I came across the start of a conversion from the last time my group played Battletech.
The battlemech in question comes in several pieces and the stock look for the mech is firing platform on two leg-shaped struts: example of a well painted version in a stock pose (not painted by me)
Now the idea of the mech coming in pieces is for you to adjust the pose yourself on assembly … and of course for casting … but really the only thing you can do without cutting the mech up is to create a “running mech” with the arms and legs pumping.
However, if you look at the arms you can see that any real conversion comes from cutting and rebuilding:
So, I first considered straightening one or both arms. However, upon closer inspection and sleeping on it, I decided that the effort wasn’t worth it.
However, I did get an idea as to how I wanted the Daishi to stand. I wanted its left foot raised onto a building’s remains with the left leg straightened to hold the mech high as if it had just stomped through the HQ of the enemy.
So I cut the left leg in two places: at the backward cantered knee and the toe. The knee joint is curved and sits in a groove so that was fun to cut apart.
I cut the right leg at the knee and at the ankle.
I built walls on the base using plastic and some putty to lock it all down.
I left space around the left foot where the foot had shifted and left a partial impression.
You can see the foot pinned to the base:
Time to test fit all the pieces and see what pieces I would have to manufacture to get the final pose.
So with some sculpey to hold the one side together I fit all the leg & torso pieces together:
As you can see above I had a fairly decent gap in the right leg assembly to get the mech stable.
So I built an ankle actuator around the pin above the right foot.
And to ensure balance and stability I added a large piece of metal to the inside corner of the wall for the mech to stand on.
After some fiddling and a series of tweak and dry fits, I finally had what I wanted: Finished parts:
Final Assembly:
Next we’ll prime it so I can better see any outstanding mold lines or details that need fixing.
