David Hingtgen

Yeah, that is kinda ironic--we want the canopy gold but not the stripes. And redder/pinker is better than the purple it is now. But don't make it too red, or it'll look like Milia's. It needs to be magenta/fuschia---not too red, not too pale-pink, not too purple.

I'd like to point out that there have been several issues with email from MW to comcast.net lately, that could explain a few things. (and it's still happening, registration still doesn't work right for comcast accounts) If someone tried to contact Nightstalker by sending an email via MW and not through their own email provider, there's good odds he never got it. PS--it's comcast's fault, not MW's.

Looks are nothing, it's all about home-made frosting. Frosting in a can, and most bakery frosting, is just disgusting IMHO. It's like making Rice Krispie cheats using that "mallow goo in a jar"----melting real marshmallows and butter is 100x better, and just as easy. (Krispie treats made using that stuff in a jar---I refuse to eat, it's just nasty IMHO)

It's my birthday, and they only make movie Prime stuff for decorations, so I had to make my own Decepticon cake. Turned out decently. I spent a while cutting out the stencil, but the "cake spray color" was very transparent and ran horribly. (it's basically food color and alcohol in a can). Best I could do, as despite using fairly thin paper, it wouldn't conform quite right to the slightly domed cake surface. (Also, the eyes etc had to be separate pieces).

That's the second one, and there's footage of the first one (and second one in primer I think) flying. It does so quite well. http://macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?show...5665&st=500 And work backwards from there.

Well, since MICHAEL BAY's Transformers is A MICHAEL BAY FILM PRESENTED by MICHAEL BAY, but Spielburg is exec producer---where does that fall in the Paramount decision? Because honestly, I want to have a HDTV by the time and for Transformers to come out---and the format it comes out on will GREATLY affect whether I try to snag a PS3 by the end of the year. PS-- http://www.lilformers.com/comic0051.php

Gold stickers are fine, it's a decaling thing--it's all about when it comes into contact with various liquids and chemicals. They're fine when dry, but since decaling itself requires water--there's issues. Some gold decals are better than others, and if you have just a few with a simple shape it's no problem to trim off the clear. But you'd be spending hours and hours and hours trying to trim out ones as complex as Nora's. mechaniac---It'd be a lot of work to cut out the pattern yourself from bare metal. Normally you follow the panel lines our outline of a piece. But you can't see through it to copy the stripes. Unless the stripes are raised just enough that you actually could get it to imprint the shape through the foil. But it sure would look cool. (Some airlines used to use gold foil for their schemes--high maintenance, but looked impressive--it's said Eastern used actual gold leaf for their falcon)

I don't mind the gold---it's different, but it's ok. So long as it's GOLD, and not bronze or copper. Bright metallic yellow, not yellow-orange, orangey-yellow, or brown-yellow. As for the main color---MAGENTA. Not pink, not purple. Magenta. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magenta Lots of nice ones would work for Nora---rich magenta or process magenta are best I think. Actually, due to ambiguation, many shades of fuschia are better matches than magenta. Cherise is a good color too. (Any variation of it). (Yes, I do know a LOT of colors) Or if you want one that's more red, even amaranth or true rose. Basically--I'll take most anything in the fuschia/magenta category, so long as it's not too red or too purple. From the pics so far, looks a bit purple. Make it more pink. I mean c'mon---it's a girly-painted mech, second only to Mylene's. I think the important thing was as mentioned before--the relative contrast between the magenta and gold. The gold looks so much darker now, it's not the COLOR, it's the BRIGHTNESS that looks off. It affects the whole way it contrasts with the overall background color. Anyways---yes, gold decals are an issue unto themselves. All of us airline modelers know all about how gold decals work due to Continental Airlines, who always has gold, sometimes a LOT of gold. Basically---most gold decals turn their clear film green upon contact with most decal solutions, and any non-distilled water. They also tend to react to other decals, so no layering. If you wanted to decal Nora's scheme with gold decals, you'd have to trim *every* bit of clear film off and have only the gold. Also, you'd have to use distilled water, and avoid any decal set. I need to go watch the anime again to get a good feel for Nora's colors, I haven't seen it since Oct I think.

A few pics from Woodward----Bumblebee Camaro, Pontiac G8. http://www.flickr.com/photos/gmblogs/sets/72157601548855085/

The bottom ramp looks almost unhinged. It's too low. Not excessively, but it is too low. Here's a B I photographed:

Red Baron movie coming, trailer sure looks fun: http://www.pixomondo.com/web/showreel/index.htm

Looks nice, but is there headroom for guys over 5'6?

AFAIK, motors rarely die on Trypticon, but the connection/gears often do. Omega Supreme has motor failure. Anyways---I rented the TF movie game for the weekend, and find it odd that every menu/command/screen/instruction book page uses the term "convert". "Press Y to convert to/from robot mode" "Try to convert between forms if you get stuck". Are they just stupid, or is there some reason they specifically don't use the term TRANSFORM? I mean, not using the term that is the very definition of what they are and they are named for...

I really want reissues of the big TF's. Omega Supreme, Trypticon etc. Now, Trypticon had a release in the 90's with a few mold changes, but none of his all-important accessories. It could be that they're gone, but probably Takara was just cheap---as the Seacon release then also omitted all the individual weapons etc, but the Universe reissue will include them.

I've thought for years that they come up with the acronyms first and then try to fit words into it.

Wow, that might be the first package I've ever seen for a system that's actually good.

BestBuy had "PS2 test drive packs" for like 30 bucks at launch. It included the DVD remote, and "The Matrix". And they sold insanely fast, I'm sure it outsold any game for the first few weeks. It was the first DVD player for a lot of people, at least around here. (Including me)

I don't know why Bonecrusher is a shelf-warmer either. No obvious flaws in the toy, actually appeared on-screen (and heavily featured in trailers). Maybe he just makes up like 60% of the case assortment?

Bonecrusher is the worst shelf-warmer I've seen in years. EVERY store---from 2 to 10 Bonecrushers, and nothing else. Was like that for weeks.

I recall getting a PM from you a while ago asking for VX-9 logos---did anything I send help?

I like plasmas better in almost every way. But they simply don't make them small/cheap enough for what I need. If there was a 26-32in plasma ~$1000 I'd buy it in an instant. But there's not. There are plasma's smaller than 42, but no store around here carries them, and they cost 3x as much as LCD's of equivalent size. Small plasmas are so cutting-edge they actually cost more than larger ones in a lot of cases. Also--viewing angle means nothing. It's the "GOOD viewing angle" which matters. And it can be less than 40 degrees on a lot of LCD's. Good viewing angle----angle at which brightness and color is consistent across the screen. There's many LCD's where if you stand dead center ahead of it--the brightness is uneven top to bottom, just from the angle change your eye makes to view it all. Plasmas are much better in that category. (I think mainly due to the actual "pixel" glowing/emitting light like a CRT does, whereas LCD's are backlit)

The multi-colored piece process is known as "color injection". Bandai's done it for at least a decade, maybe two. And most companies still can't do two colors on the same SPRUE, much less the same piece! I've built a Gundam or two that had a 4-color chest piece (white, red, blue, yellow)---neat stuff. Though the failure rate is fairly high---not uncommon for a piece to end up with colors that "bleed" into the wrong area. Part of the reason you don't see it often---costs a lot to do, doesn't always work. They do 2-color stuff all the time, sometimes of different types of plastic even---very common on PG kits. But 3 and 4 color seems to be much more difficult. There's also "single color, single plastic, but multi-layer" injection---seen on MG and PG fingers for example, to create working joints within a single piece during the molding process. Bandai just blows away anyone else when it comes to making plastic.

Looking good, and looking right, are very different. They could have made Nora's in all blood-red with black stripes. It'd sure look good, but it wouldn't be right. The metallic wouldn't look so off if it wasn't so DARK and orangey-brownish. Metallic yellow and metallic dark gold/bronze are very differnet colors.

Gamepro is still around, still as bad. I always took it as a sign of a bad game if they put on the box that GAMEPRO gave them like 4 out of 5 stars---it means no magazine with a decent opinion/reviewer had anything good to say.

Yes, but there's very little chance they'd bring some out of storage, re-certify the crews, and refurbish them to get them flying, just for a movie.