MechTech

You guys are REALLY trying to convert me to 1/72nd scale aren't you! I think it's anawesome idea! Where were you guys 20 years ago when I was doing one ! I can't wait to see the finished product! - MT

Thanks Graham! Although everytime I see the pictures I start drooling! What's up with that!? - MT

With all the money you're getting Valk, you could finish those ground vehicles . I can see the monster going for that much. The 1/160th's are rarer evidentlly. I don't have a problem with missiles, I can stop anytime I want to! I'm just not ready yet ! I'd love to go with 1/72nd scale. There's so much you can do with it - if you have space. If I built my Tunny VTOL in 1/72 scale, it would have been HUGE. Imagine the Daedalus in 1/72nd scale. I'd throw the remote away and just drive it! You gotta love the destroids though, ALL of them. - MT

Cowie; you ain't kiddin'! Talk about making a profit. I'm gonna sell an old Gundam 100 Shiki that's like 20 years old! I'll never see that much "profit." BigF, the missile fetish IS outa hand!!! problem is there's no "missile annonymous" branch in my shire. You should see what I ALMOST finished before moving here and starting the Daeadalus. - MT

DO NOT boil your parts (unless your gonna serve them up with mash potatos and gravy). Boiling WILL warp the plastic, and alcohol will probably do nothing. Most glued parts use a solvent to dissolve/melt the plastics together. That means plastic is holding plastic together. IF you are very CAREFULL (safety wise), you may be able to slit open the seam with a razor blade. Wiggle the blade into the seam, don't shove it straight in. I've had to do several repairs/fixes on other kits. Use a WIDE and thin piece of metal like a stiff spatula or putty knife to pry the seam open. Screwdrivers will work, BUT will leave pry marks in the seam. When you get the parts apart note where glue will NOT interfere with the parts moving. If the parts are painted, that's a whole other story, but start here first.

I agree with that. I build in 1/200th mostly, but would seriously consider buying if they did the whole line. I'd get the Captain's excellent 1/72nd resin kits, but most of my current funds are going to the Daedalus (or sprucing up my workshop since our move). Even the old kits you can still find fetch a high price. I'd love to see details like gun bays and ammo feed belts too. Oh yea, gotta have missiles - lots-o-missiles. - MT

Congratulations on the casting of Rex! Hopefully you'll have a good run. - MT

Ah common. You're making me drool on the keyboard. If I had one of those I could take over the world too (Dr. Evil pinky in mouth )! My goal is either a CNC table or a laser engraver. The problem is the cost for a good sized table or laser engraver. You'd think they make them out of gold or something By the way, the VC-33 side view is a direct trace over the lineart. I drew ovewr it to clean it up and make it transparent. I pretty much take a side profile and glue it on to the plastic stock and start cutting around it. - MT

Nope. You can guess why...

Whew! I'm glad I'm stickin to small scale stuff! I'd HAVE to have bought the whole set!!! Great work! Oh, I just heard my wallet take a deep breath too! - MT

The VC-33 looks great! Nice filling and painting - brings a tear to my eye . It'll be great to see it done! Here's the line drawings I did for the 1/200 model: [attachmentid=40826] I blew it up and converted it from PowerPoint to a JPEG. Hope it's alright. If I didn't have the family, job and Daedalus build, I'd love to do one in 1/72nd. I'm still keeping my kits. Thorsten can't do one until he finishes off those ground vehicles and the Cola machine! But I'd love to see him do one. It would look believable. - MT

Oh yeah, the gerwalk with the massive guns and stuff on it's back, right? Some of the mods I've seen used the Defender's cannon on the back.

They have a medicine patch for that now . I'm working on the stabilizer mechanisms. I gutted two servos to make them dummy actuators. Then when I got a channel freed up, I resoldered the guts back in (always save the guts). The servos work great, but they have less throw. I'm adjusting the strings that actaute them. A little shaping on the bulbous bow and the anchor well, and I should be done with the lower half. SOoooon! - MT

Those look good! What's the AG project?

Massive cutting, gluing, drilling...you get the idea. Hopefully CM will make your patience pay off . - MT

Thank you. I made this in 1/72nd scale so it actually fits up with a Legios model. Of course for the whole hook up link being just a little too short. It has all the missile hatches too, but I left those out of the photos. I made it out of spares from kit parts or completed kits that didn't make past house moves too well. - MT

It looks great! You'd never guess what markings it usd to wear - MT

It looks great! The kit does have bad seams, but what are you gonna do. Not much choice for SDF kits. - MT

That would be my dream to have one of those units. I'd settle for something like this: http://www.rolanddg.co.uk/public/portfolio...ails.aspx?id=53 . The advantage to building small scale are having small parts. - MT

Awesome detailing Kylwell! Love the clock gears. Now I know what really powers a Falke ! Great job on the Ghost Neptunesurvey! I think you need to go with a section of carrier showing lots of lines. It looks like you got the tie down recesses, that's a biggy. It is clean and fresh like Kylwell said . Cokefiend, I wouldn't go with all those other details that you mentioned, but smoke dischargers are canon: [attachmentid=40792] Handholds and smoke dischargers below the cockpit would be great detailing! - MT

Thanks guys! The Captain is right about the coupler. I worked hard on a solution for that, but nothing that could be done in plastic, especially styrene or ABS. Anime magic time! Phyrox is right about the folding cockpit thang. The way I overcame it was by puttng a small shaped plate under the cockpit. When it folds out the hole is covered. When it folds in the cockpit covers the space. The drawings never did collaborate well. The cockpit usually gets drawn too large in the anime. Twoducks, if Toynami tries to copy my work, I'll slam 'em with a C&D ! Actually if they make this whole thing work good and LOOK good, I'll be ecstatic (as will the rest of us here)! - MT

All in all I'm happy with the sculpt, especially on the TRAED. I hope they are accurate with the engineering. If you want to be nit picky, here's how some of those parts should work. The clamp that hold the Legios and nose gear should telescope back into the hip area. The hips should actually fold down/up 90 degrees depending on mode. The cockpit should also fold down into the mid chest area. The landing gear actually should sit/fold into a pod that folds and holds the center booster. The arms and legs folding are easy to see. Here are some pictures of a TREAD look alike I built with spare parts. It looks different, but the mechanics are the same. This is FAR from being done and has a lot of work to go. [attachmentid=40788] Flying mode. The blue block in the center of the chest is for the cannon. [attachmentid=40789] Gear and coupler out. The coupler needs gluing and the rear gear need to be added to the struts. [attachmentid=40790] Cockpit folded in. [attachmentid=40791] Battleoid mode or soldier mode. The block behind the hip part folds down and the gear fold into it. The outer hip parts rotates 90 degrees down. All in all there is not a lot of anime magic on this design - much to my surprise. I got all my mechanical workings from the lineart and anime screen shots. I gotta finish building this thing after the Daedalus is done! It was a lot of fun to figure out. I hope they don't settle for removeable parts. That usually means lost parts. We'll see... - MT

Thanks Dante. It should be at least in toys (my opinion). If it weren't for your post , I wouldn't know about this beautiful creation and be able to warn my wife about the potential cost . - MT

I'm glad someone linked this in the models section! I WOULD buy this toy. It's gonna need some small mods already (the LEGIOS chest looks off), but I'm sure they will work together. There's too many "off scale" parts that make it look like it combines. I think that's the big issue in everyone's head. I actauly started to scratch build a combining unit so I thoroughly studied every screen shot/drawing I could get my hands on. The TREAD does have a cpouple of anime magic elements to it, but it's very workable! The question is now, am I going to have to sell one of my cars ! - MT

Keep it up Neptunesurvey. The ghost (and babies) look good. HWR, the Octo tank looks good too. I think that was one of those designs heavily influenced by Sake ! - MT