cobywan

I have a Yamato brand Qued on my shelf right now.

I'll buy one as well. (I don't actually have one built anymore.) I'm looking forward to seeing the carbon fiber rod technique in action.

I loved the "Chung Kuo" series of books by David Wingrove. It's very expansive Sci-fi arc about a future world ruled by the Chinese. I've been wanting to read it again.

I'm thrilled to see you just do your own. And I'm stoked that you've got the curve on top of the engine area that shows in profile where the top fin attaches. Nobody's done that yet. I await more progress shots with baited breath.

That's "lair", not "layer".

Is there any chance that it can retract like a heatshield? Although it wasn't shown that way in ep. 12.

Inches, miles and farenhieght are measured in the Imperial system. I think there is one other country in the world that still usess it besides the United States. I think it's a small third world country. They never did come up with a Metric equivilent of lattitude and longitude. The current system is base 60.

Actually the series resumes in 2009! There may be a telefilm to hold us over in the fall though.

I've had great luck rendering out the MKV files with ALL2AVI. It's free and it works quite well. I've only been using it two days though. I'm just glad to have found a one step process.

The problem with comparing Valks to Gundams is, frankly, not even the Zeta looks like anything in Wave Rider form. A Valk has to look like a robot in Battroid form, and look like an airplane in Fighter mode. The transfomation on the VF-25 has to be much more deliberate and carefully planned out than the usuall Gundam stuff. There's a LOT of room for slop in Gundam.

It means that if you lined up 72 of the model, they would add up to the same length as the real thing. So the question is how large is the "real" VF-25? Then divide that by 72. I think the sizes have been stated a few pages back though. I'm guessing thier the same size as a MG Gundam kit.

Home needs to be great at release. If they send it out in a less than perfect state, they are going to be crucified. Sony gets enough flack for being late to the game and expensive. I can wait untill it's good and bug free.

Bandai eliminated the challenge in the hobby. Building Gunpla is like cooking McDonalds burgers. Tamaiya is like cooking at a 4 star resturaunt. The skill sets in these kitchens are VERY different. All toys come on a sprue and need to be clipped and assembled. It's just done in a factory with robots and slave labor. You can't use that argument. If someone just throws the Gunpla together, they haven't used any model making skills other than using clippers and reading instructions. When they get painted and given a great finish then I would argue a model was built. I would even suggest that a person could buy an action figure, fix the seams and repaint it and the result could be called a model if the sculpt is accurate enough. Bandai does make great model kits. Look at the Hardgraph line. That's them gunning for Tamaiya quality in the Gundam universe. The key to me is the set of skills being used more than anything. p.s. you can glue a snap together kit too.

I heard that from my Japanese friend.

Not in the stricktest sense. They are action figures that you have to assemble. The notion that drawing lines on the figure with a pen is adding a finish to the subject is a bit lame. I love them though. Gunpla serves as theropy for me when I don't really want to stress out about my hobby. Let's illustrate the point. When Hasegawa put out the first Valkyrie fighter kit, there were so many Gundam hobbyists that were at a loss about building models that Hobby Japan had to run an article on model building basics. I know that my point of view on the subject is REALLY narrow. I try not to come across as arrogant about it though.

Because, sadly, some people think Lego and Gunpla are models.

I've been working with a 3D router. It's not as sweet as STL or any of the other RP machines. But it is workable.

EDM is s CNC process now. It's called Wire EDM and is insane in it's precision.

My employer has some small scale tools for this stuff. They have a small injection molder and a rather small 3D reduction pantograph mill. I'm hoping to try the old school techniques out on some personal projects. I'm probably going to combine the CNC router tech with the old school pantograph though.

I really think we need a whole Mospeada section at MW. Mospeada superthreads become seas of info that are hard to wade through.

Actually the reason I think they use alluminum is because I watched one of those videos. I thought the mills were plowing through the metal a bit fast for the die to be steel. And coupled with the fact that they retool the same subject over every 5 years suggests that they aren't made to last.

What's great about Bandai from a manufacturing perspective is that since the patterning is digital the final injection molding dies are cut directly from their files into alluminum very quickly. They can mess with the design right up to production time.

Actually Zendreidi IS English. The crew just made up an alien font and plastered english labels on equipment. The transcription key is in one of the Robotech RPG books. I verified the key in my Macross Perfect Memory. It's a neat little detail in the show that I love.

I actually need to start MAKING some money for this. I've got a couple of sources lining up. Hopefully I can get this paid for in less than two weeks.

It's in scale with the Diamond Select BSG action figures.