MechTech

Valkyrie addict - I'm guessing about another year to complete. The hard stuff is nearly done. Everything else except the elevators on the sides will be just plane ole construction minus all the engineering to animate parts. Fly4victory - Thank you for the compliment! The upper deck will be laser engraved to simulate the tie-downs for aircraft. The ramp anti-skid strips will be black paint for scale thickness. I love scratch building and this thing is sure keeping me busy doing it! It takes a lot of refitting of parts to ensure it all goes together after an assembly. Sometimes not so successfully. B-52 GUNNER - Thank you as well for the compliment! I'll check out that site, I've never heard of them before. By the way, were you actually a B-52 gunner before the "pepper shot" conversions? UPDATE 4 Aug 08 Only three pictures, but a lot of work. The pictures were taken in low light, sorry. You can see the carbon fiber skeleton disappearing under the styrene parts now. The main hatch is mostly finished with the corners needing to be cleaned up. The front corner of the hatch has been put on and the corners rounded off to match up with each other. You can see the "teeth" on the doorway frame to align the hatch on closing. Now I don't have to put hinge pins back in every time alignment is needed to add something. If you remember (or look back), the lower front carbon fiber frame that was visible is now a "styrened over" pointed lip. The hatch aligns nicely with it. I added the big marks to the hatch topside and now I have to cut out a notch to install the mysterious winch looking thing in the door. If this was Star Trek, I'd say it was a deflector shield!? [att achment=56663:Bow_Hatch_Lip.JPG] I still have a lot of detail work to go on the hatch! That includes the interior spot lights and wiring. By the way, SO FAR the servo mechanism still drives the door open. It sounds like it's really working hard though! I'm still concentrating on lightweight construction! That's it for now. - MT

What, no "Petit Cola!?" The set looks really awesome. I wouldn't want to climb those steps either . It really makes me want to get to building the interior of my ship! - MT

Did you say retirement? - MT

UPDATE - 28 July 2008 Thanks again guys! It's actually starting to look like something other than parts now. A LOT of work went into getting the main hatch to align right, but it ALL paid off! These pictures don't show the work I did tonight aligning it all up. [attac hment=56374:Teeth_and_Sockets.JPG] Building the hatch with MOST of the guts (still have more details) Now we're getting somewhere! This side is done for the permanent panels. The rest will be removable this side to reveal the interior. NOTE: the lower corners are NOT rounded off yet. That's another day's work. The hatch IS NOT aligned yet in these photos. In fact, the hinge pin is not inserted in one of the hinges. That's what I spent most of tonight doing. See ya later. - MT

That's awesome man! I thought about doing that with another kit, but I just couldn't bare to bust up a revoltech figure! Keep up the great engineering! - MT

That looks great! Too bad about the paint. When I can build kits in the original color, I do. I have yet to find a paint that doesn't scratch, rub or chip off easily! It's frustrating! I feel your pain! - MT

Lookin' great TSP! There's a lot of putty down there, but I can still make out all the detail. I don't know how many takers there'd be, but a recast might be in order. This would be a rare kit indeed! - MT

Welcome to MW Shadowx. I have no clue about your specific joint, but this may help: http://macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=26179 with replacements. These area available at hlj.com and sometimes at Starship Modeler. - MT

Looking great man! I love that kit. I think it's cool the way the nose tucks into the chest area. Your kit won't have the heaviness of resin and drooping some recasts may. - MT

The SDF looks nice and clean! Great job! I've got to find all the parts for mine and build it, someday. - MT

It looks like this model suffers from the same problem I'm having building the Daedalus in some areas, "anime magic." The gear is so large it would take up the whole nose if it folded inward (pilot and cockpit optional)! I can see the hands being removable, many kits have aftermarket parts followings to improve appearance. The gear and other potential parts being removeable would be a drag. It's still prototyped though... - MT

For those in the US, Micro Mark has some great stuff: http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp?M...ment&ID=104 Just click on the category you need in the red box. I've made several sheets before in ink and toner. My advice: Ink: allow the sheets to dry thoroughly! Then use a good spray on fixative coating AFTER they have dried. Do not use a spray enamel (clear coat) to cut corners with. Your ink will run! Make a few light coats of the fixative. Toner: less likely to smear. One warning, sometimes the heat from the printer fuser makes the decal plastic brittle. Coat it with the fixative and then coat with clear decal making coating. Good for ressurecting old decal sheets that go brittle too. Make up some test area too and experiment. Thicknesses may vary and how much setting solution you need if used on bumpy surfaces. In the end, it WELL WORTH IT! Except for not being able to print white, it awesome! - MT

I wish I could be there, maybe next time! Maybe business will bring me in the area next time around! Enjoy guys and it will be great to see some pics! - MT

The vipers look great (though I don't watch the show). The destroids look great all together and in better lighting Neptunesurvey. - MT

Looks great! The colors remind me of the eighties! - MT

UPDATE - MINOR - 18 JULY 2008 First off, thank you to everyone for your support. I'd really love to be working on several other SMALLER projects. The more stuff comes together though, it's worth the wait. B-52 Gunner - I actually pretested the hull with extra weight on top (6v 12 Amp motorcycle battery) - front hull specifically. The whole thing sits high in the water. My only concern are the big sides acting like sails. Only one way to know... So far the whole front section hanger deck weighs over a pound with the the actuators included. Not bad for something that's about two and a half feet long and a foot wide. Neptunesurvey - I recently received the parts to make the controller out of - As soon as the front end is done this will be the next project! When - Lord only knows! Big F - The kits most common in 1/200th are the Nichimimo kits, one of the Arii 1/170 gerwalks, and the Arii Armored valks have perfect sized fast packs for the Nichimo kits. If your still interested, just PM me. Donations are always welcome! Ranger 565 has a couple of Tomahawks he's working on for me. I'm hoping that's going to be enough too. Here's some pictures of the modified drive and showing it mounted. I like how it takes almost no room. Will it be strong enough when the door's covered? We'll see! I've got the top and angles skinned so far. back to work... - MT

I was wondering about that too. I'm glad to see you back at work on it. We have too many fabulous started and unfinished models around here. - MT

UPDATE 10 JULY 2008 With the ramp (and Sports Den - http://macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?show...&start=940) out of the way, it's back to work on the Daedalus! Here's the progress pictures on the main ramp. [attach ment=55579:Bow_Hatch_Side.JPG] Screw drive actuator from an old floppy drive - great mechanical safety on it. The angles are made from 1/8" fiberglass sheet, similar to high strength circuit boards. Made an indestructible "Clod Buster" chassis from it once (carbon fiber was just coming of age). That's it for now. - MT

Looks great! Don't forget a few drops of blood on the seat - MT

"Focus Danielson - wax on - wax- off." We need a model sensei column it sounds like ! What I do is keep one model out to work on, and put the other kits in plastic boxes (protects and easy to move stuff around in). I've been working on the Daedalus for like two years now. Tell me I'm not bored - please!? I used to work on so many kits at once that it burned me out on model building for a while. That's what helps me to keep at one kit at a time - I don't want to get in that rut. I've got like a hundred Macross kits (most tiny 1/200), but I just focus on the one. After two years I'll occasionally work on something minor, but back to work. You guys help too! Like WM Chang said, "he vicariously lives out his hobby through us." "Virtual glue and paint!" - MT

Have to turn down the brightness on my monitor - the Alclad is blinding Looks great. - MT

That's cool. I dig the his and hers custom upholstery jobs - MT

Looks great! It looks like a soviet aircraft painter and a custom car painter got together. - MT

Looks like everyone's been busy! - MT

I've been SOOoooo busy lately with A LOT on my workbench and floor. Thought I'd post some pictures. Our building has a recreation area. It used to have gross green trimmed walls and a lot of broken stuff. After some paint, electricians, and working on several decorations at home, this is what I designed and put together: This was made from a Cyron light bar set and laser engraved acrylic, it changes colors. My wife helped out a great deal too! She's the bomb! Now everyone in the building has a cool place to hang out, and I can get back to work on the Daedalus (that's why the lack of posts lately). Back to work... - MT