Tamashii Soul of Chogokin C-3PO & R2-D2

[Invictus Sol]

LOL. Yes, I can see that. *smooths out Pix's lapels*

 

[Patriot666]

I truly believe that cutting and securing actual wiring would be much easier to consistently reproduce than hand painting this. Sure it would be more labor intensive and more expensive, but it would be easier to control the quality in production.
This:


Vs This:

 

[TaliBane]

Not sure painted rubbery plastic will be QC-free in the longer run, especially given 3PO is a fig that uses that waist articulation by hard plastic closely scraping over that painted rubbery surface. Hasbro did the painted wires but on a hard surface that didn't in reality actually articulate.

This being said, the Tama wires scare me - they seem easily torn and I sweat each time I reposition it.

While several minor details are wrong on the Tama, what is "perfect" - or close to it - is the overall proportions. It's the thing that is very elusive about 3PO, especially the head. SSC's head is yet another example in the long line of failures to capture the look of the head (though I love the look of the SSC body.)

And Tama did the fat pistons because any thinner "in scale" piston will break given the way they function, and they fully replicated the actual way 3PO's arms functioned, whereas SSC fudged it (though fudged it in a really clever way even if it will break if you use it a fair bit and aren't super careful.).

 

[Pixelpiper]

And Tama did the fat pistons because any thinner "in scale" piston will break given the way they function,

Had they used brass tubing instead of cast zamak, I'm pretty sure there wouldn't have been any breakage issues.

 

[ZE_501]

Had they used brass tubing instead of cast zamak, I'm pretty sure there wouldn't have been any breakage issues.

As a trained goldsmith who worked extensively with brass in school (first two semesters) I will back that up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Pixelpiper]

Pretty sure Ahab is using brass tubing as the base of his piston mods - which looks great so far.

The big issue in production with brass tubing is assembly cost. You can't just use a plain tube, so getting something to look like the pistons will require sleaving multiple segments/rings which would have to be done by hand. A lot more time consuming and therefore expensive than just slapping on a ready-made cast piece.

 

[TonTon]

One fantastic thing that the sideshow version has is those articulated fingers. Those look fun to pose.

 

[Ahab]

Agreed, those hands look pretty cool.

FYI, to those who don't own the TN 3po, the stock pistons are made of metal(the rod) and plastic(the piston). The V1 of my modded piston uses the stock rod with two pieces of telescopic brass tubing for the piston base, detailed with aluminum and spring/coil elements. (For V2 I've replaced the stock rod with a smaller diameter steel rod...) I'll get into the details in the mod thread.
Cheers
Ahab

 

[TaliBane]

Had they used brass tubing instead of cast zamak, I'm pretty sure there wouldn't have been any breakage issues.

The only issues I've seen in glancing back at the thread were tubes that pulled out of the plastic sleeve part (that could be pushed back in.) Did the pistons actually break?

 

[Pixelpiper]

The only issues I've seen in glancing back at the thread were tubes that pulled out of the plastic sleeve part (that could be pushed back in.) Did the pistons actually break?

The only broken ones I saw came that way in the box. I didn't realize that the piston bodies were actually made of plastic - that explains why they aren't smaller, as they would definitely be more prone to breakage then. The cost perspective I mentioned still holds true, Ahab's assembly would be expensive during production - but should be very nice when we're working only on our own figures.

 

[DeadLeaves]

Are they plastic? Pretty sure it's die cast too.

I do know for a fact that they're still the same size they were back in 2013.

 

[anwe]

Unless I've suffered an aneurysm in the last months the piston is metal, the rod is metal, but the inside lining if you will of the piston body - or if it's simply a plastic knob or something I haven't really checked - that is supposed to prevent the rod from getting loose and the arms being able to extend more than the range of the piston, that one is (probably) made out of plastic.

Due more to faulty packaging more than anything else the rod of the piston could get on top of the styrofoam that was supposed to keep the arm in place and the leverage of the heavy arm resting only on the rod on top of the styrofoam caused the rod to break loose. It happened to mine and while I can pop it in and it looks and functions like it's supposed to there is no end position on that arm and when posing it the rod can pop out. But I simply put it back in and it will stay there as long as the arm isn't over extended again.

 

[TaliBane]

Yeah, I didn't recall seeing any actual "break" on those in looking back at this thread.

I'm interested in Ahab's 3PO arm articulation mod as due to the sliding/telescoping combo, there's enormous pressure on a tiny area and the thickness Tama did seems like the only durable solution. That is, in terms of those crazy youtube reviews where people bend and unbend the arms rapidly and carelessly. If you just gently bend the arm every so often for reposes in a display, a smaller scale piston would have been fine - but Tama has to consider the youtubers. It's a bit like speed bumps at the mall - everyone pays for the deeds of a small few.

 

[paramoremcr88]

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[TaliBane]

https://s1285.photobucket.com/user/...aramoremcr88021/DSC_3598_zpsy9st6ady.jpg.html



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Looks like a still from the movie.

 

[Patriot666]

Great pics Paramore!

 

[Invictus Sol]

Beautiful shots, paramore! Thanks!

 

[paramoremcr88]

Thanks guys

Liking 3PO a lot. Real quality piece. Shame there isn't an R2 of the same standard.

 

[TonTon]

Thanks guys

Liking 3PO a lot. Real quality piece. Shame there isn't an R2 of the same standard.

Great pics! I finally put this figure on my want list. I was content to wait until SS released theirs, but if I can snag this one for a similar price, I'm gonna do just that.

 

[Aliaz]

Really good pictures!