captain america

Believe it or not, I'm still waiting on the canopies! I'm hoping they weren't lost in transit or something, though it's likely just Canada Post taking their usual sweet time

For the Commanchero you can't, since it's now officially out of production.

Instructions are for sissies... Right up until you go and f*@$-up your build and then they aren't for sissies anymore The final boing!

It was actually (true)1/32 scale, not 1/48. The masters are kinda scattered over two countries.

Yes it does! The first few will go out Thursday, and hopefully the rest in the following few days. Oh, by the way, the canopies look awesome!!

Boing 3. Final boing tomorrow

Boing 2...

Boing!

If by "spirit" you mean the spirit of insanity, I'm already a mile ahead of you

Onezero over at SM is doing them. My own setup was very crude, and while I technically *could* have done them myself, it was very hit-or-miss and would have wasted too much lexan. I put the success of the project before my pride.

Stuff like this...

Funny you should mention that: I had, in fact, come up with some really interesting firearm concepts a few years ago and was able to acheive proof-of-concept by making semi-functional plastic prototypes with light springs I put them on the shelf shortly thereafter in favor of more fun things.

Actually, "profit" is nonexistent when I make these models. The price of any of my works is made up only of my labour fees and materials: I essentially just calculate the overall time that I anticipate it will take to bring a project from concept to a given number of finished, packed models, then just factor-in the materials and postal fees. Thankfully, my hourly wage is elastic, so I can adjust to compensate for a higher or lower demand. Seriously, this is not a way to "make money," if I wanted to do that, I'd just rob people at gunpoint; so much easier and a lot less work All kidding aside, it's immensely fun for me. There are times when I find myself working on a sculpt until 1 or 2am; not because I'm thinking of deadlines, but merely because I get so caught-up in the work that I lose all track of time. I look at my life like a perpetual friday afternoon of grade-school arts-&-crafts... Except that I've moved slightly beyond the use of sprinkles, white glue & popsicle sticks. No wait. I still use the two latter items

On a basic level I completely understand where you're coming from. On the other hand, sometimes the reason something never makes it into 3-D form is that, well... Not enough people are interested in it. Oddly enough, my most successful models have been those that HAVE already been produced in 3-D. Badly. (Regult, Destroids.)

Hi guys. Yup, I'm still up for oing a Cat's Eye if I can swing the numbers. Perhap after the Glaug, assuming I survive making it.

Boy, I'm never gonna live down the cottage cheese thing am I? For the record, those containers were amassed over a period of MANY YEARS. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! The tv-version power-suits are also something I plan to tackle down the road; I feel that the plastic kits never did these valuable designs justice, and the later resin offerings also left me feeling somewhat unfulfilled. It was virtually inconceiveable when I was a boy to think that I'd one day be able to make my very own kits just the way I wanted to see them, so I totally plan to make the best of it

Not to worry, I am all too aware of the financial downtime we're currently in, and as Cobywan said, I currently still have my hands full with the Commanchero, so a Glaug won't begin until February, and I probably won't be requesting more than a fractional downpayment at that time anyway. If necessary, I'll do a 3 phase payment to break it down into more manageable chunks, but I'll cross that bridge (gingerly) when I come to it. ...And you shouldn't be thanking me, it's I who thank all of YOU for your support. You guys helped make this dream a reality; I just shared

Sounds more like a wishlist for Santa Claus!! For what it's worth, the Glaug will be the next project. You've been warned!!

Sadly, I think getting them out before Christmas is a strech given the turnaround time necessary to get the canopies done. I prefer that the work be done properly than be compromised in favor of a fixed due date. Everything else is pretty much done though; by this time tomorrow, all orders will be packed and awaiting canopies before I seal up the boxes and expedite. The one good thing that comes out of this delay is that now I FINALLY have some time to sit down with a gallon of egg-nog and relax!

More pics. Sorry about that canopy picture, it looks dreadful here, but I can assure you that the canopies themselves are very nice indeed.

Hi guys. Just wanted to give everyone an update to say that things are back on track production-wise. I did some initial tests for the canopies and they come out looking excellent! Now it's just a matter of time getting them back from the subcontractor. For future projects, I will be investing in a proper vacuum forming machine, so any such delays will be a thing of the past. As for the kit itself, I will let the pictures do all the talking. I still have about 10 kits available, so if you want a Commanchero, now is definitely the time

Petar, your figures are nothing short of awesome! Pat yourself on the back man, that's excellent work

Hi guys. I just spent the weekend re-tooling the canopy masters; it seems that undercuts on vacuum-formed parts are very much a no-no Anyway, these models WILL be completed and shipped even if I have to hire Santa and his little leprechaun followers to make the canopies around the clock! In a nutshell, I had to remove absolutely all undercuts on the canopy masters, re-polish, and re-mold them, and then start producing some new bucks to vacuum-form off of. Anyway, no worries, things are finally in the clear now that I got that major problem taken care of. I'll be working as fast as I can to get th kits completed and shipped, so just PM if you need me. Don't be surprised if my answers are a little weird though, I'm running on NO sleep these days

Hi guys! Yes I'm still alive. I've been quite busy trying to work the bugs out of my new vac-forming system, as the rig I was using for the previous projects was just too small and rudimentary, and so I wanted to take a tiny step up to something more durable. To that end, I constructed a new box with heavier plywood. Still very crude, mind you, but much sturdier and more practical. Also, during previous projects, I learned that regular resin isn't quite up to the task of handling the heat and pressure of vaccuum-forming plastic, so I ordered some hi-temp aluminium-filled polymer specially designed for vac-forming. Aside from arriving 2 days late, the material is also ungodly slow to cure --16 hours, and then about 4 hours of post-curing in the oven to fully harden it. Basically, this is what has been slowing me down more than anything, because casting-wise, well.... See for yourselves Barring any unforseen natural disasters ('tis the season!!) I should be shipping the first models next week; labels are printed, kits are cast and boxes are ready. Thank you all for your patience

4 blades for the tail rotor; the fourth is on another set of molds being made.