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captain america

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Everything posted by captain america

  1. captain america
    We had only had a few dealings, but he seemed like a really nice guy, and it tugs at my heart strings to hear that we've lost a fellow MWer. My condolences to his family. Rest in peace, my friend...
  2. captain america
    To be fair, the toes and particularly the knees, in order to keep them anime-accurate, are somewhat limited in the range of motion department. No lunges for this crabby space monster
  3. captain america
    Yup. I used them for the hips, elbows and lower shoulder joints: allows for a broader range of poses.
  4. captain america
    This looks like a somewhat rehashed Oblivion...
  5. captain america
    SmoothCast 310. More than strong enough for a kit of this size.
  6. captain america
    Yes yes, I didn't forget I spent much of the week finishing up the moldfs and juuuuust barely got a couple of test-shots out earlier. The verdict? It's uh. Umm... ... ... ... It's pink! I decided that my Inbittoh kits need to be pink, and this will be reflected in the packaging as well. I was just so tired of seeing green molds with light grey parts, so I got a bit nuts withe color. The molds are naturally pink though, I had nothing to do with that. I'll be starting to clean one of the kits up for pics and destructions over the weekend, so more pics on the way, and less blurry this time, I promise.
  7. captain america
    To be fair, Robocop's 1.0 body armor motif looks pretty good. According to the gashapopn ad above, there's a 1.0 and 3.0 styling and so the obvious question is... What does the 2.0 version look like? Wait, wait. I got this... ... ... The designers momentarily consider an all-gold titanium body armor motif! :lol
  8. captain america
    I don't think that DMK Optimus did badly in sales, but there's a difference between "didn't sell too bad" and "holy crap we struck gold" which I'll try to explain. Let's take the old 1980s Mospeada kits as an example of "didn't sell too bad." When they were first released, they were moderately abundant and would even warrant a re-issue every few years, maybe even a bit of re-packaging, but they never flew off the shelves. The biggest tell is that they never expanded the line, they just re-issued from the tooling they had already made. As an example of a company hitting pay dirt, let's take Hasegawa and the Macross license. They started off with the film versions of the VF-1, which from what I'd heard through the grapevine, sold as well and possibly better than their F-16 line in 1/72. What are the tell-tale marks that it did well? They expanded the line, going into the TV variants, then the Battroids, then Macross Plus, and now Frontier. When they have confidence in the line, they will offer more skus. Now Takara Tomy has the Transformers license, and DMK Bumblebee and particularly Optimus were fairly complex and intricate from a tooling standpoint, so it only makes sense for them to offer to re-issue the kits every so often to maximize the profitability of the tooling. Who knows, maybe it was just an experiment to test the market. I suspect that we'll find out if they have faith in the new film based on what they release next year.
  9. captain america
    I would have LOOOOOVED more DMK figures from Takara. If not Shockwave, then at the very least Sentinel and Megatron would have been no-brainers. That said, I don't know how well the kits sold in the first place. Maybe the market reception was lukewarm and so they couldn't justify other figures. Gotta remember that Transformers appeals to mostly toy-minded people and so "it doesn't even transform" can be a major psychological hurdle impeding the sale of what is otherwise a fantastic product.
  10. captain america
    There's a significant amount of thought and preparation that goes into the placement and grouping of parts, positioning of pour spouts, chimneys. It's a very intuitive process, but it can make or break the final product. The parts aren't just encapsulated willy-nilly in the silicone, otherwise you will end up destroying the masters upon extraction. Judging by the results I've been able to get over the last decade with my molding/casting procedures, I dare think that my parts quality is respectable. There are plenty of people here who can give you objective opinions of my kits, gotta remember that I'm biased
  11. captain america
    Well if you REALLY want to see... I have a couple of pictures of the parts being prepped for molding. I just pour the rubber and then slice it to extract the parts. Gravity pouring, nothing fancy, but it works.
  12. captain america
    Just a quick heads-up guys, I'll be skipping tomorrow's update because the parts are all in silicone and there's nothing to show ATM. However, I will have cast parts in a few days so... Wish me luck!
  13. captain america
    The point where the beam gun mates to the body is ball-jointed, so the cannons actually have quite a range of motion. You can even position them such that the beam gun muzzle is almost parallel with the eye. I did have to cheat a little bit though, because the line art isn't consistent and fails to account for the upper shell humps interfering with the beam guns. Will take better pics once the parts are cast.
  14. captain america
    Sorry, I don't understand your question.
  15. captain america
    The resin bar I used to make the master from just happened to be blue. The kit part will be clear and so you'll be able to make it any color you like. I'm glad that you guys really like King Crabulon. Ever since I was a boy I wanted Inbit kits, but as you know, there weren't even crappy Imai kits to choose from and so now I'm over-compensating for all these years of Inbit deficiency!
  16. captain america
    Captain's Log: Friday, November 29, A.K.A.: "Black Friday." King Crabulon's masters... Are done! This update will mostly consist of beauty pics. I did want to get into one little build detail, and that's the eye. There was just no way that I was going to mold it into the housing because while it's a small model, I do like the idea of having a little red LED in there for special effects... Just wanted to underline that point. Also, kindly forgive the rough texture on some parts: that's just the primer and the wet-sanding before the molding process will do away with it in a heartbeat. I didn't try to mount the beam cannon to avoid damaging the kit, but I think that based on previous pics, we get the idea. Anyways, enough yapping, enjoy the photos!
  17. captain america
    King Crabulon is in the primer stage. Pics of finished masters tonight before I dump the parts in rubber
  18. captain america
    I was merely saying that with time comes experience, and it's only natural to find more efficient ways to do something over time. Revisiting the 1/32 Beast would be quite difficult, and probably too expensive.
  19. captain america
    That's like comparing an apple to a watermelon, claiming that they're both fruit! The Legioss was infinitely more complex, had to transform, have opening panels, joints, the whole shebang. The Inbit is much smaller and requires a much more "Yin" approach to the sculpting. Of course, also bear in mind that you garner a lot of experience in a decade, so even if I had to do something like a Legioss today, I dare think that I'd be able to get it done a little bit quicker and more efficiently.
  20. captain america
    Thanks! Yes, I use automotive Bondo primarily, and a Mori-Mori type putty for finer work.
  21. captain america
    And the glam pics!
  22. captain america
    Captain's log: Friday, November 22nd. The beast takes shape, I shall name it Crabulon!…Maybe. It has been a fairly slow week, and I wasn't able to put in as many hours as I would have liked, but she's very close to being finished: it's mostly down the small bits and details now. Pic 1: one of many balls being machined for the Inbit's joints. While I do use the lathe's knife, I mistly use a combination of sanpaper grits to "grind" the balls round as they turn. Pics 2 and 3: the previously neglected beam gun gets a bit more attention this time. Rough parts are hand-spaped, scored, and then putty is used to ensure a good fit of the kit's many blobby parts. Pic 4: the Inbit's backside is being prepped for its thrusters: an excruciatingly long and frustrating process that will end up looking rather superb… Assuming my nerves hold out. Pics 5 and 6: the forearm claw, in all its glory! To ensure perfect symmetry, the claw opening was sculpted and polished as a positive buck and was puttied into the rough openings I'd Dremeled by hand. Pic 7: oh, so much putty! Yet more parts are puttied into place, while you can see a more refined version of the forearm in the back. Pic 8: some people have asked me how I scribe my panel lines, and it's really quite simple: using a ruler, French curves and masking tape, I cut the desired shapes into tape and apply it to the part. Then, I simply take a fine razor saw and very lightly drag it along the taped line several times. It really IS that simple! Pics 9-14: beauty pics of King Crabulon. I must apologize for the very improvised posing, It's a bit tedious when the kit has no complete joints. In spite of that minor setback, it really is coming along nicely, even the beam cannon. Anyways, I'm tired and off for some much-needed rest!
  23. captain america
    Hey guys! I'll be posting today's update a little later than usual, just because I'm working on a lot of minor details. The masters are really coming along nicely.
  24. captain america
    Yup, just putty. I used to use CA glue for some things, but cured putty has a similar density to the modeling board and so can be worked much more easily.
  25. captain america
    I would concur with this evaluation. In my experience using pretty much all types of paint over the years, automotive paint and its solvents (up until just recently) tends to be very hot. My suggestion would be to obtain a primer from the auto paint store that is compatible with your paint. Preferably an epoxy primer, which is thinner than a high-build primer which is used for scratch-filling. Also, surface prep is critical: light sanding, then thorough washing with soapy water and let the parts air dry.
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