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David Hingtgen

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  1. David Hingtgen
    Always test with watch batteries first before soldering anything. Most any LED is designed around ~3 volts, and 3 volts is very easy to get from most any assortment of watch batteries you may have laying around. With more and more "cheap LED's from China" I'm encountering more and more "non-standard" configurations---most of the "rules" for determining which is the negative end don't apply any more. Internal configuration (if visible) is about the only sure-fire way to identify---or a quick check with something supplying 3v. "Flat spot is negative"---not for some Chinese manufacturers! "Long lead is positive"---see previous remark. I had a heck of a time with the last LED I soldered due to that (re-mounting one from a model train---it was definitely non-standard, as I ended up having to wire it "backwards" from what it appeared to be, based on the "standard indicators")
  2. David Hingtgen
    Gotta wonder how many people love Halo SO much they'll buy a console and game they can't resell just for it. (There are very few other exclusives anywhere near "system-seller" status) I'm a huge Panzer Dragoon fan, but I can live without the rehash.
  3. David Hingtgen
    Hikuro---that was "historical" info. All that stuff already happened months ago. But it's an interesting look into what happens "behind the scenes". Some of the things he talks about we never even saw, as they were altered before MMC unveiled them or never got beyond the "shadow" stage. We've seen the first test shot for Bovis and now the second one. Next step is color then production----the mold is done. They just have to finalize colors and paint-apps.
  4. David Hingtgen
    The scrubbing you give the parts before, is more important than the primer itself, when it comes to resin. STRIP those parts clean!
  5. David Hingtgen
    No BIG news, but a few tidbits: 1. People who managed to order "Super Nova" Hexatron (the grey version) have already started receiving it. It was only up for 6 minutes before it sold out. But considering that there were only 120 to go around, that's a lot better odds than a renewal DX IMHO. 2. Third "not-Stunticon", "Last Chance" is said to be on its way to retailers. 3. Lastly, since it's now buried a hundred pages back at TFW2005, I am reposting the biggest/most imformative post that "Griffith76" has made---it explains some of the thinking/changes made to MMC's Feral Rex since the days of the "red renders" and goes into some things we still haven't seen. Very interesting to see explanations of why things are the way they are: <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Bovis and Fortis They share the basic body and these two are pretty much ready. What I changed are mostly engineering stuff that none of you will be interested to hear like standard screw sizes, pin size etc. The major flaws with this design were the lack of locking of beast limbs in robot and alternate mode and the front legs of the beast were left hanging downwards in leg mode. I made some modifications to ensure that there is no loose kibble in any mode. Talon We literally got trashed on ACtoys for the design of the wings based on the silhouette and we decided that we need better ones. The new set of wings are pretty much the same length but based very closely to IDW's art and of course the feathers are made articulated for a more dramatic effect. The body proportions were changed slightly 'coz we feel that him and Tigris were too wide in arm mode. With the change in body proportions his Indian headdress had to go and I opted for a Dancougar look with a young handsome face as the older look did not suit the leaner body at all. We decided that the simple flip down foot was too simple and the lower leg was too hollow so we filled that up and gave him new feet. And talons that are more complex and articulated. Edit: and later multiple complaints on the Dancougar-styled helmet being too small (like a vulture). I modified the helmet to have a wider base similar to what it was originally and what is shown in the color render now. Tigris He had the same base body proportions as Talon but made much worse with the beast hind legs sticking out sideways in arm mode. He was made leaner as well and I redesigned his arms to have shoulders to resemble G1 more. I modified the beast legs to make them look closer to how a real tiger should but they had to be a bit skinner to keep the arm mode compact. Gave him a longer tail that points down instead of up and a neck for beast mode that he's missing. I also added a hunch to the tiger's look 'coz crouching tigers He's actually my personal favorite and I think he looks really dynamic in botmode and fun to play and fiddle around with. Leo The original finalized Leo from Cassy was good in robot mode and a nice beast mode (apart from the arm joints looking a little unorthodox). We would have kept it if not for three very fatal flaws. Let's just call him V2 I don't know if Cassy considers the earlier larger mock up to be V1 or are there more versions inbetween. 1. V2 Leo is 9" tall. Its somewhat still acceptable but we really don't want a leader size figure if possible at all. 2. We understand that Cassy had originally wanted him to be even bigger and because we asked him to shrink it down to a reasonable size to scale with his team members, the combined mode suffered and we got what you guys would call the FOC Bruticus Syndrome. It didn't help that the bot's arms/beast front legs merely hung around loosely as back kibble. 3. Lastly, the leg transformation is basically too G1. The beast legs were still acceptable and they look pretty good in bot mode with the fake knee joint in his thigh... until the knee is bent. Anyone who knows how the G1 toy works will get the idea. So basically with all these taken into consideration the only way to fix things was to redesign Leo from scratch. I loved the body so I kept it but chopped part of the sides off too and designed new arms that fold into a block that can add actual mass to the combined torso. Boss hated the heads so we got new ones. The design of the legs was one of the biggest challenges for me since G1 obviously doesnt work here and giving him beast legs like what we had for Tigris made the thighs look terrible. I came up with a new design where we still got some decent rear legs albeit a bit skinny, becomes almost unnoticeable from the front when kept in for torso mode. I'm proud of those legs. Lastly was the biggest challenge of all. Rex has no ass. I spent 2 days designing a collapsible one for him but the kibble was too huge even when folded so back to the drawing board. Finally managed to come up with a design that's simple enough and actually looks somewhat decent to be a friggin shield coz like I explained before, the shield option is a must. So the rest is history and it became the hip that a lot of folks wished was 10% smaller. Weapons Oh and there's the huge-ass sword and the arm cannon. The sword was a reconfiguration of what Cassy has already done but I felt that his original design looked more like a club so I played around with the blades and managed to form something that pays some homage to his G1 sword. It was initially smaller but bossman says its too puny so it became the monster we're gonna have now. Downside to it is that it takes 2 blades for each member to form it. There's still some hidden secrets to that thing that we won't be revealing. Cassy gave us G1 guns scaled up. They were huge and didn't go anywhere in almost any modes apart from being held in the hands of the robots. Cassy originally intended to use the sword handle as the arm cannon but we thought that's a little too cheap and it means we can't have both the sword and gun at the same time. I thought since we made the sword combine we might as well do it for the cannon as well. So I borrowed some gun models from what I did for the other toy company I worked for and made sure no one can tell where they came from after I'm done with them. That's about the gist of what happened between the receiving of the finalized models from Cassy and my contribution to the overall design. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
  6. David Hingtgen
    BestBuy will probably create their own, based on history. Many stores will likely sell $650 "PS4+2nd controller+GameA+GameB+Cleaning kit" combos as the ONLY option to get one on launch day.
  7. David Hingtgen
    I really want Tigertrack's shoulder launcher and feet for my MP Sideswipe. (yes, MP Sideswipe may be toon-accurate----but that means he's friggin' BLAND in bot mode----the toy had so much more "life" to it do to the little details/accents here and there----Tigertrack has some of them, and they're exactly correct for Sideswipe too)
  8. David Hingtgen
    Are image responses over-done yet? If not: Anyways, easily lost notes: PS4 comes with headset and 500GB hard drive. Hard drive is upgradeable like PS3's. Region-free. XB1 hard drive is not replaceable, but can use external flash drives etc, and uses USB 3.0 Also, MS has clarified that some games will be "non-transferable and have no resale value"
  9. David Hingtgen
    That's exactly what they did.
  10. David Hingtgen
    Ok, Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts 3. Forget Sony, Square's had the best showing at E3.
  11. David Hingtgen
    Ok, so we know the PS4 parallelogram. That took an hour?
  12. David Hingtgen
    Owning? You mean license.
  13. David Hingtgen
    Just when I stop watching...
  14. David Hingtgen
  15. David Hingtgen
    Well, more like over a grand, since you need the Xbone, tablet, and phone to call in airstrikes to get past the intro stage in Dead Rising 3...
  16. David Hingtgen
    Let us know how it's doing after 3 transformations or so.
  17. David Hingtgen
    Don't forget 0080 and 08th MS team! Some of the best UC there is. Much better than 0083 and CCA.
  18. David Hingtgen
    That can actually be a selling point for vintage cars---if they have the original air in the tires. (some people do get that picky about it being EXACTLY how it left the factory)
  19. David Hingtgen
    I go one step futher---get the water very hot, almost to boiling (I microwave it in a large cup). Then sit the can in the very hot water for a few minutes---the can should be ALMOST too hot to handle. Then use it. When the can has cooled down to simply "warm"----put it back in the hot water. The can will cool very rapidly just due to the physics of spraying.
  20. David Hingtgen
    Whoa whoa whoa---I *wish* they were cylinders with wings, nose, and tail. Then Falcon and Harrier would have had half-way-decent jet modes. They're rectangles with wings, nose, and tail. Which really only works for the F-15 and MiG-25.
  21. David Hingtgen
    Hmmn. Definitely not going to be Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Red Alert, or Breakdown. Since the 'vette is Slingshot, this is probably Defensor or Triggerhappy.
  22. David Hingtgen
    Speaking of which, latest update from TF4: Knowing Bay's history of names+altmodes, my vote is for Wheeljack or Abominus. Whoever it ends up being, I will wait for the red repaint of the toy, and it will be my "movie Sideswipe".
  23. David Hingtgen
    Maybe---but only if Milia's is available!
  24. David Hingtgen
    Make sure to read the instructions carefully. I see more incorrectly transformed MP Sideswipes than correct ones. Main 3 things: 1. "Gap-fillers" on the inner sides of his calves. 2. Rotating the cooling intakes down 90 degrees to face forwards (the top of the outside of his lower legs) 3. Getting the door windows fully flipped around and tucked by the roof---you should see no red at all from any viewing angle when done properly, only the black/smoke color. And they should not be visible at all from the front, should be fully tucked in to be narrower than his waist. None of these things are big, obvious things (which is why so many people miss them) but taken together, they do make a better, more cohesive robot mode---everything is more solid/compact.
  25. David Hingtgen
    $99 is for the entire boxed set of figures of vehicles, not just "Jetfire".
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