Anasazi37
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Everything posted by Anasazi37
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By the time all of the fees were piled on to the retail price by the proxy service I used, the total was almost the same as AE.
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I can add those markings. Maybe both SDF-018 and SDF-01B?
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That's crazy-expensive for a toy this size. HLJ charged me $40 for FedEx when they shipped the regular version exactly one month ago. I'm assuming the boxes for both products are nearly identical. I wonder if part of the higher price is proxies taking the Arcadia shipping box and putting that in a still larger box. If anyone here is getting their PF through HLJ, I'd be curious to know what the FedEx/DHL cost is, for comparison. Okay, looks like I need to make that set of decals for the regular finish....
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It's long overdue for them to offer it, but I also wonder if their warehouse was getting *really* full after almost a year of customers not shipping stuff and that pushed them over the edge.
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Looks like the Premium Finish versions are getting ready to ship....
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Agreed. I'm also trying to take a more relaxed stance towards toy production during the COVID era. The factories that make this stuff were shut down for some length of time and then likely had to slowly come back online at reduced capacity--all while dealing with supply issues for raw materials, a huge backlog of orders, and understandably stressed out/distracted workers. We're bound to run into more issues than usual in the near term and, at least for me, I'm happy that Macross toys are still being produced during such economically uncertain times. Compared to Gundam and other lines, Macross isn't very profitable for Bandai, so they could have easily dropped it to focus their reduced production capacity on other things. For what it's worth, my two DX Roys, bought from two different sources, were in good shape. I did hear about a lot of paint issues with the previous DX Hayao release, though. At the time I chalked it up to Hayao being a much smaller TWE release, but in retrospect the production run for it was happening during the early months of the pandemic....
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Wasn't able to quickly find pictures of the finished product, but this is what Bandai was building for a Tamashii Nations event in 2019: http://t-nation2019.blog.jp/archives/3814862.html
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Long live the Chunky Monkey!
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It was a very snug fit for my VF-4A. At first the handle seemed too wide, but I applied some gentle pressure and wiggled it a little and it eventually worked. The gunpod is essentially held in place via friction. Unless I did something wrong.
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Looking really good! I'm leaning towards making decals for this. Just need to set aside some time to make it happen. Have to balance this project against a few others that are consuming my weekends right now.
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Yeah, I don't bother with From Japan anymore because it's too popular. But I also don't discourage anyone from using them because the people who lurk here are likely the same ones who won't put in the time to find out if using From Japan is a good idea by, you know, being active participants in this community and keeping up on threads like this one. So while they're waiting to receive their cancellation notices for TWE items, the rest of us are going through other sources.
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Right now the thread is like a massive, unorganized folder filled with all kinds of DX awesomeness, but if you haven't been tracking it for a while, it is really hard to find helpful info. Personally, I cringe every time I have to post a link to one of my earlier posts in this thread about how to purchase TWE items when someone new jumps into this thread and asks, for the millionth time, how to purchase TWE items. Happens every time there's a new release. Granted, there will always be some folks who post the question because they'd rather have others do the work for them, but having some kind of dedicated DX FAQ thread would probably cut down on a lot of the noise.
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2400 ppi, if you have sufficient storage space. It's quadruple the file size compared to 1200 ppi, but we're not talking about huge sheets, or too many of them. Anything higher than that is usually not something a printer can handle, or the human eye can differentiate. I've seen discussion about the "ghost toner" for that one HP printer for several years now. I think it's made in Germany. One common technique people use is to print out a white version of a design using that toner, then they switch back to the regular toner to print out the color version. My advice would be to do that on two separate sheets, so you end up with a white decal and a color decal. White becomes your background, which you apply first, then put the color one on top of it. Running the white-printed sheet through a second time to get color on top of it generally doesn't work well because the printer can't keep the sheet properly aligned. That also applies to the "cheaper" OKI printer ($6000).
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Yes, the Changers kit is a repackaged Imai kit, but those aren't easy to find. I see them come up for sale on Mandarake a few times a year. The Bandai reissues (two waves of them) are readily available. I just checked the one I have and the decal sheet matches the picture you posted. Yes, the white markings will be challenging to print.
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This just showed up in my FB feed. $385? Wow, that's steep. And it looks like that price includes EMS shipping from Japan...which isn't possible for the US right now, despite what the seller mentioned in the comments. Maybe it will be available again by July, but there's no guarantee.
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The card I had on file for AJ expired several months after the Roy DX PO window and I had to put a new one in the system. Same experience for me. The card info at the account level updated just fine, but my Roy DX PO still had the old card attached to it. So, I crossed my fingers, hit the "update payment method" button for the PO, and switched to the new card. It went smoothly, thank goodness, but I was worried that my PO would get canceled or screwed up in the process and their system would try to create a new order to replace it, which of course wouldn't go through because they were sold out. I've had that happen to me more than a few times at hotels when business travel was still a thing. Any kind of adjustment to the original reservation online would spawn a new reservation where, of course, I couldn't get the room or rate that I had before. So, I'd have to call the hotel directly to get it sorted out.
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I finally transformed my Yamato VF-4G for the first time this weekend so I can display it in battroid while keeping the VF-4A as a clean, pristine fighter.
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When I started making decals about 20 years ago, I tried Krylon Crystal Clear because that was the advice I was seeing everywhere. I quickly abandoned that approach after a lot of testing. In a nutshell, you're spraying on a solution that after curing will become an inflexible layer on top of another layer that has to be flexible during application, because it's paint that is supposed to be sprayed on a solid surface (e.g. wood, metal). Decal paper doesn't absorb any of the paint like normal paper would, so it just sits on top of the film. As a result, it cracks when the decal paper is flexed. It also tends to be too thick, even if you try multiple light coats. So, you're left with a thicker-than-needed decal that resists application on even the slightest of curved surfaces. That resistance also tends to lead to air bubbles/silvering under the design and makes it difficult to use setting solutions. All of this is worse on small designs since the surface tension is a more significant factor. Last but not least, if you do inkjet printing, you have to be sure that you've covered every last bit of the ink with coating so that it won't dissolve in water, so light coats of Krylon tend not to work well. The only time I've seen the Krylon approach be somewhat okay is when the paint hasn't fully cured and is still a little flexible, but that is a very narrow window of time and it doesn't help with the thickness problem. I hand-brush LDF on all of the sheets I print to make sure they are fully protected. It dries quickly and results in an extremely thin and flexible layer that adheres to the film. It's also far less wasteful than using a spray can.
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I use an ALPS MD-5000P dry resin printer. Hasn't been manufactured in a long time. I'm down to my last one, so I use it sparingly. I actually have to use Windows XP in a virtual machine to run the printer since that was the last OS for which a driver was developed. I also have to use a special cable that converts the old serial printer connector to USB. I'm not entirely sure what kind of ink the newer OKI printers use, but I think it's some form of laser toner. Glad to hear that your old sets are in good shape. Can't say the same for some of mine. Scanning the sets and archiving them would be a great service for the community. Not sure who is responsible for this section right now. Let us know how the calibration goes. The micromark paper is probably fine to experiment with--especially at more than $1 per sheet. I have my own special source. Like me, he's basically retired from the business now, but still takes the occasional order. His paper is awesome. Whatever you do, don't use Krylon Crystal Clear to coat what you print, Anyone saying that's a good idea has no clue what they are doing. I've used Microscale Liquid Decal Film for almost 20 years now. If you're okay with translucent designs on clear paper or solid designs on white paper, your laser printer or an inkjet where you let the ink dry thoroughly before coating should be relatively inexpensive.
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Awesome! I'll double check this weekend and post an updated pic of the sheet with the already-applied stuff highlighted. Short version: using Photoshop, Illustrator, an ALPS MD-5000P dry resin printer, and almost 20 years of experience.
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I use 1200ppi at a minimum for scanning sets. For printing, I use 2400ppi because that's the maximum supported by my printer. I don't bother with magnification because it doesn't really buy you anything, so just 100%. For raster images, you don't generally see a big difference between 1200 and 2400 when printed--especially for older designs. The details just aren't that crisp and the colors can vary a lot. You do see a difference for vectors. I will often use a scanned raster as a base and then redraft the designs as vectors. You get clean lines and solid colors, but it takes time. I do worry about clogging up MW with high res scans, though. The data storage will end up costing Shawn money, potentially a lot. Single print jobs are generally not cheap and the results will generally not be as good as the original unless someone redrafts the designs. You might be able to do some calibration and color matching between your scanner and an inkjet or laser printer, but it's significantly more difficult (or impossible) to do that for printers that can handle white, like the old ALPS line, which is what you usually need for decals unless you're only doing application on light-colored surfaces. OKI has picked up the white printing baton, but their line is *very* expensive. The cheapest is about $6000 and it doesn't even do a good job. The one that does costs about 5-6 times as much (or so I hear). There are a few folks out there who will do ALPS printing for you, but their reliability is questionable (based on what I've heard from other MW members). I'm retired.
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Yeah, I noticed that, too. I try to correct spelling issues where possible. I do like how these new sticker sheets have large versions of the small designs as previews, so you don't have to squint to make out what they say, but at that size, you'd think spelling issues would be relatively easy to catch before printing.
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I scanned in the sticker sheet, which is the first step for making some supplemental decals. So, what's not already on the valk? I haven't taken a close look at mine yet, thought I might crowdsource this a bit....
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I'm glad you mentioned this, @Lolicon. I saw that little folded paper triangle in my box and thought, "meh, just some dumb HLJ promo thing" and tossed it out. Dug it out of the trash can today. Almost missed out on 5% off my next order!
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Still thinking about it
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