custom Zoid: Handraco

  (completed January 2012 but awaiting paint)

Concept

 I set aside Zoids for awhile, but the ideas for customs kept coming. One of these ideas was to use Gunblaster as a base for a land dragon with 6 limbs. Four of the limbs would be for walking, and two limbs for arms. Sort of like a centaur, but with a dragon body and head.

 (This image is a "Dracotaur" from http://www.wizards.com/dnd)

For this project I used mostly parts from Gunblaster, Gojulas Giga, and Gustav, as well a few parts from Brachios, Raynos, Missile Tortoise, Buster Eagle, Redhorn, Liger Zero, and BrachioZilla.

 Mockup    (Nov 2011)

 Here is a mockup of the concept, prior to any cuts being made. Gojulas Giga is used for the head, neck, arms, and tail. I used the largest tail section as a base for the neck.

 Guts of the Project: Movement   (Dec 2011)

 I wanted to add more movement to this project, so the first thing I had to figure out was how to move the jaw. I cut the "L" Gunblaster jaw crank, then extended it using a bit of bent coat hanger. The offset allows me to alter the bends for clearance and adjustment. I drilled out a length of sprue and glued it to the coat hanger and to the Gojulas Giga pushrod.

 Next I wanted a way to light up the eyes. At first I tried to use a green LED but it was difficult to get a AAA battery to nestle next to the original AA battery. So instead I used an incandescent 1.5 volt bulb from a promotional flashlight. The green microswitch is from Gojulas Giga and is turned on and off by the jaw crank.

 I then decided to add tail movement. I first removed the Gojulas Giga tail from the Gunblaster body. I shortened the Gojulas Giga tail movement unit and also changed the angle. I had to carve out additional clearance inside the tail shells. The light green socket is from a Gustav, and the black pin at the end of the paper clip is from a Brachios. I also had to modify the other tail shells to accept the joints. Finally, I modified the Gunblaster body to accept the Gojulas Giga tail movement unit. 

 Back shell and weapons    (Jan 2012)

 I modified pieces from Gustav and created a back shell which replaces the gunpack on Gunblaster. This picture shows the gray cylindrical mount (Gusblaster gun) and the light green peg (from Gustav). A modified gun from Missile Tortoise will be mounted here later. 

 This picture shows the Gatling gun mount and the gear drive. Notice that the silver driveshaft is coaxial with the gun mount elevation swivel. This is so that the driveshaft can power the Gatling gun regardless of the gun elevation. The upper black gear is modified from Gunblaster and the white crown gear is from Redhorn. The gray gun mount is modified from the Gunblaster gunpack. The blue pieces are cut from a model railroading bridge.

 Here is a picture of the completed back shell with all the weapons mounted. The near side Gatling gun is modified from Gunblaster, the short-range "bunker buster" big bore demolition gun on the far side is modified from Missile Tortoise, and the top mounted anti-aircraft gun turret is a modified from Buster Eagle. The two silver guns are from Redhorn. They elevate together because they are mounted to a length of sprue that passes thru the turret.   

  Head and Arms

(Jan 2012)

 I wanted a different look to the Gojulas Giga cockpit, so I spliced in a cockpit from Raynos in between the Gojulas Giga head halves. I carefully trimmed and filed the cockpit "glass" to merge. Later on I filled in the gaps with epoxy.

 I modified and attached pegs from Gustav onto the Gojulas Giga neck, then because they looked too wimpy by themselves, beefed them up visually using Gojulas Giga arm mounts.

Here you can see how I created the arm movement. I shortened the Gojulas Giga arm rods and added hinge pins using lengths of paper clips. I added bits of sprue inside the Gunblaster legs and Gojulas Giga arms to accept the hinge pins. I trimmed the Gojulas Giga arms, then added red pivot bushings from Gustav.

 Engineer Cockpit

(Jan 2012)

 Here is a picture of the Engineering Cockpit in the neck. He has a good view of the immediate forward area and thus is in a good position to control the arms for demolition work, or aim and fire the twin demolition blaster cannons mounted in the turret below his feet. The twin demolition blaster cannons are pegs from Gustav, mounted to a modified Liger Zero tail gun mount.

 This picture shows the Engineer Cockpit "glass" (which is actually a Lego piece) and another view of the twin demolition blaster cannons.

The Engineer Cockpit was added in as an afterthought. I had to modify the jaw pushrod quite a bit to get this to fit in.