Nekko Basara

There's going to be a total of 6 Vectors in the new series so no worries there, Nekko Basara.

Thanks. I want to see the Soul of Chogokin version of that!

(It'll probably need to be attached to a giant scaffolding just to stand.)

Some of you may have heard of the new Aquarion.

Guess who is doing the OP? XD

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2015-03-21/aquarion-gets-3rd-tv-anime-aquarion-logos-in-july/.86213

Somewhere in her blog, there's a pix of her holding the poster.

I saw that (it was the only thing in the trailer that I understood)!

Too bad that doesn't seem to be what was used in the trailer. I can't wait until we get to hear it.

Incidentally, I know this is old news, but did you catch her piece for Okami-san? Best part of that show...

ok i just ordered a set from the link you provided from staples. thanks

wow, that hubcap looks good. the gundam marker was 2.50 so it was pretty cheap local but the staples 3 pack is even cheaper. i'm doing all the small little silver spots on aile pack and strike. hopefully i'll have it done by tonight.

update: finished the aile pack and painted silver:

It looks great, David. Seems like you are really getting the hang of things.

I'll echo what Hikuro said about the paint markers: don't use them to apply the paint directly in most cases, they're just not that precise. Personally, I only use them on a piece itself if the entire thing is going to be painted that color. I generally put a dab of paint on the bottom of a glass condiment bowl (because it doesn't absorb the paint and can be cleaned with harsh chemicals), and then use a brush from that. I know this makes markers seems like a crazy (and expensive) alternative to simple paint jars, but it is really good paint.

Building on Mike's suggestions, I sometimes like to use a silver Sharpie to highlight pieces painted with the silver Gundam paint, because the Sharpie is a bit of a lighter and shinier silver. I think the subtle two-tone effect can really sell the look of real metal. Also, that lets me get all the tricky spots with a fine brush, and not have to try to do them with the less precise Sharpie tip (although it's worlds better than a Gundam marker tip).

It's hard for me to show what I mean in photos (and I apologize for yet again posting non-Gundams), but have a look at the screws and zippers on Pest X-san:

The next Aquarion.

https://youtu.be/szjAot0GEQM

Is the robot in the video formed from just two units?

Also, not to derail the news thread, but I tried to watch Evol and dropped it after three episodes due to the way I felt it was exploiting its female characters. Is the original any better in that regard?

Thanks for the info! The HG Strike Rouge + IWSP is cheap enough that I might pick one up just for the pack. I can't imagine the colors need to match a standard Strike too closely to look alright, and I probably have enough spare RG decals to fudge something.

If the shape of the IWSP allows it to plug onto the Skygrasper, that would make for a pretty mean machine, too!

^IWSP pack for RG is actually the HG version with slightly different plastic color and added decals to match the RG suit.

Hahaha, "collector blood," indeed!

I think I went the same kind of crazy when I discovered Kotobukiya's Hoihoi-san kits around Christmas-time, but luckily that's a much smaller line.

I don't know about the Skygrasper, since it remains the only RG I haven't bought (because I can't justify $25-$30 for a little plane and some Striker packs).

Now, on the other end of the spectrum, I think the Justice may be the best value of the RG line. The flight pack is so large that its wingspan doesn't look out of place alongside MG kits, and it weighs only a few grams less than the Justice itself (including rifle and shield). That kit is practically a two-in-one!

I was wondering why the AF couldn't use the C variant as its own. The larger wing would confer longer range and better maneuverability, and I doubt they'd have too many pilots complain about larger control surfaces. Couldn't be that difficult to shoehorn in the GAU-12. Delete the wing folding mechanism and job's a good 'un.

I asked a similar question back on page 40, and there were some very interesting responses that I would probably mangle if I tried to paraphrase them here.

hey nekko (or anyone), i was looking at your skygrasper pictures again, can you (or anyone else) post some pics while painting the figures whenever building the next kit? .

Actually, as far as the freestanding pilot figures go, I usually just leave them unpainted. I don't feel very confident in my figure-painting abilities, and since I've only seen a few Gundam series, I'm not usually attached to the characters (Hell, even for the shows I have seen, I'm not that attached to most of the pilots). So, I just snip out the area of sprue they're attached to and pop it in a bag with the accessories. Maybe I'll come back to them someday.

What I feel I have to paint are any pilots you can see, like in MGs and aircraft. For that task, I think a decent set of cross-locking tweezers is a big help holding the figures, and obviously it's good to have very small brushes. It's also important to keep in mind that what you see with photos or when you're holding it up to your eyeball is much more than you will ever see when it's installed in a model. Details that look blobby and imprecise under close scrutiny will look just fine under normal viewing. Don't try to paint it the same way you would a 6" figure; just get a spot of the right color in the right place, and your brain will fill in a lot of the details.

Here are some pics of pilots for two 1/100 Valks and a 1/72 that might give some idea what I mean:

(Of course, somebody who's actually good at painting figures might give different advice )

Not only is the Strike looking great, but it's fun spotting all the Transformers and stuff hiding in the background ;-)

mhm, I'm not a big fan of the pen right now. While it does decent work on panel lines, actual sculpting details like hash marks or wide open slits, it does poorly on. Those are things that an actual enamel wash can do rather decently on its own if you got the proper mix done...the paint will just flow really well.

On the plus side, unlike the enamel wash, the areas you have to clean up where the brush touch the surface doesn't smear like enamel will. So you can get longer use out of your q-tip.

Of course videos show them using rubbing alcohol and yet I have to use lighter fluid. Sometimes not right.

For what it's worth, Hikuro, I find there's a use for both my standard panel line marker and the Tamiya panel line wash*, which I believe operates the same way as your new flow-type pen. When I'm just hitting a few simple areas or sculpted details (open corners more obtuse than 90 degrees, for example), I like the marker. But if a part has loads of actual panel lines (that is, narrow, sharply-molded trenches) the Tamiya stuff flows in and takes care of it in jiffy. A good example of where the flow-type wash shines is the back of a Gundam shield, which is a nightmare to do with a marker.

Anyways, it sounds like we've had similar experiences using markers vs. washes, so I just wanted to say that often the best solution is to alternate between them as the shape dictates.

*when I say wash, I don't mean where you brush the thinned paint over the whole surface and it settles in the low spots, but where you apply it specifically to panel lines and it flows by capillary action; this is sometimes called a "pin wash" because it can be done using thinned paint applied via a drop on the end of a pin.

Anywhere - blink-and-miss-it moments, supplementary materials, etc - do we ever learn the fate of that scientist who wanted to start Sharon up so badly he ended up shooting that other guy? The name I have for him is Margue Gueldoa.

He throws himself off of the SDF-1 when it is hundreds of feet into the air. It looks like he thinks he is giving himself to a giant image of Sharon. You can see it in this clip. I think we are supposed to assume he dies from the fall - or were you looking for something more definite than that?

EDIT:

In the OVA Margue took a flying leap off of the SDF-1 during Sharon's Earth concert, into Sharon's image. Suicide, I think so that Sharon could be fully independent.

Heh, simultaneous answers! So, is that scene missing from the movie version? I've only seen the movie once as well (and the OVAs umpteen times).

I also have no idea about the chip.

with the floral foam, I wrapped the bricks of it I had in saran wrap to contain the dust. works pretty well.

You could recycle those shipping cardboard boxes that you get as a holder for the sticks.

Here's how mine looks like, just make sure that the height is sufficient enough to hold the sticks securely in place.

I love this! Going to give it a try. I'm currently using some blocks of that stuff that's used in fake flower arrangements to poke the stems into, and I hate them. They crumble at the slightest touch and make this dust that gets everywhere, so I have to be extra careful not to get it on parts.

Mike, I concur with the sanding and wish you the best of luck.

I just hope the new Macross retcons Basquash! into the Macross continuity.

That already happened.

(But, sorry Renato, M7 didn't do it first.)

Since all we can do is speculate, I will share what the hardcore Macross fans told me today at the event, though. Most of them think Delta is going to be a failure. And I can see why. Frontier was a surprise runaway phenomenal hit, and caught everyone off-guard. But not because it was Macross -- it was the characters of Sheryl and Ranka, and the female viewership/consumers that propelled it that way. We've talked quite a bit on this forum about how we should "expect more of the same" because Frontier was a winning formula, but at the end of the day, most people only care about Ranka and Sheryl and if they're not in the new show, it may just be an uphill struggle no matter what it's about.

That's a surprising line of reasoning for those fans to take (to me, anyway). I can see how noting that the success of Frontier - particularly with female fans - was driven largely by Ranka and Sheryl would lead (and has led) fans on these boards to speculate that Delta will be "more of the same." But it sounds like the Japanese fans you spoke with are viewing it as more of a lightning strike that could not be intentionally repeated.

Personally, while I think Ranka and Sheryl are great characters, I see their appeal as carefully crafted with an eye on contemporary culture (the Akiba-girl vs Shibuya-girl rivalry that Veef and others have noted). I trust that Kawamori and - perhaps more importantly - his cohorts could pull a similar trick off again. I'm not saying it's a sure thing, but I at least give it decent odds. And as for Frontier fans taking to the new show, there is no better endorsement than that Frontier connection. If Frontier can be used to drawn young fans to M7, it can certainly be used to draw them to a show specifically built to their taste. At the very least, a new well-made Macross show has a better chance of grabbing a large audience than the dozens of shows with lesser (or no) heritage.

So, yeah, I find that Japanese fan perspective really strange. As a final note, I'll say that the success of any show isn't what makes or breaks the success of its sequel. The success of a show is what gets its sequel made, and well-funded. Frontier begat Delta, and maybe we can't ask for much more than that. Only Delta will decide if Macross is "doomed," and so far we have very little to speculate on there.

Gamlin Kizaki--

Have you heard of the anime AKB0048? It's an amazing post-Frontier Macross sequel directed by Kawamori, is set in space, has robots and missiles, and it's about the idol group AKB48 in the future.

Next!

Phew, glad I caught that.

Renato, somehow part of your original post got deleted by web gremlins, but I was able to restore it.

I can't imagine them letting him wear them in flight if they were for the LCF. And, well, the helmets have a built-in sunshade that reduces light AND has a higher LCF. Hikaru uses it in the opening, and the episode where Kakizaki dies(spoilers).

Yeah, my first thought for a scene where he might have taken them off was in M7 when he falls asleep in that room near the bridge, and all the bunnies come and fawn over him. But, of course, he has them on then because he didn't mean to fall asleep. Do we ever see him sleeping on purpose? Maybe geniuses barely sleep just like they barely age.

Heck, they put Max in a fighter and he apparently had to wear corrective lenses to fly.

Maybe Max just wore those glasses to look cool, or perhaps he was especially light-sensitive. They were always tinted, after all.

That makes me wonder - do we ever see Max without his glasses on? I can't recall ever seeing him that way, but surely it must have happened at some point, right?

is that carried on amazon? what's the model number of it. thanks for the recommendation

I have GM52 from the SD Gundam Force set, and GM82 from the Gundam Sangokuden set. As far as I can tell, they are the same paint. Both are very handy sets, particularly the latter (which is all metallic colors), but the buying options on Amazon look terrible right now. You can get them places like HLJ, or you can sometimes buy the individual markers on ebay.

I think it's looking fantastic, David. It's too bad that those metallic stickers can be so fragile to handle (I noticed a bit coming off around the edges of the elbow stickers, too - it's unavoidable as far as I can tell). But, since you opted for the one-piece eye sticker (good move), don't you have the individual gold eyes that you could slip on over the damaged ones? Luckily the eyes aren't a part that gets touched much once they are in place.

For what it's worth, although I do like gold Sharpie, the gold gundam marker is my pick. It's one of the nicest metallics I've seen in a brush-on type paint.

Renato, as soon as I saw your name in the thread, I figured you were here to tell me about a Goth Loli in M7.

Needs more grimdark. fan service.

Now, that gets me a-wonderin'. I don't think Macross has ever had a gothic lolita character (Alto in a maid outfit does not count). Could Delta deliver?

Thanks, David. I'll try to get some shots of my Strike to show what I'm talking about. Although I like the Strike design and really enjoy the weapon pack concept, I haven't been happy with how my RG Strike looks. There's a sort of gappy, disconnected look to the waist, shoulders, and head attachments that I attribute to it being built on the RX-78 RG frame. I believe all of the other SEED RGs use a different, common frame and I like tjem better.

Regarding the stickers, neither stickers nor paint adhere very well to the ABS in the joints, and when you ask tiny stickers to hold on over so many folds, it just seems to be too much. I think it's a common experience that those elbow stickers come up over time. Personally, I prefer to paint those spots with copper paint; it can also wear off of the ABS with handling, but at least it's easily replaced.