Hi-Mock Bolt - Customized Hi-Mock

The Hi-Mock is a great kit.  It is simple and that makes it easy to customize.  Decided to enter a friendly contest on Gunpla Reddit.  The contest was Build Fighters Build-Off which the entries had to be customized suits that were not just straight builds.  1/144 scale only.  Anything goes including resin upgrades.

Hi-Mock Bolt

I decided that I wanted to do a customized head piece since a spare head came with the Hi-Mock weapon pack.  I thought the (really) old Bolt Gundam feet looked great on the Hi-Mock as well.  So with the feet being kitbashed onto the Hi-Mock I decided to do a Bolt Gundam inspired paint scheme.

Felt throughout the build that there was always something more I can add.  But with a time limit I had to put alot of ideas aside and focus on getting the build done before the deadline; which was shorter because I didn't decide to enter until about halfway through the start.

I wanted the Hi-Mock to have a Bolt Gundam feel besides just feet and paint scheme.  The Bolt Gundam had a really cool electricity morning star type weapon so I wanted to play off that so I decided that a huge sledge hammer would be perfect.  BUT WHAT IS BETTER THAN A HUGE SLEDGE HAMMER?  Easy...A ROCKET POWERED HUGE SLEDGE HAMMER.

I used the hammer that came in the Hi-Mock weapon pack and extended the handle.  The bulky part of the handle had some hollow parts so I pla-plated them and puttied to a nice finish.  Not much of a rocket sledge.  That is where the Ez Arms weapon pack came into play.

Meow-meow what's meow-meow?

The Ez Arms weapon pack has two of these rocket pieces that can attach to the backpack that is included.  I decided I was going to put these on the hammer.  To do so I did quite a few things.  First the hammer had the indent on the sides where I wanted to mount the rockets.  So I cut some pla-plate and cemented them in the indent.  I then painstakingly puttied and sanded until I was happy with the product.  This took me a few primer coats until I thought it was consistent, this is after all going to be very prominent in the build.

The holes on the side of the rockets needed to be filled or covered.  I decided to design a customer pla-plate that would sit on top of the hole and create another dimension at the same time.  Lastly the rocket nozzel itself had to be altered so it was facing backwards and not at a 45 degree angle.  To do this I used my hobby knife to hollow out the location it attached to and then I would glue it into place once it was painted.

Rocket Without Modifications

The Hi-Mock Bolt isn't going to be much of a Build Fighter if it is only melee so I decided to scratch build a mid-range beam cannon and use the missile pod from the Ez Arms weapon pack.  I used some scrap capacitors for the bulk of the weapon.  Found the small peg part laying around and it was a perfect fit for the Ez Arms arm...

The barrel of the beam cannon was build from a mechanical pencil that I cut a notch out of for a small scratch built heatsink and then pla-plate for the end of the barrel.  A back exhaust vent was scratch built using pla-plate and was a nasty experience I do not care to do again (still unhappy with it, especially when I realized I glued it in crooked).  Lastly, I added some piping that goes from the heatsink to the bulk of the beam cannon.

The Ez Arms arm had some pla-plating and putty work done to cover up some visible hollow parts.

Capacitors Glued Together for the Bulk of the Beam Cannon

Not much was done with the missile pod.  I disliked that the peg on the backpack could be seen from the other side of the missile pod so I pla-plated a custom cover.  Also added some pla-plate on the other side to cover up more hollow parts.  The pla-plate on the back of the missile pod was eventually removed because I could not get the shape right.  Not every mod works well.

Ez Arms Missile Pod

The back pack including in the Ez Arms weapon pack was used to mount all these weapons.  The backpack had a huge slot in it to add a large thruster.  I didn't think it fit well with what I had in mind so I cemented in some pla-plate, puttied and sanded to a nice finish.

Unmodified Ez Arms Backpack

The head of the Hi-Mock Bolt was customized from a spare head that came in the Hi-Mock weapon pack.  I wanted a Zeon-esque visor so I could put in a LED.  SOOOOOOOOO I shaped one out of pla-plate.  Again, this was not fun and I do not plan to do something like it again.  This was difficult because I was eye-balling the shape and then fixing with sandpaper and putty.  Getting the angle right and the slope of the head right was quite a task (also broke on me a couple times, extremely easy to squish it while sanding).  But I am happy would the outcome.

Spare Hi-Mock Head and Scratch Built Visor

Adding the Bolt Gundam feet probably would have been straight forward if I hadn't decided in the past that I was going to use them for something else and so cut out the poly caps and added ball joints.  So now I had to glue in some new poly caps to snap to the Hi-Mock legs.  This seemed easy until the poly cap kept snapping off.  To get around this I made a very crude box within the foot to hold the poly cap.  I then used a 2-part epoxy to secure it in the box.  This poly cap will never budge!!!

Added some small pla-plate details to the foot and also had to fill in the bottom of the foot since it was completely hollow and without detail.  To do this I used some pla-plate to create a support structure inside and then added the pla-plate detail for the pad of the foot.  I think it came out pretty good.

HG Bolt Gundam Feet Modification and Detailing

So here is the bolt gundam...

Bolt Gundam

I love the blue and red, especially on the feet and the crotch.  The Hi-Mock doesn't have a ton a great places to paint red to where it looks natural and not forced.  Therefore I needed to add some detail that would give a nice mix of red.  I decided to add some pla-plate to the torso and the forearm guards.  Note that I did not put any yellow in the paint scheme.  That is because it is ugly.

Forearm Guards with Pla-Plate Modification

There were a few more smaller modifications done to the Hi-Mock including reshaping the chest, pla-plate on the crotch, and piping added on the waist.  All the piping was done by painting perler beads and wrapping some small gage wire around a larger insulated black wire.  I did not panel line this build for a few reasons.  One it doesn't have a lot of places to panel line, two it is a rather dark paint job with the dark blue, and three because artistic freedom!

Now for some more final pictures!  Enjoy!