AcroRay

I like what I've seen of GALIENT. But, I'm a huge 80s anime buff. I've been nabbing them from the Nebula-X blog. Just as a tip: there's a really nice vintage Sansei Galient Joint Model offered for 99-cents and about $6 postage on eBay by one seller, from a warehouse deadstock, so they seem to be offered regularly. If you've got the cash to spare, it'll be worth your while. I got one myself. Fun toy, great package graphics (Even has Okawara's signature displayed on the box!). Transforms into Gerwalk, metal in the feet, big shiny sword, bright colors, everything a toy should be - and cheap!

Well, thanks for bumping it. I probably wouldn't have found it easily otherwise, and the reading is quite interesting. Thanks for the hard work! I'm much more interested in social and cultural issues in the Macross world than mecha details...

Yay! Neptune - Some advance warning would be appreciated! $$s tight these days...

Probably!

Umn... there's no link. That's my collection in the picture you see. You could probably find more on YahooJP auctions. The auction I got these from was about 4 or 5 months ago. I think a couple members here might have a few, but I don't have links to any of their coverage.

Nice mess of Takatoku ERASERS I picked up on YahooJP for probably less than $10: The detail is amazing on these little things. I just need to straighten them out. The Valk is about 1/100 scale, and you can use extra parts to rebuild it into fighter mode. (Mine's missing a wing, though.) Anyone else got any of these?

Nice! Like one of those model/text story projects you see in HLJ, or Tech Gian's MUV LUV: TOTAL ECLIPSE .

Easy-off can damage plastic, craze the surface, and make smaller surfaces brittle in my experience. I use Brake Fluid. Buy some automotive brake fluid and a $1 plastic shoebox. Soak the parts in the fluid overnight (it won't affect the plastic), and scrub under running water with a stiff brush. Be sure to wear rubber gloves. Might take a couple applications. You may need to soak a paper towel in the fluid and drape it over it if the part tends to float to the surface. You can also re-use the fluid. Additionally, you can get all this stuff at a Dollar Tree store, so you can have the whole project materials list done for $4-5 dollars.

Firefox Download Helper. AVS Video Convertor.

Check my post in the "Where to buy" forum... http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=32269

Ah... the "not available" there was what lead me to believe it was long gone.

I totally missed the Garfish, must to my dismay...

Text for the Klan Valk-girl figure, translated by a friend of mine: Excellent Model Macross F Klan Klan Armored Ver. Maker: Megahouse Non-scale, approx 22cm The other cut-off caption is some sort of descriptive text of the figure design itself, emphasizing Klan's ample assets. ("Glamour" has a very specific meaning in Japanese that has everything to do with bust size, lol). [Thanks to MicroBry!] So she's almost 9 inches tall, which would make her about 1/60 or 1/55 scale, I think? For those of us who would face the Angry Scowl of the Waifu to be displaying Klan and her 'Glamour' in our collections, she would fit in nicely on the regular mecha collection shelf in this size, wouldn't she?

Valk-girl Klan! Yay!

Thanks for the tips! Luckily, there is a nice assortment of extra parts in the kit I can test things on. The base kit is a 1/72 GERWALK from earlier in the kit series, which Bandai used as the base because the articulated legs allowed for the knee bend needed to suit the leg FAST Pack elements. So there is a full set of arm & shoulder parts, open foot parts, and other odds and ends to test with. I've got a Bandai chrome pen that I use for my Microman/Micronaut retouches, so that'll fix me for touch ups. One of the sticking points - one that bugged me with the standard version of this kit that I built back in the 80s when I used minimal painting for it - is that the alternative backpack provided with the additional mounting points for the large dorsal pods is on the green sprue with the FAST pack parts when the part should be white... so this metal kit has it metalized in green, rather than the silver it should be. I'll use your caution about accidentally stripping the green color to actually try to deliberately strip the green overcoat from that particular part! I'll see if I can shoot some pics of the kit parts this weekend. There doesn't seem to be much detailed coverage of this unique little old-school gem.

Here are pics of those other UN Spacy crew images I mentioned. Sorry it took me so long! Been busy...

Sweet! Count me in if you go into a production run. I'm not married to any particular scale when it comes to the Zentraedi ships. Price and shelf-space is more the concern there!

I'd like to pool some group advice and experiences for a project, if anyone has any experiences with these odd kits: Back in the 80's, myself and a friend built a couple of the original Arii 1/100 metalized Macross kits - me the VF-1D fighter, him the 1/100 Destroid Spartan. After several evenings of scraping away metal coating, gluing and trying to touch up sprue points, his assembled Spartan would disassemble itself spontaneously if you looked at it with too much interest, and my 1D was painfully fragile at best. Neither survived to the present day... Crazy and nostalgic as I am, I'm going to try again with the very pretty 15th Anniversary Bandai metalized edition of the 1/72 VF-1S Super Valkyrie fighter (picked up thanks to another member here). It should look beautiful when assembled - assuming it can be assembled well. It's even chromed in silver for the majority of the parts, and a metallic green for the FAST Pack elements. It also includes foil decals. But even the box art and packaging doesn't show the metalized product, and Arii's vintage editions obviously didn't picture the actual assembled retail kit you got in the packaging. As a note, I never worked with any of Imai's comperable "Macross Iron" kits. Has anyone had any genuine success with these style of kits, and could offer any first-hand advice about the best glues to use, and general tips for handling, detailing and the like? I recall Arii's metal coating could be scraped or sanded off, but always seemed to leave a bit of an odd coating infused in the plastic that defied regular styrene cement. How well does super glue bind to untreated metalized parts? How resistant is the coating to the typical resulting crazing from the glue? And what sort of inks or washes could be applied to the coating to bring out some of the details?

Heh-heh - Sorry! I think in the long term you'll probably be able to move your extras. Like I mentioned, there really isn't much out there for the Mospeada fan, and that's probably their strongest selling point. I might be into buying Fuke without a box, rifle or stand, simply mailed in a padded envelope if the price is right (read: cheap). Someone might be able to add a little more life to them with some added paint work.

I picked up a CMs Ray trading figure, thanks to a member here at MW. Overall, I was disappointed. The details were a little shallow, the face & neck sculpt didn't convey any of the charm of the original character design, and the slightly-downward tilt of his head in the pose requires the figure be above eye-level to the viewer to see his face. Compared to similar trading figure products in this price range across the hobby, CMs didn't measure up with these. If you've *gotta* have Mospeada character figures, then this is a must-have simply because that's all there is out there apart from Matchbox's figures and the cute Fuke garage kit on eBay. I'm typically rather forgiving toward this sort of product especially from esoteric properties... but if this Ray figure is typical of the rest of the line, CMs is betting only on exclusivity and fan dedication to justify the price tag on these rather than product quality. If you see them for less than retail and don't have to pay for postage, then go for 'em. Otherwise, prepare to be a little disappointed. The added-in weapon might take a little bit of the sting out of it for you, if you're in need of them for your other CMs Ride Armor products.

One of Figma's sculptors is tormenting me with additional Muv Luv Alternative Figmas, released as resin kits that you add your own joints to. Damn you, "OOXOO"! http://ameblo.jp/ooxoo-japan/image-1036269...0273516019.html The lovely Kriska Berkanova

Classic TIA volume, which Mari Iijima autographed for me when she visited Pittsburgh, PA a couple of years back. As you can well imagine, this is a really exceptionally special piece of my collection. When I first got into Macross back in the mid-80s I never EVER would have dreamed I'd get to meet her. (I think a while back I posted a pic of my BGM vol 1 LP that she also autographed for me.)

I'll dig them out and post some images here later today. There are some ground-crew and staff design images in PERFECT MEMORY on page 124, 125, and pictures of small support vehicles on 166 & 167. On page 79 of the first Macross THIS IS ANIMATION volume there's an excellent front & back view of the deck-crew helmeted space suit/fire suit. If you don't have those volumes, I can scan & post the images here as well.

I bought & built my first 1/100 Arii Valkyrie fighter in 1985!

Exo - Would the figures that came with the 1/100-scale Macross Armored Factory be of any referential use to you? I could toss them onto the scanner and provide you with some enlarged images.