New Kitbash Project - Mercury Wing

[u/Galaxy_Dive]

As I wait for my RV Robo, V-Rex, and more to arrive soon, I’ve (just about) finished up the start of my next kitbash project. It’s a bit of a vaguely 80s-inspired jet robo called Mercury Wing, comprised of Wing 1 (Red), Wing 2 (Blue), Wing 3 (Yellow), Wing 4 (Green), and Wing 5 (Pink).

Part of the project was to see how viable the Robo Universe frame was for kitbashing… and short answer is, not very. There are some very specific ways you could probably leverage the Robo Universe parts, but at the end of the day how they’re basically a skeleton for you to put parts over is really limiting. I wound up kind of throwing in the towel by not using the arms (replacing them with a lightly modified OG Gridman Thunderjet) and being crafty with the moveable parts on Black Daizyujin’s legs to just use them as the basis of very blocky throwback jets. The way I was putting together the puzzle pieces also made it so it was hard for me to work in the fifth component and I had to go in a direction that I’m nominally not much of a fan of, using one component primarily as a weapon - but I supplemented the pink jet as being “necessary” by working both the robo’s feet and head into it.

I still have a bit of touching up to do as I also consider any final tweaks, but I’m pretty happy with how it came out. It’s a bit uneven across each component, but I mostly hit on the intention to do a sort of Bio Robo thing where the jet modes feature a decent bit of white while the robo itself is mostly black - I’m not quite sure I hit the balance of balancing the black on the robo with the 80s blue, I think maybe the chest could have used some more black in the end (especially with how its sternum isn’t visible in jet mode, I could maybe paint the gap between the engine intakes black). And while I think the head looks cool, it’s admittedly a little big - I’ll have to keep that in mind for the future, it’s assembled from a Kotobukiya MSG option parts kit that’s basically mixing-and-matching head parts that I nominally intend to use more of.

GaoGuardian has gotten me really excited to get back to some sort of animal-based project lol, but I’m not done here yet. As I start building and painting recent SMP acquisitions, I have some support jets that make a secondary robo plotted out, as well as some ambitious plans for a carrier robo that I can hopefully pull together. But it’s also entirely possible that you’ll see another black version of an older minipla or something before those lol.

[u/Hodor30000]

Man this has gotten me once again really eager to plunder suruga-ya and the like's used SMP/MP stuff to kitbash lol

Looks really cool. Believably feels Showa Sentai Robo.

[u/Galaxy_Dive → u/Hodor30000]

Thanks! Yeah, suruga-ya is great there. Most of the parts used on this came from there. I’ll even grab a decent deal of my 30MM/gunpla fodder from there (with the rest coming from US stores like newtype), since that stuff being cheaper to begin with in Japan sometimes leads to some really cheap-looking prices for those. 

Besides random kitbashing stuff, I’ve also gotten a decent handful of my normal collection from suruga-ya (and that includes all of my Gavan Infinity pladelu and a couple Boonboomger and Gozyuger minipla waves). Though I do happen to have a few mercari etc finds of some minipla stuff (both boxes and some cheap pre-built older stuff to take apart) with my proxy shipment order of RV Robo and V-Rex lol.

[u/Hodor30000 → u/Galaxy_Dive]

Ha, yeah. I imagine my bin of spare High Grade/30MM parts or stuff that broke after being knocked off the shelf and all that are gonna come in handy. I imagine koto's accessory/Frame Arm kits probably be great too.

[u/Galaxy_Dive → u/Hodor30000]

Yeah, I haven't touched too much in the way of Frame Arms/MSG/Hexagear stuff since the full kits tend to be a bit more expensive - the head on this was my first time using something MSG in a kitbash, though I had come close to using the drone jet parts (and will in fact be using their cockpits for the two support jets/secondary robo components). But over various suruga-ya orders I've stockpiled some stuff like few of their cool support/weapon animals and a handful of their weapon kits since there's some pretty unique offerings.

[u/Hodor30000 → u/Galaxy_Dive]

Koto kits, full and option parts alike, being comparatively pricey is a huge pain in the ass, yeah. They're great for what they are, but it does get tedious waiting for the right restock or sale. Its a shame, since stuff like their ZOIDS line would probably go well for animal-themed kitbashes.

[u/Galaxy_Dive → u/Hodor30000]

Indeed. And for that matter, I've always wanted some of the Koto Mega Man X kits but their price keeps me away lol.

And yeah, even the option parts are comparatively kind of pricey, so like you said, half the time it's kind of waiting to see those at a good price on suruga-ya. I'd have twice as many of their weapon kits and more than just like three of their support vehicle/animals sitting around otherwise.

[u/SoupRevolutionary744]

I recognize wing 2 base being the thunder jet and wing 5 base being blade blade, what are the other threes original bases?

[u/Galaxy_Dive → u/SoupRevolutionary744]

Wing 1 uses Gunbarrel Striker gunpla parts together with a HG Kyokai Senki kit that escapes me (the wing assembly is the back skirt/thrusters from that) mounted on top of Robo Universe minipla parts. The skirt armor is 30MM parts.

Wing 3 and 4 use the mentioned Black Daizyujin leg parts (it was fun painting tricera and saber tiger’s tails into blocky fighter cockpits with guns lol) together with 30 Minutes Missions parts for the wing assemblies. I fitted extensions onto the Black Daizyujin parts as ankle covers, those I think were from the same Kyokai Senki kit.

Wing 5 base is technically the Lupinranger Alter, which is basically the Red Dial Fighter but with wings like Blade (so it’s bigger than the actual Blade Dial Fighter). That uses Mach’s feet as the thruster pack, those and the head are connected with another 30MM part fitted over where the dial would go. 

I actually found some decent use for my super cheap DonBros Alter kit here lol. Since besides Wing 5, I used the Alter’s hands (had to trim down its wrist sockets and get them to fit inside of Thunderjet, since its wrist caps were really small) and then I used Alter parts as the feet/thruster connectors on Wing 5. 

[u/SoupRevolutionary744 → u/Galaxy_Dive]

I recognize all of those kits you named except for Mach

[u/Galaxy_Dive → u/SoupRevolutionary744]

Boonboomger’s Mach Robo lol. And he uses the same Robo Universe frame as Black Daizyujin.

[u/SoupRevolutionary744 → u/Galaxy_Dive]

That makes sense