MechTech

Yep. If you look WAYYyyy backin this thread you ight be able to see the lower hull. It might slice through a balsa hull, any more than that I'd be afraid to scratch the new paint on my ship WHEN it's ready! I won't be making any updates until I can source some mini, momentary DPDT rocker switches for the controlls. I'll need quite a few. There's the ramp in-out, ramp fold-unfold - - two sections, main hatch, two internal cranes (4 total switches), and the interior doors. - MT

Aaah yes, the Mikimoto illustrations. I've never seen those outside pictures online. Nice touch! Definitely a "buy and never open" item! - MT

Yep, that's a cool set! Clear smoked plastic stands and all the different heads. I think only the decals were different. Aaaah, the good ole' days! - MT

Hasegawa makes the crew, aerospace ground equipment (AGE) and weapons loading/handling equipment. They've been making it for years. They've got almost all the conventional weapons covered too! - MT

It looks great, but her butt is too shiny (never thought I'd say that ) Cool models! - MT

Yep, "anime magic!" Until someone draws a variable mecha in CAD and animates it, the three modes never work out like they're drawn or animated. Even the simple Daedalus I'm working on has tons of anime magic in just the line art. I've studied the drawings for hours, made smaller models, and still one thing won't work as drawn or narrated in the text. A lot of line art also accentuates certain features on purpose - doubly frustrating! Now, I'm ALL about taking a static valk and making it transform - -don't get me wrong. I think that's awesome. Big gaps and big hinges will always take away from the "realism" though. It just comes with the territory. Not to mention problems with styrene or even ABS being strong enough to be thin enough. Those pros who took a static model and made it transform and look good in all three modes had to "cheat" and use brass hinges. Once again, the problem comes with the territory. All things considered, the model looks pretty good so far. No judgments until the final work is released from me. - MT

Welcome! This should help: http://www.hlj.com/hljlist2/?MacroType=Inj...p;GenreCode=Sci Just translate Yen to dollars. All of the recent re-issues have brought the value down on some kits. If you're selling them, there's a "For Sale" section. - MT

Thanks guys for the compliments! Yes, it did take a long time! UPDATE 1 June 08 I wasn't going to detail the underside and I thought, "well, I've come this far..." Here's some photos: Not shown are the two micro switches underneath to cut power to the motors when the ramp folds open or closes. Without them the servos could crush the whole thing when opening or closing (that's bad!). The engraving doesn't show up well, but it's there, ALL over the place! I'm tired of engraving for a while! Enjoy the photos. - MT

UPDATE 25 MAY 08 I FINALLY finished constructing the ramp component. It just needs to have the wiring harness put back on. I didn't bother with an overall top view because all the panels look the same on top. The sides (mosly complete). Side View of the folded ramp. 3/4 view showing it folded with top details (and some putty on the seems). Next job is just to wire it all in. - MT

I didn't see this in the other thread. Just in case, a breakdown in the flight deck variations:Asuka_Carrier_Views.bmp - MT

Quote: "What keeps you modeling?" It's the "light at the end of the tunnel" for me. I already have a good idea of what it will look like and hope it will come together - praying helps! I've been working on the Daedalus for over two years (mostly straight on). If I didn't have that vision, I'd have given up years ago (before commencing building). Congrats on your kit coming out alright after all! You did a great job AND you learned something new - two for the price of one! - MT

What a bummer! I'm sure other stores or evil bay vendors will still have them for sale. Yes, they may cost more. - MT

A full picture of the city would be awesome. I started doing that myself before leaving home (a LOooong time ago). I took a shelving unit and got as far as lining the shelves with styrene and then getting plexiglas to cover it all. The BIG earthquake kinda set me back (and slammed several mecha on the floor ). I love to see big projects like the city you did. I can REALLY appreciate all that work! - MT

And I thought I was nutz for building a Daedlus!? That will be a lot of work, even without the mechanics and stuff! Keep us in the loop with your progress. - MT

The Mospeda stuff is ALL awesome looking. Get rid of the screw holes and it could almost pass as a model. -- MT

I don't get to this section much, but thanks guys!!! - MT

Yeah, that's something relatively new! - MT

Various Joint Sets --The following parts may be used on 1/72nd kits down to 1/200th scale kits-- Yellow Submarine Double Ball Joint Set (clear) Kotobukiya D-72 H-Joints Kotobukiya D-101b Ball Joints Ever wish you were double jointed? Your model can be. Yellow Sub's PPC-T05 is an actual set of double ball joints in sizes from 5mm wide, 7.5mm wide and 9mm wide (at the largest diameter - the mouth of the female joint). An important note on these. These aren't your Gundam kit leftover polycaps! This set is made of clear polycarbonate plastic (Lexan). I would have never thought of using this material in combination with a styrene, but a little superglue and you'll be good to go (rough up the gluing tabs and clean with solvent for best results). Other colors are available. The fit is more than snug and I had to use pliers to get the parts together (9mm)! No white stress marks after doing some test moves with it either. These will keep your model together and hold it there! "(won't loose long time )" Kotobukiya makes some awesome mecha kits and all sorts of "extras" that I wish I had in my early modeling days! D-72 or the H-Joint set (ABS Unit 2) is made out of ABS. Stronger than styrene and once again some super glue and the tabs at the end of the joints will make it stick. The joint ends are 3.5mm square, 5.2mm square and 6mm square. I bought this set because the smaller size will do 1/200th Destroid joints easily. One end can join another end for a single motion joint, or an "H" piece will allow you to connect two ends together to make a double joint (these just can't move 3D, just 2D). I haven't opened mine yet so I can't tell you about the fit quality. I do know they sell out a lot! Kotobukiya makes the smallest sized ball joint sets I have seen (next to some kits thumb bits). Why buy something this small (5mm outside at the mouth opening)? The answer can be found here:http://www.geocities.jp/sidenet_note/sidematerial/regult/regult.html How else can you add that kind of movement to your model short of buying it in a Revoltech toy? NOTE: this guy cut notches in one side to increase forward movement on the joint. These are not soft polycap material, but a little harder. Fit is good and snug, but too much movement and the ball will pop out. Limited range of motion for that reason. If you need a ball joint this small, like for a small hand, this will work fine. This only lists the three sets I purchased to test, but still covers a lot of the set types out there. Most of these come in color variants as well. Hopefully this will add some "life" to your display model. - MT

Hasegawa Trytool Engraving sets (TP-1 and TL-2) For those of you who would like to add some access panel lines or hundreds of other types of engraved detail to your model, these two sets are awesome! Top three panels are from TP-1 and the bottom two with scribe is set TL-2. Template Set 1 (TP-1) looks more aircraft specific, but there are hundreds of other uses for it. TL-2 Looks more mecha specific and even comes with this handy guide on the back to show you how to make compound shapes. Several of our resident artists have used these templates very successfully to engrave panel lines into the master models they've made prior to molding copies. The scribe that comes with TL-2 is not fine enough for some of the shapes. That's no problem. Go out, get some hand sewing needles and put whatever size you need into a pin-vise. Or shove it into piece of wooden dowel with a pair of pliers (some glue on the end will help secure it). Using the templates is easy, tape them onto the surface to scribe and keep the needle 90 degrees vertical AT ALL TIMES. If you angle it you will mess up the perfect shape. Start by going around the shape slowly and SOFTLY. Too much pressure and you may move the template out of the tape, or skip out of the groove. If you skip off course, use a bit of superglue in the unwanted line and sand it down when cured. The detail you can add to a kit or project with these two sets is amazing. Try them out if you've been thinking about, you won't be disappointed! - MT

I recently purchased a bunch of materials to help in building my Daedalus. I also realized a lot of it had poor pictures and little or no review from where I purchased them. This thread is dedicated to reviewing scratch building materials and tools - NOT MACROSS specific items. I'm hoping this helps us ALL out in the community with whatever projects we are working on or thinking of starting. - MT

Friday afternoon...as a matter of fact... Thanks MilSpex! Tiny Update. I skinned and engraved the end ramp. Note the transparency. The first two segments are .020" plastic sheets; the end is .010 to keep it light. It was fun engraving that! Not too much, not too little. The rest of the week I spent installing a new stereo in my shop (after returning the first). Gotta have tunes man! That's it for now. - MT

Thanks Steve! OUCH! My wallet just kicked me! - MT

First off, thank you to everyone updating us with pictures and details!!! I don't get to spend a lot of time on line. I think things are looking good for just prototypes. The media and method used for making these prototypes will really limit the details that can be shown. We can only speculate for now. Remember, Banadai's BIG market is not us old farts waiting on the latest and greatest Macross kit; it's the younger less experienced modelers. Some just want to put something together from that cool movie they just saw! Even with the following of varied ages Macross has (none more loyal than me). What I bet we can expect to see from this kit: the decent overall shape we've seen, ABS in some joints, polycaps, and I'm praying for water-slide decals! I'm keeping positive for now. Even the sculpts shown so far look good. - MT

It looks so real I just gotta ask, "so what kinda gas mileage does it get?" - MT

Thanks CE - very punny! I'm going to try! I keep having setbacks like the connector on my ramp breaking (who knew the wires would break in the spring tube and the connector). The good news is the ramp is all skinned and I just have to do the end sides and some flashing LED's for warning (nothing that big would move without a warning light/horn). Pictures hopefully coming soon...