

Part 1:

- Customize the Stormtrooper into a Fallout Trooper (as in the game Fallout 3 or 4) using paint and some moderate fabrication.
- Use the Frame Architect (an inner frame or endoskeleton) as a skeleton to kitbash some of the FO Stormtrooper onto along with some other bits and pieces to create a hunter-killer droid along the lines of HK-47 from the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic games. If you don't know who that is, you should really look him up. He's honestly one of my top five Star Wars characters ever...like right beneath Vader and Palapatine.
- Customize the Dark Matter Booster to appear as a drone from the Fallout games.

Part 2:

- Put them all onto a little dio or vignette--something I've NEVER DONE.

So yeah...walk in the park.

Let's have a look-see at the boxes tonight, I'll do un-bagged shots of the runners for each subject as we go, fair?

Stormtrooper:



You might not know this about me, but I do like me a good Stormtrooper. By the way, the box lists them as "Elite Soldiers"


Yeah...let's not throw the word "elite" around so lightly, ok?

First Order (FO) Stormtrooper:



Frame Architect:





Dark Matter Booster:





Alright, now that's out of the way, I hope to begin soon starting with the Fallout Trooper. Wish me luck.

[privatepete]

Hi Jason "bitten of more thanI can chew" no I think you be finished by the weekend ,hope you haven't it sounds good on paper ,good luck with the build.
Pete

[Twokidsnosleep]

Holy molars that is a plan

[DBMiller]

Goodness, I though I had taken on too much!

[Lysus]

We have seven months to do this, right?

[ScaleModelJedi]

Looking forward to this, Very cool idea

[EvilCarrot]

Cool project, meatbag!

[NorthernModeller]

I like where this is going

[Lysus]

Thanks, fellas. Let's hope I finish it, SiGs are three months, not four

Cool project, meatbag!

Statement: This guy gets it.

[panzerman825]

Great sounding project....lots of scratchbuilding. I like it. Good luck and have fun.
Bill

[Lysus]

Great sounding project....lots of scratchbuilding. I like it. Good luck and have fun.
Bill

Thanks! Actually hoping to start in on it today or tonight

[Skullfish]

good luck with this build mate, kudos, mojo and not forgetting positive waves all channelling your way.

Jase

[Lysus]

good luck with this build mate, kudos, mojo and not forgetting positive waves all channelling your way.

Jase

Thanks, dude!

I got something done! Hooray!

Here we gooooo...

PART 1 // Building

I started with the (soon to be) Fallout Trooper first. Oh look, the typical Bandai stickers and some decals! Excellent! I doubt I'd use them on Fallout Boy here, but the droid could use an emblem of the Galactic Empire for sure.



I won't go into loads of detail about the build phase here, if you've seen or built one Bandai kit you've seen or built them all. Engineered down to the micron, they fit snugly and in the case of this kit the seam lines are almost all entirely hidden in details. Practically no filling needed! As with modern Gundam kits there's an inner detail frame (of sorts) and an outer shell that snaps on over it. In this case, a black frame and a white shell:





One unfortunate thing (that may be hard to see here--the armor is really shiny), there's a seam line across this knee armor. Lame.



He only took about 45 minutes to an hour to do with some light nub removal. I'll do the rest as I start modifying it, seemed a waste of time to clean it up until I know what's going where. Small bits are on clips and toothpicks, the rest will get broken down again for modification/painting:



Finally, though he comes with three weapons--his pistol, carbine, and rifle--I figure this is a post-apocalyptic build and a Fallout theme, so he needs more. Enter a Kotobukiya Modelling Support Goods (MSG) Long Rifle:





Very simple to assemble and decently detailed. Hopefully it isn't too ridiculously out of scale. If it is maybe the HK droid will carry it.

Next up was the Dark Matter Booster. I'm intending it to be like a drone from New Vegas etc. This thing was fun and snapped up in about 20 minutes. I really dig the look of it, though it was bigger than I was expecting...





For a simple kit it actually has quite a bit going on, the wings and all the spines are articulated and can be posed in a ton of ways:



(I just realized these are some fuzzy pics, I'll shoot some better ones soon and edit this)

Next up was the Frame Architect. This was surprisingly fast; most all parts are at most two pieces sandwiched together with a peg or polycap at either end. The kit has some decent looking hands, but I wanted something more sinister, so another MSG set of "Sharp Hands" was used here:







Before I realized what I've done I finished the damn thing without many pics. Oh well, we'll see more when I modify this sucker:



I'm not keen on the head, it's not very Star Wars-like. I may have to remedy that somehow. Maybe I should dig through some spare parts and see what I can find.

This thing is crazy poseable:



So there we have it, our three players snapped up and ready for some kitbashing.



Until next time!

[Skullfish]

off to a flying start i see. cant wait to see what you make from these.

Jase

[Fridgy]

Interesting..... keen to see where you take this Lysus

Love that you have posed the frame dude huddling in his little box

[Twokidsnosleep]

This thing is crazy poseable:

TA DAAAAAA!!!!
...that took a lot of deleting to get that photo only, my pointer finger is now very tired

[Lysus]

off to a flying start i see. cant wait to see what you make from these.

Jase

FINALLY!

Interesting..... keen to see where you take this Lysus

Love that you have posed the frame dude huddling in his little box

Well, it's cold in my office during the winter and he's got no coverings...

This thing is crazy poseable:

TA DAAAAAA!!!!
...that took a lot of deleting to get that photo only, my pointer finger is now very tired

Sorry about your pointer. If I do any more silly poses I'll make sure to post them separately for easier replies. I can guarantee it will happen...this was one of like 10 I did. In the mean time, maybe one of these?

[Twokidsnosleep]

Deleterous-pointeritis.....first world injury
Good Simpsons photo reference there Homer wore a moo moo in that episode I believe

[pir8hntr]

Very impressive looking build. I really like the ballet pose the best.
pir8hntr

[Lysus]

Very impressive looking build. I really like the ballet pose the best.
pir8hntr

Thanks! He's quite the performer.

[Lysus]

I finally had some time with this build. Owing to my recent business I've had to cut back my plans on some of the modifications to the Stormtrooper. I was planning on lots of hoses and do-dads but given that I want to do a base and that I've never done that before I need to move things along. Most of his customization will have to be paint and weapons, sadly.

In keeping with the original spirit of the build when Ivan first proposed it--and the Fallout games' penchant for weaponry--he'l be carrying a small arsenal in addition to his carbine.

The kit itself is Bandai at its finest, almost zero seam lines and fits that are engineered to the micron. This has one drawback: painted areas will make fits too tight or require sanding back to seat properly. One of the covers on his hands I'll have to remove and fix up. You've been warned.

There is one seam; the back of his helmet:



Not too nasty but a shame. Still, I can't complain and he won't be seen from the back so it could have been worse.

Primed in Stynylrez/Ultimate Grey for the armor and Black for the underarmor. I decided the black looked perfect for the color so I left it. Sacrilege, I know, but it really is a FANTASTIC shade of black, sort of a semi-satin and perfect for the fabric.



A day later I sprayed his armor with Mr Color 39 Dark Yellow and 27 Interior Green at 80/20. The terrain in Fallout 3 is rocky and blasted (kind of like the California desert) so I wanted something deserty. It ended up somewhere between Afrika Korps and a Boy Scout shirt which is near enough to what I wanted. I went a little light on some edges to let the grey primer do the work of some preshading (a true preshade might be too heavy I thought). I think it worked ok. Here he is with a giant sniper rifle and HK-147:



The HK-147 is starting to come together. I have the breast plate from the First Order Stormtrooper on along with some Gundam builder's parts and a Kotobukiya sword. It's all just held on with some Blutack for now while I figure it out. I want to make sure he's still poseable. One thing I'm having a hard time with is how much armor to put on. My template is HK-47 and as you can see, he's pretty slim:



Bolting on the armor bulks this one up a bit. I might take a page from K-2SO, but then I wouldn't be doing much more than painting the frame and that feels like cheating a bit.



I'll work on it. Weapon-wise I'm thinking blades for him with maybe a blaster or carbine. Still not sure about the head...

And finally the Dark Matter Booster got its primer (Stynylrez/Ultimate again). It will be crashed between the two, their latest kill. This means I'll need to smash it up a little, something I have a hard time doing to kits. Particularly ones that are cool looking.

Rifle is glued with TET and will need filling and seam removal down the length of the top; it's just two pieces sandwiched together *grumble*. I hate removing seams on stuff like rifle barrels.



Next time will be wrapping up the players in this drama before starting the scenery!

[Tomcat64]

That's starting to come together nicely - love the animation available on the HK.

Going to be interesting to see how you build up the base for this one.

[Lysus]

Thanks!

The frame architect is pretty sweet for range of motion. I'm impressed by it (can't stop playing with it!).

I hope to get these fellas squared away soon, I've never attempted a base before and I can't wait to try!

[Fridgy]

[Lysus]

True enough.

Got a tad more done:



Dark Matter Booster is painted up with various Alclads (Magnesium, Stainless Steel, Chrome, and Aluminum) to give it some color separation.



I set about weathering it up with some Tamiya powders.



A little soot, rust, and oil stain. It shouldn't be so rusted out as to appear a derelict, but it would have build up from long patrols in the wasteland.

Then I drilled a hole through an eye and an exit hole out the top of the head. I'm wondering if I should try to paint in some "hot metal" effect.



Fallout Trooper got my ham-fisted version of some paint chipping.





I'll hit him with some dust and soot later, too.



I decided at random he should have a shield. Because reasons. I grabbed an HG RX-78-2 from my stash and looted the shield from it.





Not a big loss, I have an RG version of this kit as well and I was planning to do the "classic" pose for this one anyway--no shield required.



I didn't put on the yellow cross, thought instead I'd fill it in. Never tried Green Stuff before, so I gave that a whirl:



I globbed it on a little too thick and it took some serious sanding to get it even, but live and learn. Also it's fine if the shield is beat up, saves me some work beating it up later. The shield has a bolt for sticking it into the Gundam kit, so I made a hole in the trooper dead in the "O" of his "oil" pack:



As you can see, there's no dremmel tool here, just a frickin drill. Scary.

Meanwhile I primed up the Architect Frame with Stynylrez/Ultimate Grey to check for seams and hit the trooper's sniper rifle with some Alcad Gunmetal"



That's it for now, with these two mostly done (still weapons and such for the trooper to do, maybe a bag or cape or something) I can focus on the droid...



Until next time!

[Fridgy]

Noice!

Looking good mate

[Stokesy44]

Cool pic Fridgy

[Stokesy44]

I finally had some time with this build. Owing to my recent business I've had to cut back my plans on some of the modifications to the Stormtrooper. I was planning on lots of hoses and do-dads but given that I want to do a base and that I've never done that before I need to move things along. Most of his customization will have to be paint and weapons, sadly.

Go for it with the base, I say.

I've just started getting into dioramas myself and I'm loving the change of pace and using new materials, methods and skills. It almost feels like a new hobby.

Also - great to see a Stormtrooper with guns that might actually work

[NorthernModeller]

Loving how this build is progressing

[kiwigav]

Very cool progress mate

[Lysus]

Loving how this build is progressing

Very cool progress mate

Thanks, fellas! Won't be able to touch it again until Monday, but hopefully I can get on to the base soon, time runneth out. Outeth. Timeth runneth outismo.

The end is nigh.

[Lysus]

A little more work, drilled out some holes in a pair of sword scabbards for the droid. I decided he should be into slicing meatbags open so blades are appropriate. A Gunpla Builder's set of parts from Gundam will do nicely for some mounting and a piece of runner from the Zoid I'm working on will serve as the peg:



I also cut some styrene sheet to build out a mount for some pistons on his ankles:



HK was sprayed with Mr Color c61 Burnt Iron and his armor with 30/30/40 Mr Color 14 Navy Blue, c72 Intermediate Blue, and 92 Semi-Gloss Black:



You can see his ankle guards here, a piston will seat between each piece.

Then I used some spare Gundam hoses to give him some "guts":



I'll need to fashion one or two more plates to cover a couple spots up and then figure out how to secure the armor to his frame. Some weathering and weapons and I think we'll be done with the figures so we can scramble to make a base before the time is up!

[krusty69]

robots are the scariest, i'd much rather fit zombies, well maybe slow zombies
finally taken some time to look at other peoples stuff
well done

[Tomcat64]

Nice work - the blue adds a really subtle contrast without completely dominating - coming along well

[Les]

A fun looking project, as always, Lysus!

[Lysus]

Obviously I've missed this deadline (again...ugh) but work continues. Update soon...