mechaninac
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Everything posted by mechaninac
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Medicom/Hot Toys and all 1/6 scale figures
mechaninac replied to EXO's topic in Anime or Science Fiction
Where's the sword, black warhorse, and flaming Jack-O-Lantern for that headless Hessian soldier? -
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Gee whillikers super man, that was awful swell! Amaizing and timeless work, and the style is so fitting with the '40s look. Here is a guy who truly deserves to have his work recognized by someone at one of the networks or cable stations in a position of power, and given a chance to flesh this out into a full blown series, without the all-too-common corporate soul wrenching interference for lowest common denominator marketability.
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Wow, just wow! And having the Empire as the protagonists..... awesome!
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I plan on keeping both preorders open until at least mid November just to see how the prices will compare. I just checked HLJ's shipping cost for a Yamato 1/60 VF-22; they quote ¥2,880 ($37.13, currently) for EMS, and ¥2,980 ($38.42) for FedEX. NY's EMS shipping (their cheapest option to the USA) is $59.19. Assuming that shipping for the VF-4G will be comparable to the VF-22 (same box size and weight), and depending on the exchange rate prior to invoice time, HLJ may still be the least expensive choice.
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I just emailed NY regarding the price drop; we'll see what they say. One thing is for sure, it's very hard to decide which vendor will provide the better value in the end: In NY's favor is the fact that their current price is now cheaper than HLJ (with everything that's happening domestically and abroad today the price is guaranteed to rise in relation to the Dollar, and HLJ charges in Yen) before shipping, and since NY charges US custormer in Dollars, there is no Paypal exchange rate to worry about either; HLJ's advantage at this point is that they do a better job with packaging than it's been my experience with NY, they offer peerless customer support for the Macross items they sell -- including refund and exchange, and their shipping charges may be a bit lower... this is going to come down to the wire to see which preorder I keep. Edit: Well, according to Dobber (thanks for putting my mind at ease BTW) I did not need to bother with contacting NY, but it's done and it can't hurt to be a bit of a pain in their 4$$...
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I don't do automatic payment agreements, so I'm safe on that score. HLJ, like NY, will have to invoice me first before they see a single penny. I've always felt that the convinience of auto-pay can come back to bite you in the rear too often.
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Aircraft Super Thread Mk.VII
mechaninac replied to David Hingtgen's topic in Anime or Science Fiction
I could be mistaken... hell, I probably am, but it looks like a British Harrier to me. -
Regarding canceling. HLJ's is dead simple to do before payment request. I'm not sure about NY, but I assume an email cancelation request should suffice if a site canceling option is not present. In either case, one can just opt to let the payment window slip; although that may trigger some ramifications in one's ability to place future preorders.
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Purely speaking as someone who lives in the US... How good HLJ's price ends up being will depend on the exchange rate at the time the payment is due. Anyone who preordered with NY when it first went up will be charged just under $400 with EMS shipping regardless of what the Dollar-Yen ration happens to be then. HLJ's price is given in Yen and works out to $330.45 sans shipping as of today. The question is, once shipping is factored, will HLJ's 25,700 Yen beat NY's price in December? That will depend on a lot of outside factors between now and then that will affect the value of the Dollar and the price of oil (US elections, EU PIIGS sovereign debt crisis, ME turmoil, etc.). If recent past is prologue inasmuch as Yen appreciation towards the Dollar is concerned, then that price advantage could evaporate in a 3 months; of course should events boost the greenback, HLJ's price will be even more attractive (if one can call ¥25,700 before shipping for a toy, attractive ). I suppose that the only foolproof way to know is to preorder from both vendors and wait to see which one ends up being the better value when it really counts... when payment must be made.
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The Megazone 23 Garland By Yamato Thread
mechaninac replied to Renato's topic in Anime or Science Fiction
Mine never broke so I have not had any reason to take the toy apart; I'm sure you know exactly where this particular part tends to break and are engineering yours accordingly to avoid Yamato's innadequate version. My statement is more along the lines of good general engineering practice which Yamato and/or their contracted design house tend to ignore too often when designing their toy parts... in short, sharp inner edges are an engineering no-no, a .5mm to 1.0mm fillet on such geometry is a quick no-brainer addition that makes a huge difference in a component's strength. -
The Megazone 23 Garland By Yamato Thread
mechaninac replied to Renato's topic in Anime or Science Fiction
Fillets, that needs fillets!... But seriously, that's where Bandai, and specially Yamato, get it wrong a lot. They seem to fail to round off a great many sharp inside corners which lead to stress facturing and failure. -
I was about a year or so between first release and reissue for the 29. I'd expect the 25s, all of them, will see reissues as well, but since there are so many more variants -- the VF-25G and RVF-25 have not even been released yet -- and there's the 30th aniversary VF-29 and, maybe, more VF-171 releases, it may be a while before we see repops of the Messiahs... maybe by this time next year Bandai could anounce or release more Alto's and Ozma's 25s so that those who missed them the first time around can have a chance of getting them without paying though one body orifice and out the other (I'm missing the S version myself and really want one to go with the Armor Pack that I got for it, but not at today's 3 - 3.5X MSRP); but you'll have to be quick on the trigger for any reissues if the YF-29's second round is any indication.
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YF-29 Durandal.
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I stand corrected. I never noticed the canards on any of the Mig 29s from Macross Zero before. Personally, I still don't think it looks that good -- the design, not Zubique's execution which is incredible--, but having it in context gives it validity.
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Technically, Xyphos is the name of a Bronze Age, Greek (Spartan) short sword, but I can uderstand that having a Gundam share the same name can make it less appealing. In keeping with the bladed weapon theme, how about: Scythe Sickel Scimitar Shamshir - I'm partial to this one (Persian saber) as the word kind of rolls off the tongue and is very unique. Aikuchi Tantō Kodachi Wakizashi Khanda Khopesh Here is a link to a pretty comprehensive list of ancient weapons that may prove an asset in finding a fitting name to your craft.
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That Fulcrum looks awesome. My only advice, based solely on my personal opinion, is to lose the mid-spine forward swept canards... to me they just don't suit the MIG-29; maybe smaller, conventional canards mounted on the leading edge of the blended fuselage LERX, just aft of the cockpit, would look more complimentary of the fighter while still giving it a custom, ATF-esque upgrade to the airframe. Just my 2 cents.
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Given the aesthetics of your design, how about: Razorback, Arrowhead, Spear Head, Flechette, Sabertooth, Tory (Spartan Spear), Xiphos (Spartan Short Sword), Kopis (Spartan Curved Hacking Sword), Rapier; anything pointy, edged, or barbed could lend it's name to your creation and be highly appropriate.
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Definitely not their best interpretation of line-art. The crest should have been more prominent, with the sensor dot sunken in (and made of clear red plastic as others have mentioned); the curvature of the forehead should've been less rounded to visually slope more; the chin is too "weak"... it should stick out a little; the visor is too much of a thin slit... it should be twice as thick as they made it; the surface under the visor also looks wrong... it should be comprised of variable sections along a spline instead of a single curve. Overall, it's not that it's "bad"; it's just that it could have been so much better. Bandai's head rendition for the VF-171EX is dead-on, while Yamato's VF-17D's is 70% there, at best. Even taking into account that the 171 had animation grade 3D meshes for reference, there is no excuse for Yamato's lack of fidelity in their interpretation in light of feedback that Graham gave them when the resin prototype was first shown... to me, the production version looks no different from that prototype, so they did not bother to improve the outlook at all.
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With prices increasing about 1000 Yen, or more, with every subsequent release, and the ever weaker Dollar, I'm afraid you have a point...
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What do you know? Spill the beans or suffer the consequences...
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Fair enough. There is, however, one more thing in addition to painting the yellow/red bits the correct shade of blue (French/Royal blue?) you'll need to do to existing super packs to convert them to Michael's specs. ... you'll need to create decals or stencils for renumbering the components to his G's SMS 003.
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Why, bother? Unlike the 25s themselves, the super and armor packs for the renewals have been easy to secure through Nyppon-Yassan, likely because they are exclusive items instead of the limited production mass market Messiahs.
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So up until now, NY is still the "cheapest" place one can pre-order the G. Almost makes me feel a little better securing one from them... almost. 1500th post...!
