Mecha Mecha Everywhere!!

The Kuratas is 4,500 kg, If you were to try to create a leg/hip joint system like a gundam it would cost far more that 1.6 million by its self. Only a handful of machines have pulled of that joints system with any type a stability at a mere fraction of that weight. Japan is hoping to have a solution to the heavy biped Mecha by the 2020 Olympics, but we are still a ways out. So , no you can not build a a biped mecha for that price. And just for reference The 4 legged big dog max weight is 260kg and can only move about 1 mile per hour.

I don't know where your cost estimates are coming from but if you do the work yourself all you need to do is order materials, everything would need to be lathed from scratch anyways. The engine system/ electronic wiring would be the most expensive and that has no possibility of breaking 500k by itself. At the very most you're looking at close to a million for completion. The easiest solution is to use a reverse joint schematic, less lateral maneuverability and a little slower but it distributes weight a lot better.

Its not the materials that are the cost. It is the program design and censer layout to keep balance during movement as well as engine and hydraulics motors to power it. And the cost of say a 2 ton hydraulic metal press can be upwards of $300,000. But program design and censer layout as well as the gyro-stabilization system do not exist for that size and the development of those would be far over 1 million.

I think you're assuming it uses a hydraulic system...for a mech that size hydraulics are out the window, too slow, you'd have to rely on artificial electro-magnetic muscle/tendon. Stabilization system can be bypassed with a nueral link to the pilots brain making them the balancing mechanism...systems to utilize pilots brainwaves to supplement vehicle movement is well under way and already slightly implemented in the new militaries jet fighter pilots helmets (more like a targeting overlay that tracks eye movements...but it's only the basic start) I do agree that facility costs would be high but there's already facilities you can rent machines from or go into to use for portions of time, doing things that way would fractionize the costs.