Yamato 1/48 VF-1S Valkyrie Head Lasers

Alright, so I got rohby's wonderful recast 1S head about a week ago, and there was one small problem with it - the head lasers were warped badly. True, I could have put them under some warm water, and then bent them back to shape, but that's when I started to really take a look at them - now, I don't know if it was the head lasers they were cast from or not, but there is a horrible seam line along the sides of them, and they aren't even round! So, I got to thinking, it'd be great to have 1S (or any other head, for that matter) head lasers that were:

• Round
• Had no seam line running down the side
• Had a hollowed out end

So, I got to work, on this quick little project - and made a master laser barrel, that I hope to use on all the 1A and 1J head lasers in the future. I took this master barrel, which is built around a brass tube, cast it, and made a set of 1S head lasers, then cast those. This final mold is complicated - because the head lasers barrels again contain brass tubes, to allow them to be hollow. The brass tubes first need to be cut to length, then roughed up, and a slot must be cut into them, to allow resin to flow properly. The first two pics show the prototype, compared against a rohby head - you can see how warped they are, and how oval shaped they are. The last few pics are the final painted head (crappy paint job, yes I know...). The only problem I've run into - the mounting hole in the side of the head seems to be larger on one head half then the other - and this causes a sloppy fit. Should be fixable with some superglue though. If you're interested in a set of these for yourself, shoot me an email!

Initial Test	Nice and Straight	Brass Rod Stuck	Final Parts	Nice and Hollow	No Vertical Seems

Well, I've been making these guys for a few months now, and have filled about 30 or so orders - and they are finally showing up in customs. Check out the pics below of MacrossWorld's Hirohawa custom VF-1S Low Vis, with hollow head lasers!

© 2005 Robert Fuchs