wizartar

Recently picked up a Nikon D7000, so far very nice and a big step up from the old D60 I was shooting with. Haven't played around with the video much. These are two long night exposures from a couple of nights ago.

It's taken using a Nikon D60 with a Nikkon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED AF-S VR DX. ISO-100 using a tripod and Infrared remote to take the picture, so no camera shake.

It's been a while, here's two of the model kits I've finished recently. top by Wizartar, on Flickr Real Grade RX-78-2 by Wizartar, on Flickr RG RX-78-2 Finished by Wizartar, on Flickr

Use some clear coat, depending on the finish you want, Gloss, Semi-Gloss or Matt. I like Matt.

This is cool enough to be in every section!

OMG! That's incredible! Best paint job I've ever seen.

So this is the reason why HLJ are just about out of FlexiDisplay stands!

Tried this dark shot and it came out better then I'd hoped.

4. More Tampo printing (obviously, this one could not be released as an add-on accessory) 12. Fix the the seam lines on the cockpit nose section. Now this is a very minor complaint, but if you look at the nose section there are obvious seam lines, fix them! Sad part is the VF-1 is great already and there isn't much you can do to make it better. From reading HLJ production list there's a VF-1 v2 glue kit.... well make a 1/24 to go next to the Patlabor! OK 1/24 might be a bit big, but 1/32 should be do able, something on par with an Ultra Grade Gundam but Perfect Transformation.

DOH! My Macross collection has moved into negative equity! There could be lots more sales next year.... depending... HLJ's free EMS shipping got me to spend, had been looking at some stuff without pulling the trigger. IMO HLJ will reduce the amount of initial stock they get in so they won't have to do sales under the "stock clearance" banner. Stock management will ensure they can keep the prices high. Then it will backup in Yamato's warehouse, so they'll be forced to do discounts to retail and then in turn HLJ can pass it on if they like. The downside will be less risk taking with release choices. But they might have to build some new Valks, as people won't be going for the 11th repaint of a VF-1. Lucky for me I've got all the stuff I really want now and can bide my time again, waiting for the good sales to come along. I just hope the Yamato doesn't get sunk!

Is it fixable? Meaning is there just too much plastic somewhere that needs to be trimmed? What's causing it not to close. I'd a problem with Bandai's VF-25G Michael, the pin in the hip wasn't pushed in like it should have been causing the hip / crotch to be slightly off. It would have been more hassle to send it back, so I just repaired it. A lot of simple stuff can be fixed, of course we shouldn't have to but sometime QC happens.

IMO these images are a little too dark and detail is being lost in the shadow. But it looks like that's because the highlights are blowing out the color histogram so it's under exposing most of the image. Are you using the Active D-Lighting? If not turn it on, as it will help with this type of picture. Also you should look at HDR imaging, here's a link... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_dynamic_range_imaging You'd take one picture for just the highlights then another for the main dark sections. Then in something like Photoshop composite the two images together. But HDR needs a tripod and a remote control helps. Or you can turn down your spot lighting and turn up the ambient light this will stop the over exposure of highlights and allow a longer exposure so you get more detail, but might add a little grain. Also side reflectors can help, cheap & cheerful way, get some tinfoil using the dull side pat it down on a bed to ripple it up a little then fold it over some cardboard (again dull side out). Great way to get more light into a scene without adding more lamps.

$2,000 is a bit extreme for anybody’s wallet, likewise $500 seemed too cheap for something this scale if you look at what’s on offer at the $120 mark. I though it would go for about $1,000, but at $2,000 there must be very high labor costs. At some point Yamato must have realized they bit off more then they could chew! And that’s why it cost so much, the fact they’ve gone with a completely new material to build it out of looks to me like desperation, and plan B. It doesn’t make any sense for a company to put a lot of effort into a model then price it out of just about everybody’s league unless a mistake was made somewhere and now they’re trying to make the best of a bad situation (i.e. selling a prototype as a finished product). Seriously though, Bandai have the tech to do this right as a PG / Jumbo Grade if they wanted to, just look at the PG 00 that’s a ton of plastic. I don’t like saying it, but there mustn’t be much money in old school Macross.

So far I've exclusively purchased from HLJ and found every straightforward, as for their customer service??? I've only ever sent them two emails to find out about future items, meaning their normal service has always been enough and never needed to contact them. Which is a plus in my book. It normally takes about 8 days total from ordering to it showing up at my door EMS. SAL used to be 16 days like clockwork, then a couple of packages went though France for some reason; those took over 5 weeks and haven't used SAL since then. That's a postal system problem not HLJ's. Since HLJ's Free Postage + Japanese Holiday a couple of items have been slow to ship, which is understandable as I expect a lot of people took advantage of the offer and they're just been very busy. But up till then an order took about 1 or 2 days, mostly 2 day, to ship if in-stock.

That's a sweet camera!