"HARIBON" MG RMS 108 Marasai vMatX Part III

Lightning update:

After the extending the upper arms, there was something about the forearms that kept bugging me (never mind the bright background lighting):



It looked too short for comfort. This is the kind of escalation I was trying to avoid (like how the Itch with the Chimera build) since again, I didn't want to do unplanned modifications, but to no avail. I was actually thinking about it while I was posting part II, but brushed it aside, till I could no longer.

Then again, the modification for this is about the same one I did for the ankle joint and rather simple. In this case however, I drilled the hole at the center off the ball along the its axis first, then cut the entire peg at the base. This pre-aligns the extension beam.



Then used the same encapsulation method I did earlier. In this case however, I was using a 2mm round beam and a pipe with a 3mm inner diameter (the same type I used with the upper arm). To compensate for the difference, I cut thin strips of 0.3mm plaplates (yes, I still have a few of these buggers), and stuffed them in the gap and around the beam, then dropped cement to saturate the stuffing. It's a simple matter of attaching the peg/ball and sealing the entire thing with cement.



Better, if I do say so myself.



I'll try to post an update as soon as I can I'll be spending as much free time I have as I can on this build, but I have to work on a couple of projects first.

"HARIBON" MG RMS 108 Marasai vMatX Part II

Wrapped Around. For the abdomen armor extension, I did a modification similar to what I've done with the Bathala.



I drilled four 2mm holes, one at each "corner" at the bottom of the abdomen armor, where I each inserted 2mm/1.3cm long round beams. These will serve as "posts" for the base of the extension. I made the base by aligning holes through a piece of 1mm WHIPS, and followed the shape of the armor's base when I cut it, allowing a little leeway for corrections. I cemented the base onto another piece of WHIPS, and it served as the "catch" of the posts.





I then cut an apt-width piece of WHIP and wrapped it around the extension posts, aligning it with the base and the lower edge of the armor.



At Arm's Reach. I avoided having to extend the arms mainly because, as you can see in the picture, there were "nothing" for me to work on how to extend it because of how small the pieces are relative to their connection points. The peg was too small to core, the upper arm is too short to cut, owing that the frakking polycap is placed in the middle of the <bicep> and there's nowhere good enough to cut either way. I didn't feel it needed it, reasoning to myself that the proportion was still okay, but I lost to my own insistence. I haven't really done any arm extensions before, and I didn't have any ready solution.



Or did I? The solution, again, was simple; all I had to do was replicate what I did with the thigh extension by encapsulating the peg + the extension with a pipe. These plastic pipes are a bit tricky to work with though, since they don't "melt" with cement. I had to rely on the snugness of the fit, the cement does melt the peg and extension, so their bond should stay because of the encapsulation.



Test fit.  It now has "human-like" proportions.



To be continued...

"HARIBON" MG RMS 108 Marasai vMatX Part I

Haribon. A monicker given to the Philippine Eagle. It literally means "King of Birds," and much rightly so because the Philippine Eagle is said to be the 3rd largest Eagle in the world.  The Haribon is also what will become of the Marasai after modifications. I chose the Marasai as the Haribon's base mainly because its head somewhat resembles a raptor's (at least in my mind's eye, but the power of suggestion is quite, er, powerful, as others have begun seeing what I see. I also chose the Marasai, because it is one of the Zaku-based grunt units I actually liked immediately when I first saw it. I was disappointed with at first, because its frame was also made of PS instead of the usual ABS, but as I was assembling it, the frame seemed and felt like dense polycap (PE) material, was too easy to cut and scratch, especially with a brand new cutter (the old one's spring finally gave way, aside from the fact that it has become dull in 2 years). It behaves like PE material as well; it hugs its fellow plastic, and seem to have a slight elastic memory.

It is as beneficial as it is troublesome in some aspect when it comes to modifications. Drilling a hole on it is easy mainly because it's soft, but because of that property, it's quite hard to enlarge the hole. It's easier to score and cut, but that easiness somewhat give it the disadvantage when trying to cut it precisely by freehand, as I was able to do so with regular PS armor parts. But, since it's still PS, cement remains the hero of the day.

Waist Not, Want Not. I modified the frame first to make extensions. I started with widening the shoulders by 5mm on each side. This was done by cutting the chest/shoulder frame near alongside the area where the shoulder armor is attached. This resulted in 3 pieces each for the back and front ends of the frame. I then rebuilt the frame, back parts first (waiting around an hour to let the cement set), so I can align the front parts freely as I add reinforcements using 1mm WHIPS and 2mm beams.



I then proceeded with the waist/abdomen extension, but this is in conjunction with the groin joint placement. I will "explain" the groin mod first and you will see why later on.

The groin joint of the Marasai, like that of the Zaku 2.0 is a side swivel and not a center swivel like that of the MG SInanju and the MG Hi-Nu. It also does not have front<>back swivel like the Hi-Nu and The O does (as well as some HG kits), which changes the kit's upper body equilibrium point from front-heavy<>back-heavy. This is a bit problematic for me, since I plan to give the Haribon some heavy backpack additions. The detail of the groin part does indicate that it should have that feature.

Simply turning the leg/groin joint won't work, as it will put the thigh way up front into the front skirt's domain, so a radical, but simple mod is needed. I had to cut the whole groin placement section and reverse its placement relative to the front of the groin assembly.



I then rebuilt the part by sandwiching WHIPS and beams within the inner section to act as dovetails for the outer section to hold on to. When this was done, as I mentioned earlier, I cut the ball part of the waist/abdomen joint, drilled a 2.8mm hole into the ball, stuck a 5mm<1cm>5mm piece of 5mm round beam, with ends shaved down to 3mm. I also mentioned earlier that the frame material act as if it was polycap material, so I'm careful to make the hole big enough for a snug fit, because the material will do the rest. When done correctly, the mod can stand without cement, but, I wasn't going to take any chances especially with high tension parts.

As such, this is a 2-4-1 modification.



Height comparison with the Shin Matsunaga Zaku.



Thigh high. With the waist/groin modification curing, I proceeded working on the thigh extension. I had lofty ideas of cutting the lower peg that connects to the thigh away and extending it at the middle, and extending the thigh frame itself, but I guess my experience with the Bathala's modifications learned me a thing or two about thinking out of the box to see a simpler and faster solution.

And give me one it did. Instead of doing either, I kept the peg intact, and instead cored it (I cemented the parts together first, stuck a 5mm<2cm length of 5mm beam, and encapsulated it with an 8mm clear pipe with a 5mm~ inside diameter (Note, these pipes I've had since I started heavy mods 3 years ago). The extended peg goes way into the thigh frame, and since it's held only by a 2mm thick PC part, it's a bit too wobbly for comfort (I exaggerate, it's not really that wobbly, but I'm not taking any chances), I reinforced one side the inner section of the thigh with another piece of 8mm pipe, to "hold" the extended peg within the thigh.





Ankles Away. Though extending the thigh didn't visually drastically affect the proportion (at least to me, because of the Marasai's huge feet, and you know what they say about huge feet), I "cheated" by extending the ankle joint instead of the leg, and will later thicken it up.



I'll instead lengthen the armor parts, or, I might just cover them up with "feathers" similar to the scales I did on the Ronin, but longer, or I might not use them at all for an exposed frame effect with a few details here and there.

Height comparison, with the Zaku, and my headless, dilapidated Zeta A1 (this proves Gunpla ARE NOT TOYS, especially since I wasn't even playing with any of them).



That's it for now...

A Socially-relevant Blog Post

Before anything else, I'd like to congratulate Mark Anthony Bersola for winning the "Guess the Haribon's Base Kit" contest.  He was one among three who guessed it correctly with whatever "vague clues" I gave.  Thanks to Malvin Lim of Great Toys online for all the nice freebies, and to those who took the time to attend the MACY2MEET.  I'll post a more detailed entry later on.

I would like to set Gunpla aside to give way to a socially-relevant issue, mainly because it affects me directly, as a writer/blogger, artist and songwriter, and maybe even you guys.  This is with how Senator Tito Sotto got caught plagiarizing not one but 5 (or maybe even more) bloggers in his speech about House Bill No. 4244, otherwise known as the Reproductive Health Bill (RH Bill for short).  His position on the RH Bill got drowned by his plagiarism, so much that whatever veracity it may have had is now as meaningless as his position as a Senator.

Why?  Because instead of owning up to it and apologizing for an obvious mistake, Sotto remained adamant and even ridiculed bloggers in general by saying "she's just a blogger, why would I quote her?" referring of course to blogger Sarah Pope.  His "thief of staff," Atty Hector Villacorta, later on defended Sotto by saying that blogs are in the public domain and do not have copyright.  A lawyer who does not know his law isn't a precedent, it seems to be as common as house flies circling trash.  What's worse is this tandem seem to miss the point by saying that plagiarism is common place; everyone copies, even god, when it made man in its image.  They're just words, and even the words "copyright" and "plagiarism" were, er, copied.  Other Senators of the Philippines defended Sotto, others, like what most politicians do, remain silent.

For sure, this lawyer did study law, right?  But how can he miss the fact that copyright is BY VIRTUE OF CREATION.  When Sarah Pope made that blog entry, she cited Natasha McBride.  Sotto's and Villacorta's reasoning was they cannot quote a blogger for quoting McBride, and since they can't seem to find McBride's website, they copied from Pope's website instead.  Technically, they weren't quoting McBride anymore, since they used Pope's entry near-verbatim.

That's not the worst of it.  Miguel Syjuco of Rappler wrote a very lengthy thesis on Sotto's plagiarism.  I won't get into detail about what he wrote, lest I plagiarize him, you can go read his article for yourself, but Sotto plagiarized a lot more people than earlier cited.  Also, Villacorta stands in for Sotto in getting flak from Netizens, but, for crying out loud, Tito, don't you know what COMMAND RESPONSIBILITY means?  It's still YOUR (plagiarized) speech, even if you had others write it for you.  It's still YOUR position on the RH Bill.  Unless of course, you thought being a Senator excuses your from that responsibility.  Sarah Pope's "just a blogger," but remember, you're just a Senator, a position afforded to you by the people who elected you, and if need be taken away from you

Someone asked me if I ever plagiarized, meaning directly copied verbatim, anything in my lifetime.  Probably, when I was a kid who didn't know better, when I copied from books onto my notes for homework, which I later gave up on because I was already reading the damned thing, so why do I have to copy it?  Later on in High School, a very good English teacher taught me the virtue of speaking and writing better English, and the follies of plagiarism.  By then, I was already "inventing" stuff from what I read, basically condensing those into something I wrote, but, that English teacher knew better to remind us of citing our sources.  At one point, I erroneously used someone's photograph and made a vector version of it, but I couldn't find the source.  As I later one was able to, I gave the photographer notice, and he said okay, but later on rated about it on his dA account.  Even the smallest of infractions matter. 

Personally, I don't really mind being copied (it's flattering in most cases), it doesn't even matter if I am credited (both have happened).  But, when I do post something that isn't mine, especially in this blog, I quote my sources whether it was significant or otherwise.  The crux of the matter is, we have a Senator who is shameless and unremorseful, and a lawyer who doesn't know his law his excuses is similar to a kid whose dog ate his homework.

What else is there?  Do we eventually end up doing this?

Something Airborne Comes This Way...

I'm still detailing the Bathala, wings and all, and it's actually a surprise, especially for me, to be able to work on another <ambitious> build.  This won't be a rush project, but, I'll devote most of my <free> time on this (while working on the Bathala's details), and if I finish it in time, this might become my entry to the <ugh> GBWC.

Never mind the overuse of <>.

So, I'll make this <exciting> for you guys with a guessing game (for Philippines only).  Whoever correctly guesses the base kit of the Haribon will have a chance to win an HG Age Gafran and a set of (3 X 0.5mm + 3 X 1.0mm) WHIPS.  The entries should be sent via email.  The Winner will be announced during the MAC Forums Y2 meet.  Deadline for submission is on 17 August 12MN PST (+8.00 GMT).

Update:  TWO GUESSES PER ENTRY.  No direct clues will be given, for that will ruin the fun of the game.  You will have to guess the KIT itself (so don't ask about scale or grade, guess the KIT itself).  I'll give VERY VAGUE hints until the deadline, but none of them would be too revealing.  As of this edit, I already got a couple of emails for the contest. 

When you email, don't confirm whether you guessed correctly or not, but I'll reply to confirm your entry.  I'll be transparent and list everyone (their handles/nicknames) who have joined.  If there are more than one correct guess, all of them will be "raffled off" during the MACY2MEET.  If there's no correct guess, then all who have joined are eligible for a draw, or, I will choose one which is the <closest guess>, whichever is more appropriate or popular).

Update 2:

Hints: What is the kit used for the Bathala's base? What is the kit prize for this contest?

Those ARE NOT the base kits for the Haribon.  Also, the Haribon banner itself has subtle hints. 

So, those who have already sent their entries, I'll allow you to have another go at it. To be fair to other entrants, I'll allow two guesses from hereon.

Update 3:

Deadline has been changed to 17 August 12MN PST (+8.00 GMT).

Hints: It's been recently released, and I mentioned it somewhere...

Simple Epyon Wing Modification

Raise your Wing!  I planned to do this when I did my Epyon Wing Fix, but never really gave it a second thought be cause I hadn't any plans for the Epyon. The modification is very simple, and all I did is drill the lower part of G25 (the intermediary of the backpack and the Wing) so the long peg simply goes through it when I interchange G24 and G25, and the two parts should merge without a hitch.



This raises the Wing's vertical position significantly, without any additional modifications.

"BATHALA" - PMX-003 MG The O vMatX Part IX

Taking Flight!  Though I will still be working on the Bathala, this will be the final update of sorts for this project overall, mainly because I have work projects coming in, and I have to decide if I'll even enter this year's GBWC. I might use this improved wing for another kit instead of entering with the Bathala, mainly because it'll be too costly for me to get another MG The O at Toys R Us at mall price just to be able to enter. I'm thinking of getting an Infinite Justice or Sword Impulse (or some other similar kit), but as of the moment everything is frozen, even my budget for any new kit.

Anyways, I've finished majority of the wing, enough to be able to mount it and do a test fit to see if the mechanism can hold up to the weight. As predicted, the weight is rather significant, probably as heavy as the PG Strike Freedom's backpack/wing. The central gear mechanism is able to hold both wings when folded, or even when the main wing is spread, and so does the wing arm. I've made adjustments to the gears of the wing arms, pinning the gears on the receptacles aside from superglue, so that it holds it's place even during high tension. I've also added lock washers to prevent the nuts from slipping out when the wings are being handled.



The wings spread out. The main wings look short because of foreshortening especially since they curve inward. Looking at it at an angle reveals how long the longest "feather" really is (left wing), and how it curves inward (right wing).



Test fit. The Bathala can actually hold the wings up on its own when the Main wings are folded inward towards its center of gravity. I've also added another pair of V-fins, these coming from my PG RFA.



The wings, "fully" spread. I can still spread it further but it would look unnatural. Because of the overall weight, plus, the added leverage when spread, I won't be able to do this kind of pose for the wing (unless I make pose receptacles for them), not that it will be allowed if I enter it in the GBWC this year. In this configuration, the wingspan comes to a kewl ~100cm (~39in). I had to lay this down on the floor and set my tripod up down angle to get the entire thing inside the viewfinder.



That's it for now. Will post another update if ever.