Celebration! “Return of Ultraman” 50th Anniversary
A compilation of the project to make soft vinyl monster dolls walk on batteries

2026-04-13

No.1 typhoon monster “Varricane"

2021 is the 50th anniversary of the broadcast of “Return of Ultraman." An enthusiastic fan of “Return of Ultraman," Kochijiro has been remodeling the soft vinyl monster dolls that appeared in “Return of Ultraman" for 10 years so that it can walk on batteries. At the time of launching this blog, I took out monsters from the storage and performed maintenance. I would like to introduce one body each time, including stories that are difficult to make. This time is typhoon monster “Varricane."

 

 

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“Kaijūkyō" brand started with the concept of releasing unreleased monsters under the former “Bullmark," and was previously sold by “Tsuburaya Communications," but now “Yamanaya" has taken over the business. It is better shaped than the old Bullmark products, but it has not lost its cuteness as a toy due to its exquisite deformation. The ”Varricane” is very realistic, but as in the play, you can manually rotate the part with the tentacles on the head.
Photo-1; The soft vinyl is separated.
Photo-2; A ”Varricane” that looks like a punk rocker with its head upside down.
Photo-3; A drive unit manufactured using Tamiya's “Universal Gearbox" is installed.

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Due to its shape, “Varricane" was expected that it would be difficult to walk on two legs, so I decided to run it with the tires on the soles of the feet. Also, in the play, “Varricane" floats fluffy in the air, so I decided to incorporate a mechanism that raises and lowers the body. By the way, Kochi-ism does not like the method of controlling multiple motors like the current robots, but aims at a drive device with a single motor. The drive unit (such as the gears surrounded by yellow in Photo-4) moves up and down to move the body up and down, but if the rotating head of “Varricane" moves up and down, it is stupid. Therefore, the shaft that rotates the head pointed by the arrow in Photo-4 does not move up and down, and only the gear that gives the shaft a rotational force needs to move up and down. If the shaft is made of round steel, the vertical movement of the gear is smooth, but the rotational force of the gear cannot be transmitted to the shaft. For this reason, square steel is used for the shaft instead of round steel, and the holes that penetrate the gears are also square instead of circular. As shown in Photo-5, this shaft is connected to the red sprocket (large gear) at the head, and the ladder chain (black chain in Photo-6) placed on the head is rotated. Tamiya's “Ladder Chain & Sprocket Set" is used for this part.

（Professor’s one-point advice）

Tamiya's “Universal Gearbox" was used most often in this project. Since the “Universal Gearbox" has an orthogonal two-axis rotating shaft, movements such as running + opening and closing of the mouth can be performed with a single motor. I would like to thank the great Tamiya for continuing to sell goods for the few electric craft fans that exist in Japan.
(Notes on using ”Universal Gearbox”)
・ The Phillips screw near the thin shaft is easy to loosen, but if you tighten it too tightly, the gear will be deformed, so it is recommended to use a spring washer to prevent it from loosening.
・ If the metal plate that separates the gear from the shaft is tilted toward the motor, the gear will not rotate smoothly, and if it is tilted toward the shaft, the gear may fall, so adjustment is required to the appropriate position.
・The metal worm gear connected to the thin orthogonal shaft is relatively soft and will wear out if an excessive load is applied.
・The attached motor is easily rusted by sweat in the summer, so I often replace it with Mabuchi’s FA-130RA.

No.2 Robot monster “Billgamo"

This time, I would like to introduce “Billgamo." This is the first monster that Kochijiro tried to remodel.
At the end of 2009, I fell in love at first sight with the “Kaijūkyō" brand “Billgamo" that was on sale at the auction and made a successful bid. At first I enjoyed watching it, but since “Billgamo" is a robot, I decided to modify it to make it walk.
“Billgamo" appears in episode 41, “Revenge of the Alien Baltan Jr." I didn’t like this story at first , but when I look back at the DVD now, I realize that this episode has a good taste. “Billgamo" is one of the few robot monsters in the second Ultra series, but unlike “King Joe" and “Crazygon" of “Ultraseven," his cute and friendly looks are attractive.

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Photo-1 shows the soft vinyl disassembled, and Photo-2 and 3 show the drive unit. Although it is difficult to see in the photo, the walking system is based on the CUBE robot “CAM-10".
In order for both humans and robots to walk on two legs, it is necessary to move the center of gravity so that they do not turn over while standing on one leg. When CUBE’s robot raises the right foot, he balances by tilting the left ankle clockwise and tilting the body to the left. The same applies when raising the left foot. It is excellent that this is controlled mechanically instead of by computer.

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At the time of completion, “Billgamo" was walking vigorously with his legs moving as shown in Photos-4 to 6 and leaning as shown in Photos-7 to 9, but recently he lost such power as shown in the video below. After disassembling and examining it, it was found that Tamiya's “Universal Plate" that fixes the drive unit was deformed by the force of the spring. As the “Professor’s one-point advice" suggests, self-made Toys must always deal with such “aging" and must not neglect regular maintenance.

（Professor’s one-point advice）

Because soft vinyl is a soft material that does not require any special tools for making holes and cutting out, it is enough to prepare a drill and a cutter. In addition, it can be said that it is suitable for remodeling because it is well bonded with instant adhesive. However, since the strain due to temperature changes is relatively large, if it is modified in midsummer or midwinter, it may become stuck due to interference between the drive unit and surrounding members due to temperature changes after half a year. For important work such as gear positioning, it is recommended to work at room temperature close to the standard temperature (about 15 to 20 ° C). Also, since it is an amateur’s manual work, regular maintenance is indispensable to play for a long time. I try to use screws instead of glue so that it can be disassembled quickly in the event of a failure. The photo is a simple joining method that I thought of, and no difficult process such as welding is required for manufacturing. I would like to teach you how to make it at another time.

No.３ ancient ｍonster “Twintail"

This time, I will introduce the ancient monster “Twintail," which is modified of the old Bullmark soft vinyl doll. “Twintail" appears in episodes 5 and 6 of “Return of Ultraman." In addition to the uniqueness of the design and the splendid modeling, the script and direction were very excellent, so “Twintail" is a monster that is deeply engraved in the hearts of fans. Perhaps recent creators love “Twintail" too much, many of figures are “my Twintail," and honestly, there are some that do not resemble the original. However, I think this Bullmark soft vinyl doll is wonderful because it has a harmony of elaborate modeling and toy-like loveliness.

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Photo-1 is a size comparison of various soft vinyl dolls. From the left, Bandai product (Ultra Monster Series), Bullmark Standard Size, Bullmark Giant Size, and Billiken Shokai product. Photo-2 shows the standard size made by Bullmark broken apart to 3 pieces. Photo-3 shows the foot (sole) of a Billiken soft vinyl that even expresses the bottom of the long shoe in the actual costume, and this time, I used the one duplicated with a plastic board.
The characteristic of “Twintail" is two tails that look like a whip. In this project, the movement of tails is reproduced by connecting the plate (that supports the tail with a spring) and the crank gear with a rubber tube and converting the rotational force of the crank into vibration (Photo-4). It didn’t take much time to make it, but it’s one of my favorites because I was able to express the movements of “Twintail" in the play as it was.

No.４ assassin alien “Nackle"

This time, I will introduce the assassin alien “Nackle" who appeared in the 37th episode “Ultraman dies in the setting sun" and murdered Aki and Ken Sakata. No matter how accustomed to the deaths of characters, I think there were not a few children at that time who were shocked by the sudden exit of the two regulars. The climax that Ultraman defeated the alien and monster that killed Ken Sakata, who was longing for like his brother, and Aki, his lover, will bring us one of the best catharses in the second Ultra series.
This time, I remodeled the old Bullmark soft vinyl doll. Human shaped soft vinyl dolls are not suitable for complex walking systems. The reason is that its slender body has less space to prepare the drive unit, and it is difficult to stand on its own because there is no tail. Therefore, as with the “Varricane" introduced in No.1, I decided to run with the tires on the soles of the feet.
The bouncer monster “Blackking" wants to be about 1.2 times taller than “Nackle," but unfortunately there were restrictions on the materials used for soft vinyl at that time. Because it is quite small, I gave up electrification, and this time I will only use it as a battery box for “Nackle."

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Photo-1: When the soft vinyl doll is disassembled.
Photo-2: The drive unit is embedded.
Photo-3: The side of “Blackking."
At the base of the right foot in Photo-2 are the “Center Pulley" and “Drive Belt" (both are Tamiya’s RC PARTS) for rotating wheels on the sole of the foot. And from the base of the left foot the rod extends upwards for moving both arms.
“Nackle" can speak the lines of the scene declaring “Ultraman is dead." On the other hand, “Blackking" can play SE and BGM of the tense scene where Nackle becomes huge and attacks Ultraman.

No.５ optical monster “Prizuma"

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This time, as the name suggests, I will introduce “Prizuma" from the 35th episode “Cruel! Optical monster Prizuma," which is famous for the script written by actor Shin Kishida. The material is a soft vinyl of the “Kaijūkyō" brand. The Prizuma slides on the ground, so there is no problem with running on the tires, but I wanted to somehow reproduce the cry like a soprano singer and the light emission of the whole body.　
For the cry, I recorded the scene appearing at the baseball stadium on a voice recorder and used it. In addition, three white LEDs are placed inside the body for whole body light emission, and Tamiya’s RC Parts “Rainbow Light / Random Flashing" are used for the colorful light emission of the core part.

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Photo-1: Back side, Photo-2-5: Colorful light emission of the core (squealing state), Photo-6: Whole body light emission (running state).

（Professor’s one-point advice）

In most soft vinyl electrification projects, one or two lithium batteries “CR2" (3V) are used as the power source. Originally, I used an inexpensive alkaline battery (1.5V), but to make it emit white light like Ultraman’s eyes, a LED (voltage depends on the resistance, but it is about 3-4V) is necessary instead of a miniature light bulb. Since the voltage of two alkaline batteries is often insufficient, I decided to use “CR2," which is compact but has twice the voltage of alkaline batteries.

“CR2" is very expensive and costs around 500-700 yen per bottle. Therefore, I use a rechargeable battery that can be used repeatedly, but since major domestic manufacturers do not produce rechargeable batteries, I think it is necessary to be careful about fires caused by ignition.
In addition, soft vinyl electrification projects often provide a function to reproduce the monsters’ cry. The voltage of the voice recorder used is generally 4.5V (using 3 × 1.5V button batteries). In that case, two “CR2″s will be used in series (6V), but the motor for the drive unit has a working voltage range of 1.5 to 3V, so if you continue to use batteries at 6V, they will affect the motor’s life. Since a voice recorder may be able to play even at 3V, it is important to form a simple circuit in advance and check whether the function you want to give will be defective depending on the number of “CR2."

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