wm cheng

Hi all, I'm not sure if this is the place to ask, but have you guys heard of replica guns? I remember when I was younger there were all these hobby shops selling Japanese made replica guns, with brass shells that contained caps, and even ejected from the force of the caps. They were really realistic. However, I think people were using them to hold up stores - I'm not sure, but I don't see them around anymore. I am curious, are they outlawed here in Canada, especially Toronto? I would love to get a realistic Walther P99 with silencer like the James Bond gun now as a display piece. All I could find are those airsoft BB guns, I don't care if it shoots anything, I just want it to be a realistic as possible - a working slide and realistic weight would be cool - I have a bit of a bond collection going. Or is this kind of collecting illegal now in Canada? Does anyone have any more info on this, or can point me in the right direction? Thanks,

Wow, what a tight deadline - modelling under pressure... Good luck, lets see some pictures.

Hey Sebastian, Very nice custom scheme - I love the light grey accents!! One of the best schemes I've seen - subtle yet totally in keeping with the genre! Great work!

Well, I'm not sure if I qualify to clear this up, but here are my experiences, I own a real non-bootleged Perfect Memory - I bought it in high-school in 1986 from a Japanese book store and it does indeed say OUT8 on the front cover. However, it does come with the poster, orange bookmark, mail in tear out and cover stripe exactly like the one as illustrated on the MW books section. I would tend to guess that the "second" printing with the "8" has all these things and you've gotten luck to get it all.

Hey, I just checked HLJ and it says they are not available! Whatsup?

Ok, Ok... enough sci-fi trashing! The original true aim of sci-fi was to subversively educate the public as to current plight of the society without infringing on the government restrictions of the times. Sci-fi ws borne out of the neccessity to point out problems in the direction technology and governement were heading. Such as pre-war Germany and Metropolis or Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari. Hence the all menacing and un-named "company" as head of state - little did they know that these companies would actually become governments in their own right (as fortold by William Gibson and Blade Runner). It makes sense that you don't name the people you are criticizing. Since the "aliens" are actually just a safe way of explaining our own problems (be they luddites, or communist etc...), they would be more accepted if they didn't look too different than us. So if we are looking for the small details in sci-fi to add up, then we are overlooking this genres true purpose and missing the big picture. (IMHO) whaaaaa!!... fell off my soapbox Now, what I hate is secret explosives hidden with flashy red LEDs that tell us where they are hidden!

Ok, I have to put my twice cents worth (this doesn't seem to have been mentioned before), I personally liked the movie, however, my wife was disgusted at the level of gore and violence that was shown. I was a bit surprised, in none of the reviews I have read (including this thread) was there much mention of the excessive gratuitous gore that was displayed on screen. I was caught abit off guard by it but accepted it, however, my wife was appalled that everyone in the theatre could sit so cavaliar through it all and take it all in without wincing or much reaction other than laughter. I tried to explain that it was part of the humour, that the blood gushing out of the severed limbs and torsos were exaggerated beyond belief, a homage to "old school" samaurai/kung-fu films - the absurdity of it told the viewer to not take it too seriously. But even I was at a loss to explain the split torsos when the samurai blades were torn out and the internals just exploded out all over everyone and onto the camera with the lens still dripping. A few carefully selected shots of blood spewing would of been enough to convey his message to the "old" films that were his inspirations - I find really no excuse for the continued and sustained on-slaught of these depictions. Have we been so desensitized to a point where such graphic violence and death is now just common place and widely accepted? Now remember that I said I liked the movie - and I do. The fight choreography was tremendous (having met Master Ping himself - and been pulled up on his wire-rig harness for fun) I have a enormous amount of respect for the planning and execution of the fight sequences especially with so many combatants all at once. The cinematography was fantastic, and served the story well, the black & white emotional detachment that Uma had during the main fight sequence juxtaposed with a "blink" to the darkened blue background silouette fight scene was flawless. The slow-mo a-la "reservior dogs" scene of Lucy Lui and gang entering the restaurant to the Kill Bill theme was just "cool". The introduction of the anime sequence for background onto O-Ren's character was inspiring and of course who can deny the appeal of the school-girl body guard reference - Tarantino defly demonstrates his understanding of the genre and the Japanese culture. However, the best parts of the movie are not its graphic depiction of gore and blood splattered relentless everywhere. In fact, I would say its in spite of that. There are necessary depictions of gore, such as Lucy Lui's beheading of her crime bosses for bringing up her origins - but its was nicely counter-balanced with her sarcastic speech dialog and served to further her character. It made a point, just like the brains splattered all over the rear windshield in "Pulp Fiction". However I don't really see the case for the extended bloodshed and projectile gushing of the internals that were so promenantly displayed throughout the extended fight sequences - and even I am at a loss to explain this. All I can say is a warning to those who have yet to see this film - its a good film on many differently levels, but be prepared for the exaggerated gore that will assault you - unless you are accustomed to such (if so, than I feel sorry for the state of our society) IMHO. On its most simplistic of terms it may be; "just a guy's movie".

Good advice Kurt, I use ModelMaster Acryl clear-coats, and I always thin them with the thinner, but not as much as I do with paints. Generally if you can get a skim milk consistency then you're fine.

Hey Noyhauser, yes you can get a smooth of a coat with hand painting as I do with airbrushing - although I personally can't. I stink at hand painting, I used to be able to do it quite well - but now I almost rely exclusively on airbrushing. However I have seen amazing handbrushed work. You can't really do the post or pre-shading though. Sorry Kam, I don't have the packaging to my Fine head and needle assembly anymore - I tried to look it up on the Badger web site, but they don't list parts or accessories. I just asked for the fine head and needle for the Badger 200. My head has a little engraved "F" on the head for "fine" my medium head says "IL".

Hey fanboy, you should check out some of my previous threads in the "How to build..." section - they should give you a starting point. Its too bad that the old boards are currently off line, since they do contains some of my previous step-by-steps. Yes, I always assemble / glue the kit together first (into sub assemblies that facilitate painting) because you always have to putty/fill seams or construction joints, and sand them smooth first so you don't see the seams between the parts. Then you paint over top of that. Of the Hasegawa Macross offerings, the only two kits I do not recommend are the Macross Zero F-14 and Mig 29. Since all the others are original new toolings, the molds are crisp and up to the traditional Hasegawa standards. However, the Macross Zero Mig 29 was a re-release of their original 80's tooling (with Macross decals) which actually was rushed out the door when the Mig 29 first appeared and contains many speculative details and inconsistencies (pls David correct me if I'm wrong). The F-14 was not even an Hasegawa tooling, I think it was a re-packaged Italieri kit (with Macross decals) - complete with raised panel lines YUCK! I woud suggest a real Hasegawa tooled F-14 (#00364 is a good one, but you can tell when the box side states 191 pcs!!) and get your own Macross decals - this Hasegawa is an excellent F-14A with tons of details (some say its a bit over-engineered) but stay away from the Macross Zero Mig 29 and F-14. Although you might want to find a F-14D to be truer to the Macross Zero plane.

And my latest Macross offering... 1/72 scale Hasegawa YF-21 - a very easy build - just not as well engineered as the rest with a few minor decal fit problems - but still an excellent kit overall and highly recommended.

Then there's the Macross Plus stuff - the 1/72 scale Hasegawa YF-19 - very simple kit - excellent decals though.

One of my all time favourites, the 1/72 scale Hasegawa VE-1 Elintseeker - really excellent kit - highly recommend it.

Then of course there's the 1/72 scale Hasegawa VF-1A Super. Fully decked out with the Hasegawa weapons set and some vernier nozzle modificaitons to the fast packs.

Oh, Fanboy, my panel lines are done with thinned down artist oil paints (thinned with low odour varsol / mineral spirits) dabbed into the engraved details and the capillary action draws the ink-like colour into the panels. I let dry a few hours and wripe the excess off with a clean rag or paper towel. Here's the 1/72 Hasegawa VF-1A

It comes with fast-packs too - with a little modification (pins), they can be made to be removeable.

Welcome to these parts AKD001 - always great to see a convert around here!! As far as styrene kits go, nothing comes close to the Hasegawa Macross offerings. I think they are all really good. In fact, when I use to just model aircraft - after trying all the various kits out there, I almost exclusively only build Hasegawa or Tamiya. They are just so much surperior to anything else out there (IMHO). It really was a dream come true to have my favourite aircraft company do Macross. I can whole heartedly recommend all their Macross kits as well as their photo-etched details for these kits and the weapons & pilot sets. Check out HLJ for their complete line. Since the old boards are down currently, I can post a few pictures of the ones I have built in the past. (sorry to those who have seen them before ) All are 1/72 scale, I'll start with this resin re-cast from Hobbyfan of the VF-2SS from MacrossII - unfortunately Hasegawa hasn't made this into a kit yet.

Oh yeah, definitely some day - but I have so many "canon" to build or get through first - I want at least a set of everthing in 1/72 scale first (actually I would like a set gear down, and a set gear up in flight mode) - and only after that will I even begin to consider customs or other non-canon schemes.

Thank you all, I'm a builder not a writer... (in a squeeky high falsetto voice) I just like buildin' em!! And your responses are very welcomed too. Its such a small niche market here, and it just seems like such a big hassle to get stuff published. I am just grateful for all your comments and the learning I get from these feedback and seeing others do their thang! I would gladly accept donations though Hey, if anyone would kindly put it all together in a PDF file, I would love to get a copy for my own nastalgic records though (Rob are you listening?) So far I only have one, the YF-19 - but if there's more out there, I would love to recieve them. Hey you could vote for me in that Hobbyfan contest -the popular vote catagory! Hey if anyone here wants to publish me or pay me for this - PM me!! ha! I looked into Fine Scale Modeller as one kind soul here suggested, but they had all types of format and photo requirements, I wouldn't be able to submit stuff I had done already, I'd had to start fresh and take high-res process photos from the start again. Documenting the process is already dissruptive enough - I don't want to take the fun out of it! Unless they would make it worth my while Truely, thanks everyone.

Wow!! Absolutely fantastic, it looks great! Great work. A tip about the wheels, spray them white first, then paint the black on by hand, it will save you a masking step - but your way looks great too! Come on, lets see some more photos of your fantastic bird!! Try to stop down on the aperature (use a smaller opening or higher F-stop number such as f11, f16 or f22) so we can see all of it in focus Keep up the excellent work GunnerX!

Smooth glossy finishes are definitely better for masking. The tape sticks better and peels off better. I find that the matte or flat paint has so many tiny microscopic pours that the tape doesn't seem to stick as well and that there is more opportunity for the paint to seep in under the edge softening up the masked line. If I understand what you mean by a good sealer.

Thanks so much, What PM last week?

Oops, I replied on the other thread where my finished model was - take a look there, yes, you can apply the decals before the weathering - I do weathering, decals and then some more weathering to tie the decals in.

What I can get my greedy little hands on first - I'll build!! Any pictures of what a low-viz SV-51 looks like - I'm not hot on the red/pink scheme I love that Cannon fodder FFR-31 Sylphede, I can't wait to get a Bandai EX kit of it also in 1/100 scale to complete my collection - the 1/144 are fun, but they are just too expensive for something that small. The other plane is a little too wierd ass for me. Lets keep the VF-0 pictures comming!! Any more?

Thanks for all the kudos Hmm, the canopy blue still bothers people eh? I might do something about it - the jury is still out on this one yet - but if I have time next week, I try to blend it in more. I don't think I'll be doing a Mila red version anytime soon - the blue bothers me a bit - it really screams out anime in my flight line up, and I think the red would be worst. Thanks David, for showing me the blue angels, they make me feel a bit better. Very good tip about the tires, I remember I used to heat a screwdriver over the stove and lightly press that against the tires to melt them into a flat spot with a bulge. But David also made a good point about the high pressure modern tires. If I revisit the canopy colour, I may just file down an area of the tires to simulate this effect (Damn, it means I have to take the pictures all over again ). It would of been better if I filed down the tires before I glued them to the struts, this way you can ensure they rotate properly to the flat spot - but now, I'll have to be very accurate as to where the flat spot will be. Yes by all means you can weather after the decals. I weather before and after the decals. I weather before so that if I make any mistakes or do it too heavy, I can go back and remove some. Then after the decals again, to tie it more to the paint and re-do some of the panel lines. Unfortunately there are not much panel lines that crosses over the decals on this bird, and the demonstrator scheme precludes too much weathering. I don't know what you mean about the intakes - I guess they are a little flat. I airbrushed around the leading edge with a lighter grey to simulate wearing and give it a little shading - but I wouldn't know what else to do. They are darker than they are supposed to be - I painted them in neutral grey instead of sky grey. I knew they were too dark as a match for the grey of the decals, but I thought the decal grey is too light and thus too jarring for the dark blue, so I darkened them to tie in better with the blue body. Thanks, the comments have been most helpful.