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captain america

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Everything posted by captain america

  1. captain america
    Makes more sense than a Mortar Headd... Sadly. That I know of, the Kaiserin shown above wasn't even released, so no modern figures are available ATM.
  2. captain america
    At least they've got him wearing a CWU-45P this time.
  3. captain america
    Molds are almost done.
  4. captain america
    Hi guys, just a quick news bulletin. Molds are well underway, and I should have those finished before the weekend is out. Had a slight mishap with one of the smaller molds and had to start over, so running slightly behind schedule.
  5. captain america
    Looks like a highly modified plastic kit.
  6. captain america
    Or a Pak-Fa with swing-wings, more powerful engines and tweaked for lower RCS.
  7. captain america
    I recall reading something along those lines. Wasn't there at least one incident of an F-15 having a structural failure mid-flight? They should still have a fair amount of serviceable Strike Eagles remaining, though. AN/ALQ128: true enough. Granted, Grumman now has the combined ressources of Northrop-Grumman, not to mention several decades of improved know-how to get things done more efficiently. I realize it's mostly wish-fulfilment on my part, combined with a sense of dissatisfaction that comes from seeing the Navy make due with a successor that is, in most respects, inferior to the aircraft it replaced.
  8. captain america
    Sorry, that's not an argument. The F-15, which is probably THE biggest offender in terms of RCS due to its right-angle intakes and perfectly vertical tails, is still going strong. With the development of fighter-mounted directed energy weapon systems, F-14s & F-15s are prime candidates for that technology by virtue of their size and payload capacity. Also, it looks like there are no plans to mount DEWs onto low-observable fighters because the tech may interfere with their low RCS. "Stealth" planes also have to stay < Mach 2 to avoid delamination of their radar-absorbant coatings, which isn't an issue on the previous generation aircraft, so they do offfer some advantages. Russians are planning on having something ready by 2035. US is already starting testing: the future is here!
  9. captain america
    They should throw-out the superbugs & replace them with updated Tomcats. Greater air-to-ground payload capability, range and speed. Plus, makes a great missile platform for upcoming VLRAAM weaponry. Also, they (should) be able to shoehorn the F-35's engines in there, so there would be engine commonality across the different services, while giving her a power-to-weight ratio of >1 to 1 even at MTOW.
  10. captain america
    Price is stated above. The ship itself is about 20cm long.
  11. captain america
    Captain’s log: Friday, October 26th. She’s almost complete now, just a few bits of styrene needed to create the lateral hatches and the inside of the space-heater thingie at the back. I decided on a last-minute change to the canopy, which was prompted by finding a slightly higher resolution image of the line-art. I originally interpreted the dome structure to be separated in the middle by a recessed spar, which is what I produced in image 20. After some study, I saw that the design was actually a tad fiddlier, so I made the necessary corrections along the way. The result is seen in image 21. The belly turret (pic 22) is almost complete: the masters are done, now must come the molding of the barrels so as to have four exact parts to complete it. Pics 23-25 are of the masters, now simply awaiting primer and the molding process. As several people have asked, yes, it will be a kit and it will be available for $170 CAD + shipping. By next Friday, I should be solidly into the molding process, and castings should be ready a week or so after that. What a fun project this is turning into!
  12. captain america
    Captain’s log: Friday, October 19th. I spent more time working than taking pictures, but the reality is that it was mostly the same operations as in last week’s installment applied to some newer parts. I did, however, need to start turning some parts on the lathe to ramp-up the process. Pic 11: I wasn’t happy with the initial drawings I had done of the pod-like thingamabobs on the ship’s haunches, so I started over in an attempt to better harmonize the otherwise disparate illustrations comprising the line-art. This time I decided to turn the part on the lather, rather than hand-craft it. Pic 12: the part being milled will eventually become the main rear thruster… Or block-heater. It doesn’t really have a name yet. I will give the part some tapering in the final stages, but most parts must start square to better preserve the proportions and ensure accuracy. Pic 13: in order to get the canopy dome to sit nestled within the upper fuselage, I began by grinding a crude channel with a rotary tool, then filling the channel with putty and pressing the canopy sprayed with release agent into the putty to create a perfect fit. Pic 14: I created the recessed band line in the hull with thick styrene sheet. The part was traced from the hull outline, cut-out and then positioned roughly 1.2mm inboard. Pic 15: after lots of block-sanding, puttying and wet-sanding, I was able to get the major hull-parts into semi-complete stages, which is a necessary foundation for adding secondary parts. Pics 16-18: the drop-ship is comprised of numerous very mechanical and organic shapes. The latter, like the egg-shaped gun turrets, canopy dome and various detail parts must be shaped by hand, simply because they lie outside the ability of both the lathe and mill. As such, meticulous attention is needed to craft these compound curvatures in such a way as to make them look organic, but with mechanical precision. More to come next week. Stay tuned!
  13. captain america
    The Aoshima/Imai boots will look even more comical in ride-mode, and likely won't even fit on the bike. I happen to prefer the Sentinel boot size and design, which is much more realistic and utilitarian than the oversized clown boots. I doubt a soldier would even be able to run properly with the latter, his knees clunking together as he trips over himself while the Inbit look-on, laughing! While the figure is fiddly AF, I still think Sentinel scored a big win with their Ride-Armors.
  14. captain america
    Not sure if this was posted when it was first released, but it sounds interesting. I was thinking that they would make the direct leap to directed energy weapons, but perhaps those are better suited to shorter range targets. http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/15692/the-pentagon-is-quietly-developing-an-next-generation-long-range-air-to-air-missile
  15. captain america
    It's supposed to be a Bravo model just based on the engines, but has an Alpha cockpit. Definitely missing the B armpit blisters, and I'm pretty sure they all had them from the outset.
  16. captain america
  17. captain america
    Captain’s Log: Friday, October 10th. Southern-Cross garage kits are among the rarest of the rare, assuming there are any out there at all. A while back, I was approached by a fellow MWer about mastering the patterns for the Bioroid drop-ship. It seemed like it would be a fun project, so I gladly accepted. So as with all projects, I begin by drafting some basic technical drawings from which I can carve parts. As is to be expected from line-art of that by-gone era, the different views of the ship don’t even correspond with each other, and this case is a particularly bad one! So after a bit of back_&-forth with the client, I finalize the diagrams and can now begin making a mess in my workshop! I had a block of modeling board, but the edges were rough so I had to mill it down to create some square edges. The block is so large that I had to get « creative » just to be able to work on it (pic 1) Now I have drawings, style-sheet reference, and a block of modeling board: watch me turn this block into a finished set of masters in 30 days or less! (pic 2) Pic 3: the block is so large that it just barely fits under the bandsaw at maximum clearance: problematic, but not insurmountable. We will take the long road… Pic 4: I use my trusty drill press with a cutting wheel mounted. Since I can’t cut all the way through such a large part, I settle for notching the cut mark all around the part. Pic 5: time to break-out the hack-saw and manually cut the board! It’s a long, tedious process, but it must be done. Pic 6: the cut came out a lot rougher than I would have liked, but no worries. Back to the drill press, this time using a grinding stone to level the surface of the cut and make it perfectly flat. Pic 7: there were still some nasty saw-marks in the board, even after the grinding. To avoid removing too much (very expensive) material, I just use some polyester putty to cover the scars. Easy-peasy! Pic 8: now that I have smaller parts, I can cut them on the bandsaw to remove excess material and begin to shape the parts accordingly. Pic 9: after some grinding and sanding, the parts are starting to come along. I will likely want to fiddle with some of the details as I go along, simply because the line-art is so loosey-goosey and there’s leeway for tweaking to get the coolest looking shapes possible. Stay tuned!
  18. captain america
    Correct! Thanks to this fellow MWer's devotion, this hyper-obscure design will be birthed in three-dimensions.
  19. captain america
    Soooo... Some people want Southern Cross stuff. I've begun working on this little critter. Should be a little over 20cm when complete.
  20. captain america
    There's also this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hP1w29kxs20
  21. captain america
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGBVgsjd2S8 Famous last words: "Oh God, no."
  22. captain america
    I think those would sell, especially if they're articulated.
  23. captain america
    OR... Bumblebee is sent on a super-secret mission back in time to follow Decepticons who want to destroy the humans before they can be a threat to the Predacons and... Oh, wait.
  24. captain america
    This is probably the only movie I'm actually looking forward to. Creed was magnificent, and hopefully this one will follow suit.
  25. captain america
    The Gakken had no influence in the matter; I totally drafted the Legioss from scratch in order to bring it as close as possible to a real-world mecha, scaled it around the dimensions of a proper human pilot, and made sure it was transformable without parts-swapping. It's proportionally and detail-accurate to a transformable mecha, but doesn't. The only reason it doesn't transform is that it would make the kit far too fragile and flimsy, not to mention the added cost. The panels under the sensor pod were needed to cover-up the hinges and gaps in the torso in Fighter mode.
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