Part II of this build can be found here. Next step to work on this build are the legs. The first part to work on as indicated by the manual are the thighs, specifically the intake fan detail. The intake fans I painted with Pylox Black. While waiting for that part to dry I worked on the knee parts of the leg.
The knee parts are ratched so that they lock in place at every few degrees. In the build it says that you will need an 8mm spring. So using the ruler I found that specific part.
Here's the spring mounted on top of the two faces of the gears that lock in place due to the force of the spring against it. Was actually quite amazed in finding out how Yamato Toys does this.
Knee covers slide into place. It is specifically mentioned in the manual to not glue this part as it is required to rotate a certain degrees on its axis.
Here's the completed knee joints. Only one round screw each is used to fasten them together.
Since at this point I was still waiting for the intake fans to dry, I decided to skip forward to building the ankle joints of the leg thrusters. Here are the gears that make the locking joint movement possible.
For this build a 5mm length spring is required, so once again using a ruler I sought that part out. Although at this point, after having completed the knee joints, the ankle springs are the only two springs remaining in the kit.
Here's how the assembly of the ankle joint looks, the spring is underneath the pile of gears.
Here's the gear kept in place with the first frame cover
Here's the final cover in place. It's held together by two screws, one flat and one round headed type.
Here's a top view of those two ankle joint assemblies.
Next part I worked on was the thrusters that actually form the part of the feet. The side of the thruster with the notch should be visible at the front during battroid mode. Also pictured are the four thruster plates to be glued to the inside of the thrusters
And this is the part where I made a mistake, I had assumed that the thruster plates all had the same size, turns out one set goes to the front side while another fits only the back. So when I glued them on one turned out longer than the other. To remedy that I decided to not place the ill fitting thruster plate anymore rather than risk damaging the thruster by forcing to remove the thruster plate.
Here's the assembled thrusters mounted on the ankle joints. Although they fit by just sliding them through, it is recommended by the manual to glue them on.
Side view of the thrusters mounted on the ankle joints.
The next stepped I worked on was coloring the clear parts mounted on the shin part of the leg thrusters
When working on the clear part of the head, it turned into a 3 day process for me of dipping and tinting. Rather than go through that again I decided to just paint the back side with Tamiya Red and Blue colors. One side is supposed to be colored red while the other blue.
Here's how the reverse side looks painted
Next part I worked on was coloring the fin like wing parts on the legs. Masked it with Tamiya Masking Tape and ordinary masking tape
Afterwards painted that part over with Pylox Fire Red after priming it first with TOA Plastic Paint Primer
The base part of that wing I also painted with Pylox Fire Red
Here's a shot of the masking removed and the finished fin
Here's a shot of the finished painted clear parts on the shin.
Next step on this build was to assemble the leg intakes
Intakes are held in place by means of a single round screw while the ribbed part at the back is glued on to the assembled intakes. So that there is no gap on the two halves, the leading edge of the intakes have to be glued together.
With the completed intake the next step is to connect it to the upper thigh.
In this part of the build a 11mm length 2mm diameter shaft is called for to hinge the upper thigh to the intake part. I actually made a mistake in this step as what I put in was a 1.5 mm diameter shaft. The 1.5mm diameter shaft was supposed to be used for the chest plate, a mistake I found later on when working on the chest plate
The ribbed part at the back of the intake connects to a plastic block, whose hooking action against the ribbed part is what locks it into place. Quite remarkable engineering really on the part of Yamato Toys. At this point, the knee joint is also connected to the assembly.
Here's how the other leg, the left leg looks.
Here's both upper legs completed. They are fastened together by means of a round head screw.
Next part to be worked on is the lower leg. Parts needed are the rear landing gear compartments along with its doors.
Here's the landing gear diecast parts attached to the landing gear compartments
Landing gear compartment attached to the right side lower leg with the clear parts attached.
Top view of the lower leg part
Landing gear compartment doors are attached at this point.
Right side lower leg attached already to the knee joint and with the leg thrusters in place
Top view showing how everything fits into place.
With the cover in placed. The entire lower leg assembly is fastened together by means of two round headed screws.
Here, the left leg is being put together in a similar fashion as the how the right leg was put together.
Top view of the lower right leg showing how everything fits together.
Shot of the right leg all put together.
Part IV of this build can be found here.
