nautilus

That's a fair point. I shall remedy that.

My God. It's full of stars.... I only say that as the secretary has stood the box on end on my office desk....

Thank you folks. I wish I had picked up a more versatile airbrush long ago, now that I have seen what I can do with one. However, I am still just toying with it's potential and, as this Nautilus shows, I still need practice and any advise people can give. Currently, I am looking into doing grime and wear and would love to see/hear people's insights into that (underlining, over-wearing, weathering powders, etc.) Not strictly models, but more than toys, the following rescued dainties have been recently completed as well. The SDF-1 was a pre-release display piece, provided by distributers to the Missus for her shop. It had been crudely painted, and was glued/screwed into one mode. Once I discovered it in the scrap, I brought it back, scratched up a few missing parts then set to the paint job. The Thunderbird 2, is the Aoshima display model, and added here because it was cobbled back together from two models damaged in shipping, for which the distributor apparently did not provide return instructions. Sat in the stockroom for years, I only recently realized that two fails could become at least one win. The little minx still charged me for it once I was finished though...

Hasegawa's 1/350 scale Akagi.... I've three of the AA mounts and become scared stiff at the thought of all the etched brass, wooden decks and people... Oh, so many tiny little people!

I'm sure I saw a piccie of a VF-4 with C-Bar somewhere in the Macross: The Ride thread...

Frakkin awesome.... Which brings me to Valkyrie rescue part three... Yet another unloved, second hand beauty recovered from the pit that is the local charity shop. The Ghost was in a dreadful shape. It needed a partial rebuild of the jet nozzle, a repaint (it was the A, not the booster I wanted), and none of the decals could be saved (should be able to find some decent 1/60 scale things though...). The VF-0 however, was just in need of a little paint and lining.

Lovely stuff.... Old and new both, the Battlestars look great.

Oh yeah baby..... You took *ALL* that paint off for Daddy...! Err...... right. Thank you for that (ahem) enlightening parts view, Wasabi. I just to nip to the ... err... garage for some ... err... AXLE GREASE! Yes, that's it... Edit: And, without wishing to destroy what remains of the final fragments of the last shreds of my dignity, only let your wee lassy build the Regult if you video each and every moment of it...

Agreed.... Soon, it will be cheaper to buy the real thing, and considerably more fun (for some).

Rule of thumb: Don't give the Scooby Gang a trillion dollar space ship.

Indeed. Only a few thousand yen above the RRP. I felt like such a mug for messing about on this, but all's well that ends well....

I spent months umming and arring about this that I missed the cut-off by an hour. If anyone did pre-order and feels buyer's remorse, I'll take that pretty off your hands - at a premium as well.

The finished article, after some toning and shading. Skull 11, after getting down and dirty in the desert... And another...

I can imagine that sat on her desk; a memory of better times, and Max before he became a duck-wad. Quality build indeed...

However, the market in Japan adores that very idea... Bandai has been slowly working on this since the days of the multi-colour castings that came in with the 0080 Mobile Suits at the beginning of the 90s. Kits are becoming more like toys and toys more like kits...

You'd better steer clear of any Japanese Doujinshi store then. Misa is currently the most popular character in a variety of Macross hentai (even more popular than the Gnome of Zurich herself... ). Not that I'd know anything about that sort of thing, guvnor... Mind you, that tends to be *because* our Exec is such a modest, and refined person.

Valkyrie rescue part 2. I'm going for a bit of a patchwork look on Hikaru's Valk here. It will take some time, but having replaced the missing missiles, and other bits, Skull 11 is already looking better. And heavy weathering. Needs to be lightened up, but does not look so bad right now.

The Frazi is one of the most interesting builds I have seen in a long time. I am looking forward to seeing in painted.

Wasabi! YOu viLLaiN! DoN't mEdDle wItH mY PsyChoSes LiKe tHIs....... Edit: Thanks for the PM, Mike. I'm still freaking out with anticipation, but at least it is controlable. :D

Unboxing photos please, Wasabi! In the absence of my own (which will no doubt take a good long while thanks to the distance), nothing better than some hard-core model porn to keep the spirits up.

The problem I have been having with the remastered BRs, in hindsight, is that they are too good... The clarity is so profound I can see the lift-shadows on the cells. It really freaks me out. It reminds me of my first acid tab. It all got too real, too quickly. Like that Hobbit footage I saw in 48FPS... It was so "real" that it turned my stomach and made me ill....

Valkyrie Rescue! This forlorn Yamato 1/48 Ichijou Strike was lying, all forlorn and unloved at a second-hand shop in Yokote yesterday. Missing a few pieces, and showing the signs of yellowing, I could not let the little chap languish there any longer - especially not a 1,000 yen for Valk and strike parts together. Just in time for me to try some more realistic airbrush work - as well as breaking out some weathering powders which I have inherited. I hope I can do the poor lad justice, bring him back a little pride and give my up-coming 1/48 Glaug a fitting companion.

A message from Yuka: "Can you please hurry up and post that bloody pod. This fat idiot is wearing a groove in the flooring by the post box, pacing up and down like a cat in heat!" This, I think is a little unfair, however I am certainly getting the jitters. Last night, I found myself actually getting the tools ready, the paint out, and even went as afar as mixing up some epoxy before sanity returned and I realized that there was no spoon.... I mean Glaug.

That's one for me as well... Can't have the pod without Kamjin...

Coming along very nicely... /applaud I'm still in a pod frenzy, preparing for the arrival of the big lad... he 1/100 prepared me for the 1/72. Though, I think I went a little too far with the airbrush and have to tone down the shading. Edit: Fair point about the lack of maintenance, but I still say it looks better with a little toning down.