do not disturb

you just reminded me i have some testors paints somewhere in myhouse. i'll try it out tonight though i'm not a fan of enamel paints....

i was wondering if anyone here found a good color match for the brown used on the 1/48 CF? any and all info would be appreciated.

brasso isn't a grainy paste, its a liquid and smooth to the touch. heres an interesting link i found about brasso, it seems you can repair scracted CD's as well. link to brasso if its fixing scratched CD's, its highly unlikely it'll damage some ABS plastic.

sorry to be posting here, but this is the first time i've been referenced on this site. the stuff i used is called "Brasso". its only $3 and you should be able to find it in any hardware store.

people take what he posts WAY too seriously on these boards. he has his own unique posting style, some people find it funny and join in by posting replies in the same way he would reply, mimicing his vernacular for the sake of fun, not kissing his ass. ass kissing would make more sense if someone got something in return for their bootlicking. but then one could argue, people just want to be down with A1 and the followers of CROM as if he or anyone else really gives a shiet. A1 hasn't given anyone anything but a good laugh or a hard time both of which he dishes out for free, whether you kiss his ass or not, whether you deserve it or not. but hey i guess this is more ass kissing since i used words like "awesomeness" and "CROM" in my reply and for that, A1 better have some cash coming to me or atleast a free membership to A1's gym of awesomeness.....did i just use awesomeness again? you better extend that membership to 2 years.

if he promises to be really mean, completely abuse his power, and ban people at the drop of a hat, i'll vote for him!

yes i found it disgusting, i remember exactly what i said. i've never once denied it in all my time here and i've never even retracted the comment....i believe its still there if you want to look for it. that being said, let me ask you this, and for anyone who might want to know, whats your point to bring it up again other than the sole purpose to be an a-hole to me when i've done nothing to you? so with that in mind, you're right, but more importantly i'm wrong, i'm a hypocrite just like you said, i'm the biggest a-hole known to man, i hate it when people discuss prices, and i'm a shipping gouger on ebay, you win, you got me. now what do you want from me? what else do you want me to say? will you chill out and leave me alone? or will you drag this out even longer and drag it to every thread on MW?

it's ok haterist, I got good news for you. I just saved on my car insurance by switching to Geico... so what's up, you taking the guarantee challenge thing? Relax, it's not like Kevin would do that. As for being a troll, i guess if your irritated enough by me, uhm... no, that still not being a troll. I'm just pointing out how you can go against your own principles all in one thread. I pointed out what I meant. You said people were kissing ass to get discounts from Valkyrie Exchange when everyone recommended Kevin... no proof but yet you made an idiot of yourself. These were people that were recommending just because they got good service. Then you got upset about people discussing prices because you thought Yamato would read what people would pay for them... again no proof. Again... an idiot. And then you gouge on shipping on your own auctions and yet have balls to complain about other people's shipping? I'm just reiterating my points now. But it pretty much points to how you're a hypocrite... just admit it and the thread can no longer be derailed. Sincerely, The a-hole 343401[/snapback] really, cause the entire thread shows that you're a troll. everytime you post a response, you only prove my point further. i'm not attacking you, you're the one whos doing all the attacking, you hypocrite troll. "You said people were kissing ass to get discounts from Valkyrie Exchange when everyone recommended Kevin", actually a lot of people recommended a lot of different vendors, i just asked why people were recommending certain sellers when someone posted they wanted the best deal and certain sellers were more expensive. it had nothing to do with VE or any vendor in particular whatsoever(and even put a disclaimer in that post saying so). but if thats how you preceived it, thats your problem. discussing prices doesn't upset me at all, it did at one point, but i haven't commented on prices or anything to do with yamato in quite sometime, both here and at AP. i got no proof? how about you disprove me? do you know for a fact that yamato and their disturbutors don't frequent the site? okay then.... when was i complaining about peoples shipping prices? you mean like last year? whens the last time i said something here about shipping? or btich about prices of items or shipping? so i change for the better after taking your suggestion, yet you're still giving me crap about it? okay that make a lot of sense. again, who are you to judge me? no one, so when you get off your high horse of righteousness and stop attacking me, maybe i'll start listening.

you're always calling people trolls yet thats exactly what you're doing....TROLLING. well if you're attacking me, then i have to defend myself don't i. you bring up points why i'm such and such, i bring up a defense saying such and such, thats how arguements go...dumbass! what have you said to defend yourself? i say you're a hypocrite, you got no defense. i say you're a troll, you have no defense. i ask again, since the time we had that discussion, when have i jumped into someones FS thread? following my past rep....hmmmm...i stopped posting here in June, came back in august, and every posts since then has been nice, friendly, and on topic....go check. i can't recall bitching about a damn thing, starting an arguement with someone, or giving someone a hard time.....other than when you know who posted in my thread. again, you attack, i defend. put my money where my mouth is? this again....i clearly and repeatedly said it was an imaginary exampe so which part of that don't you get? again, you attack i defend. you said, i derail threads all the time, i said you derail therads all the time and gave an example. again you attack i defend. its cool man, i understand, you attack people for no reason, then when they defend themselves, you attack them more. then when they give examples like the ones you've given, you don't even bother replying....riiight. you say you hate trolls, you don't like trolls, yet thats exactly what you are...which would make you a hypocrite.

nah, not really. hypocrite how? because you say so? cause i said, yeah that guys gouging on shipping last year? and? again, you bitched me out last time for posting my opinions on people sales/auctions, i stopped as soon as we had that discussion, so now its not enough for you to be right, but now you want to be.....what exactly? kissing asses? who ass am i kissing? Kevin's? not really. do i think hes a nice guy? yes. do i think hes a smart guy? yes. so that constitutes kissing ass? if so, i'd love to know who else i've puckered up for? okay i'm an a-hole...so who was i being an a-hole to? NO ONE! i guess its that time of the month for you because you're awfully sensitive. who discussing prices? certainly not me since i clearly said i'm making up numbers out of thin air. i did mention how VE has the lowest pre-order price on the GBP, and gave an example how one could get theoretically get 200 orders. i never even said what i'm willing to pay or what something should cost, so how is that dicussing prices? me derailing threads? whos derailing this one? geez i've posted in like 4 threads in all of 6 months but yeah i derail them ALL THE TIME. i don't know if you've noticed this but just about every post you make has nothing to do with the topic at hand. your posts are generally witty banter you exchange with the SoCal dudes sooo... my complaints? like what? what did i complain about? crappy shipping from HLJ? how its not a good idea to pre-order stuff from them? i find it funny and hypocritical coming from the guy who started the CMS figure bitch thread...yeah okay whatever dumbass....ooo i needed that. so what was the point of your post other than to clearly start an arguement with me and try to make me look bad? there was no point, you just wanted to be a troll and give me a hard time for no reason whatsoever.....i see i'm the a-hole.

you never know? 200 seems like a lot but i know for a fact theres atleast 2000+ members of this board that want and will buy the GBP armor. right now, i feel its totally 100% a price issue with everyone so depending on the price, you can easily hit 200 orders, i can guarantee it. 343344[/snapback] So if Kevin puts up a pre-order for the GBP, you can guarantee he can sell 200+ (at what price?) Dude seriously, you're telling Kevin how to sell valkyries and armor? And does BBTS still offer flat rate shipping? I don't see it on his site anymore. In any case it's probably better than the $30 shipping rate you offered on your last auction... you being the stand up deal giver you are... 343359[/snapback] i'm not telling him how to do anything, i'm only throwing a thought out there on how one(not necessarily him) could theoretically get 200 orders. thats all i was saying. again my example and numbers used are imaginary so don't take it so seriously. BBTS might?, i haven't been there in a while but when i bought from him in the past, it was always $6 for shipping. nowhere was i saying kevin is a bad shipper/packer/seller, actually, i was going to say he does a great job in packing with plenty of bubble wrap and how i liked the little styrofoam corner thingys he uses so none of the sides of the box rub against the cardboard. i didn't realize i was dissing/insulting him in some way by saying i think Joel has exceptional packing. as far as $30, i was up front about it, its not like i made it up at the EOA like some dudes. i'd rather see some sort of shipping price listed in an auction as opposed to "buyer pays shipping and handling" which can mean a great many of things. sorry if i don't have time to run back and forth to the PO to get shipping quotes for people, my time = money. i didn't force anyone to pay or agree to my terms, everything was written in black and white, no small print. as i mentioned in my auction thread, if i was to offer it here, i would list a shipped price or charge actual shipping(as i've done with any and all things i've sold here), but i put it on ebay, and thats my choice. if you have a 1A max you want to sell, do whatever you want, i have no right to say anything, its your choice. we've actually had this discussion publically and in PM before(and you proved me wrong in both counts) and thats why you don't see me posting my opinions on prices and such in the FS section. do you remember what you said back then? it was something along the lines of "its up to the seller, no one is forcing you to buy it, if you're not interested you shouldn't crap in the thread". yet because i'm the seller, you have to be a jerk to me? and all that stuff you said goes out the window? as far as the stand up deal giver comment, who have i ripped off in all my time here? who have i gouged? just name one person please? i even had a USPS postage chart for christsakes! so based on 1 auction that i posted, that erases all the good stuff i've done for people here? and on the for reals, who the heck are you to judge me? what makes you better than me or the next person? a bit self righteous if you ask me. honestly, if you're doing this to get a rise out of me, you've accomplish it. but realize i've done nothing nor said anything to warrant this from you. as far as i can tell, you're just in a bad mood for some reason and want to take it out on me. all i was trying to do is incite discussion but you and you alone have turned the thread into, haters an a-hole because......

you never know? 200 seems like a lot but i know for a fact theres atleast 2000+ members of this board that want and will buy the GBP armor. right now, i feel its totally 100% a price issue with everyone so depending on the price, you can easily hit 200 orders, i can guarantee it. remember when i did a power buy for the display stands. i thought i'd have a hard time reaching 50 stands but i broke the 100 stand mark each time i did it. and the last time i think i got 250+ stands spoken for and sold. it really depends on how low you can get the price and how much less of a profit per piece you want to make. i think i made on average of .50 - .75 cents per stand sold, and thats only cause a lot guys who placed orders actually sent me a donation just for getting the power buy together. nothing astronomical but it was still a nice gesture on their part. now, i highly doubt you want to make .75 cents per GBP sold or hold out for donations from these cheap bastids(i keed, i keed!), but if you get a power buy(not group buy, theres a difference) together, i'm sure you can easily get 200+ orders. if i had a wholesale acct with HLJ, i'd put it together in a heartbeat, not even for a large profit but rather just some super cheap GBP armors for everyone and in return for the work, some free GBP kits for me. off topic... IMO, the best packing award goes to joel over at BBTS. first off his shipping is only $5 flat rate, big or small for standard packing. you can ungrade to classic packing(plastic bag so there no surface scratches during shipment, extra padding/bubble, and a bigger box) for a whopping .50 cents(i think he may have up'ed it to $1) but $6 is well worth it if you're a box person. i don't buy from them much cause his prices are usually higher than most guys but when he has a sale(20% off), i'm there buying everything under the sun.

i absolutely 100% agree, thats cause you're a nice guy and a fan. while most sellers aren't fans or nice guys. *the following is just an example, this isn't to be right or wrong or start any kind of arguement with anyone. all of it is completely 100% imaginary so please don't take it too seriously* say a bunch of dealers have a pre-order price of $140 for an new up and coming item. between all of you guys, you get 1000 pre-orders at $140 after posting the news here. if this were true, why would you drop the price? why would any vendor? now lets use the same example, everything is the same but between all you guys, you only get a total of 50 pre-orders. so you say to yourselves, "shoot, no one seems too interested in this new toy, but i know they're interested! is it a crappy product? or is it just the price? well it can't be a crappy product, its not even out yet so it must be a price issue". if this were true, why wouldn't you drop the price? why wouldn't any vendor? you(Kevin) being a nice guy(and smart guy too) said to yourself, "you know, instead of getting a handful of orders trying to get the maximum amount of profit per piece, i'd rather sell it for less and sell a lot more of them. i'll make less profit per piece but in the end, i'll make more money getting 200 orders as opposed to 10 i had before....plus everyone will love me ", as you said price over volume. so what would be in the customers best interest? order now at the price its at? or just wait and see if vendors decide to take the same route as you're going, price over volume? all it takes is one person to set the trend for others to follow. if everyones trying to sell something for $140 and you sell it for $100, the other sellers have 4 choices... 1. sit on the inventory and hope theres a demand in the future. 2. don't sell the product at all and miss out on any chance of making money. 3. wait for suckers to walk into your store/wesbite. 4. match your $100 price and sell as much of the the product as you can. what would you consider smart business? but on the for reals, right now your pre-order price(VE) pretty much knocks out ALL the competition. $99 plus shipping from the US($110 shipped) sure as hell beats $120+ plus shipping from HK($145 shipped). thats why you da man and thats also why you'll probably be getting more orders(therefore more money) than any other vendor on the map....until/unless they match your price or try to undersell you. anyhoo, people can do what they want but my advice is to be patient and see what happens. they say the early bird gets the worm.....but they never mention at what price? 343046[/snapback]

while i hate posting here, here are my thoughts on why people shouldn't pre-order a damn thing... 1. i wouldn't pre-order anything from HLJ. if for whatever reason the manufacturer drops the price, you're still locked into the pre-order price even if theres a big dollar difference....i've seen it happen to a few people here and they were not happy about it. 2. by placing a pre-order, it shows theres interest. if theres enough interest the price will remain high. look at the GBP armor, very few people placed pre-orders for it when the news was first released. and in turn the price dropped for $120 to $110, then to $99(VE)...i'm hoping no one pre-orders them at all so it'll drop even further. 3. if you're a box person, HLJ is the LAST place on earth you want to buy your toys from. they have absolutely no guarantee whatsoever on boxes. you could get one thats competely ripped in half and they don't give a rat ass. it doesn't matter if you say you'll pay extra for a nice box or oversized packing, you get what you get, tough. i made the mistake of ordering the aliens dropship from them and they sent me a retaped(4 pieces of overlapping tape), open box(fingerprints on the toy) with a tear in the flap going from end to end. when i contacted them about it, they just sent me links to their terms and conditions and told me to suck it. seriously, theres plenty of time from now to april 2006(yeah right!), and its not like its going to be sold out in a week after the release date. so my suggestion is to just be patient and see how the cards play out before commiting to anything. i.e. remember the "limited CF" that clearly isn't all that limited? i was patient and i sure as hell didn't pay what some of you dudes paid....i paid $115 baby!

if the vanilla set i bought matched the valk color, i would've used that so i wouldn't have to paint it at all. i suck at painting and i would've had to do it by hand, i ain't got no air brush.

so the only thing i don't like about this kit is the floppy head. its floppy in battroid, floppy in fighter, its just plain floppy. theres not much you can do to remedy this other than maybe some clear nail polish? or an entirely new design of the head which isn't very likely to happen. in battroid mode, the head just sits there, it doesn't lock into place like the other 1/48s. it moves freely and it sits back tilted on an angle so its always looking up which was kind of bummer. i had to put the neck doo-hickie piece that comes with the FP kit to level it off and keep the head straight but it still doesn't lock into place. i'll probably have it displayed in fighter mode w/o FPs or battroid with the FPs, so it won't bother me too much. honestly, the head issue is my only real gripe with this set but looking at how it had to be made, there was not much cap'n could do about it....its unfortunate but some sacrifices had to be made for the cause. some additional tips on top of all the other crap i posted: head laser pieces - whatever you do, make sure you don't sand the pegs down too much. theres pegs that go into the neck piece(you'll have to drill a hole for the pegs) when its assembled. i made the mistake of cutting them a little short and that could be the reason for the floppy head problem. i'm probably going to buy a replacement part from cap'n cause this was entirely my screw up. i just hope that fixes this problem. the neck attachment piece - this would be the resin part that you put the screw threw into the head. he shaved a little off it(you gotta see it to know what i'm talking about) but it needs to be sanded down a lot more. you'll also have to sand down some of the neck swivel piece(the black thing attached to the bottom of the head thats swivels and spins) quite a bit. you'll have to do this if you want the fuselage to stay in place correctly otherwise it pushes the entire fuselage up a couple of centimeters and actually splits the fuselage at the seams....you'll see what i'm talking about when you try to assemble it. the most important tip i can give you guys.... DO NOT GLUE ANYTHING UNTIL YOU ARE 100% SURE EVERYTHING FITS PROPERLY. as you can see i used funtac and scotch tape to hold pieces together. even at this point, i'm 99.99% done and sure everything works but i still don't want to glue anything down as of yet. as they say, its better to be safe than sorry. closing: i thought this was going to be a big ol pain in the butt(i was even going to comission someone to do it) but it really wasn't too bad. before this, my only experience with resin was rohbys TV hands and S head which obviously didn't require much work. as i said the bulk of my time was spent trying to make sure everything fit properly and TFed smoothly. i don't know what else to add other than, this kit ROCKS! if you haven't gotten it yet, you're really missing out IMHO. and a very special thanks to the cap'n for making this happen. if anyone has anything they want to ask/add, i'll try my best to help.

heres some more pics. battroid w/FPs gerwalk w/FPs fighter w/FPs fighter non FPs fighter top

heres one real quick.... for those who haven't picked up this conversion kit.....you're missing out.

godzilla, yes i got the heatshield, you have to take it on and off but it works. i looked over to see if there was some way the cap'n could've made it retractable but its impossible. the resin is pretty sturdy, kind of like rohby super stiff BP8 recast. just be careful removing each piece from its sprune otherise you might break something off that you can't fix or glue back on. as far as time, i put maybe 2-3 hours into it, if even that and that includes disassembling and reassembling the valk. actually i spent a bulk of the time making sure all the pieces fit and that it TFs without any problems than anything else. the parts are fairly clean, some parts/spots are tougher to get to than others but i have very little skill and i was able to knock it out without any real problems. i have some more pictures(and important info) i want to share but i gotta work a little before i get in trouble with the bossman.

actually it opens and closes just like the 1/48's. looking at a standard 1/48, if you look at the hinge part of the canopy(back of the fuselage), you'll notice the curved plastic piece that holds the canopy in place(its glued down). cap'n didn't glue the two pieces since you have to do some sanding and modding in order for it to open and close, that and the rear seat needs to be glued as well as the HUD in the back, plus you have to paint the interior. outside of all the sanding and tweaking, i'm actually kind of glad he didn't offer it as one piece since it would've been a pain in the butt to get in there to do anything. the hinge on the canopy does need to be sanded quite a bit for it to open and close freely. you'll have to make the hinge thinner(thickness-wise) as well as sand the back of the headrest of the rear seat(its slightly in the way) in order for it to move freely. if you got the kit in front of you, its much easier to understand what i'm talking about. either way, just make sure you don't glue anything down until you're 101% sure everything is going to fit perfectly and move perfectly, if anything, just use tape or funtac at first to hold things together. hope that helps.

anyone have some future floor polish? i wanna hook up the canopy but i don't feel like buying an entire container of it to use it once. if someones willing to give my canopy a dip, i'd greatly appreciate...obviously i'd pay for shipping back and forth so let me know.

another thing, the backpack clip attachment doesn't work in fighter mode. meaning, the FP's just sort of sit there in fighter mode, it doesn't lock down. its not that big of a deal since i don't really play with my toys but it still need to be pointed out. also, the flap piece thats attached to the BP8 doesn't have the little tabs on each side so it just flip flops around. i don't think the cap'n could of done anything cause it wouldv've probably worn off within a couple of transformations...its resin afterall.

heres a before and after pic of what i had to do so that the backseat would fit and sit low enough so that the pilots head wasn't keeping the canopy from closing before: after:

first heres a pic of the two pilots in the cockpit. yeah theres an unslightly gap but thats cuase i haven't glued anything down yet.

hey cap'n, no rush man, no need to anger the natives by slowing down their orders. actually once i cleaned the parts and began to disassemble the valk, everything started making sense. i'm almost finished, i just need to paint everything before i start glueing things together. on topic but not directed to the cap'n.... i was having a real problem with trying to get 2 pilot figures to fit. the plastic ones fit fine in the front, but it won't fit in the back without chopping off its feet. the gummy pilots fit since their feet bend, so thats not a problem. but even then, i still had to make some "special modifications" in order for the back one to fit. i'll post some pics to give you guys a better idea what i'm talking about.