July 17, 2001 CURRENT RUMBLE The GOLIATH Project Walter Harris 7.17.01 Per the suggestion of Josh Bernard, I thought I'd post a rumble on my latest custom Jumbo creation, Goliath. If you're on the MachinderShop or Jumboland lists, then you've already heard this bit of shameless self promotion, if not - read on... Like most "fan boy" figures, Goliath's life began as a sloppy concept sketch that I drafted a few months ago. The drawing was so weak I don't think anyone saw the designs potential but me. I reasoned it was better to put the time and effort into the actual piece than to get too caught up in the drawings - I've seen lots of great ideas on paper that never make it to 3D realization so I was determined not to let that happen on this project. Goliath's design stayed pretty true to its roots with just a few aesthetic improvements. Goliath's base body is an amalgam of modified jumbo parts: a Mazinga head, torso and upper arms - Gaiking legs - Raydeen fists. The overall design is also an amalgam, as it blends Egyptian and Samurai elements together. It would have been easy to create the ornate gold patterns on his chest, crotch, and legs with decals but I opted to give him a more authentic jumbo look and feel by cutting the patterns from plastic. The plastic was heated to bend around his body's contours and then permanently mounted with epoxy. The gold patters are slightly raised off the black body giving them a neat armor feel. Another unique aspect of Goliath is his huge, club-like missile firing hand. The launcher consists of two Raydeen shields and two cut down Mazinga missile launchers - it holds and fires six missiles instead of the standard three. I love the huge sword that LJN gave their Voltron Jumbo and with a nod to the Blazing Sword, I made Goliath a sword befitting his jumbo stature. It looks great in his hand but I also liked the way Mazinga's swords could be stored. I made a simple rig that is bolted to Goliath's back that works kind of like a display you would use to hang a sword on the wall - the sword fits snug but is easily removed for battle. Lastly, since Goliath is a home grown "Gaijin Machinder" I decided that his waist decal should reflect his American and Japanese influences. The word Goliath is bold enough to register from a distance but as you get closer you see the bright red characters that give you his Japanese name "Goraiotsu" (actual translation would be "Goraite" but I thought this sounded and looked cooler). I couldn't be happier with how Goliath turned out - he's the standout piece in my modest collection. Back stories and villain designs have been dancing in my head since I finished him. I'm still working on a Dabulas M2 custom but after that I want to focus on more original designs. I'm more than happy to help anyone who has a design in mind but has stalled out on actually producing it. Feel free to email me at wharris_iv@hotmail.com.  RUMBLE INDEX  |  CURRENT RUMBLE