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Gundam Robot


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On a visit to Japan recently, my mate Rich bought me a Gundam robot on the basis that he could guarantee I wouldn't already have one in the stash. The only proviso was that I couldn't leave it in its original colour scheme. Fair enough. Here it is built, with not a spot of glue used anywhere on it - yes, it's a snap fit kit!

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 I decided I didn't like the 'bristling with weapons' look, and went for something simpler with a backstory to it. Here goes:

 

"After decades of fighting in the Middle East, NATO grew tired of the constant loss of life involved and turned to Boston Dynamics, the autonomous robot builders who had been a longstanding supplier to the military. The brief was to build a remotely operated, heavily armoured fighting machine which could be sent into trouble spots to wreak devastation with no friendly casualties. In 2032, after a mere five years work, the world's press were invited to a remote part of the African desert to witness the unveiling of the world's latest peacekeeping machine. The Classified Heavily Armoured Vehicular robot, or CHAVbot, was presented to the incredulous media...

 

Standing almost 100 feet tall, and weighing an undisclosed amount, the press photographers were invited to record its debut from a respectful distance, in case it fell over...

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Firing the beast's servos and jets into action, the CHAVbot was made to stomp around in the desert, demonstrating its abilities. The designers had purposely drawn heavily from the Gundam designs popular in the late 20th/early 21st century, as its primary purpose was to pacify through terror. The head was heavily horned to invoke diabolic overtones, there was a huge speaker centrally located in the chest to deafen and disorient the victims a la War of the Worlds, the shoulder pads were from the Power Dressing 80's and the massive codpiece harked back to Medieval times.

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When questioned about weaponry, the designers stated simply that it didn't need any. The heavily armoured feet were capable of kicking their way through an enemy battle formation "as a kid would kick through dry leaves", and the powerful arms were able to simply lift any vehicle found on the battlefield, and drop if from about waist height, instantly dispatching any occupants. Individual enemy soldiers could be picked up and squeezed.

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Evident in this view are the jet exhausts on the shoulders and the large jet thruster on the back. There was a pair of similar outlets on the chest, and these were mainly used for mass balancing thrust, countering the forces exerted when moving the weighty arms and legs. There was also a use for the chest thrusters as auxiliary lifting power on heavy loads, and the back thrusters could assist in overcoming the massive inertia when moving off from a standstill. Obviously, with something this large, flight was impossible.

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This side view shows how the shoulder 'pads' could be used to shield the head section, which as tradition dictates, housed the main sensors relaying information back to the remote operator in 3d.

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The panniers on the hips contained hardpoints which meant all manner of supplies could be carried for replenishment of regular troops, humanitarian aid, rescue, sandwiches etc. The pixelated digital desert camouflage is shown to good effect here, too.

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It demonstrated an impressive turn of speed, assisted by the jet pack, and bystanders estimated its top speed at over 50mph.

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Seeing this lumbering towards you at speed on a battlefield, speaker blaring, ground shaking, was intended to be terrifying as a psychological weapon before any physical destruction was wrought:

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And THIS was intended to be the last sight an enemy ever saw, reaching down from the desert sky:

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It was deemed to be an impressive machine, and at a cost of $3.6bn, quite an expensive one too. Sadly, with impeccable timing, the Middle Eastern oil supplies ran out before CHAVbot could be deployed, and consequently nobody gives a toss what happens over there any more..."

 

Thanks again to my mate Rich for buying me this - hope you think I've done it justice!

Cheers,

Dean

Edited by Deanflyer
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I love the colours you've chosen, and the pixelated camo is ace (are they decals or painted on?).  Nice backstory too.  But the name is the icing on the cake :D

 

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Blimey, 72 hours before it got any comments...I was beginning to think people weren't interested! Thanks chaps...

 

2 hours ago, HoolioPaulio said:

I love the colours you've chosen, and the pixelated camo is ace (are they decals or painted on?).  Nice backstory too.  But the name is the icing on the cake :D

 

They're painted on...and you wouldn't believe how tricky the masking was! 😉 

 

Cheers,

Dean

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17 hours ago, Deanflyer said:

Blimey, 72 hours before it got any comments...I was beginning to think people weren't interested! Thanks chaps...

I have not been doing much modelling over the last week or so due to a cold, so haven't been on the forum too much over the weekend.  Glad I did't miss it though, Gundams are my usual subject and main interest in building.  I'm only just really branching out into 1:24 car and 1:72 plane kits.  I am still part way through a Gundam build, and have another one waiting to start when its finished.  You did a great job, especially on the camo.

 

Just out of interest, you don't happen to know which Gundam kit this is do you?  They are my main subject, but only because I like the detailed construction, and they look cool when finished, but I don't recognise all the kits (there seems to be many models and variants) as I don't follow the anime source material (but would if I had the time to get into it properly).

 

Cheers

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48 minutes ago, HoolioPaulio said:

I have not been doing much modelling over the last week or so due to a cold.

 

Just out of interest, you don't happen to know which Gundam kit this is do you?  

 

Cheers

This one, mate...

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Get well soon,

Dean

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