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What was that!!! Good thing you were able to clean it off. Were you meaning to matt coat it? Looks like a matt primer to me... But that's why I don't do any weathering.

That's a cool set of armor.

I originally black coated the wings so the leds dont go through the plastic. But it was not enough, if you review earlier images of the wings you can see. I ended up making a paint sandwhich of primer, metallic, then white gray to fully occlude the leds. Metallic was only necessary around the area of light seepage. I also thought I had balanced the resistors on the LEDs, but due to some properties of parallel resistors which I don't understand, I ended up with weaker lights on one wing. I can balance this a bit later in the Arduino by dimming the other wing. It's a bummer, but I am very lucky to get this far anyway. You don't want to burn those out by mistake. Edit: Do not do this. I removed the resistors to outside the valk because of wing movement problems.

Team build!

Hey Nyanko, I'll take that SDF-1 off your hands if you don't need it

Give me Destroids, or give me death!

What age group does Delta appeal to the most in Japan? 12-15 year-old age group, or younger? I am sure all ages have some interest, but what is the big target market it reached?

I seem to have solved the problem with the limit switches. I've actually seen this problem before: On a 5v LiPo the Arduino boards don't handle motors very well. But when I switch to USB power from my laptop or a 9v battery, the motor works fine and pulls the wings with no problem. Edit: I also did not follow directions and used a wrong pin on the IC. Good thing I didn't kill it. Smooth as butter now.

+1 And I have no idea how you guys paint like that. I'm painting my valk white right now, and it looks nothing like that

I always get that twist wrong.

Tochiro, I have always wondered...since you are on the ground with SNN and very knowledgeable, could you explain how Kawamori ended up with control of Macross IP and is even credited as "Creator", when he was just a young staff member working under the legendary Ishiguro during SDF? I understand he designed the transforming valkyrie, but I believe just as many valk key frames were drawn by Miyatake as by Kawamori, based on the Directors Commentary to the SDF DVDs. And the original concept of Macross Megaroad was a team effort with a lot of people involved. Or is he more like the assigned Producer by Big West, and his position could change?

That's a rare choice! I had to google to find out it is Macross!

Thanks guys. And... Just for you.

Good call! I think I remember that now.

I've mounted the motor and limit switches and set up the motor driver IC with the Trinket. It is working (sometimes), and it is nice to have a solid package finally after weeks of work. But I have had so may different problems, I am not sure what the issue is. The main problem is that the limit switches seem to bounce: they work fine, then suddenly decide that they don't want to work and get stuck in a loop like someone banging their head against the wall. I hope there will be a solution before I destroy anything permanently. Edit: Problem solved. Turns out I was using a wrong pin. So here are some learning points: - Don't trust the breadboard. The connections are not clean enough for fine work, especially when your wimpy styrene model is at risk. Solder everything before running gears and motors. It is the only way to be sure your code is good and you are sending a clean signal. - Super glue does not seem great around wires. Epoxy is better, but let it dry and fully cure before running anything. - I accidentally epoxied the limit switch wires slightly touching the motor, and I am afraid the heat from the plastic casing of the motor will effect the wiring. But I am no electrician so I don't know if a little heat will effect the electric flow. - Make sure all the pin connections are correct. And double check. That was my most common silly mistake.

I don't get it, but it is awesome. What's that from?

Lovely paint finish. What were your paint coats to get that? Overboard? No, no, that looks just plain awesome. A beautiful finish.

And that's how it should be.

Do What do you guys think, should I go more white the white, or just gloss coat it as is?

Thanks Electric Indigo. That really helped me to differentiate the two styles. I think I've been doing a mix of the two and screwing things up I went with a flat finish, because I am not good at the wet coats. This is as far as I will go, so I don't lose my panel lines.

Yes, but be sure you get the correct voltage. I don't know if they are dual voltage or not.

Let me introduce my new best friend: the enameled wire stripper. As you guys know who work with this stuff, enameled magnet wire needs to be stripped. It can become really tedious when you have 40 or 50 wires in a project that you have to file down from both ends for soldering. I actually have several projects I never finished because I hate this step so much. But this stripper is fantastic. It is a bit pricey, but I can confirm that with a bit of practice, you can have dozens of wires prepped in a matter of seconds. Works for 0.3mm wires and above.

Good idea for photo etch parts. But can you paint over it another metallic color, for example?

Awesome idea Derex. Looking forward to your detailed WIP as you go.

Thanks. It's some tender loving care for our valk. Is there a more awesome mecha design ever????? Glad you guys like it so far. Definitely, it's the adult in me pleasing the kid in me. You don't want to see the valk I built in the 80s . That one got rage smashed .