mechaninac

And here are a couple of really cool looking ships from B5 that have not been mentioned yet: I've always thought the Narn Frazi Heavy Fighter has a really elegant design... And the Omega Class Destroyer, an imposing, no-nonsense, "realistic" capital ship...

Nope. It's the privateer/pirate ship Sol Bianca from the OVA and mini-series of the same name.

One of the sexiest star-ships in anime...

Here are my contributions: Favorite Trek Federation design: One of the great space superiority fighters in anime: So neat in a weird retro way that it deserves a mention: BTA fighter from Enemy Mine And one of the coolest shuttles...anywhere: I just wish the WAVE toy/complete model weren't so expensive...

The one in the link is the Arcadia; I mean this ship:

I already own the original SOP Yamato so I have no intention of indulging Bandai in this "double dipping" venture, even if it is re-worked as an altered mold or even new tooling... the one I have is awesome enough. The one thing that makes me interested in this bit of news is that the renewed interest by Bandai in this line perhaps opens up the door on the remote, however unlikely, possibility of a future in-scale EDF Andromeda; I would place a pre-order, without hesitation or reservation, for one of those in an instant.

As always... Just Damn!

To some, 12600 Yen may be "reasonable" for a MG The-O, given its sheer size alone... I can definitely understand the justifications and/or rationalizations for the sentiment. Personally, I just tend to choke on my own spit anytime any plastic model kit heads north of $60.00, with some minor allowances, regardless of subject. It just rubs me the wrong way, but I sure would like to get one at some point if/when an opportunity presents itself.

Confirmed then, and for over $85.00 too. But what I'd really like to know is if this dress-up set will be able to be worn by the VF-1 in GERWALK mode... just before the overload and subsequent explosion, of course? And another thought... will it come with 1/60 Misa and Hikaru figures to awkwardly cozy up in one pocket and a Kakizaki one for the other?

Yep. One expensive, make that really expensive, MUTHA!

That's going to be one expensive MUTHA!

Ditto on the YF-19. Although I can't really say that I truly regret getting it, it's my least liked Valk; compared to Yamato's other 1/60s (specially the SV-51 and YF-21) the 19 is just poorly executed, but it still looks good in fighter mode and leagues better than the 1/72 version. I've purchased many anime toys over the last 8-10 years and can honestly say that I haven't been too disappointed on anything that I've bought Macross related -- Notable exception goes to Bandai's 1/55 VF-19 Fire Valkyrie re-issue; when I took it out of the box I remember thinking: That was money flushed down the toilet... This board has been of immense help in feeling out what is worth my money and what is unworthy of consideration; thus, I have avoided taking the plunge on many items that I would have considered were it not for the information and opinions found on MW, like Bandai's VF-100 Fire Valk, their 1/60 MF DX line, Toynami's Masterpiece VF-1 Veritechs, and CM's Legioss and Treads, to name a few.

The mesh tubing is just another aspect of the multi-media nature of some of the latter Master Grade kits and adds a touch of "realism" wherever they're applied, as compared to molded in detail on some older MGs. There is nothing special about using the tubing... just cut it to the length specified to the assembly you're building (a metric ruler printed on the instructions booklet, or a to-scale call-out will give you that information) and slip it over the indicated pipe. There is not need to glue the mesh tubes on MG kits as they are usually so well engineered that the tube ends are completely hidden and captured once other parts are mounted -- they won't slip off; just leave them as loose sleeves. Of course, if you intend to paint your kits the tubes should be installed after the particular assembly is cured if at all possible. Hope this helps.

The V finned version is, of course, the hero mecha flow initially by Uso before he switched to the V2 Gundam later in the series; the alternate one is the HEXA version, a slightly upgraded concurrent "sister" unit used by other pilots (Marvet among them). The best part of the kit is that two core fighters are supplied with one head per core fighter, allowing for easy version swaps.

My vote for one of the most overrated sci-fi films of all time goes to 2001: A Space Odyssey... in my opinion, one of the most boring movies ever made; although I do think it's a technical masterpiece. As for underrated, for some odd reason I like Wing Commander... it's mindless, riddled with mediocre and/or over-the-top acting, and the rapiers are fuggly as all hell, but I find it entertaining in a guilty pleasure sort of way.

I've been following "Monster" on AniMonday, and I'm enjoying it very much. It's a welcome change of pace from the usual anime fare... very much a psychological thriller.

My first Gundam kit was a 1/144 Victory Gundam (The one that came with a forest picture card to mount onto the clear pink stand), and odly enough, the last Gundam kit I built was the MG Victory; I guess I've gone full circle... at least until I start on another model.

I got mine delivered yesterday and I must admit it's a very nice figure: beautiful sculpt... big and hefty (more true to scale than the old 1/100 kits), good paint application, some tampoed graphics, and decent articulation for the subject; although, the lack of adjustability for the feet is disappointing; but the "knee" rotation is nice, even if there is no pivot for bending. Overall I'd give it a solid 7.5 out of 10.

Well, I finally bit the bullet and placed an order for one from BBTS. Given the price, even after shipping, and everyone's positive comments, I figured this vinyl rendition of everyone's favorite spiky-egg-on-stilts is worth a shot; despite it's articulation limitations and somewhat soft details, it certainly looks more authentic in it's depiction of the Regult than the Revoltech version (which is awesome in it's own way, just not as true to the source). Now bring on the Command Pod (A well executed Glaug would be ubber sweet).

Glaug is a no-brainer. Invid Mecha would be awesome too, specially if they could be made in scale with existing lines, depending on they respective "real world" sizes: A Ligaa in 1/10 scale should be doable (1/18-1/15 would be more practical, though), and all other units in 1/55 to go with the Masterpice Alphas and Betas.

All the positive reviews and amiami's 25% off on the Mac-Q coupled with their 1/2 off international shipping finally made me pull the trigger on this bad boy... ordered myself one and got the payment request today. Under $195.00 with EMS shipping (too large to qualify for Registered SAL, according to them) is at least $20.00 less than anywhere else; and with EMS I should be getting the thing within about a week's time. I'll soon be able to see what all the fuss is about.

Just got mine form amiami today. Impressive looking little figure and power suit. The engineering Bandai did on this is just short of amazing. And I don't know if this has been mentioned before (too lazy to go through all the pages), but Alto is just about in perfect scale with Figma figures... cool.

Thanks for the heads-up and link. This was one of the items on my wish list that I kept putting off because I was loath to spend +/- $85.00 plus S&H; but for app. $42.50 + shipping I'm game. Ordered!

Let me just say I spent too much and leave it at that...

The company I work for has both an SLA machine with a 10"x10" capacity tank, and a Dimension Unit with roughly the same build volume capacity. In my personal experience, Dimension parts are good only for the typical meeting show and tell; if you need a "quick" and dirty model of objects without medium to fine detail than that's the rout to take... the results are good enough to show marketing types in order to get feedback on shape and size of a particular product. Also, since the Dimension process entails the extrusion of a near-melting-point filament of ABS, it is better suited for early stage prototyping where the model being made is still a solid mass -- this process is not kind to shelled parts, ribs, bosses, flanges, snaps, or any form of detail as the bonding between layers is very fragile. On the plus side, clean-up is a cinch since the parts are anchored to the building plate by a soluble support substrate that dissolves in a hot detergent bath. When fine detail is desired, intended for pre-production validation, or the part is to be sanded and painted to be shown to clients or for a photo shoot, then SLA is used. Layer resolution is .1mm (.004") so the parts are supper accurate, and today's resins have properties to meet just about any requirement need by the end-user: rubber like, resiliency, transparency, heat resistance (the stuff we currently have in our machine is water clear and mimics the physical properties of PP... very cool stuff). SLA is very easy to sand... think hard casting resin; it also takes paint and tinting very well. On the down side, clean up is a royal b!tch; the supports that anchor the parts to the building grid are the same material as the part and require a dedicated cleaning station filled with solvent or alcohol, and a lot of elbow grease to detach and clean (it's smelly and messy), and the waste is toxic so proper disposal is a must. Also, parts must be post-cured in a UV booth to finish them before anything else is done to them. I've had limited experience with SLS; but I recall that, unlike SLA, it is limited in the size of the parts that can be built (that may have changed with the possible introduction of larger frame machines), and resolution is somewhat rougher. SLS parts are extremely strong, and IIRC, metal deposition is a supported process as well. And clean up is a breeze since there are no supports; you just shake, blow the parts with an air hose to remove unused media, and go. There is an Israeli machine that competes with SLA for resolution, sandability and paintability that is very interesting too. Accuracy and surface finish is on par with SLA, although material strength was lacking on the last samples I handled. On the plus side, if you need multimedia printing this is your choice (Ex.: lets say you need a part representing a plastic housing with a rubberized grip over-molded onto it, or a button membrane covering a switch slot... this is the machine to use as their top-of-the-line unit can generate your model with both materials in a single building session); and since the build support is a non-toxic paraffin-like substance that encapsulates the prototype, clean-up is easy. That is my experience with Rapid Prototyping. Hope it helps in your search.