Post by moop on Aug 12, 2011 23:09:06 GMT -5
Before I get started, I've got to give a huge thanks to MikeDeco. Everybody on here knows his skills at CAD design, but his enthusiasm and ability to help me on this was top notch. He pumped out the CAD file for Shapeways ordering in less than a week, all at no charge and just a friendly gesture to a simple newbie like myself. Anybody who's dealt with getting things from people on the internet, especially free, knows the hurdles of communicating and actually getting it done. Bravo Sir!
Also of note, there were some very interesting discoveries to be had when I took this guy apart and they may shed some light on some of the info about the different versions of this toy. Hopefully some more discussion can be had on this....
On to the play by play....
So, as a quick recap, I was lucky enough to discover a beautiful specimen of a Tetsujin SG01 at a flea market. That story can be found here. It was incomplete but in overall great condition. The one sticking point for me though, was it's damn nose was missing. I love the ridiculous look of this robots nose. It makes the piece for me, so it was doubly awful that this piece was missing. I knew I had little chance of getting a replacement one so I'd have to go about getting a repro. A kind member on these boards directed me to mikedeco who I immediately PM'd. He got to back me and said he'd love to do the CAD design and then recommended Shapeways as a resurce for getting it manufactured. This seemed infinitely better than casting it so it worked out awesome.
Due to the small nature of these pieces I had to order a bunch of them to hit Shapeways minimum order amount of $25. I went with six of one plastic type material and 3 of aluminum because I thought an aluminum nose just seemed awesome and heavy and fit in with the chunkiness of this bad boy.
Fast forward about a month later to today, when I finally get the 9 noses delivered, which funnily enough, occurred while I was putting back together my Dairugger XV after fixing a leg piece on it. I was in the mood to take apart toys.
Here they are all bagged up:
Mike decided to make the pegs at three different heights as he wasn't exactly sure what height they should be at. Good thinking man, but they all turned out to be okay as they placement didn't matter to much in the end. I'm not sure if this picture shows it well enough as the differences are very small.
For those interested, here's a shot of it with the backplate removed after unscrewing the four screws:
Getting the nose into the hole was a pretty tight fit which is a good thing as this means I won't have to glue it on and risk not being able to replace it with a legit nose further down the line. From what I can tell on the inside it looks like the original nose screws in from the back and is held in place this way.
Of course due to the tight fit of the two plastics, I then proceed to break the first nose at its peg. Ah sh*t.
Now I have a little piece of plastic stuck in a very tight hole and I'm fretting over how to get it out. I start pushing from the outside hoping I can pop it through as I've never tried to take the head all the way apart. The eye visor feels really flimsy as I'm doing this so ZI'm really worried I'm going to break it. I've got to take the head apart to do this right and see what I'm dealing with. There's one exposed screw on the side of the head but it feels like there's another one as the two halves of the head won't separate.
So I'm looking at this little head thinking, "Where in the hell is this little d**n screw that's holding it together. The only place it could be is behind the face mask where the hinge would be. There is no way, that is going to just pop off, as it's probably glued in. Guess what? It isn't.
Now, we can definitively conclude that the head does not act as another axe. One rumor confirmed to not be true. I know most people have already concluded this but at least now there is photo proof on the internet for all to see. That's worth the price of admission on its own.
Here is what the visor looks like:
And success at popping the piece of plastic out:
So, I realize that the metal has no give and I'm going to have to go with the plastic nose for now. I'm leaving it unpainted as well, but I will get around to matching the color and fixing it up proper. But for now, it looks great with its brand spanking new nose.
Now for the interesting stuff. As some of you may have been able to see in the other pictures, the color of the plastic on this one is pretty interesting, especially in the unexposed areas, when it's picture is taken.
I know there has been discussion about the different colors of the two versions, but based on these pics, I'm believing that much of the color difference is based on oxidation of the plastic that has been exposed. What do you guys think?
Also, this is even more interesting, is that the eye's are not painted blue on mine but are in fact a decal. It's hard to see in this picture but on the left above the little peg of plastic you can see where the decal has lifted slightly.
What does this mean? Can anyone else confirm this on their 2nd version? If it's just a decal, then removing that decal makes one of the distinguishing factors a moot point. Heavy stuff.
I'd love to try one of those cleaning methods on this plastic where it gets brightened up to its original color (much like the cleaning methods for the SNES) and see if that brings it back to the lighter blue.
This may just mean that my version is an original version and someone decided to install a decal. This would explain why the nose may be missing and could also account for the color of the plastic.
All in all though, I'm excited for this fella to be one step closer to being complete. I hope you guys enjoyed the read.
Also of note, there were some very interesting discoveries to be had when I took this guy apart and they may shed some light on some of the info about the different versions of this toy. Hopefully some more discussion can be had on this....
On to the play by play....
So, as a quick recap, I was lucky enough to discover a beautiful specimen of a Tetsujin SG01 at a flea market. That story can be found here. It was incomplete but in overall great condition. The one sticking point for me though, was it's damn nose was missing. I love the ridiculous look of this robots nose. It makes the piece for me, so it was doubly awful that this piece was missing. I knew I had little chance of getting a replacement one so I'd have to go about getting a repro. A kind member on these boards directed me to mikedeco who I immediately PM'd. He got to back me and said he'd love to do the CAD design and then recommended Shapeways as a resurce for getting it manufactured. This seemed infinitely better than casting it so it worked out awesome.
Due to the small nature of these pieces I had to order a bunch of them to hit Shapeways minimum order amount of $25. I went with six of one plastic type material and 3 of aluminum because I thought an aluminum nose just seemed awesome and heavy and fit in with the chunkiness of this bad boy.
Fast forward about a month later to today, when I finally get the 9 noses delivered, which funnily enough, occurred while I was putting back together my Dairugger XV after fixing a leg piece on it. I was in the mood to take apart toys.
Here they are all bagged up:
Mike decided to make the pegs at three different heights as he wasn't exactly sure what height they should be at. Good thinking man, but they all turned out to be okay as they placement didn't matter to much in the end. I'm not sure if this picture shows it well enough as the differences are very small.
For those interested, here's a shot of it with the backplate removed after unscrewing the four screws:
Getting the nose into the hole was a pretty tight fit which is a good thing as this means I won't have to glue it on and risk not being able to replace it with a legit nose further down the line. From what I can tell on the inside it looks like the original nose screws in from the back and is held in place this way.
Of course due to the tight fit of the two plastics, I then proceed to break the first nose at its peg. Ah sh*t.
Now I have a little piece of plastic stuck in a very tight hole and I'm fretting over how to get it out. I start pushing from the outside hoping I can pop it through as I've never tried to take the head all the way apart. The eye visor feels really flimsy as I'm doing this so ZI'm really worried I'm going to break it. I've got to take the head apart to do this right and see what I'm dealing with. There's one exposed screw on the side of the head but it feels like there's another one as the two halves of the head won't separate.
So I'm looking at this little head thinking, "Where in the hell is this little d**n screw that's holding it together. The only place it could be is behind the face mask where the hinge would be. There is no way, that is going to just pop off, as it's probably glued in. Guess what? It isn't.
Now, we can definitively conclude that the head does not act as another axe. One rumor confirmed to not be true. I know most people have already concluded this but at least now there is photo proof on the internet for all to see. That's worth the price of admission on its own.
Here is what the visor looks like:
And success at popping the piece of plastic out:
So, I realize that the metal has no give and I'm going to have to go with the plastic nose for now. I'm leaving it unpainted as well, but I will get around to matching the color and fixing it up proper. But for now, it looks great with its brand spanking new nose.
Now for the interesting stuff. As some of you may have been able to see in the other pictures, the color of the plastic on this one is pretty interesting, especially in the unexposed areas, when it's picture is taken.
I know there has been discussion about the different colors of the two versions, but based on these pics, I'm believing that much of the color difference is based on oxidation of the plastic that has been exposed. What do you guys think?
Also, this is even more interesting, is that the eye's are not painted blue on mine but are in fact a decal. It's hard to see in this picture but on the left above the little peg of plastic you can see where the decal has lifted slightly.
What does this mean? Can anyone else confirm this on their 2nd version? If it's just a decal, then removing that decal makes one of the distinguishing factors a moot point. Heavy stuff.
I'd love to try one of those cleaning methods on this plastic where it gets brightened up to its original color (much like the cleaning methods for the SNES) and see if that brings it back to the lighter blue.
This may just mean that my version is an original version and someone decided to install a decal. This would explain why the nose may be missing and could also account for the color of the plastic.
All in all though, I'm excited for this fella to be one step closer to being complete. I hope you guys enjoyed the read.
