Pinoy builds custom Voltes V, Daimos from Gundam parts

Alarms sounded at Camp Big Falcon to alert of another attack: the ever-eager Boazanian Empire has sent a stronger beast fighter to destroy the Earth's forces to pave way for an alien invasion.

 

Earth, however, had a reliable defense weapon system: 5 fighter vehicles that combine to create a giant humanoid war machine: Voltes V.

Childhood memories
 

Sometime in the late 70's, a young Arvin Angeles watched the super robot destroy monster after monster with its iconic Laser Sword. “I remember I was battling for the TV with my lola, who wanted a drama on another channel, and my father, who wanted a PBA channel.”

 

Voltes V aired between the 70's and 80's on GMA7 before then-president Ferdinand Marcos supposedly had it cancelled because of its “violent nature”. In 1999, the anime returned to the then-rainbow station on primetime.

 

The anime's popularity meant toys for the boys. Angeles had a small diecast Voltes V figure, but in high school, his rich classmate had a big Godaikin Voltes V replica that has a feature that all kids wanted: it “volts in.”

Building a dream
 

So he made his own 12-inch volting-in Voltes V out of folders and styro, which he'd bring to school in a shoe carton. But makeshift toys don't last long. “I decided to throw it and hope to recreate a better and durable toy someday.” 

 

In college, he made a more durable version out of thick plastic folders.

But this year, he customized a Gundam kit, transforming it into the iconic robot of his childhood.

 

Gundam is a totally different beast (or robot). Simply put, it is giant humanoid war machine whose name spans multiple decades, universes, and franchises, story-wise. Lots of kits are available in most toy stores and modelers have been known to customize them to their liking.

'I can do it!'
 

Angeles has collected Gunpla (a pormanteau of "Gundam" and "plastic kits") since 1998. He then moved to Singapore in 2008 to work as a graphic designer, has since restarted his collection, and bought a costly GX-31 Voltes V model.

 

Now 41, he did what no other Pinoy Gunpla modeler has done: turn a Gundam kit into a full-featured Voltes V.

 

“When I saw the feet of the GM, I already had it in mind that I will do a Voltes V modification,” Angeles told GMA News Online. “(Having) a Gundam that can be separated to 3 parts is a good start. I said, 'I think I can do it!'”

 

Kitbashing a full model

Working from the feet up, Angeles had to borrow parts from other kits (a process called "kitbashing") for his Gundam-to-Voltes V project. 

 

“Aside from the base kit MG 1/100 RGM-79 GM, I also used some parts from two MG 1/100 RX-78 v.2.0, some Tamiya Plaplates and a lot of different Kotobukiya MSG parts,” said Angeles. “I also bought a brand new toy tanker just to rip it apart to get the tank threads i need!”

 

The Voltes V model kit he made is as accurate as any fan would want: it has finger missiles, chain knuckles, Voltes bazooka, ultraelectromagnetic tops and whip, ground fire, ultraelectromagnetic beam, and the iconic laser sword. It even has the mechanical eagle that upgraded Voltes V's offensive capability in the anime.

 

Look ma, no magnets!

But the sweetest feature of his custom-made kit is that it volts-in.
 

“Voltes V has no magnets involved. It came from an innerframe of GM that has pegs exactly where I wanted them,” said Angeles, going into detail.“Panzer and Frigate is equalled to the GM's Body part and Leg part that detach to give way for Core Fighter to get in.

The Lander 5 has pegs that clips to Frigate 4 almost without modifying except for the details of it. Head as we all know it, has a round peg, same as Gundams.”

 

Angeles has lost track of his expenses for the project. “I just control myself from spending too much.” But he pulled it off in one month, complete with a custom-made Camp Big Falcon.

 

 

“Since I finished my Voltes V, I was thinking were to display it, will it be in robot form or volt-out? So I decided to create a Camp Big Falcon exactly on my Voltes V model kit specifications,” said Angeles.

 

But he was not yet done with his Gunpla-to-something-else projects. His 2nd GM kit arrived after he finished working on Camp Big Falcon on June 5. 

Up next: Daimos

 

Four days later, he started his Gunpla-to-Daimos project.

 

Using the same base kit he used for his earlier work, Angeles started turning the grunt unit to another iconic robot. Daimos, is part of the “romantic trilogy” of robot series which includes Voltes V and Combatler V. It aired locally with Voltes V in the late 70's and and on 1999.

 

“I had been receiving many request to do a Daimos,” said Angeles. “Since I also watched the series way back in my childhood days, and I don't have a GX-43 Daimos (toy), i decided to challenge myself to do one.”

 

While he didn't have a bigger toy model as guide, he managed to finish Daimos in 20 days, sans painting.

Voltes V vs. Daimos
 

“Voltes V is bit harder than Daimos because it splits into five, and each one must transform to another form,” he said. Following the printed plans of the toy model, he managed to create a functioning replica, complete with a small Rover 75S that the character Richard drives into the Tranzer before it transforms into the karate robot.

 

Right now, he is finishing his entry for the Gunpla Builders World Cup 2013 Singapore leg so he can paint Daimos with it together. For budding modifiers, he advises that they “build what you want, and not what others wanted you to build. This way, you have all the motivation you need to finish what have started.”

Tips for newbies

 

Starting builders might also be hesitant to “hurt” their kits for fears of destroying it. 

 

“You must sacrifice a part of your kit by cutting, trimming, without knowing if it will work or not,” said Angeles. “It happens to me too, almost everytime. I just think of this phrase: in every creation, there is destruction. You cannot avoid not to destroy a thing or two to produce a better one. It is the nature of creation.”

 

“If you executed it nicely then you can say to your self that 'In every destruction, is a creation!' he added.

 

At the end of the episode, the Earth is once again saved by Voltes V. It may have never met Daimos in the series, but in Angeles' Singapore home, Voltes V and Daimos stand proudly side-by-side, handcrafted by Pinoy hands to celebrate a memory of an action-filled childhood. It's probably your childhood too.

—TJD, GMA News