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Nekko Basara

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Everything posted by Nekko Basara

  1. Nekko Basara
    That's basically the gag that anything can work set to the Titan theme, as parodied here.
  2. Nekko Basara
    My sense is that it's an unfair question, because those things are probably true of all recent US aircraft (maybe all military aircraft generally) - they've all been expensive, difficult to maintain and accident prone early in their careers, didn't work to spec under real conditions, and were underwhelming by at least somebody's expectations. If their cancellation hasn't been attempted by all Congress after the start of production, it's certainly been considered before production, and by at least some Congress-people afterwards. That's basically just how obtaining something as complex, expensive, and important as a new military aircraft goes, and we shouldn't think it's a sign of inevitable failure. Which is, I think, exactly your point.
  3. Nekko Basara
    Being shallow, cheerful, diverting, and fun doesn't make music "bad" - that just serves as a decent generalized definition of Pop. Whether you like that or not is purely a matter of taste and mood. Gubaba can correct me if I'm wrong, but I also think that being a less-than-amazing singer is part of the idol image, at least early in their career. Idols are supposed to have an inexperienced, girl-next-door appeal rather than being mind-blowing natural talents. Watching and "supporting" them as they mature into capable artists is a big part of idol fandom.
  4. Nekko Basara
    Argh, Fan Art!
  5. Nekko Basara
    I want to believe, I really do. But AGP releases seem to be so scattershot, and what focus they have is anchored on KanColle right now. And on top of that, even if Fumina gets made, Bandai figure quality quality can be so hit-or-miss. Ok, now I'm just depressing myself!
  6. Nekko Basara
    I really want to see Super Fumina in the AGP line. Or a kit. Or even a plushy. Something!
  7. Nekko Basara
    Why would Macross battle Gundam? Most of the money from both series goes into the same pockets, so it benefits them to capture different consumers.
  8. Nekko Basara
    The discussion in the main forum about the PLZ-230 Skorpion got me thinking about another lightweight, low-cost attack aircraft project, the Scaled Composites ARES. From that, Wikipedia led me to another arachnid I'd never even heard of: the Textron AirLand Scorpion. Anybody know much about this little beastie?
  9. Nekko Basara
    Wow, I had no idea. From the picture, I thought I was looking at a high-end kit plane for rich Top Gun dreamers. Damned thing looks like it would make the He162 seem long-legged and well-equipped. Hard to believe they were serious.
  10. Nekko Basara
    What's that Engadget is watching during their Samsung S6 Edge review? (Check the screenshot about 1/3 of the way down.)
  11. Nekko Basara
    I think that looks like realistic paint chipping, yes. You are being brave, and I think that's awesome. Don't worry about subtlety - I say go overboard with weathering and get more practice. You can dial it down when you have more comfort with the techniques. In terms of whether that looks "real" - get ready for a long-ish post. One of the reasons that I don't personally get into weathering gunpla very much (although I appreciate the work of those who do) is that I don't have a good sense of what is "real" weathering in a giant military robot context. Weathering isn't just a matter of technique - it's about asking questions and making observations. I like to ask, what is this surface made of? How does it weather? If it's a paint, how easily does it come off and where does that tend to happen? In what way does it come off (does it flake off with sun or time, does it scrape off in a direction, etc.)? What's underneath, and how will that look when it's revealed (is there a tougher primer coat that becomes visible, or is it bare metal; will the process that removed the paint damage the metal or leave it smooth)? If the surface is metal, how does it oxidize (change color) and how recent is the damage (should it be bright and fresh or dull and oxidized)? To give some examples, WWII aircraft tend to get most of their paint wear from personnel, so there will be a lot of paint wear on the wing surfaces where the pilots board and some where maintenance personnel work (like around the engine and gun bays in the wings). Anyplace there is a panel that gets removed regularly, expect its edges and especially any bolts to show wear. There can also be wear on the leading edges of the wings and the prop from dirt/sand/rocks in the air during landing or takeoff, depending on the operating environment. These planes are mostly made of aluminum, so surfaces where paint is removed don't oxidize much and stay a bright or dull silver/gray. There are also special cases - for example, Japanese aircraft, particularly late in the war, had pretty bad paint and were exposed to lots of strong sunlight, so very often the paint would start flaking off with little or no provocation, especially around edges. WWII armor is very different - it tends to have a very heavy and resilient paint, with a primer under it that will sometimes be exposed by (or, at least, visible at the edges of) damage to the surface. Damage to the paint comes from personnel, but also largely from scraping through vegetation, running over and into dirt and stones, and of course sometimes from enemy fire. The underlying material is steel, so it oxidizes quickly and darkly, and there can even be staining from rust in some situations. For observations, I like to look at period photos, of course (although these are rarely color, so that complicates things). But I'll also look at modern photos, or visit museums and displays, especially outdoors. On top of that, I just try to notice any machinery or similar objects I can in day-to-day life. One of the best resources for armor weathering, for example, is to just pay attention to construction sites and see all the ways that equipment gets scraped up and dirty. I've taken wrong turns on the road because I wanted to keep looking at a particularly interesting looking old semi- or dump-truck. The trouble for me with mobile suits is that I don't have a way to answer so many of my questions or make relevant observations. I don't know how the paint on a Gundam acts (if they even are painted), or how Luna Titanium oxidizes. I have trouble imagining what areas the maintenance personnel move around on, or what they open frequently. Would all of a Gundam's armor be covered in scrapes, or just up to the height of bushes or trees? Can the limbs impact the body and each other, the way human limbs can, or are there limiters built into the system to prevent contact? Of course, at some level it's fun to think about these things and simply make up answers. But it feels too easy to just slip into covering a mobile suit with scrapes and paint chipping without regard for if or how it could happen. Part of the fun for me in both producing and appreciating weathering is the thought behind the process. At the end of the day, though, the goal of weathering and other detailing techniques isn't to replicate reality, but to give the viewer a sense of reality - which will, by nature - be subjective. If you think about panel lining and dry brushing, as examples, there are very few real situations that will cause dark material to build up in all the cracks on an object, or cause the paint on all of its edges to lighten. Those techniques aren't replicating reality in a literal sense. What they are doing is giving a sense of shadow and reflection that bring out details lost to scale. They make a model in a case more closely resemble to our eyes and (more importantly) our mind what a full-sized object in bright light would look like. By the same reasoning, while it might not make strict sense that a 6-story robot would be covered from head-to-toe in scrapes and paint chips, if that looks more "real" to your sense as an artist, then go for it.
  12. Nekko Basara
    David, which mobo did you pick, out of curiosity? I glanced back through the thread, but I must have missed it.
  13. Nekko Basara
    Oh, good thinking. Controlling fans within the BIOS is even better, although you typically either need more expensive PWM fans (4-pin), or you are limited to a few settings for voltage-regulated (3-pin) fans.
  14. Nekko Basara
    I think bottom-mounted fans are great if a case (like yours) has a spot for them. Just make sure to give it a few inches of clearance off of a hard surface, which can mean augmenting the short feet of some cases; if you are placing it on carpet, put a board or something underneath it as well. You can get a nice airflow setup with intakes at the front and bottom (many PSUs also function as an intake) and exhausts at the rear and top. That sends air over your video card as well as your CPU, and follows the natural tendency of warm air to rise. I completely agree with frothymug that placing intake and exhaust next to each other isn't a great idea. Another way you can get the intake/exhaust ratio you want is to use fan controllers to slow down the fans to varying degrees. This has the added benefit of reducing noise (and a lot of controllers look sexy as well). Some fan controllers also include temperature sensors, and can be programmed to dynamically adjust fan speeds with heat load, although personally I've never felt the need to set that up on mine.
  15. Nekko Basara
    Believe it or not, that brings me a lot of peace. EDIT: Although "Fuel, Arms, Sensors, and/or Thrusters" would be even better!
  16. Nekko Basara
    I'll disagree with this in the context of positive pressure cooling setups. My home is dusty - neither my wife or I would win awards for cleanliness, and we have several kinds of pets producing dander, fur, feathers, etc. Keeping computer cases from becoming dust traps has been a struggle. The last set I built, I set all of the cases up for "positive pressure," with about 50% more fans blowing in than out. All of the intake fans got dust covers, and I closed off any other large openings in the cases (except the ones with exhaust fans). The idea is that the air inside the case is at slightly higher pressure than the air outside, so that anyplace there is a leak (and a computer case leaks like a sieve), the air is coming out rather than sucking dusty air in. It's the same concept used in special hospital rooms, "clean rooms" in manufacturing, and NBC-proofed vehicles (albeit on a much less rigorous level here). For me, this has been a complete success. The fan covers get filled with lint pretty quickly, but they are easy to clean off. When I have opened the cases every few months to clean them out, I've never found more than a faint coating of the very finest dust. I've been running that setup for about 18 months, and I'm ready to declare victory. I admit, it's almost certainly a less efficient use of airflow than maximizing throughput (because airflow is lost both to the pressurization and to the filters), but nothing kills airflow worse than a dust-clogged case. So, unless you have a pretty sterile computer environment or are fanatical about frequent cleaning, I'd suggest checking this approach out. EDIT: I was just responding to frothymug and didn't realize that David asked specifically about positive vs negative pressure earlier. I hope this didn't come off as too basic or preachy.
  17. Nekko Basara
    Yeah, but the point is that those conformal bays are no longer referred to as "FAST Packs." The acronym stopped being used when it no longer applied... except in Macross, where it was always used despite never applying. Also, it's probably worth noting that the Silent Eagle is a more recent development than any Macross series. EDIT: Oh, I see now that's what you were commenting on with the "life imitating art" bit.
  18. Nekko Basara
    Typing is another one of his skills.
  19. Nekko Basara
    Just to derail things from the get-go (sorry!), I don't think Basara or Mylene should be considered idols. Curious how folks feel about that. In-universe, I'd lean towards Sharon Apple for how unique her sound is, and how ahead-of-its time the virtual idol concept was (not saying she was first, but she's one of the best-realized early examples). In the real world, Mai Yamane is my favorite voice from Macross, although her connection is very tenuous. Chie Kajiura is my number two, obviously with a much stronger association. Of course, one could argue that neither of them is an idol, either.
  20. Nekko Basara
    I'm guessing I'm not the only person on these boards who gets slightly annoyed by the use of the "FAST Pack" term in Macross, when the main purpose of the packs seems to be adding thrusters and munitions, with fuel present only for the thrusters and no sensors to speak of.
  21. Nekko Basara
    Krylon makes an acrylic clearcoat that I've been happily with so far. I gave some more detail a couple of pages back. Also, the very pricey but very popular Mr. Hobby topcoat line is acrylic. I'd never want to use an enamel (alcohol-based) clearcoat on anything but bare plastic, because there's a chance it could dissolve underlying paints, marker, weathering, etc. I know from recent experience that Testors clearcoat will cause Gundam panel lining markers to run like crazy.
  22. Nekko Basara
    It makes their ass and calves look tight, obviously.
  23. Nekko Basara
    Hey, this is really lame because I'm trying to get a picture of something tiny that you basically can't see, but here is a repaired part: When I got my RG GP-01, one side of the handle at the top of the shield was broken off and loose in the bag. I was able to glue it back on and sand it flush enough that the break can't be seen unless you know right where it was. From the front, the break is right about where that arrow is pointing. It's a bit more visible from the back. Bad pictures aside, my point is that modeling cement can work some wonders!
  24. Nekko Basara
    Model "cement" actually melts polystyrene and effectively welds pieces together, so it's ideal for making a strong and seamless fix like that. The thinner the better in that case, so that you don't have excess adhesive around the bond (some people use straight-up methyl ethyl ketone). Apply it sparingly to both surfaces, give it a few seconds to get tacky, then press them together. After a few hours, clean up the seam with sandpaper and you might be able to make it nearly invisible.
  25. Nekko Basara
    I forgot to say thank you for the link, David. I'm not sure how I feel about using a whole mess of waterslides just for the IWSP, but it's cool to have the option. Also, Hikuro, very ballsy with that battle damage. I think it looks great!
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