mslz22

I kitbashed those from the 1/9 scale Dragon SD KFZ2 Kettenkrad Motorcycle, it can be a tough kit to get as many of the parts were used on ILM star wars models, but i think there was a 1999 re-release... mike

Hey Congrats, you should be up just about when you get back so just PM me when you get back.... thanks mike 413425[/snapback]

Well I am glad people are happy with the kit I will be contacting the next 5 today to get their zip codes for shipping quotes, packed this thing is 17lbs so i will be providing people with both a FedEx and USPS shipping quote and let them choose. the next couple of days will be slow for me with the 4th picnics and stuff, but once i am back full time on Wed i will be pumping these out as fast as i can. Looks like i can make about 3 kits every 2 or 3 days if i really hustle, so hopfully those at the end of the list will not need to wait too long. Also, keep in mind that not everyone on the list may be able to pay now, or no longer wants one so if you are near the bottom of the list you may move up quicker than you expect thanks mike

Ok, Devin's and the whole first wave has shipped, hopefully people will be getting them today and tomorrow (and are happy), and will chime in. I will contact the next 5 people today or tomorrow... thanks mike

Sent out info to the first 5 for payment info, i will keep everyone updated as to what is going out, i will be sending PM's to people as they come up on the list, if anyone has a ? let me know here or PM me thanks mike

Ok, looks like all systems are a go! i will be contacting people to get a few payments this weekend I pulled the first batch of translucent red parts and they are nice....the idea is that even if you are not going to light these parts you can paint them and then scrape/sand off the parts that you want red... Couple of quick things to reinforce about the kit before people start to send off payments. I do not want to sound like a broken record about some of this stuff (or defensive) , but anyone who knows me knows that i really want people to be happy and have no suprises.. 1) The original intention of this project was to make and cast a monster that was much more accurate, lighter, better cast and significantly cheaper (on the order of more than $100.00 depending on shipping) to the WF offering a few years ago. On this front, i am 100% happy with the kit, i pulled the WF offering and this kit is soooooooo much nicer IMHO. Hopefully someone else who has this kit can confirm this for me once they have my kit in hand. 2)I sculpted this kit using a combo of line art, box art, screen caps, and existing model offerings (like the yellow sub 1/144) so my kit may not match perfectly a detail that appears on one pic or another. I also took into consideration some logistical issues, ie the leg struts do not narrow as much as in the line art, but to hold up all the upper weight i wanted them a bit beefy, just one example...It looks like a monster to me 3) While this kit does have the ability to be posed it is meant to be a "pick a pose" type of a kit. The leg struts can not be adjusted, but the upper legs are on ball joints allowing you to pitch the legs as you would like, the cannons are on ball joints, and the arms come in 3 parts that can be posed as you would like. I'm sure that some people may want to customize their kit to have more flexibility, and it is certainly possible. 4)Seams, the price of this thing being largely hollow will be some seam filling (just like on plastic kits), some little tweaks needed, mostly around parts that shrank at different rates (resin shrinks a bit more with more mass). I have played around with the the parts that will need some putty, and it is not a huge deal if you are familiar with resin kits. the arm cannons and the underbody will need some putty, but it is not major rework or anything, just filling in the seams. If you have good ventilation i highly reccomend the red bondo putty you can get from Walmart, dries fast and sands easy. i will be doing a tutorial on this in the instructions. 5) Instructions will follow shortly, the fist kits will go out without any instructions available, but this thing only goes together one way so i am sure some people will tackle it before the instructions are done. 6)Just remember, this thing is hand sculpted, no rapid computer prototyping here, there are a couple of little things i wish were better, but i do not think anyone will be disappointed, hopefully i am my own worst critic. Referring back to the original intent of the project, IMHO this is a great value for the $, hopefully everyone will feel the same.... Thanks for putting up with my rant, one last thing, this kit is well cast, while you may need to contend with seam filling (due to the hollow thing) you will not need to be filling a bunch of crazy bubbles, if a part slips by that you are not happy with, i will replace it.... Thanks again mike

You actually should be in the fist 5 shipped, Jesse is going to be picking up his kit in person in a week or so... I only need to make 1 more mold tonight, i forgot to make a mold for the "eyes" they will be cast seperatly so that you can paint them white off the body and tack them on.... I have 2 full boxes of parts for these, and like 7 or 8 bodies.....i just need to cast up the eyes and cast up some of the clear parts (which i now have gang molds for).... We are soooooo close

Ok here is where i am, i've had pneumonia for about a week and have not done much more than go from the bed to the couch, that being said i still did get a bunch of work in since my last post before i got sick, so Devins kit should go out tomorrow and they i will start getting ready to take $ and ship out kits... thanks mike

I want to ship Devins to him this week, i owe him for the decal sheets..I am hoping to contact the first 5 people for payment mid week, with the understanding that they will ship early the following week, i have been casting and if i can keep up the pace i should be able to cast 1 or 2 a day, depending on other obligations i would like to see at least 5 ship every week.... mike

parts are starting to pile up....some overflow from the shop...

Talked with him yesterday, i will be doing the 1/32 YF-19, and it looks like he will be doing the Phalanx... if i had known that he was interested in doing one i would not have considered it, last thing i want to do is step on anyones feet... My shop is starting to fill up with monster parts, i will take a pic over the weekend

Yep the wing is for a 1/32 YF-19, which i would love to do, but is quite complicated, so i am very much considering a 1/72 scale Phalanx first because it would be a much faster build and i am sure i can get the price in the $100 or so range.... mike

I am seriously considering this, it would be faster and much cheaper (for me and you) than the 1/32 i have in mind, i don't think i would abandon the 1/32, just push it back a notch behind the Phalanx....

Ok, i am 10 Times happier with the new mold for the body, the panel lines are better, the seam lines are better, it has put a huge smile on my face , a $300.00 worth of mold material smile but a smile none the less....pic of casting from the new mold along with a sneak at what maybe the next kit...hope you can figure it out!

You are an evil man, teasing the obsessed masses like this......... 405551[/snapback] Sorry, but you will get a pic tomorrow...or maybe today , hopefully there will be enough interest to make it worth making a kit, i ran the idea by Jesse and he was excited about it. Any future projects should go much quicker, for a couple of reasons. I am much better at scratchbuilding now, and faster. To be honest i considered scrapping the monster project a couple of times because the parts that i built first were not a nice as the later parts, most of that has been fixed but that took time. I think the next kit will be much nicer overall, just because i have gotten better at the scratchbuilding. Also, i have started to turn away commision work, i would like to just concentrate on my projects....most of which may be macross releated... thanks.... mike

Ok I'm back....where was I...Vacation, as of my last post i forgot i was on vacation last week, to be more specific my wife was on vacation last week which resulted in the following for the last 6 days.... 7:30 AM "Do you think i can get out to the shop to do some work today..." "Maybe later, lets get xyz done..." 12 Noon See above 3pm See above Rinse and repeat and you get the picture....lots of yardwork this week, putting swingsets together etc etc.... I can't complain too much 51 weeks out of the year she is very cool about my crazy schedule, she gets 5 weeks vacation and only asks me to spend 1 with her.... Got an early release yesterday and poured the new body mold, the one cool thing that i got to do last week........ BP for the next scratch build, and started tinkering with a couple of the parts, when i get a casting from the new mold i will sneak in a peak, that will be on the back burner for a while while i cast Monsters.....one hint, it's 1/32 scale and not a VF-1......

The body is already 4 parts, and the main part has alot of parts that are molded in that i would not want people to be forced into molding in themselves. I've considered the fiberglass/mothermold thing, as well as rotocasting...I have not done a lot of mothermold stuff, and while i know how to do it, i know that it slows me down, and at this point speed is more important to me that a few hundred bucks in mold material. I think the new mold configuration will be better and people will be happier. One thing i do not want is for people to not build because of a pain in the butt clean up.... thanks for the suggestions.. mike

OK, good news, bad news...well good news for me and you guys ultimately, but bad news for me in the short run....after much, and i mean MUCH internal debate i have decieded to remold the main body ...tough because it is a very expensive mold, on the order of $400.00 or so...the reasons.... 1. it is just a bit to big to fit in my largest (10 gallon) pressure pot with it being held together by 2 boards, which means that i have been attempting to cast it with 1 backboard and rubber bands, this is resulting in....reason 2 2.because of the above i have not been satisfied with the seam lines, the main body is 48oz of resin ($15.00 worth each attempt), which is a lot of resin, which means a lot of hydrostatic pressure, resulting in a rough seam line, are they workable castings.....Yes, a little putty and sanding and it will be fine..(i do not want people to have to do that, especially on the main part of the kit) ..but there is a reason 3 3.In retrospect I did not score the panel lines deep enough on the master for the body, this was mainly because of the materials i made parts of the body out of, it was very difficult to panel line the main body. However, the panel lines were actually appropriate for a 1/72 scale so it was a close call when i decieded to mold it, but once i applied primer and paint to a test shot, the panel lines were almost wiped out, looking at the box art for the 1/200 scale kit, the panel lines are very prominent so i wanted to deepen them up a bit. Of course this was a situation where the fist couple of castings were fine and i had more problems as i went on with casting...it should get better not worse. Considering that each attempt is $15.00 worth of resin, i want a better mold, and one that is about an inch smaller so that it can fit in the pressure pot with boards on both sides. What does this mean to the timeline, not much, i have reworked the zero shrink "new" master and should be pouring the first half of the new mold today and the second half tomorrow or Sunday... more to come... mike

I previewed most of the parts to Jesse on Friday, i had to drop some stuff off to him so i brought some parts along with me, he said he will chime in soon and let you guys know what he thought. I got a couple of extra orders for WF stuff, that has all shipped, the weather was horrible last week so not much got done, it was in the 50's most days, really unbelievable for MAY!!!!! I have one ongoing project that i am casting for, but other than that most of my time this week will be spent on the monster, i am waiting for the translucent resin to come in for the clear parts, and i need to make a few more molds for production reasons, and a mold of the hindge....more to come.... mike

Update, i am starting to cast up some parts for the first kits, it is a bit slow going because the weather is not cooperating, it's 55 when it should be 70, and it's going to be like that for a handful of days (sometimes i really get annoyed with new england). I will let everyone know when i have enough for a few kits, take pics of the full kit and start taking $$$$$$$$$. thanks mike

I have all the decals already, it's just finding the time to fit the casting and the final couple of molds into my day.....unfortunatly everything seems to take just a bit longer than i expect, and when 5 or 6 projects each take their share of taking a bit too long, it just adds up. Also unexpected things, like yesterday was 70 degrees and today is 50, no heat in the new shop so while i can cast, it takes longer for everything to cure, which means that parts are in the pressure pots longer, less gets done....stuff like that always slows me up...

Hi Guys, sorry i have not even been here in a 2 week or so, i have been casting day and night for stuff that needed to be done for the upcoming Wonderfest, good news is that stuff will all be done by Friday of this week. Once that is done i need to get a kit to Devin for the decals and then i will start taking $ for the first 5 kits. Sorry for all the delays, but a good example of why i don't take $ until i am really ready to go, imagine the anxiety if i had your $ Anyway, again sorry, believe me i want to get these out i have a ton of $ out in the mold making, and want to start getting some of that back. I also really want to get these out so i can get going on the next Macross stratchbuild, whatever that may be..... thanks mike

Hi everyone....sorry for the lack of posts i have been busy busy busy....part of it was Jesse's fault Anyway, couple of things that ate up some time, doing the books for the year and getting it to the taxman took a few days of my time, a root canal ...and i have outgrown my small shop and have been moving in to a bigger new one, i expected to get a couple of monsters out before this happened but that did not go the way i wanted it to, the good news is that this move will vastly improve my efficiency, so in the long run it will be much better for this and future projects. Just one example of how much better this will be, currently i have 1 bench for building/assembly that is about 7 feet long, i use this sometimes for a mold making bench, i have another bench that is about 7 feet long for mold prep/resin pouring. The new shop will have 16 feet of bench space for mold making and resin pouring, an i will keep a 7 foot bench dedicated to just building...that is just the start.... anyway i am sorry for the delay, i know people are excited, and believe me i want one painted up for myself too

Quick check in, the week without resin put me behind on multiple projects including this one, but i have caught up on a bunch of stuff that needs to go out tomorrow (monday) which means that i will be back on the monster tuesday......more to follow... mike

Finally got some good resin in, a little catching up to do now.....