custom Zoid: BattleBlaster

 This is the story of my sixth Zoids custom.  (completed September 2004)

With the success of my fifth custom Zoid (the motorized Postosuchus ) in July of 2004 I turned my attention to a new project. I am somewhat of a World War II buff, especially the Pacific Ocean war between the United States and Japan. In April of 2004 I had the opportunity to travel to Hawaii to attend a wedding. While I was there I visited the USS Missouri battleship BB-63. (The picture to the right shows the "Mighty Mo" in 1950 and is from the US Naval Historical Center.) I sure like those big stacked gun turrets up front...

Big Guns

Over the past few years I have purchased a few CP-10 kits to put on my Gojulas, Gordos, and Centaur. I had set aside two of the cannon turrets (the "wrist cannon") since I've had this custom in mind for awhile. I also had a couple of Hasbro GunBlaster kits from the KB Toys Zoids clearance sales, so from a raw materials standpoint I was all set. What held me back in the past was a lack of experience, because I knew I would have to do quite a bit of custom fabrication for the project I had in mind.   I felt more confident after gaining some fabrication experience from the gun mount and tail work of my Postosuchus. So after gathering a number of black CD jewel case liners, I set to work. The first task was to modify the CP-10 cannon turrets. First I shortened the cap ring inside the turret such that it was the same level as the bottom leading edge of the turret. I also trimmed some of the turret roof at the rear. Then using CD case liner (or CDCL for short) I extended the lower sides of the turret and added a rear panel. I used epoxy cement to fill in the gaps. A jumbo paper clip was cut into pieces and glued inside the rear turret panel for proper weight balance.

Different Moves

From the beginning my goal for this custom was not only to add these two cannon turrets but to have them move as well. So I modified the vertical output shaft of the GunBlaster gearbox by adding a pinion gear from a wall walking toy, then added more gears to slow the rotation and also move the power forward. To the same GunBlaster vertical output shaft I added a set of speed reduction gears and a new vertical shaft (from Killer Dome) to rotate a "targeting radar array" (from Cannon Tortoise).

Upper Gun Mount

The whole process was repeated for the upper gun mount. This picture shows the upper gun mount just prior to the left side panel being attached. The upper platform (upside down in this picture) proved to be more complicated that the lower, because I was trying to follow the body shell form as closely as possible. The linkage (made from bent and soldered paper clips) is different than the lower gun but still provides oscilation motion. Since the gears that move the turrets are different sizes the two turrets move at different rates. Note that the gun tub is mounted entirely to the original GunBlaster motor, and is not attached to the body shell halves, only clamped between them.

Other Additions

A modified Cannon Tortoise radar was attached to the new vertical shaft. The GunBlaster armor was trimmed to clear the new gun tub, and was cut back near the neck area. Wing turrets and a rear gun (all from HammerHead) were also added. The wing turrets are mounted on a platform made from CDCL. The bases of the wing turrets were shortened to make them more squat, and their pivot points were moved forward with a bit of sprue glued forward of the factory pivot. The rear gun was mounted under a modified Guysack tail gunner cockpit, by removing then relocating the Guysack cockpit mounting ring to the new "chin" position, then adding a bit of sprue inside the ring to attach the gun.

Assembly

Here is a picture of BattleBlaster fully assembled prior to painting. The head spike in the cockpit hatch was not used, and the hole filled in with a bit of sprue.