MechTech

That's some awesome papercraft! - MT

Your Yamato came out great Peter! Especially in that scale. - MT

That's cool! Great conversions! - MT

TAMIYA PAINT SALE! MicroMark has most of their Tamiya paints on sale (minus the newer special metalics)! These are the .75oz/23ml ones -NOT the little mini ones! $2.39 each and their surface primers are on sale too. I ordered a ton since most of mine are 16-30 years old (no, not a typo). Most everything was in stock too! Link: https://www.micromark.com/search?keywords=tamiya paint If you haven't looked at their tools, try not to drool on your computer and ruin it! Sorry I haven't been online much guys, too busy! I'm glad to see Urashiman is still alive too! It's been too long man - MT

Hey Arbit. I don't know about a cap for each item, but it may help. It DRASTICALLY (but not completely) reduced the flashing, and therefore surges. You turn it on and it takes a second to charge before the lights come on - kinda cool. - MT

Lots of cool stuff guys! I've been too busy to get online lately for hobby stuff. Gotta finish the Dougram Ironfoot by midmonth to make it to the next modelr's meeting. I was pratically dared too. On that note, getting there! You can see the cheap $1.00 LED board I used then replaced the LEDs on it by soldering the dashboard lights in. The flashing lights caused the white "headlights" to blink so I soldered a huge capacitor in series to give the white lights a steadier stream of power. The red button on the back selects the blinking modes. All the dash board lights can flash in a given sequence now to add action. I cut short aluminum tube segments on my lathe then placed them over a thick piece of wire after cleaning up the edges. That's how I got more realistic looking armored tubes. I think I'll keep them and the smoke discharger barrels raw aluminum for some "bling." Ironfoot should be called "leadfoot" after putting batteries in them to power everything. Thansk for your feedback guys and I'll try and get online more this week. Hopefully things have calmed down somewhat work wise. - MT

Great looking builds guys! Pengbuzz, your photos are so dark I can hardly see them.

They still are cool! Sound cool too! - MT

Those figures look AWESOME NZEOD! The white one sitting in the cockpit looks like he was Photo Shopped in! Valhary - That is a cool concept and I look forward to seeing it done. By the way, you can flush mount and paint the magnets to help hide them where possible. I like your idea! Nyankodevice - What model is that? It looks similar to the other one you did in design. That's a cool looking tank. Is it SD? Arbit, those colors are new to me too as undercoats. They look great all the same. My last modelers club meeting theme was "Reel Models" - anything from TV or movies. We all brought in military hardware and this guy brings in all sorts and scales of movie cowboy figures from 1/6 busts down to 1/48th scale figures on horseback. He only uses cheap acrylics and his stuff looked awesome! He won the award that night too. I wonder if he uses some of those same effects? Nice diamond! I forgot to take photos of the main mecha body, but I'm working on an original Takara 1/48 Ironfoot / Hasty from Dougram (Gartan from the Revell Robotech line). I had the kit when I was a kid and hastily built it (my Macross models got all the attention) and since the kit I just bought is getting so rare and expensive to buy, I wanted to add detail to this one. The hatch opens exposing the cockpit so you can see everything inside it. I thought it would be cool to use fiber optics in the cockpit so I went that route. I was just using toy quality fiber so it kept breaking despite watching the angles (I used to fabricate fiber cables in communications systems). Plus gluing it to the cockpit areas defused the light wherever the glue went. Aftre three days of this I gave up! So I got out my little box of surface mount LEDs I scrapped from busted electronics and wired them up with micro insulated wire. Then glued them to each panel in the cockpit. The first picture is the lights and wires glue in place solid. The second photo shows the cockpit in place. The chrome paint still needs to be cleaned off the monitors here. The third photo is of the smoke launchers. Everything in the anime has a rifled barrel so I rifled the barrels too. They attach with a screw in the back so they will mount solid without easily being broken. All of the flashing lights will connect to a $1 light stick board that changes the flashing rate with each push of a button. More lights and details will be added. - MT

Lots of great stuff guys! Too busy to photograph, but primed my ship from months ago and a couple of other kits ion the bench. - MT

That's looking good 505! I like your modification Nyankodevice. Yeah, what hinge did you use for that? I might steel your idea if I buy one of those kits That is some SERIOUS scratch building Pengbuzz! You put everything but the kitchen sink into that model. Forget styrene! Arbit, that valk came out AWESOME!!! Great all the way around! I'm building a Dougram Ironfoot /Hasty right now and going to put fiber optics in the cockpit too since the model is so rare and expensive. Plus, the hatch opens so you can see everything. That's cool NZEOD! What's the nail polish for? - MT

That's cool Nyankodevice! Man, I love Mandarake! They have some awesome stuff there and their shipping is the fastest I have experienced yet! Got two packages on the way from them too. - MT

That's looking good Brett! Just seeing this now. The base is classy and the blue paint looked very "automotive" before adding the other colors. Great paint chipping. Nice sponsorship decals. They going on the pod? Just kidding! Looking good! - MT

Your VF-31 is looking good 505! Hammina hammina! Your Hamma Hamma looks great Electric Indigo! Great finish and colors too! It just goes to show you can never have enough engines. You scared me Arbit! I thought you were sniffing glue or something. Plus there aren't many Transformers models anyhow My daughter will love the Kelsain! Coolest Pony mod ever! For those that "like it dirty," I completed the Dougram Bromry JRS Native Dancer with a little "mud." Modifications: added tiny screws and covers to hold the missile pods in place. The surface area to glue with was small and wouldn't hold up well under pressure. Created a new stick shift. The original was tiny. If I had a 1/72 scale skull, I could have used that for the shifter handle. The two holes on the roof were made larger to match drawings and artwork. Added reflective material for the mirrors. And of course the antenna and flag mentioned last week. The crew still needs painting. There is a gaming store nearby so I tried the Games Workshop paints out. I used the brown wash and the darker tan color you see in the photos. Great paints and the lid has a special decanter on it to pick some up on your brush. This was a fun kit all in all. I have this in the new 1/72 scale kits too so I'm not really done. The 1/48th Iron Foot / Hasty is next on my workbench / coffee table for construction. - MT

I like it Kenny! Right now it has that underwater look of light patterns hitting it. That sucks about your experience. It may just be the rapid drying, I don't know. A friend told me to strain the paint with pant hose fabric. I haven't tried yet, but he says its the best thing prior to painting. Despite it all, it is coming along great! - MT

Post some picture guys of the parts. I'm slowly getting back into 1/72 kits. I might get one. I love my old resign kit back in the 80's... - MT

That looks AWESOME Arbit! Both function and the LED jobs on it! Now you just need to load sound effects to cover the gearbox sound Those little motors are SO noisy! I've isolated them in rubber sleeves and tried everything else to include slowing them down. Still no success! But it looks too cool to notice anyhow! - MT

You're right MickyG! But of course in the series-they just chase down the mecha and fire away! No getting off to a safe distance to "light the fuze." Thanks CrossAir! I've made a ton of antenna from styrene, and like you said, they break easily. I've even made them from softer materials like some of the leftover PC sprues, but those bend too or don't hold their shape well. You mecha looks great! My son and I considered getting one of those, but we're still not sure. Nice use of the GIANT canon! Thanks Xigfrid! I may try that out. I have several types of steel for doing engineering stuff. I didn't know they made it in aluminum. I'll have to check some out. Both those paint jobs look great Hiryu! The Mirya inspired one is classy! - MT

That looks good 505! Nice kit swapping. I'm mostly done with the Native Dancer from Dougram. Just need to decal it and and paint it. I wanted to add a long antenna, so I used thin piano wire and then realized even with a spring to make it "springy," it could put someone's eye out! So I made a styrene flag No eyes poked out, but the drill bit skipping off the nearly paper thin edge got my thumb! - MT

That looks AWESOME Arbit! Both my son and I think so! And the hing on the canopy is sweet! Nice job! - MT

That IS REALLY COOL! Nice collection! - MT

Nope, never enough guns OR missiles! Especially when the human race is at stake! - MT

Nice stitching Edstuff on the Solomon Grundy. Definitely not Beverly Hills plastic surgery Arbit, with a name like "WeCheer," who could say no! Grayson, I have a Sherline 4500 lathe. If you're thinking about buying a lathe, PM me for details. I researched A LOT before buying one. Regarding "Lazer" saws and razor saws - you GOTTA have them! I also HIGHLY recommend the one from CMK kits (www.cmkkits.com). It is even thinner and awesome for tiny pieces, while leaving a thinner kerf (cut area) than the X-acto blades. It is also great for panel lining too! It is nearly paper thin material. It is actually designed for cutting resin, so it works great on styrene. - MT

Thanks MickyG, I'll have to remember that! The cannon is awesome CrossAir! My son and I got that a couple of months ago. He got the sentry guna nd I got the cannon. Then we saw the video for the motorized bit that goes in there, so we just HAD to order them for our kits. The cannon and even rotary cannon look great in action! Did you get the motorized gimmick to go with your kits? NOT MY VIDEO, but shows everyone how cool they are. Next kit in line is relatively more simple, the Native Dancer from Dougram (J. Locke's main vehicle). I thought it was cool the first time I built ti in the 80's and I STILL think it is a cool looking design. I also have the Max Factory 1/72 scale version to go with it. Only 3 of my Dougram models will be 1/48th. The rest will be 1/72nd. Most of my Saturday was taken up making a precision chuck on bearings to go on my lathe. I made one before, but it had issues. This one spins true and will allow me to make thin parts more easily on the lathe. Not all parts can have a hole drilled in them to rotate around, this fixes that and allows me to pull on parts making them spin outward less. Thank God this came out good. It helps makes up for our minivan getting totaled this week! Some lady cut across my wife and got the "Daedalus Attack" (T-boned) for it. Hopefully the insurance covers a new minivan! - MT

Yeah, I thought it was a matt coat, and yes, thankfully it came off pretty easy! Thinned, it was chalk dust - even felt like it on my hands! Thanks Mickyg, I was wondering about that. Now I know. I've had bottles for years and never used them, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Oh well, it will be good for making washes with since only a little is needed. - MT