My Obsession with The Guyver Unit

[Conduit123]

Here's my kit. In thinking about it, I believe that I may have sent the main ribbed "donut" to Ted to mold and make final castings. Or maybe it was my other friend... I honestly can't remember. At any rate, they were rotocast hollow:

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In cleaning up the original casting of the donut, I noticed that there were some wonky spots. I studied it for a bit so that I could determine where to put the large "petals" to cover those spots. Once I had done that, I added some pegs - and corresponding sockets on the inside surfaces of the petals - so they can just plug on:

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The "fingers" were a different challenge. Ted said that on the original prop, the donut was cast in self-skinning polyfoam and was squishy - it could be compressed to snap the fingers into place. Well, since these donuts were rigid, there was no way to get the fingers on, as they were. So I came up with the solution to make them two separate parts that would assemble around the donut - I made a registration key on one half and a corresponding socket on the other half. And as you can see, they also have a socket that corresponds to a peg on the donut for precise placement as well:

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Now I just need to refresh my memory on which side is UP and which side is DOWN.

Wow! Very innovative, your methods would totally rock as a kit

I also ended up splitting the fingers in order to place them onto the rigid donut accordingly.

As for which faces UP and Down for extra confirmation:

The color scheme I’m going for is going to be more inspired by the some of the Source Material and ‘Guyver: Dark Hero’. A mix of pearl blues for the panels- then blacks, grays and purples for the tissue lines.

I’m wondering, how did the collaboration kit run with you and Ted come about? And why did it not fully follow through? I was about 12 years old in 2010, but I would’ve done everything to get my hands on this Unit that early lol

 

[The 48th Ronin]

As for which faces UP and Down for extra confirmation:

That's what I seemed to recall, but thanks for the confirmation.

I’m wondering, how did the collaboration kit run with you and Ted come about? And why did it not fully follow through? I was about 12 years old in 2010, but I would’ve done everything to get my hands on this Unit that early lol

It came about as these things usually do... my friend Shawn had been pestering me about it for years. He's a Guyver fan and he knew that Ted was a friend, and he knew that Ted had done the Unit for the film. So it was mainly to get Shawn to shut up about it. I don't think we ever had any real plans to produce them as kits - that tends to turn into a lot of work, and we were busy with actual work, so there was no real incentive.

Shawn has been the only one to paint and assemble his kit (so far). I had plans to nickel plate all of the domes (still do), but he was like "nope, I'm already done!"

 

[Conduit123]

That's what I seemed to recall, but thanks for the confirmation.



It came about as these things usually do... my friend Shawn had been pestering me about it for years. He's a Guyver fan and he knew that Ted was a friend, and he knew that Ted had done the Unit for the film. So it was mainly to get Shawn to shut up about it. I don't think we ever had any real plans to produce them as kits - that tends to turn into a lot of work, and we were busy with actual work, so there was no real incentive.

Shawn has been the only one to paint and assemble his kit (so far). I had plans to nickel plate all of the domes (still do), but he was like "nope, I'm already done!"

That’s pretty sweet to do something like that. I love making things for friends So cool that he has a friend like you haha

From what Ted has told me, he really wanted to do it but yeah he did get really busy.

I’ve thought about chrome plating my domes but I’m not so experienced in that realm, so I wouldn’t know how or where to start, or if I have the funds to invest in it. So instead I’ve gravitated towards using Chrome paint. Of course Chrome paint is known to turn out more metallic, but looking further into this world and with how the technology & technique has been advancing over the years, I’ve stumbled upon some really good chrome paints produced by ‘The Digital Armory’.

The way to achieve these good chrome paint finishes would be:
1) Prep the piece by sanding it smooth then adding a black backer.
2) Apply a gloss clear coat on top
3) Add the Chrome paint
4) Cover the surface with a protective clear coat

I did a set of my Unit domes using their mid tier paint called ‘Duralumen Tuff’. They turned out greater than I’ve ever gotten before, but the way I prepped the domes weren’t really good. Mostly because I rushed it and used cheap materials like a 1K clear coat instead of the 2K clear (as they recommend more). The chrome had some imperfections due to the rough prep work that I did.

So I stripped all my domes and restarted. I’m on step 2 of the process at the moment. Giving a few extra days for the Domes to dry with Spray Max’s 2K Clear before I go in and see if anything needs to be polished up. Then I’ll add ‘The Digital Armory’s’ newest product called ‘Ultralumen’, along with another protective coat of 2K Clear. Ultralumen is some pretty insane stuff that works like magic so far.

 

[The 48th Ronin]

Whoa, that's crazy.

I've never gotten around to investigating anything beyond Alclad II lacquer, which is what I've used for years. It's OK.

But that stuff looks amazing, and would definitely do the trick. To heck with electroplating nickel.

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

Very cool! I saw this on some streaming channel the other day and thought I should watch it again. I haven't seen it since the 90s. Now I definitely have to go watch it again.

 

[enterprise0216]

Truly amazing capture in a lot of the details on the Guyver unit. Huge fan of the Guyver never gets old!

 

[Conduit123]

Whoa, that's crazy.

I've never gotten around to investigating anything beyond Alclad II lacquer, which is what I've used for years. It's OK.

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But that stuff looks amazing, and would definitely do the trick. To heck with electroplating nickel.

Just took a look at the pieces drying from the 2K Clear. Dried completely, so I took the extra day to clean the parts up.

The front ring and bottom dome only needed a leveled sanding and polish (due to the orange peeling) So those are ready for the chrome paint.

Bottom ring, top dome and the 3 petal domes needed to be cleaned up and resprayed with 2K clear (some dust stuck around, had small chips from buffing and just needed more layers of the 2K clear)

I tested out the Ultralumen chrome paint on the front ring, it is literally like Liquid Metal. It’s all within the glass like and dark prepped base. Didn’t get a photo because I accidentally wiped half of it off when I handled it, but take my word for it lol (Definitely needs multiple coats along with a top sealing protective 2K clear coat)

Not looking for complete perfection, (there’s even imperfections and blemishes in the references, which I love) as this object IS supposed to be grown and organic. As Steve has said; “Nothing in nature is exactly perfect”- (paraphrasing)

Just need it to be better than how I did it before