Celebration! “Return of Ultraman” 50th Anniversary
A compilation of the project to make soft vinyl monster dolls walk on batteries Vol.3
目次／Table of contents
No.11 ancient monster “Kingsaurs III"
This time, I would like to introduce “King Zaurus III“, which appeared in the fourth episode. The material is a soft vinyl doll from the Kaijūkyō brand. It is the first four-legged monster in this project.
All four feet move, but the rotating rollers on the soles of the feet have reverse rotation prevention devices only on the hind feet, and the front feet are not related to walking. There was a plastic model of Marusan who made the quadrupedal monster “Todola" move like a baby’s crawling by operating only the front legs, but this “King Zaurus III" is the opposite and walks only with the hind legs. However, the difference from “Todora" is that the legs (forefoot) that do not contribute to walking are also moved with a dummy. The “Leogon" of this project has a quadrupedal walking system like the insect plastic models of Imai and Bandai, so I would like to introduce it at another time.
“King Zaurus III" was a monster that was made relatively early, and its original power source was AA batteries. For this reason, it does not have the function of crying or emitting light, but it can open and close the mouth. However, since the neck is long and slightly curved, it was necessary to devise such as using a pulley to open and close the mouth well.
Right: Pulley for opening and closing the mouth
Right: Soles of feet (only hind feet have anti-reverse rollers)
No.12 fossil monster “Stegon"
This time, it is the fossil monster “Stegon" that appears in the 10th episode “Dinosaur bombing order." This story has the impression that it is a little likened the 15th episode “Terrifying cosmic rays" of “Ultraman," and the atmosphere of Stegon is similar to the Seabozu that appears in the 35th episode “Monster cemetery." However, I think it was an important episode in terms of sending a message to the viewer that not all are scary monsters, and that the new Ultraman is also kind and a child’s ally. Unlike the anthropomorphic Seabozu, Stegon also has a terrifying monster nature, such as by releasing a saliva-like solution from the mouth to dissolve humans. In addition, the costume modeling by Ryōsaku Takayama, who worked on many monsters of the “Ultraman," “Ultraseven," is wonderful. The biological feeling of Stegon, which walks without bending all four legs, is an excellent one that does not make you feel that the actor is inside.
Now for the electrification project, I used the old Bullmark soft vinyl doll. I thought that normal walking would not give the impression of the real Stegon, so I decided to let it walk with the same vibration mechanism as the vibe function of a mobile phone. Vibration is generated by eccentric rotation of the weight inside the body. By changing the mounting angle of the four legs of the soft vinyl doll, It makes various movements such as moving forward and stepping on. This weight uses a thick disk-shaped metal purchased from Tokyu Hands, but it was really difficult to drill a hole for the gear shaft to pass through. Also, like the real Stegon, the LED lights the eyes red and the mouth opens and closes quickly.
Photo-１ 
Photo-２
Photo-３ 
Photo-４
Photo 1: Metal weight attached to the Universal Gearbox
Photo-2: The eccentric movement of the weight is also used to open and close the mouth.
Photo-3: Front side and back side after completion
Photo-4: Ventral side after completion. By freely changing the angle of the foot, “Stegon" makes various movements.
No.13 space dinosaur “Z-ton the second generation"
This time, it is the space dinosaur Z-ton (the second generation) that is not sure whether it is popular with fans or not. I would like to introduce an interesting article about the second generation in the book “Talk about Ultraman!" (KK Bestsellers) that I covered before.
S However, the charm of the second-generation monsters of the second Ultraman series is the best.
G The second-generation Z-ton is symbolic, and the first thing to note is his feeling fat. And his appearance like homeless. He looks extremely strong. For example, the first generation can be compared to Jose Mendoza and the second generation to Joe Yabuki. The king’s personality and elegance are decisively lacking, but there is a terrible thing that no one knows what he will do, so in the end I would say which one is stronger …
S That’s Joe. But he looks completely Mammoth Nishi･･･That body, which is all defeated by gravity, is definitely the second generation’s individuality. It is nonsense to compare because it is different from the first generation.
G Even though he is Z-ton, he does not squeal “Zetton, Zetton" but screams “Bumoo." It looks like a bull and is wonderful. Therefore, the second generation has the goodness of the second generation (with full confidence).
（From “Remodeling! Regeneration! Thorough dissection of the second generation monsters“）
That’s all for the evaluation of second generations, and let’s get back to the electrification project. This time, I used a soft vinyl doll from Kaijūkyō. One of the characteristics of Z-ton is that the illuminant flows through the face in both the first and second generations, but in reality, the illuminant moves from bottom to top in the first generation, and the illuminant moves from top to bottom in the second generation. To express this, I made an illumination switch using the 2mm output shaft of Tamiya's Universal Gearbox. In addition, its walking system is a so-called Midori Shokai type with center pulleys and drive belts (Tamiya’s RC PARTS), which are often used in this project, but there is a little device. The pulley is moved by rotating the gear A next to the pulley with another gear B. Here, since the teeth of gear B have been scraped off by exactly half a circle, the pulley rotates during the half rotation of gear B, and stands still during the remaining half rotation. The pulley can be rotated independently by the left and right legs, and by arranging the toothed part and the non-toothed part of the gear B with the left and right legs, it is realized to walk zigzaggedly.
※Since the processing of the antennae is not precise, it does not look like the second generation unless it is colored.
No.14 “Return of Ultraman"
From the next time, this corner will be closed for a while, so this time I will introduce the main character, Ultraman. Previously, Billgamo mentioned that it was the first electrification project, but I wanted Ultraman as an opponent of Billgamo, so I made it. The soft vinyl doll used is from the Ginga Renpō series of the same brand as Kaijūkyō.
With the electrification of Ultraman, I didn’t want to lose to Marusan's plastic model, whose eyes were shining, the Color Timer glowed blue, and flashed red. Initially, these lightings were done with the same miniature light bulbs as Marusan, but it is not possible to express the white light that is characteristic of Ultraman, especially in the light emission of the eyes. Therefore, I decided to change the power supply from the original N batteries to CR2s and use LEDs (see Part 5). As a result, the batteries could not be stored inside the body, and I had to install a battery box at the feet outside the body, but it became an irregular style of walking with the exposed battery box.
Transparent parts are required for lighting. I could have made my own transparent parts for the eyes and the Color Timer, but this is a hassle. Paper clay is stuffed inside the body of the soft vinyl that has been split in half, and the hardened one is made into a male mold. I think it is better to press a heated transparent plastic plate against it, mold it, and then cut it out. But highly skilled modelers probably know another good ways. I don’t have such skills, so I used the soft vinyl doll with a transparent body, and painted everything except the eyes and the Color Timer in reverse. When painting the Return of Ultraman, the red double line part is troublesome. I’m not good at painting, so the finish looks like the picture. The “Special version" of the Ginga Renpō series has high paint quality, so I would like to try again using my own transparent parts. Also, when emitting light in a narrow area like this time, you may be worried about light leakage, but it is effective to paint the inside with black except for the light emitting part, so please try if there is a similar case. In addition, this walking system adopts the so-called Imai type, in which pseudo-feet enter and exit from the soles of the feet.
Left: Ginga Renpō soft vinyl doll “Return of Ultraman: First appearance version“: Eye paint removed with paint thinner.
Middle: Tamiya’s “Mini Motor Multi-stage Gear Box" was installed.
Right: Completed (light emission status by miniature light bulbs)
Left: Right side after completion
Middle: Front (Color Timer flashing red)
Right: Left side
Left: Back side after completion : CR2 battery box at the feet
Middle: “Ginga Renpō: Special version" soft vinyl doll
Right: Marusan plastic model reprint “Ultraman" (manufactured by “Nostalgic Heroes“)
Extra edition
Did you notice in the video above that “Garamon" and “Booska" are walking on the sumo ring? In this project, I am currently planning a sumo wrestling “Koti-Grand Sumo Tournament" participating 20 monsters and Ultraman. I think I’m doing something really stupid, but I’ve been increasing the number of monsters because I wanted to do this …I am holding a practice game to decide the ranking and efforts, but it is feared that this tournament will not be held due to a series of injured monsters such as a broken leg of “Billgamo." I hope you will wait patiently for the completion and release. The video below is a trailer that has already been uploaded to YouTube. I wanted to use the cool BGM that flows in the ending on the final day of the NHK Sumo Wrestling broadcast, but I never be able to get the permission. Therefore, I bought and used similar BGM from “PIXTA" (I am satisfied with the very good song).