This is an impulse purchase from Taobao... The KO DX Beta Spark from the Ultraman X Series - Movie-appeared item... Many parts are simplified, most of them I can accept except for the X Beta Capsule cannot stay retracted... Will have to think of a way to mod/restore this feature... Also the tip of the X Beta Capsule cannot be pulled back to fire the "arrow" as it is now molded as 1 single piece... Sound wise, it has the standard Chinese KO weapon toys of " Kai jia wu di (铠甲无敌???!!!) !!!! **%$%$@ .... " .... hahahahahaha... Costs approximately $12.45.....
It comes with a KO Ultra-Egg - "All- Blue" Ultraman Zero... plastic quality is a bit surprising, as it is slightly thicker and flexible than expected of a KO...
Well, at least the 2 components can be split to individual... Also bought some mp3 player IC boards, 1G microSD cards, and speakers, hoping to be able to use for sound mods, but failed... still trying to figure out what went wrong and what else can be bought to do the sound mods...
And went to Toys R Us today... To use up my soon-expiring credit card rewards points to exchange for vouchers to use... Of course, I only use them for toys.. hahahahahahahahaha.... In the end, pay only $8.97 for all these (including a TR Apeface which I post in another blog)... Sweet... Bought this cool repaint of the Strongarm model... Somehow, it reminds me of the Toucon Boost version of Strongarm gun... hahahahaha....
And this is chosen over the normal blue colour darts not because of the cool neon green colour which I though will match the translucent red gun... the real reason is... it is $1 cheaper than the blue darts... hahahahahahahah...
Modified the pin tabs of most of the Shift Cars that I have, for Kamen Rider Drive to have a "Power Up" Mode (although in the show Type High Speed is just Type Speed repaint itself to "motivate" Shinnosuke Tomari)!!! Hahahaha... Will be putting up some deco pieces on the Kamen Rider and Heisei 16 Riders cars to differentiate them from the (Ultra) Funky Spike and (Mega) Max Flare respectively...
The pins configuration... I used the ABS 2mm (or 2.5mm) sheet and painstakingly cut them into the pins before gluing them to place using superglue... Trimming has to be done... Unwanted original pins are cut off using wire-cutter and wood carving tool to trim nicely....
Not sure why, but started to work on this blade extension modification on my newly acquired DX Deep Slasher during the weekend... initially thought this will not be difficult but I was proven wrong... Luckily it turn out well, thank goodness... I used a polypropylene sheet (estimate about 1mm thick) bought from Daiso to make the blade, and some thick (2 or 2.5mm, can't remember... ) for the structure parts... Have to also do a lot of hollowing to create space for the sliding blade...
Blade is made slightly wider than the original one... Used 3 layers for the main blade body, 1 layer for the main detail and another layer for the small details... All layers are joined with double sided tape, since super glue is useless on PP. The edges are also sealed with hot glue... A fake blade "cover" is also cut and attached to to cover the empty space when blade is pulled out...
To keep the blade locked when extended, magnets are added to the 2 ends... Actually it turned out that they are not really needed as the blade is quite tightly held already when pulled out...
Done... Quick comparison of the gun mode... Looks about the same...
... and sword mode... also about the same, just slightly wider and little longer... so, need to pull the blade...
Looks so much better with a longer blade!!!!! Silly Bandai... hahahaha....
Also modified the Ichigo Eyecon to become the "Boost" version, hahaha... Shaped and super-glued 2 pieces of the ABS used previously to form the "ears" before painting them with metallic red car touch up paint... Then they are coated with a thin layer of super-glue for protection...
Here's a video clip to show the modification done:
First up, the gashapon Eyecons of Tutankhamun (2 pieces, cost approximately SGD 12.35 for both) and Ichigo (cost approximately SGD 8.70)... The 2 Tutankhamun Eyecons are modded to be a Sanzo and the other a Gaim. Since they are too simple in the modification, may not be posting pics up...
Also bought these 3 gashapon Eyecons - Grimm brothers (cost approximately SGD 6.45), Houdini (cost approximately SGD 6.70) and Columbus (cost approximately SGD 8.70)...
And could not resist to get this to complement my Super Rocket Switch, hahaha... Cost approximately SGD 13.25... yeah, very very expensive... all because of the volumetric weight in shipping... sigh... hahahaha...
Next are Ultra Fusion Cards... Gotten the Hurricane Slash set for SGD 25.10)... expensive for cards, even though they are chip-embedded...
And some loose ones, cost approximately SGD 19.85 for these 4....
Made the Super Tatoba Medals by painting the symbols with a gold paint pen. The Super Taka Medal has the back side replaced by a First Hero Series Taka Medal to be used for the Tamashii Combo. Shocker Medal is done by printing the symbol to paste over a *forget-what-it-is* medal. Tried to implement the 2 combo sounds with sound recording circuits but due to need to use a new speaker, a lack of space to properly mount the speaker and sound circuits do not produce good quality sounds, the henshin sounds are not good in the end, sigh...
Edit: A clearer picture of the 2 sets of medals for Super TaToBa and Tamashii Combo...
DX OOO Scanner has not much space to put in extra components... Have since purchase some mp3 player circuits and such to re-do the sounds... hope they arrive safely...
.. meaning these switches also need to be changed...
Added a power-on-off switch to the sound circuits. Also restored the sliding sound effects of the Diendriver circuit, else the Decadriver's circuit sound made when sliding will drown the "kamen" / "ride" sound the Diendriver circuit makes.
Edit: Some pics of the internal of the DX Diendriver... not much space, but compared to the DX OOO Scanner, this is considered quite spacious...
Decided to re-do the DX Diendriver modifications as the existing gashapon Diend Gaia Memory just went dead without any reasons... So re-looked at the 2 circuits (previously put in the and decided to use back all of the DX Diendriver's circuit and only need to add in a "Diend!" sound during hensin-ing. Took quite some time to work back and restore the circuits that have been covered with hot glue. Also have to add in a lot of other switches in detail...
Very broke these few weeks... Bought too much things liao... hahahaha...
First up, went to Fujiya at Bugis Cube to purchase the DX Orb Ring for my little nephew's Children's Day or Christmas present... Costs $65... Considering the high price in ebay and Taobao, this is the cheapest I can find...
Next, for me!!!!!!! DX Amazons Driver Set!!!!!! ... First time buying a Bandai Premium item... this costs about $195.90... Bought this from Taobao... could have gotten even cheaper if pre-order earlier, but hey, this price is good enough...
Very very nice fronts on the 2 main sides of the box... I personally prefer Kamen Rider Alfa (or Alpha), as he resembles the closest to the old KR Amazon... But very reluctant to make the driver into a battle-damaged version, hahahaha....
This Bandai Premium version contains the dagger blade (don't know what it is called officially) and the Amazonz Register (including an extension arm strap) which I heard the Amazon retail version does not have...
The main driver/belt itself... Very nice design that is very different from the current Kamen Rider drivers "kiddish" design... which is right, considering this series is catered to adults and not young children... Oh, just a gentle advice: Do not use fingernails or anything slightly sharp to the back of the "eyes" (i.e. from the back of the "mask"). There seem to be a piece of translucent film attached on the back side of the "eyes" to give it a frosted look, but if pressed in with something slightly sharper, it may cause the translucent file to stick closer (tighter) to the plastic surface of the "eyes", leaving "scratches"... I stupidly did that while trying to wipe dry after cleaning the mask with a wet cloth... Sigh, anyway...
The back of the buckle does not have the company and copyrights unlike most of the current KR drivers, as the information is molded on the "mask" piece instead, and that is well hidden when the the "mask" is slotted in...
The belt strap holder has good details too...
The "dagger" blade can be attached to one side of the "handle"... nice... but not so nice when view from the back... hollowed... hahaha....
This Amazonz Register is just a big plastic piece(s), no sound nor lights. May likely to open up and see if can put in some LED lights... Very nice design that is probably paying homage to the Gigi Bracelet... The set also comes with an extension arm strap... which is weird, since if Bandai can be considerate for adult collectors in wearing the Amazonz Register, why didn't Bandai provide an extension belt strap too? Hmm... $-making??!!... Hmmm...
Alfa... Amazon....
And here's a video clip to show the sounds this little gem makes!!!
Haul from Taobao arrived last night!! Impulse buy, impulse buy.. hahahaha... Double-items mean 1 of them is for my little nephew...
First up, my second purchase of the DX Handle Ken, yeap, for my own collection, hahaha... Costs approximately SGD 26.50, quite cheap, similar to those warehouse sale price... sweet... Short sword blade... Probably will make a longer replacement blade...
Pretty weird that the Taobao agent I engaged used to prohibit buying of such toy guns that don't look like firearms, luckily now they seem to have (Kivat says) "Wake up!"... So I purchased 2 of these... Quite a silly gun, needs opening and closing of door to recharge the shots, simply no logic, hahahahahah... Costs about SGD 23 each...
Lastly, the DX Deep Slasher... Yep, this is also on "clearance" in the Taobao shops, pretty weird considering Kamen Rider Ghost series is still airing, and the plot of KR Spectre storyline is still unknown, meaning KR Spectre is still going to be using this weapon for some time (or at least the next few episodes, which are also the final few episodes) ... Costs about SGD 35.50 each... And because of these, I have been tempted into buying the gashapon Toucon-Boost eyecon (couldn't find the Deep Spectre gashapon version)... Extremely happy, hahahaha... Yeap, will also probably be modding the short blade... Maybe a slide-out extension...
