MechTech

@Shawn Thank you very much for the upgrades and everyday maintenance!!! I'm just getting used to some of the new bells and whistles, but the newer format is great. The threads look better without people re-posting the same text and photos over and over which was taking up lots of space. Thanks again! - MT

@Kylwell Thank you very much, I appreciate it. There isn't any room for even tiny ones so I'll have to leave it as is. @pengbuzz It's great to see this take shape! - MT

@pengbuzz The masking tape is almost giving it an organic look. It's looking like a Sumo alright! - MT

You're right. One of many reasons we retired the Harriers (besides being old). You have to pull the whole wing off to get into parts of the engine and other systems. - MT

I love it! It is sad how difficult it is to do simple things on some airframes. Another good example was hearing maintainers complain about seeing the pressure gauge for the F-18's nose strut. You need a mirror to see it and then you are still not looking straight at it, it's from an angle. Guessing and supersonic aircraft don't go together. - MT

As retired Air Force with crew chief friends while in service and being a crew chief for static display aircraft, I pick the VF-1! All the newer aircraft are more maintenance intense. Stealth coatings complicate things for example. It takes 2 hours just to change a wingtip navigation light on an F-22! You can maintain almost anything on an '68 Mustang, but you need special tools and a computer to work on the new Mustangs. Volunteering with a Navy aviation museum, we actually helped with designing mock-ups to help budding engineers learn to design for maintainers. They made them connect/disconnect cables in tight spaces (a box) where they couldn't see it -just like on actual aircraft. Of course they all complained it was impossible! Senior maintainers walk new engineers through aircraft showing them how difficult their previous designers made it to maintain them. Some of the newer aircraft reflect good changes in some areas, but are still lacking in others. - MT

@Ignacio Ocamica That's looking awesome! You gonna make casts we can buy? @Urashiman That would be an excellent kit to own! I know I thought about making one a while back, but too much going on. Are you going to sell to us too? - Phill

@derex3592 I've never told anyone this before, but hey, nice Bussards! The colors look screen accurate. @pengbuzz Your Sumo is looking good! Nice-n-chunky, in a deadly kinda way! @Ignacio Ocamica That is looking good Ignacio. Are you sculpting that armor? @Urashiman Your VF-9 rendering looks very accurate. Are you planning on printing the final version? - MT

GREAT finish and cool conventional load-out too! - MT

That is looking good. Making it transform is an added bonus! - MT

@pengbuzz Your design is looking cool! Starting to get there with the lighthouse. The F-86 "flying" around the lighthouse will have LED fiber optics in the gun ports. This is the heavily modified circuit board from a dollar store toy for the gun LED and the 1/16" thick button to fit in the lighthouse top to trigger it. This is the lighthouse finial I turned on the lathe that is also the push button for gun LED circuit in the previous photo. Third time's a charm! Here is the all new rotor and brushes. The flat thing sticking up is the lighthouse LED that rotates. I don't like using rubber bands because they dry out and fail, but it was the only thing to help add tension to the brushes. I thought the weight of the brass brushes would be enough on their own to make them keep contact with the circular circuit board, but that idea failed. I used a 3mm "candle" LED and machined tubing really thin to house it and contain the light for the rear "flames." Hopefully this week it all comes together on schedule! - MT

Cool designs Pengbuzz! I actually like both your old and new transformable designs! The armored valk is looking good. - MT

What he said!!! @pengbuzz Cool! I'm looking forward to it. NEWS FLASH! For you aviation and Snoopy fans, Atlantis will be re-releasing the old 70's kit of "Snoopy and His Sopwith Camel." They are also doing the Red Barron kit too. Both have motorized props like the original kits. - MT https://atlantis-models.com/

Good dynamic pose with a clean finish! - MT

Linebacker is way more intimidating than supermodel! Wait, being from California, I've seen worse for supermodels - MT

@derex3592 The transporter looks cool. Now you can skip Doordash or Ubereats for take out. @pengbuzz While it sucks your joint broke, your improvements look good! It's a little less supermodel looking now and more robust looking. - MT

@derex3592 The shuttle looks great! Nice and clean wiring too. Sorry about your paint. I think Arbit might be right. I was thinking the same thing. When I was in England, it seemed like I was always painting in the cold (and wind) and then bringing stuff to dry in the house (in a vacant room). I hope things work out for you! Slow going on the lighthouse and it needs to be done for the 20th! The spring brushes on the rotor were causing too much resistance for the week pulley (remember, it's there to act as a clutch in case someone nails the plane while it's spinning). Plus the light blinked occasionally. So I machined a new type of brush that will use gravity to hold it against the copper rings. You can see how the brushes will swing on the rotor now. There will be two rows of brushes, one on either side so that one set will always make contact to eliminate breaks in the circuit. Then I got the micro connector installed in the wing to "plug" the plane into the swinging arm. On the other hand, I have another dilemma. My cats have no concept of the space time continuum. Two cats can't fit into a small box and one 24" inch cat cant fit into a 9.5" box! - MT

@valkyriepm Absolutely gorgeous build! I agree, the weathering is superb and harder to do on red colors. @electric indigo Cool build! I just finished an awesome book called, "A Higher Call" about pilots Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler. Not only is the main part of the story cool, but it goes into Stigler's experience as one of the last 262 pilots before the fall of the Nazis. Then it covers after the war and their reunion. It's cool reading about the 262 and all the pilots experience with it. - MT

Thanks for posting that, Shawn! I thought it looked at first like the kit - it is -sorta. He done gone and blown it up! Every aspect is like someone hit the "Extra Large" button on making the kit. The nose is squatty, but other than that - REALLY COOL! - MT

Great finish and weathering! - MT

@pengbuzz That is a great Design! I love the gunpod too! I like the head being on the upper surface where it might be of more use like firing to cover the rear or defending the upper area of the mecha. No new photos worth posting of the lighthouse. Just wiring and a switch, so now at least it has it's own power. I think I need to redo the brushes on the rotor though. - MT

Cool! - MT

Yeah...another era has passed on. He will definitely be missed! My Scottish relatives will be raising a glass tonight! - MT

@valkyriepm He's still alive! That looks awesome! Great paint and weathering two. The chips around the panel lines are a nice touch! - MT

There are also these, I believe they would be sturdy enough. - MT https://www.usagundamstore.com/collections/display-base