Astaroth's Astaroth Origin

Astaroth · Post by **Astaroth** » Wed Dec 21, 2016 6:49 pm

Ok, here's my project for this SiG.

The 1/144 HG Iron Blooded Orphans Astaroth Origin.

I have never seen any of the tv shows, so I can't tell you anything about the character. I was just drawn to its cool looks and of course its name.

When I'm finished, this will probably not even remotely resemble the on-screen character anyway.

I don't have an exact plan in mind yet, but I do know that there will be some kind of base/diorama to go with it, most likely incorporating this:

LM951 · Post by **LM951** » Wed Dec 21, 2016 6:54 pm

Kit looks awesome! Putting it on that slab almost looks like it will be standing on the surface of a meteor or something!

Dfinni · Post by **Dfinni** » Wed Dec 21, 2016 7:13 pm

Look forward to seeing the progress on this and seeing it come together

Skullfish · Post by **Skullfish** » Thu Dec 22, 2016 12:26 am

nice!, so you found a kit to match your avatar name? pretty cool. I would take a sledge hammer to the stone slab and play with the bits for the base.

anyway, enjoy yous build.

Jase

EvilCarrot · Post by **EvilCarrot** » Thu Dec 22, 2016 1:19 am

Lucky you! Still waiting for Bandai to release that High Grade Evil Carrot :p

frankr · Post by **frankr** » Thu Dec 22, 2016 2:40 am

Great choice! I almost went with a suit from Iron Blooded Orphans myself.

-frank

Lysus · Post by **Lysus** » Thu Dec 22, 2016 7:09 am

EvilCarrot wrote:Lucky you! Still waiting for Bandai to release that High Grade Evil Carrot :p

DUDE! So happy this has started, I'm dying to see an Astaroth Astaroth!

EvilCarrot · Post by **EvilCarrot** » Thu Dec 22, 2016 9:54 am

Lysus wrote:
EvilCarrot wrote:Lucky you! Still waiting for Bandai to release that High Grade Evil Carrot :p

DUDE! So happy this has started, I'm dying to see an Astaroth Astaroth!

Lol, hadn't seen it that way. I wasn't gonna buy that kit, but now I have to. :p

Astaroth · Post by **Astaroth** » Thu Dec 22, 2016 10:29 pm

Ok guys, quick question:

While assembling this "practice-Astaroth" today I got the idea of incorporating it into my build. Seeing that I had already started it before the SiG I want to ask if anyone would object to that. I think it would contribute significantly to the general Astaroth-iness of the project. The main kit of this build is still unstarted of course.

Lysus · Post by **Lysus** » Fri Dec 23, 2016 12:19 am

If it's just an accessory to the build it's fine by me, no judging on this SiG so we can be a little more relaxed. Just won't count towards the finished build count

Astaroth · Post by **Astaroth** » Fri Dec 23, 2016 6:22 am

Lysus wrote:If it's just an accessory to the build it's fine by me, no judging on this SiG so we can be a little more relaxed. Just won't count towards the finished build count

Of course it won't count, it's still a single build after all. Thanks, man.

privatepete · Post by **privatepete** » Fri Dec 23, 2016 4:38 pm

I'm glad someone building something similar, this my first one of these so I'll be watching and leaning

Pete

Astaroth · Post by **Astaroth** » Fri Dec 23, 2016 5:22 pm

privatepete wrote:I'm glad someone building something similar, this my first one of these so I'll be watching and leaning
Pete

It's my first (and second) one, too. Seems like we'll be learning together.

Astaroth · Post by **Astaroth** » Fri Dec 23, 2016 9:31 pm

I have ideas.

As soon as I have the second Astaroth assembled, I'll do a mock-up and show you.

Stay tuned.

privatepete · Post by **privatepete** » Fri Dec 23, 2016 9:47 pm

Astaroth wrote:I have ideas.

As soon as I have the second Astaroth assembled, I'll do a mock-up and show you.

Stay tuned.

Will be watching with interest

Pete

Astaroth · Post by **Astaroth** » Sat Dec 24, 2016 10:43 pm

Not quite ready for a mock-up yet.
Someone is still missing a waist.

Just this much for my plans: I will reinterpret both of them as 1/48, placing them at slightly larger than 6m. And they will be heavily modified.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Astaroth · Post by **Astaroth** » Thu Dec 29, 2016 9:33 pm

It's diorama time!

I had to abandon the granite slab ... it was just not large enough. Instead I'll use a piece of MDF with the sides covered with styrene strips and some plywood as back wall.

What is he doing, you ask?

Those who know me well enough also know, that I really like to turn my projects into something unusual.
This will be no exception.

My plan is to build a sorcerer's dungeon, depicting a demon summoning gone wrong. Some of you may know
that Astaroth is one of the demons in European mythology, that association gave me the idea for this.

I will paint the gundams in different color schemes, one will be a "good" and the other will be an "evil" version.
And yes, to bring across the image that I have in mind, I will have to modify the figures ... a lot.

This is roughly what I want it to look like. The "sorcerer" will be made from a kneeling flight crew figure, that will
of course also have to be heavily modified. This small figure is also the reason, why this dio will be in 1/48 scale.

I hope I won't offend any Gundam purists here.

Lysus · Post by **Lysus** » Thu Dec 29, 2016 9:39 pm

Rad! Shame about the stone but this still sounds amazing. Gunpla is freedom

privatepete · Post by **privatepete** » Thu Dec 29, 2016 10:03 pm

I'd better pull up a chair for this one

Pete

Astaroth · Post by **Astaroth** » Fri Dec 30, 2016 4:18 pm

And the granite slab has gotten its place in the build after all ... if only as a makeshift vice for cutting up the plywood.

Astaroth · Post by **Astaroth** » Sat Dec 31, 2016 1:49 pm

And the scratch building begins!

I'm starting with the wings ... because every demon needs wings.

Drawn up in Inkscape and cut with my cutting plotter from 0.5mm sheet styrene.
It didn't cut all the way through, so I will have to do some clean up here and there.
And of course I will have to give them a skeletal structure.

Lysus · Post by **Lysus** » Sat Dec 31, 2016 5:00 pm

Approves.

privatepete · Post by **privatepete** » Sat Dec 31, 2016 6:59 pm

Nice idea the wings, looking good.
Pete

Astaroth · Post by **Astaroth** » Sun Jan 01, 2017 12:34 pm

Lysus wrote:

Approves.

privatepete wrote:Nice idea the wings, looking good.
Pete

Thanks guys. And happy new year.

Astaroth · Post by **Astaroth** » Sun Jan 01, 2017 9:40 pm

So, while thinking of a plan for how to best attach the wings, I did some initial abdomen-filling on the Origin.
I think that's one of the weak points of the Astaroths, the area between the chest and the waist is practically empty.

More to come ... much more.

Astaroth · Post by **Astaroth** » Wed Jan 04, 2017 10:31 pm

Ok, new update.

First ... some spikes. Pete said, you can never have enough and I agree. As I don't have pre-made ones, I have to make my own.
The left one is carved from a piece of laminated styrene, the other one made with Apoxie Sculpt. Personally, I like the second one better.
Fortunately I don't have to sculpt more as I will be able to do molding and resin casting in the not too distant future.

Next up: some more modifications to areas I'm not particularly fond of on these figures.

A. Red's shoulders
Originally there are some huge flat wingy things attached to those shoulders. As I will be doing my own wings, I don't need those and the connectors they are attached to. So I used some sheet styrene to close up the big hollow space left after removing the connectors.
1. Original piece
2. Connector removed
3. I needed to carve out some material on top of the holes where the connector sat
4. I fitted a piece of 1mm and one piece of 0.5mm styrene in there

And here's the result after lots of sanding and putting some Mr. Surfacer 1000 on there.

B. Blue's big protruding waist bulge thingy
I really didn't like that look from the beginning. That's an easy fix however: one Tamiya razor saw and a bit of sheet styrene.

And the result after sanding it flush. Still needs a bit of filler but I'm quite pleased with it.

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Wed Jan 04, 2017 11:43 pm

EvilCarrot wrote:
Lysus wrote:
EvilCarrot wrote:Lucky you! Still waiting for Bandai to release that High Grade Evil Carrot :p

DUDE! So happy this has started, I'm dying to see an Astaroth Astaroth!

Lol, hadn't seen it that way. I wasn't gonna buy that kit, but now I have to. :p

These things all look like they are wearing high heels to me
Cross dressing robots from planet AC/DC ????

EvilCarrot · Post by **EvilCarrot** » Thu Jan 05, 2017 7:30 am

Twokidsnosleep wrote: These things all look like they are wearing high heels

Iiiiiiiiiiii'm a Mobile Suit and I'm okay, I sleep all night and I work all day...

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Thu Jan 05, 2017 3:57 pm

Lysus · Post by **Lysus** » Thu Jan 05, 2017 5:52 pm

Astaroth · Post by **Astaroth** » Thu Jan 05, 2017 5:59 pm

I'm glad you guys are having fun.

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Thu Jan 05, 2017 6:19 pm

Astaroth wrote:I'm glad you guys are having fun.

Ya, sorry about that

, will behave myself now

Astaroth · Post by **Astaroth** » Fri Jan 06, 2017 11:22 pm

Ok, back to serious business.

I always felt like the weapons I got with the kits don't really fit the theme of my build ... so I took up blacksmithing and are now in the process of making my own swords.

I have to say that I really like scratchbuilding more and more.

So, here was the first attempt at a sword.

For this, I just laminated two pieces of 1mm styrene together, drew a sword shape on a piece of paper and glued that onto the styrene. Then I carved, sawed and sanded it until I arrived at that shape. Pretty boring process and it doesn't look that good either. It's way too short and the shape isn't quite right and there's no real separation between the blade and the cross guard like in a real sword.
Which brings me to my second attempt.
This time I (again) used my cutting plotter to cut out some blade shapes from 0.5mm styrene. Twice, actually, to laminate again.

On the far left is the first attempt for comparison.
Personally, I like the one on the far right the best and that is the one I started with.

Here it is together with the cross guard that I carved and sanded out of a piece laminated from three 1mm styrene strips.

And here's an image of me drilling a hole through the cross guard, maybe giving you some sense of scale.

I know it's not finished yet, I just wanted to show you what I'm doing at the moment and maybe get some input from you guys if I'm on the right track here.

Astaroth · Post by **Astaroth** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 9:56 pm

The first sword is almost finished. The blade is fitted to the cross guard, it's now just missing its handle.

Here's an inside view of the cross guard that I had to carve out for the blade to fit in.

privatepete · Post by **privatepete** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 10:05 pm

Hi I like youy sword making, very good.

Astaroth · Post by **Astaroth** » Sun Jan 08, 2017 10:07 pm

privatepete wrote:Hi I like youy sword making, very good.

Thanks Pete. And now back to your builds. We won't accept you quitting.

Stront75 · Post by **Stront75** » Fri Jan 13, 2017 3:34 am

This is really cool reminds me of Panzer World Galient anime from the early 80s. excellent stuff.

: panzer-world-galient.jpg (226.73 KiB) Viewed 3853 times

Astaroth · Post by **Astaroth** » Sat Jan 21, 2017 11:46 pm

Stront75 wrote:This is really cool reminds me of Panzer World Galient anime from the early 80s. excellent stuff.

That is a very cool image, Stront.

There's news on that sword I'm making.
It's starting to look like a proper sword now. I finished fitting the blade to the cross guard. Then I worked on the handle and decided on a circular pommel. The handle is wrapped in a strip of electrical tape, which in my opinion is a good scale representation of leather. I also started grinding a groove in the blade and sharpening it, but that will only become apparent when it is painted up.

Skullfish · Post by **Skullfish** » Wed Jan 25, 2017 10:33 pm

yay for the close combat carnage!! loving it Astaroth.

Jase

Astaroth · Post by **Astaroth** » Sat Mar 18, 2017 8:35 am

I finally got around to posting an update here.
The first sword is all finished up.
All the pieces were primed in black and then treated with metallic wax paste (similar to Rub 'n Buff or AK true metal) in silver and light gold.
The next update will be about the diorama base that I'm working on at the moment.

Skullfish · Post by **Skullfish** » Sat Mar 18, 2017 3:23 pm

awesome big ass blade!!

Lysus · Post by **Lysus** » Sat Mar 18, 2017 3:23 pm

Yassssss!

Love the sword and where the design is going.

Post by **Twokidsnosleep** » Sat Mar 18, 2017 5:38 pm

Great sword construction indeed...they look real and awesome

Lysus · Post by **Lysus** » Sat Apr 01, 2017 6:59 pm

Hi there, just a reminder that one month remains to complete your build in order to qualify for the prize draw! Hope all is well and we all look forward to seeing your work!

I mean, moving does eat up a lot of free time

Astaroth · Post by **Astaroth** » Sat Apr 01, 2017 7:19 pm

Lysus wrote: ↑Sat Apr 01, 2017 6:59 pm Hi there, just a reminder that one month remains to complete your build in order to qualify for the prize draw! Hope all is well and we all look forward to seeing your work!

I mean, moving does eat up a lot of free time

I'm afraid there's no chance I will finish this in time. The big move is next weekend, so I'll have to pack up all my stuff soon ... and the new bench is not ready yet.

Lysus · Post by **Lysus** » Sat Apr 01, 2017 7:28 pm

Astaroth wrote: ↑Sat Apr 01, 2017 7:19 pm
Lysus wrote: ↑Sat Apr 01, 2017 6:59 pm Hi there, just a reminder that one month remains to complete your build in order to qualify for the prize draw! Hope all is well and we all look forward to seeing your work!

I mean, moving does eat up a lot of free time
I'm afraid there's no chance I will finish this in time. The big move is next weekend, so I'll have to pack up all my stuff soon ... and the new bench is not ready yet.

Thought as much, but just needed to remind folks anyway

Astaroth · Post by **Astaroth** » Sat Apr 01, 2017 7:30 pm

Lysus wrote: ↑Sat Apr 01, 2017 7:28 pm
Astaroth wrote: ↑Sat Apr 01, 2017 7:19 pm
Lysus wrote: ↑Sat Apr 01, 2017 6:59 pm Hi there, just a reminder that one month remains to complete your build in order to qualify for the prize draw! Hope all is well and we all look forward to seeing your work!

I mean, moving does eat up a lot of free time
I'm afraid there's no chance I will finish this in time. The big move is next weekend, so I'll have to pack up all my stuff soon ... and the new bench is not ready yet.
Thought as much, but just needed to remind folks anyway

Don't pressure me.

Lysus · Post by **Lysus** » Sat Apr 01, 2017 7:32 pm

Astaroth wrote: ↑Sat Apr 01, 2017 7:30 pm
Lysus wrote: ↑Sat Apr 01, 2017 7:28 pm
Astaroth wrote: ↑Sat Apr 01, 2017 7:19 pm

I'm afraid there's no chance I will finish this in time. The big move is next weekend, so I'll have to pack up all my stuff soon ... and the new bench is not ready yet.
Thought as much, but just needed to remind folks anyway
Don't pressure me.

Astaroth · Post by **Astaroth** » Sat Apr 01, 2017 7:36 pm

Lysus wrote: ↑Sat Apr 01, 2017 7:32 pm
Astaroth wrote: ↑Sat Apr 01, 2017 7:30 pm
Lysus wrote: ↑Sat Apr 01, 2017 7:28 pm

Thought as much, but just needed to remind folks anyway
Don't pressure me.