mslz22

I'll be touching base with him sometime this week, hopefully...

the 72nd will get printed first, I just talked with the guy (and sent him his 2nd payment installment!) and he should have an update shortly after Wonderfest. thanks mike

So here is my first dip in the pond so to speak with hiring an outside artist to do a full 3D work up of a subject. I have used 3d artist before for bits and pieces on projects, but this is the first time i have paid someone to do the whole thing. This is the very, very first blocky rough in that i got from him. Don't let the roughness be any indication of the potential of this, the artist that i hired has done work for real collectible companies and this is just the first rough in. I will give him credit when i get the OK from him, not sure if he wants his name out there attached to this yet. Once it gets more and more refined i will be happy to pass along any feedback you guys have until it's where it needs to be. Just be aware that the first few steps will continue to be "rough" When done this will be 3d printed in both 1/72nd and 1/48 scale to be "patterns" if you know what i mean. Hopefully this will work out, like i said it's a bit weird because it's my first time trying something like this, and i hope that it's something you guys will like. I will post any updates that he sends me here. He hopes to be done in a month or so. thanks mike

Instructions are pretty much done and have been here for a while. http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=42102 If there is something in there that you guys feel i did not address let me know. As for the decals, i will be sending them out soon, i need to cast up a few parts that i did not anticipate in the original molding. Just a few but need to gang mold them and send them out with the decals. thanks mike

Calling this finished. Tried to take pics in a couple of different types of light to show off the panels and drybrushing. One with a regular size spray can for sizing, this thing is huge.... I will be sending out a few updated parts with the decals, just getting back to casting now that the weather is getting warmer. thanks mike

Ouch, i have done that before too. My buddy just had hand surgery this week from the repetitive stress of sanding during stratchbuilding and kit building, they had to do something with the nerve sheath or something like that. They may need to do his shoulder too, same issue repetitive stress. Guess it means that just because you can so something for hours on end, does not mean you should. Take care of those hands.

For a long time i have thought that Mospeada has a pretty logical set up for a trilogy. First movie starts with a bang, character and story into thru the Mars assault force, protagonist winds up on a journey with more character intros, ends with a bang acquiring protoculture fuel, new alpha and a victory for the hero's. 2nd movie more journey, more backstory and development of the Invid, enter Marlene and love interest, end in a logical place like Denver or New York. 3rd movie, moving towards final objective, resolve all the love interests, ends in big victory for the hero's. It's not to unlike, structurally anyway, Star Wars.

There is not a ton of decals, but they really add that extra little bit. Getting close to done. Thru the building of this i have found that i will need to make and send out a few little bits, I will send them along with the decals. One of them is this bottom leg strut cover, seen in grey It's a simple little part but makes a better transition into the foot. Also need to send out those vents and 2 detail bits for the backplate.

Decals have arrived. Moved the pretty much done monster to the spraybooth/fan area for future clear coating on the parts that need to get the decals. Hope to decal tomorrow, few more tweaks, flat coat and done (hopefully)

Thanks, here is the reinforcement for the cannons, a little tricky to mark the centers but not bad, using 5/32 tube because it's strong but still has some give for positioning.

So maybe i should have done this a bit earlier but it does not really make a difference, but now that we are in final assembly with the legs etc i made a working stand out of plywood. Really simple, a piece of scrap from Home depot, mark the feet location. Drill a hole for a self tapping screw and a counter sink on the bottom. Place partially assembled monster onto stand, drill a pilot hole (again a bit undersized for tapping) into feet. Screw the screws until feet are nice and secure. Now i can transport this to the spray booth for gloss coat on the parts that will get decals/touch ups etc. I can also move it around without having to touch the actual model. To secure the assembled drive unit thingy i use the usual 5 minute epoxy and use a rubber band to hold it in place while i make sure it's centered. For the arms, it's pretty straightforward to attach them at this point. What i did was kind of pick where i wanted them posed, found some junk to hold it in that place while the 5 minute epoxy cured, repeat with the other side using the same junk.

I've never really been 100% clear if they are supposed to all point in the same direction, at least in the sense of them being at a perfect 90 degree angle relative to say the back of the monster. It seems like it's more important that the top 2 and the side 2 have the same elevation relative to each other, then if they do splay out a bit that angle should be the same. Then it will look symmetrical if not straight relative to the body. I do have a plan to address that and will cover it when i get to the barrels. thanks mike

Progress...

Feel free to paint these anyway you would like, but here is what i did and what i had in mind for the "risers" It's tamiya german gray lightened up a bit. Note that the "toe' will need a bit of trimming to fit in with the main foot, just a bit of dremmel work to thin out the area where is meets up with that joint at the main foot. One of the neat tricks i use, at least i think it's neat, is to use a bit of black powder pigment mixed in with the 5 minute epoxy that i am using to glue up these joints. The epoxy is super strong and by adding the black any bit of run off or squeeze out can be wiped up and the run off will wind up looking more like a bit of a grease stain or something. Not great on something that needs to be clean but on mecha it seems to work, also if there is a bit of a gap it fills it nicely and looks like a bit of grease on the connection point. The glue up sequence here is, lower foot pad to riser, heel to heel riser, main foot to foot pad assembly, heel to main foot. Foot assembly to main strut assembly, upper leg to main strut assembly, lower strut to foot/main strut, upper short strut to main strut/upper leg. Do not put the mid leg guard on until last.

Once you have the pose you want, you will drill thru the inner leg connector, seen in tan above with the screw. However only drill thru that part and enough into the hip part to mark it. You will want to drill that hole with a drill bit slightly smaller in diameter than the 3 inch screw that you will be using. Again the idea is the be able to thread the resin a bit. Once all that is done you can drill a counter sunk hole to fit the head of the screw in, but only deep enough to get it under the cover. This may seem like a lot but it makes for a SUPER strong connection, and because you have the screw connection a the center of the leg and the large 3 inch screw, which counters the center screw so it will not pivot, this should stay in place no problem. Also if you wind up attaching the outer leg cover with a magnet or telescoping pin, you can assemble and disassemble if you need to. More soon. thanks mike

Hopefully this will make sense for the legs. You will need to drill the 1/4 holes on the hip (marked) and attach the hip to the main body. I get the feet/leg strut assembly together, still just pinned so that i can paint all these disassembled later on. The inner connection part for the leg gets a countersunk screw, but no glue yet. You will want to drill a bit undersized relative to the screw size. The ideas is that you will "thread" the resin in the upper leg so that it will be tight enough to play with the pose a bit. PRIOR to doing this you should drill a hole all the way thru the upper leg in approx this area. This area will be covered by both the inner and outer leg parts. The idea here is that we will be putting a 3 inch screw thru the upper leg into the thigh. Drill this hole the same size as the tread on whatever 3 inch screw you choose. Once the hole is drilled and you attach both inner connection parts you will be able to attach it to the hip joint on the main body and work out the "pose" you want. The body can be positioned a bit up and down relative to the legs. Play with it a bit and figure out where you would like it.

I am back at it after a bit of delays, weather, family stuff and i was sick last week. Some of these are from a while ago but want to catch everyone up. Arms are pretty easy, i just mark the center of the 3 components, drill thru with 1/4 inch bit so i can have a 1/4 inch brass rod run thru all three. The upper arm terminates a bit into the arm, it's can't pass all the way thru because of the angle, however the lower arm does pass all the way thru to connect this assembly with the arm cannon. The upper arm has a center mark to connect to the main body, same 1/4 brass used.

Anyone who got a kit from me will get decals and the vents no charge. If you have one of the other 72nd scale monsters like kitpowers or whatever and need decals i can put you in touch with JT graphics, but you would need to buy them. Not sure if that Kit power one has decals or not but these should fit if people need them.

Is it just me, or does the inclusion of a hole heck of a lot of PVC caps indicate that a storm attacker mode may be here soon?

Decals are at the printers, don't have a solid ETA yet but they are there! Also i will be sending everyone, along with the decals, castings of the vents that go on the side of the body. Went to get ready to paint the body and realized that something was missing. I could not cast those into the body because of the rotocasting, likely would have bubbles in those. So left them off then just forgot about them! mike

That first guy doing the build has the right idea with some added raised detail, i think it will enhance the kit a lot. I got mine, looks really good, I think it will really look good all painted up for sure.

I purchased the figure patterns from Capt a while ago, I just double checked and Capt send me the patterns for seated pilot pattern parts along with the standing, i have not made molds of the seated pilots yet but have good molds of the standing figures. Capt. since i have the patterns for the figures, do you need any parts of the figures to do like a 1/2 torso modified parts with the open cockpit? I can send you a casting if you want/need one, don't know if you have any left to work off. If anyone is going to need a full standing figure let me know (shameless plug sorry) Oh and put me down for a kit too, 1 please

Back at it a bit. Playing with the colors and the detailing, always hard to highlight panels with the darker colors, but important so it just does not look like a big green blob. Especially with something this big. As usual there is the panel highlights, the wash and the drybrushing to make the details pop. I will post color formulas if you guys want, it's all custom mixed Tamiya. thanks mike

Still available, PM me, but i am taking about a 2 week break from casting while i wait for better weather. Nothing like a record breaking cold winter to take the wind out of your casting sails if you know what i mean.

decal art and sizing are done, waiting for a test sheet to give the OK to do the full print run. Instructions are delayed just a little bit for a variety of reasons, bad weather is really impacting me at the moment, mostly around lost productivity on all fronts, lots of time home with the kids with no working.