Generally, I'm not one to buy 1/144 scale kits. However I've had a project floating around in my head for a long time and the Real Grade Strike seemed to fit the bill. It's the perfect scale and I love the Strike Gundam's design. Plus it would give me an excuse to pick up and mess around with a RG level kit.
But wait, perfect scale for what you might ask? Well a kit bash with my ancient 1/550 scale Dendrobium of course! I've had one sitting around for over a decade, back from the days before I knew better and ripped pieces from the runners. When I pulled it apart I realized how great the cannon was and that it would look great by itself. Slowly the idea developed into a full scale kit bash. My first kit bash actually. And thus far, things are going great.
Click to Enlarge | On Flickr
I used the piece that mounts the Strike's shield to connect the Dendrobium's gun to Strike. Since I didn't glue anything it pivots like the shield. However since the fit isn't as tight it tends to shift per the weight of the gun. To keep it from moving I'm using a customized handle to accomidate the larger hand and difference in location. The cover will also be converted to protect Strike's hand.
Click to Enlarge | On Flickr
For the I-Field generator I drilled a hole in the side through which I attached a piece of runner. The runner, a bit thicker than the arm's shield mount, allows a tight fight that will keep the heavy piece in place. I've also added some plastic plating to the piece to accommodate adding a handle (taken from Strike's shield).
Click to Enlarge | On Flickr
For the middle launcher pods (proper name?) I reused the mount from the 1/550 Dendrobium. Which, amazingly, was exactly the same size as the white piece on the Aile. I lifted it a bit with plastic so that the mount is plausible (opening the flaps won't be prohibited by Strike's head/shoulder). In addition I chopped up the large flaps a bit. It looks like shit, but most of it is covered by the pods. Still, I'm planning on cleaning up the area using some putty (also a first for me).
Click to Enlarge | On Flickr
Pretty sweet eh? For as smoothly as my modifications have gone I'm stressed out about the color scheme. I want to stick with the traditional Strike blue/red and the different white hues brought along in RG tradition. I'm just not sure how to carry that along to the new parts. Got a good idea of how I'm going to do the generator and gun, but not the pods. Worse yet is that I've also modified the thrusters with the fins from the Dendrobium. I think I want to do those in red, but then the red won't match the white of the pods. Bah!
