captain america

Hello again, it's me: The Beast Master! I just thought I'd provide a mini-update with the new joint parts that I've been raving about lately. These are provided courtesy of fellow MWer Codam23, whose help and expertise have helped make this project possible. As I'm told, the parts I have are actually pre-production prototypes, and the material to be used for the final parts will actually be even stronger than what I have now, which are already ridiculously tough, especially considering that they were made in a 3D printer. Pics 1 and 2 show the joint parts in question, complete with 3mm alloy screws for optimal strength. Pic 1 shows the socket joint for the hip, while pic 2 shows the ankle joint (left) and hip hinge assembly (right.) Pics 3 and 4 show the assembled hip joint as it will fit into the thigh module. While complex, this elaborate setup was needed in order to not only allow the joint sufficient range of motion, but also configure the parts to allow them to line-up correctly when in fighter mode. Pics 5 and 6 show the same parts mated to the main body in both fighter and soldier modes, respectfully. While CNC technology was available a decade ago when the Legioss was being fabricated, the 3D printing technology certainly was not, and consequently, the parts would not only have been devastatingly expensive to make, but would have had to be made of aluminum, which I'm told is perhaps even a tad weaker than the new composite material, and the latter is much lighter.

As promised, here you go guys! 7 freakin' pages of destruction goodness!!!

Indeed. There was a lot of work involved in this phase of the project, and I'm happy to be back in gear, so-to-speak. I'm also going to start shipping next week or so; I would have started sooner but my printer gave up the ghost, almost as if on cue. Oh well, just another speed bump

Hi everyone! Just wanted to let you know that I received some updated joint prototypes and they absolutely rock! I'm close to finished with the instructions, and those will be posted tomorrow. I'll also do a little update later on to show-off the special composite joints that are going into the kit. There have been a few speed bumps, but otherwise, the Legioss is progressing nicely! Stay tuned

I suspect that the project may have been mothballed.

Unless you're a fairly competent model builder, you will likely be disappointed with the kits. They require glue, paint, and some creative modeling skill to put together. Also, the transformability means that certain compromises had to be made, and being a model, it won't stand up to actually being transformed one tenth as well as the toy. If anything, they were meant to be built in a given mode and sturdily glued that way, save for a few key joints that allow for slight re-posing every once in a while. I had one of the DX toys for a time, and I actually thought that it was okay, so long as you grasp that it's intrinsically complex design-wise, and don't try to mount all the armor junk onto it, you should be fine.

The kit is made such that you can build it in any one of the three modes without swapping parts; it's not made to actually transform from one mode to another.

Yes, actually! Casting for Installment 3 has been done for a few weeks now; parts are bagged and will be packed over the next few days. While I'm still waiting on the joints and the landing gear, I think that I *should* have the former before the end of May. I would have liked to have both ready in time, but situations won't seem to allow it. As such, Installment 3 should ship by the end of May with joints, and Installment 4 will (hopefully) have the metal landing gear. I'll also be starting on the newest set of destructions. Pictures are done, just need to do the layout. A few bumps in the road, but otherwise the project stumbles forward!

Holy cow!!! What scale are those kits?? Not to be a wet blanket or anything, but I've very rarely seen a garage kit that was really worth more than a G-note, and most of those were from the Five Star Stories line.

Hi guys. I took a few random pictures of the castings I have so far, which are coming along excellently well. I should have some news on the landing gear by week's end, and hopefully on the joints as well. Needless to say, I'm also looking forward to a quiet moment when I can start mocking-up my parts and experience, for the first time, my own creation with all its limbs without the use of Photoshop

"Is there a certain way to cut / extract the parts from the molds? " -Yes, very, very carefully! "Are the molds only good for one use or are you able to get a few pulls from them?" -The life of a mold depends on a whole bunch of factors; some molds die after fewer than a dozen pulls, while I've had others last well past 50. It's always a bit of a crapshoot.

Sophisticated mold boxes are for suckahs!! I use a Sharpie to mark cut lines and also indicate what part is in the rubber block; the writing on the plexiglass imprints onto the rubber so that I have a basic guide to extract the parts as cleanly as possible.

Hi everyone! As you may or may not have seen from my previous post, the next segment of the Legioss is now underway. As such, I figured I'd offer a cursory glance at the mold-making process. Pic 1: using a hot glue gun, I proceed to glue runners to the parts and then glue the runners to a base made from acrylic; I like this method as the material's transparency allows you to more easily visualize the part and vital resin flow characteristics. Once things are set to my liking, I glue the mold box over the parts, once again using hot glue. Pics 2 and 3: this is my vacuum degassing setup; I use an industrial vacuum pump to suck the air out of my newly-mixed silicone rubber. The pump can pull a little over 29 inches of vacuum, but the chamber's (just an old paint tank) lid design is such that I only get 27 inches of vacuum realistically. No worries though, that's quite sufficient for my needs. Pic 4: A newly-degassed batch of green rubber goo! Don't let those few bubbles atop the mixture fool you, these will break as soon as I begin to pour the mix into the mold. Speaking of pouring… Pics 5 and 6 show 2 mold boxes in different stages of pour. The first is actually custom-made with acrylic, as some parts are just too large/awkward for me to use tupperware containers. Pic 7: a series of parts extracted from a mold. These will need a once-over, and any damage to the part will need to be repaired. It's rare, but it does happen. Pic 8: the finished moulds! I generally let these air-out for at least 48 hours prior to using them to make sure than any residual ammonia has evaporated. I should have some test-shot pictures by next week; I'm also testing the prototype ball-joints that I received from Codam23. Stay tuned!

2 noses: not on the books, as the current workload is demanding enough. The old, shorter nose was ideal from a practicality standpoint, but robs the fighter of that last remaining modicum of elegance that a fighter should possess. I'll see to it that either the paint demarcation is scribed, or I'll provide a demarcation template with the parts to take the guesswork out of painting. ...And while I'm here, I'm pleased to announce that it's that time again. Work on Segment III (right leg) has already commenced, so you may now send the third payment installment. Some molds are already done, some have just been poured and the remainder will be done by week's end, at which point I'll have another pictorial update ready. Soooo much green goo...

I also mastered the Garfish from Mospeada in 1/350, 1/48 VF-1D conversion, 1/24 Raptor from BSG, and 1/18 Tachikoma from GITS, but obviously not part of the 1\72 Macross line.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1367684/Nuclear-plant-chief-weeps-Japanese-finally-admit-radiation-leak-kill-people.html This is not good

When I designed the whole Legioss, I went with a clean sheet of paper and made so many tweaks that I doubt the line art would be useful for checking proportions. The new nose was made extra long so that I could chisel away at it gradually until I find something I like. Easier to do it that way than to start with a form that's too short and then need to add material.

Hi guys! As promised, here's a mini-update for the upcoming third installment of The Beast, which will be the right leg. This will be one of the more intense parts of the project due to not only the number of parts, but also due to the volume of pouring required, as well as the fact that I will be using 2 different resins. The update itself will incorporate 2 different resins, steel screws, custom-made ABS or aluminum ball-joints, and white metal for the main landing gear. One of the points that needed re-working were the hip joints: back in the day, the hip socket was to be held in place via much smaller WALTHERS brass screws, and I'm happy that it never materialized, as these would have been insufficient. Having then adopted the implementation of beefy steel 3mm hardware, the hips required some obvious re-tooling. Pic 1: the whole area of the upper thigh/hip that is to house the ball sockets had to be completely redone: enter Mr. Mori-Mori. While it looks messy initially, some clever machining will take care of that. Pic 2: after a little trip to the milling machine and a coat of primer, things are looking much better: the entire area around the socket has been beefed-up considerably, and whereas in the previous version the socket was just screwed to the flat back of the hip, in this 2.0 version, the socket is 70-75% captured. You can see in the thigh on the right that I've placed a dummy socket for fitting purposes. Pic 3: More-or-less the same as pic 2, but the drilling locations for the screws are now done. It's designed so that the steel screws tap into the plastic, and the screw head will overlap the socket part to hold it in place; a sturdier joint would be hard to find. Pic 4: while most of my emphasis was on the legs, I was also taking time to re-work the nose cone, which I felt was somewhat too short as it's shown here. Pic 5: while it's still in the early stages, the new nosecone/radome assembly will be considerably longer on the 2.0 version. Arguably, it looks a tad awkward in pics, but looks way better with the rest of the aircraft. A work in progress as always.

That seems to be the way all the Zentradi mecha are designed. I had watched the animation several times to gain hints about the cockpit thing myself, but all signs pointed to it being opaque and armored, so that's what I went with. To me, this is part of what distinguishes Zentradi mecha: no see-through canopies.

I'm utterly speechless at the level of devastation :o Let's hope that the aftershocks don't make things any worse than they already are; these poor people have been though enough as it is

Wow, that's unusually long. I shipped your "Part II" kit last Friday morning; let's hope that this isn't the postal service having a major malfunction. I've had excellent results for 2.5 decades and now suddenly in the last few months, things look like they're coming unglued Anyways, on a more positive note, I've been plugging-away behind the scenes for the third installment, as it (and the 4th) will be the most complex and demanding on my part. I've already started mold prep and parts-duplication but the work won't begin in earnest for another few weeks. By Friday, I'll post a little update/precursor for part III/IV (legs.)

Too invasive and inconvenient On the flip side, I've started shipping Number 2s, and the whole batch will be shipped by this time next week; figured I'd give you guys a heads-up.

Here you go. Not rocket science by any stretch, just requires a careful hand and lots of patience. Your mech modeling looks excellent; parts look simple enough so they shouldn't give you too much trouble to mold

You want to see the mold (hardened rubber) or the casting?

I'd absolutely LOVE model kits of TFs; toys simply cannot do these designs justice due to their inherent complexity. Mind you, depending on the size, models would still be limited. Based on what I can decipher, if these are 1/35, then Prime would be roughly the same size as the Leader/Buster toy.