Dangard Ace Knock-Off!

[faulkners2]

Thought you guys might like to see this before I start work on him. This is a knock-off Dangard Ace that I just got out of Lima, Peru. As you can see, the thing has seen better days, but it is solid and all there. Kitsir is sending me a set of Popy stickers which I intend to use to bring him back.

The jumbo is made from the Popy molds, but the plastic is very sturdy, much more so than the American Shogun Warriors. As you can see, it has the hinges for the elbows that are actually molded into the arms and do not move. The hands don't fire, but there is a missile mech in the fists, with small triggers under the arm. It came with two missiles, both of which are missing (if anyone ever sees these for sale, let me know). The missiles look like the suction cup darts in the old dart guns we all had as kids. There are two holes in the back where the missiles can be stored. The color leaves a lot to be desired, with the eye-popping yellow and blue. I entertained the idea of painting him to look like a Popy, but I think I am going to leave him as close to original as possible, since he is obviously not a Popy.

I am going to do some heavy-duty cleaning on him, and when I get the stickers, replace all of them. I will post some pics when I get him fixed.

[faulkners2]

Side view.

[faulkners2]

Back view.

[faulkners2]

Missile firing mech in right hand

[faulkners2]

Side view of missile trigger.

[faulkners2]

Back view of missile trigger.

[robonutter]

I remember seeing this guy congrats on your win cant wait to see it all done

[luclin999]

Congratulations.

I had considered bidding on one of these guys to attempt to retro-convert it back into something like the Popy figure but the fact that these KOs are basically 20% smaller than the original is really enough of a hurdle that I decided against it.

Are you planning to re-make a set of the KO style decals or to make some modified Popy ones for it?

How long did it take for the figure to arrive from Peru?

[faulkners2]

I haven't really decided yet. I will have to look at the stickers when they arrive to see how they fit. It stands about 22 inches tall, so it is about the same size as the Mazinger. I may have to reduce the stickers a little, but I don't know that I will. I will be using the Popy stickers to the extent that I can, but I may have to modify some of the KO stickers also.

I won the auction and paid for it on January 25 and it arrived today. The seller had it very securely packed and the box arrived fine. Seller had basically lined the box with an inner box made of styrofoam and then wrapped the head and arms in packing material, so no complaints at all on the shipping.

[faulkners2]

By the way, Luclin -- Did you ever finish the repro you were doing on the Daitetsujin 17 wings? If you did and you are selling them, PM me, as I need a set.

[robonutter]

Yes pm me too on the wings i would love to have them for mine too.

[faulkners2]

Here he is naked and cleaned up, ready for stickers!

[1oldrobot]

whoah, i dont think this is the right jumbo to pass off as a danguard ace. this is a very awesome and unique bootleg. the popy stickers will really take away from what it is and leave it a grim mockery of both the bootleg and the popy.

[willohio]

Congrats. I saw these listed. I liked that Red one too... hadn't seen it very often. But I think you got the one whos decals were more similar to Dangard, especially the waist belt sticker.

I think you should just have the bootleg decals restored and make him like he was brand new.

I've never seen the missiles I thought I heard it was a capgun mechanism... do you have any images of the projectile? I'd like to see it...

If you got the decals off without destroying them I'd be happy to try and make you a set. I've seen the complete version of this one before.

~Will

[luclin999]

Feb 5, 2013 23:03:55 GMT -5 1oldrobot said:

whoah, i dont think this is the right jumbo to pass off as a danguard ace. this is a very awesome and unique bootleg. the popy stickers will really take away from what it is and leave it a grim mockery of both the bottleg and the popy.

I tend to agree that if it were mine I would probably leave the figure close to its original state.

Actually, the only thing that I wanted one for myself was to basically make molds of the head and torso so that I could recast them and kitbash the copies together with some other jumbo parts to attempt to build a poor man's Dangard Jumbo.

Of course with the price that the KOs have been selling for "poor man's" may not be the correct turn of phrase to use..

As to the Daitetsujin wings, I will be making a mold of them but it will be a couple of weeks before I can get seriously into working on my Jumbo projects.

My business has a dealer space reserved at a local gaming convention on the weekend of the 15th and I have to make certain that we have enough product on hand to support what we expect to sell at the show along with our regular sales through the web site.

Once we are past the convention (and I take a day or two off to rest) I'll be putting more time into my hobby projects.

[1oldrobot]

ah! this did not come out of a popy mold. not sure if that was a typo in the original post or not. sometimes bootlegs run smaller in size and sometimes with grainy surface distortion. i think that may be because either a new positive or mold was made in ceramic that shrank when fired. fly your bootlegs proudly. much of the same usage of basic color on bootlegs is responsible for much of the same appeal of the real thing, just even simpler and more abstract. there probably arent many of those around anymore. restoring it would be cooler than a dangard ace (well, not really, but everyone wants one of those so much its old news).

[magengar]

Luclin999 mentioned the term "poor man's jumbo"...
...I like that term, I'm not offended nor phased by it at all.
On the contrary, I'll gladly take it as my green light
to go ahead and modify any jumbo I find. ;D

Congrats on your new score!

zozo-mag

[luclin999]

I actually meant no offense or disrespect by the term.

Half of the Jumbos in my collection were bought up cheaply because they were dirty, beat up or outright damaged to the point where the sellers had listed them literally as "junk".

And I was very happy to get them. I would far rather invest under $300 in a "less than perfect" figure and restore it back up to displayable condition than to shell out the big bucks for a mint or near mint condition toy.

Also, there is a very active sub set of collectors in this hobby who collect bootleg figures and IMO with good reason. The toys provide an interesting look into the period and the overall popularity of the Jumbos during the 70's and 80's.

[faulkners2]

Luclin -- Just let me know when you get a set of the wings made. I would love to have a set.

[faulkners2]

I agree with you guys. I am like you, Luclin, in that I would rather buy a Jumbo in need of work and restore it than buy a new, mint one, and sometimes, not even because of the price. I just love to restore these things -- it's fun and gives more meaning to the Jumbo for me. Also, I collect any Jumbo -- bootleg or not, so this one is another one I needed to fill the slot in my collection. I do want to keep it as close to the original as possible, so Will I will be PMing you about the stickers. I also like the term "poor man's jumbo" because that is truly what these are, and, like Luclin, I love them because of what they are -- creative copies of the originals.

You're right, 1oldrobot, it was not cast from the Popy molds, but the maker obviously used the Popy as a model for making it. Weirdly, the fists are actually screwed on to the arms with four small screws on each arm, so they must be in two pieces, like the Popy would have been. I guess this is so that they could get the firing mech inside the arm. And, like you said, I may never get a Dangard Ace in the collection due to the demand and the prices, so this may be as close as I come. I will be posting picks as the restoration progresses, and I hope to get him back as close as I can to original!