captain america

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.

Hi guys! Sorry for not posting more frequently, I've been working on the molds, which are now done and casting has begun in full force. The only slight delay is caused by the waiting for the special tooling resin I need to do the vac-forming bucks, and I should have that by next Friday. In the meantime, I'll just be casting my tiny brains out. Also, I took some photos of the masters just before pouring the mold rubber. Honestly, due to the large number of tiny parts and multi-cavitied parts, this goes on record as being one of the most challenging kits I had to cast in recent memory. The first photo in the series is of the mold boxes awaiting the arrival of the mold rubber. Next, these are some of the first castings to come out of said molds. Everything came out great, save for a few voids that formed on the inside of the cockpits of the fwd fuselage (see pics 3 & 4.) Not the end of the world, but it means a little extra dremelling The rest of the parts came out looking very splendid indeed, and all the rivet detail has been faithfully captured. Now to start on the instructions!

There's no specific timeframe, I process orders on a first come, first served basis according to when payments are received. When the molds will no longer produce adequate castings, I simply stop. Many people have asked for models after production has ceased, which I simply don't have; that's why I encourage people to check the forum/thread regularly for availability status.

Hee haw everyone! Well the molds for the Commanchero are being poured, and I should start having some castings done by late next week. **ORDERING** Kit price: was supposed to be $120 apiece, but is now $105 US. **SHIPPING** $13.00 for up to 2 kits anywhere in north America $30.00 for up to 2 kits to any other country [corporation] on the planet I don't think anybody planned to order 3 kits at once, so I didn't check what the shipping would be; just PM me if that's the case and I'll tabulate it. **PAYMENT METHODS** Same ol' int'l postal money orders in US funds Paypal is ok too, but there is a $3.00 surcharge per kit to cover their fees. If you have any other questions, or you need my private payment info, just PM me! I will, as always, be updating the status of production regularly, so be sure to check back on a regular basis!

Folding? I think maybe you mean sagging? I will use either a brass or acrylic rod insert in the main propeller blades, so they will not sag over time.

Yeah, I know exactly how you feel. If anything, I wonder how well a real-world Commanchero (hereinafter Turbo Airwolf Junior LOL) would fare with its wheels (front to rear) spaced so far apart; I'd tend to think it would put a lot of unnecessary stress on the fuselage, but hey, I didn't design it, my job is just to make it look believeable

Next is a pic of the "special olympics" tail rotor. She will actually have four blades, nut the MI-24 I took them from only had three blades, so I had to searate them all, machine a new hub, and the fourth blade will be a duplicate casting. The next couple of pics are of the Commanchero next to the hull of a 1/72 Hind. The Commanchero is only slightly shorter in length, but has the same "presence" as its real-world commie counterpart. The landing gear bay doors were intentionally left ff for the pics, as they are 90% putty and therefore very suceptible to breaking. They will be molded in short order so as to make sure I can have some good, solid resin masters. An unfortunate side-effect of certain detailed parts is that the molding process does sometimes destroy them, so I have to make sure my molds are perfect so that they can provide me with usable masters. Anyhoo, that's what she looks like. I will be posting early next week with payment info, though I will give you all advance notice that there may be a bit of a delay due to the vac-forming of the canopies, but shouldn't be anything drastic. Enjoy the pics

Next, the standard beauty-shots of the whirly-bird with the cockpit details. I really didn't expect it to turn out quite this nice, but I'm glad it did. It truly is a fearsome looking chopper, especially from the front. There will be, of course, six of the underwing rocket pods included with the kit, though the rockets themselves will not be removeable due to their small size and the problems associated with casting them.Can very easily be remedied with a pin-vise if you want the empty look though.

...And as promised, here are the 99% finished master patterns of the Commanchero. Kindly take notice that dainty components like rocket pods, wings, etc. Have all been temporarily glued with hot glue. They will fit together infinitely better when proper glue is used. The first couple pics are of the "Macross Universe" style iron bomb (thee will be 2 in the kit) and the pylon that fits inside the ventral weapons bay. The 3rd and 4th pics are of the ventral bay itself--one open with the bomb/pylon, the other closed. I invisioned this weapons bay to be truly multi-functional. I just happened to choose to outfit it with two iron bombs, but I could also forsee it being able to accomodate a magazine-style container with a automatic loading mechanism to supply rockets to the port-side launcher, though I elected not to use the latter option at this particular time. Oh. You will notice that there are four small "circle-type" shapes on the underside of the engine housings. I added these so that there could be future "upgrades" to the Commanchero... Like optional armored external fuel tanks for long range missons

If you think that was convincing, have a look at her with full rivets & panels I'll have a full update of the masters tomorrow, but I'll just give this one sneek peek for tonight.

Whoever is intent on making Inbit toys, I can only wish them the best. I myself had polled to see what interest would be like on a Gurab model, and for the life of me I couldn't get the numbers to make it work. Hopefully thse guys will have more success.

Next, the standard side view. The rotor does,as mentioned previously, borrow its blades from a 1/72 Hind, though pretty much everything else is made from scratch. Next is a rear view. The engine exhaust nozzles and tail rotor gearbox housing are done, I simply didn't bother to attach them for the pic. Third, cockpit shots with my temporary 1/72 crew cheif. I made the instrument panel shrouds lage and thick, as though perhaps they might themselves be armored so as to provide the drivers some measure of extra AAA protection. The instrument panels are closer to the VF-1 in terms of being essentially glass cockpit displays, with few (if any) analog gauges. I still have to add the control column assembly and other details, but the whole thing is progressing nicely. I should have the whole gunship finished, riveted & armor-plated by Friday or Saturday, and a pictorial update will follow. Stay tuned!

Next, we have a full frontal and 3/4 bird's eye view. In the final update, I will take pics of the Commanchero next to the bare fuselage of a Hind, just to show you how huge this baby is. The weapons pods have been both widened and rounded to better match some of the line-art. The third pic shows (left to right) the rocket pod assembly, the rotor-mounted cereal bowl (top-left,) the main landing struts and wheels, and the tail-mounted landing tyre (top-right)all of which are in various stages of completion.

November 4th update. I'm happy to say that I'm finally in the last strech of the project; most of the components have now been sculpted, and only little details need to be refined.While it may not show, there have actually been a multitude f corrections on the main parts to get them to look just the way I want them, as well as the canopies, which are not quite as bulbous, most noteably the one for the front cockpit. The first 3 pics are, as you can clearly see, beauty shots. Due either to my own ineptitude or the compression created by the lens, I can't seem to get the angle shown in the line-art quite right.

As mentioned above, clear resin canopies can be a real b*tch to make. I have experimented with many different types of resins, and aside from the fact that if you don't get a perfectly consistent thickness throughout the canopy, the cockpit will appear distorted through it, there are many problems with resin consistency and hardness when cured. Basically, I want the end result to be the best it can be, and it's very hard to beat vac-formed lexan for clarity. As for them being difficult to cut, I think that I can help solve that issue by providing a resin "buck" that can be used to trace, trim and support the canopy while cutting; a template essentially, that I can include in the kit. I'm a smartass with an answer for everything. Almost.

The bubbling of the front canopy is actually deliberate; the lineart does indeed make the front canopy slope down in a much more conservative way. I took some creative liberty in that area so as to avoid making the foreward fuselage look too "hefty." Plus I figured it would give the pilot better aft visibility... I guess I'm the only one who thinks the buble canopies look cool