Commander McBride

You really think he was hacked?

BTW, I just want to say how cool those stands really are. I got to see one in person at the con, and they really look great with a kit on 'em.

On the subject of explaining washes, and similar things, I think we should have a pinned model FAQ.

I may pick it up, because I didn't get a Hikaru 1A. I may actually get it and repain it into a Roy, in fact, because it has the improvements. IT'll be in a while, though. The next confirmed for me is the Hikaru 1J, whose design I recently "fell in love" with.

Micro Missiles? I thought Micro Missiles were the little ones in the square black pod.....

Well, being a hardcore gundam fan, I had to watch this, and it actually wasn't too bad. So i'm writing up a little review and summary, review format ripped form Areaseven. Story: B- I'm actually a bit surprised. It seemed like it was going to be the same old, sameold, just a TF ripoff. But I was actually pleasently surprised. First of all, the kid manages to be ditched multiple times by the Gundam! And at the end, the Gundam still tells him to forget what happenned! Anyway, the first episode opens with a botched "Zeon" invasion. They come through a dimensional gate shaped like a Zakrello, under the pretense of freeing the oppressed workers. Unfortunately, they accidentally land their Komusai (unusual for the fact that it has a monoeye,a nd is reddish-purple) in a field. Upon realising this, Zapper Zaku (I don't think his name is reaveled yet, but it's written on the figure package..) orders his Zakus to release something. We see that the Zakus are holding Elmeth Funnels ( ) that emit a fog. As we zoom in, we see that the fog is actually small robotic "bugs", which are clearly none other than tiny Bigros! ( ) The bigros begin turning the field into an expanse of concrete, when the police show up. Unfortunately, the police consist of one (apparently) unarmed GM, speaking through a loudspeaker mounted in a Ball! The Zakus draw their guns and begin firing on the GM and Ball. Meanwhile, the Bigro iunsects have spotted the kid (who has some odd name, like gunner or something), who had seen the Komusai come down, and form into one huge Bigro-shaped cloud! They are about to pave over the kid, and the zakus are still beating the GM, when, sudennly, they're saved by none other than a tricked out Gundam! He shows up and orders the Zakus to put down their weapons, repeatedly announcing that he has been issued a special permit to carry a Beam Rifle. In response, Zapper Zaku calls a strike, through the "Zaukrello Gate", from the Musai. It fires, but the Gundam shoots the beam, and breaks it apart, than absorbs the blast, saving the kid in the process. The Gundam disappears, and the Zakus leave, with only a smoking crater for evidence. Shoot heads home, thinking no one will believe him. When he arrives home, he is tasked with amusing his baby sister, which he does by telling het the story of the preceeding events. Down the hill from the house is his workshop (why do kids in anime and american quasi-anime get their own workshops? I want a workshop! ). He notices that the roof has a hole in it. His mom soon arrives,a nd he passes over the baby, and runs down to the workshop. Rather predictably, the Gundam is lying, unconsious, in his workshop. Shoot desides to fix the gundam, but he has no success. He finally notices a copy of sleeping beauty sitting around, and decides to give that method a try. As his face nears the gundam, the gunda, of course starts to light up. His chest opens and turns around, revealing a floating sphere with a flame inside. It closes, and a few minuites later, the Gundam wakes up. It thanks Shoot, but says it can't tell anything about itself, because it's classified. He leaves, forgetting his shield. Cut to an industrial area in the city. Ground type GMs and 08th MST balls (orange, like construction workers, get it?) are working in what seems to be a large trench. Zapper Zaku's forces arrive,and annouce their intentions to ferr the workers. Seconds later,though, he orders his horde of Zakus to open fire!. Of course, the Gundam shows up, and starts to fight the Zakus back. Meanwhile, Shoot notices that the Gundam's shield is left in his workshop. He decides to find the Gundam and return it. Back at the battle, the gundam, who is without his Shield and rifle, which was destroyed by the musais blast earlier, runs out of ammo in his arm cannons, and begins to take fire from the Zaku. Shoot, skating on futuristic roller blades (*groan*), with the shield strapped on his back, sees the explosions and goes over to help. Upon finding the enterance to the area locked, he uses a rocket booser on his "blades" (controlled by his cell phone) to fly up and skate along a pipe. As the gundam wonders what happenned to his shield, he spost Shoot, who unties the shield, sending it flying to the Gundam. The gundam equips the shield and begins spinning it, which starts to generat some force. We cut to a command center, where we see a uniformed officer ovserving the battle (from the neck down, we don't see his head, yet). He excitedly announces that the Soul Drive has activated, and we see the previously mentioned sphere fill with flame. The gundams other hand begins to glow. The musai attempts to shoot the Gundam through the Zakurello Gate again, but the shot is stopped by the gundam, who then deflects it at the Komusai. As the enimies retreat, a group of Gunperrys shows up, but they have theit wings folded and are driveing like cars. They open, and a whole platoon of GM Sniper Custom IIs disembark. It's now early morning, and the mop up is complete. The Gundam surveys the lined up, at attention, Snipers. He thanks Shoot again, and tells him to leave. Gunner gets angry that that's it, and that nothing will come of it. He doesn't even know the Gundam's name!. The gundam finally gives Gunner his name, Cpt. Gundam! That's right, he's not the "Captain Gundam", he's named Gundam and his rank is captain!. The episode ends with that, and in the corner we see a trio of Zaks Chant "Zako Zako Zako!!!" So the story, and the writing overall, was not only bearable, it was actually a bit enjoyable, and original, too. Animation: A SD Gundam has to be the best looking Cel Shading I've ever seen. The character and mecha design is pretty good, although the main character is wierd looking, some of the more orthodox ones were pretty well done. And Captain Gundam and Zapper Zaku are also cool looking. Cast: Can't find any info! The bottom line: This series is neither the serious story of the real Gundam Series, and is neither the hilarity of the original SD series. It's a relatively serious show, but still quite a bit kiddy. The real comedy is there, but exists mostly in the fact that so many inside gundam jokes, and funny "castings" of popular and Obscure MS and MA alike, are present. Try to tune in at least once, the show's not nearly as bad as I expected. If you're a Gundam freak, you may end up watching more. Commander McBride, out.

I hope you will be able to make the GP-01 as the standard model. I like that version a little more.

Aw, man, i've been trying to preshade for years, and I havent even been able to make it recognizable as preshading!

To quote Moe Syzlak (sp?): "Wha?????"

Hey, how many episodes is Yukikaze going to be? I'm guessing 5 or 6, but is it more or less?

That second one looks pretty good. I'd personally make it a super, not a strike, but I think that's a good scheme for the FPs.

Hmm... It'd be cool to see a Veffidas. I'd also like to see some Zero, namely Mao, Sara, or Aires.

Like I said, try making the packs white, but the leg armor the color of the valk itself. I also think maybe the RMSs would be green, like a real AGM or bomb, which would look better on the LV.

I like it in that color. I think the LW packs would look good in the same color as the LV istelf, though, in keeping with the realistic scheme. Maybe the armor would match the LV color, and the packs would be white. It's just that the real FPs on the F-15 are the F-15 body color. Maybe there won't be LV packs, though. At 15,000 each, there are already 75,000 confirmed 1/48s in normal colors, but, what, only 10,00 LVs, ever.

I liked the sample I saw, but I do think the Super O was better. The nose didn't bother me much. I didn't get to see fighter mode, though, except on the prototype.

Now that's not a bad idea! However, in what he's building, you'd want to keep your weight distributed very evenly. So, if you were going the route of compressed air, you'd want to mount your tank in the centerline of the aircraft, so as it gets lighter (as air does weigh something), it will make the craft overall lighter, rather than one side. Also if you do go this route, you'd need to either build an access port to the tank somewhere on the fighter, or make the tank removeable. Oh and you may need to design a custom tank to be able to carry any significant ammount of air... I doubt the standard cylinder will work... Well, optimally, the compressed air would be generated with an accessory drive off the engine, like on the real thing, or maybe just a small electric compressor. I don't know if it's possible at this scale, though.

That's simply incredible. It's tragic that it was never completed.

It's not dry enough to tell yet, but it doesn't exactly brush like paint, anyway. I'm using a microbrush, cause it's what I could find, but i'm pretty much just swabbing the stuff on, and it just flows together into a relatively solid layer.

I just brushed the future on a few mins ago, and it already looks great, but the dipping is better, as it gives a thicker, smoother, finish.

You know, one thing I have to say. I think that Vinyl is overused in costumes. I'd imagine that Mylene's band costume is not Vinyl, but instead a semi-shiny but not smooth and glossy, something like lycra.

How do you get the canopy off the 1/48? It's nearly impossible to put on the cockpit stickers with it in the way, plus, I've been trying to put future on it, and had to brush it on, but it'd probably come out better if I dipped it...

The existance of 1/48 models doesn't matter, as many people can't/don't want to build a model that is as good as a 1/48 valk. A model also is almost always static, and is much more fragile than a toy. So no ailerons, opening cockpit, flaps, retractible gear, etc.

I find that it looks cool with the empty pylons, flaps down, airbrake up, thrusters up, and nose propped on something to make the 1.48 lo9ok like it's just returning from a mission.

On the subject of the backpack thrusters, it may make sense to make it either a small fan or two, or a compressed air mechanism.

And my expedature rating skyrockets! $135 - Yamato 1/48 VF-1A, Low Viz "Bulky Lee".