1/100 Sandrock Kai
Version 2

Front View Rear View
Weapons - Heat Shorters and scratchbuilt Machine Gun
Cross Crusher - Shield, backpack, and heat shorters combined

Now that I had become a more skilled kit- basher/converter, I decided to give my 1/100 Sandrock and Heavyarms much needed upgrades. I began work on Sandrock first.

Again, I wasn't trying to make SR look exactly like his TV version(that would require a tremendous amount of work), but instead a very close representation. Now that I was using sheet styrene and epoxy putty for making parts, I found I could do A LOT more than my original version. And no, I still haven't fixed the very obvious seam lines right down the middle of his legs, didn't feel like it :)

I began on the shoulders, cutting off most of the lower "feathers" and molding the new shape on with epoxy putty. The large grey parts were built using styrene, and the yellow "claw" blocks were molded from putty. It's not very easy to see in the pics, but the shoulders are slightly uneven in a few places.

The head came next. Using epoxy putty, I built up the inner "face" part(adding the red lower area, and widening it a bit), and added the large "flaps" to the sides of his head.

Next came the scratchbuilt Machine gun, which was alot easier than I expected. It was built in layers using two thicknesses of sheet styrene, and two diamater of plastic rod. I began with a center block(three 1mm thick sheets), and added the outer layers(two on each side) to that, and then added the seperate rear block, handle and barrell to the finished body. Finally, the detail lines were scribed in, and shollow holes were drilled into the front sides to finish it. I havent' yet, but I'll probably give it a peg so it can attach to Sandrock's rear armor, like the 1/144 kit does.

The backpack and Heat Shorters were the final projects. I gave the backpack a large overhaul, removing the large heat shorter holsters, and repositioning the thrusters. Polycaps where added so that the new heat shorters could connect appropriately. Some putty was used to fill in the large gaps left by the holsters, and to add the new thruster housings. The Heat Shorters were peiced together from the blades and handes of the old Shorters as well as some sheet styrene and epoxy putty. I really could have done a better job on them, you can see that they are a bit uneven in the pics, as well as some seam lines. The backpack, sheild and shorters now combine properly to form the Cross Crusher weapon as well.

Oh, and as a little afterthought(almost even forgot to mention it), I cut off the upper most part of SR's knees, and flattened them out. I also painted the red cockpit hatch smaller, and added more yellow to the front skirt armor as well.

Now this is how my Sandrock should have been done in the first place, it looks REALLY nice holding that machine gun with both Heat shorters hanging on its back.