mechaninac

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.

Concern for a product's price, be it a Yamato toy or anything else you can buy of a frivolous nature, is the wrong thing to dwell on. The retail price on the primary or secondary market will always, with a small margin of variance, reflect what the market will bear (a function of supply and demand, and the prevailing exchange rate since we're discussing imports for most of us). My solution to the collector's quandary is very simple and works every time with just a little application of diligent restraint: if an item is too expensive, don't buy it or wait for the price to drop (there is always the risk of waiting too long and missing the boat, but that is preferable to blowing your cash indiscriminately); if said item happens to be one of those absolute-must-haves then save/budget for it so you can afford it without sacrificing/jeopardizing more important financial necessities.

You bastid, you made me squirt soda out of my nose...

If that is true it's a shame. Aside from the general feeling of flimsiness of the bike, Beagle's overall design and execution are very impressive... not $155.50 shipped impressive, but a worthy addition to anyone's collection nevertheless. And in the case Beagle/Toynami are out of the game, I wish you success in your endeavor to create the other Ride Armor(s). And make sure to post progress pictures... Cheers!

I've recently acquired a Toynami version of Beagle's VR-52F and found myself underwhelmed by how insubstantial it feels in your hands... specially the bike; and it does suffer from some floppy and/or loose fitting parts. However, I don't have the cujones to risk ruining a $160+ toy in an attempt to fix things that shouldn't need tweaking on a toy of this price point. You guys are far braver (crazier?) than me when it comes to this sort of stuff. All of this talk about modding the MOSPEADA type into a BLOWSPERIOR or a FUKE type makes me dizzy and causes me to beg the question: Won't Beagle continue the series and produce the other two Ride Armor types eventually? Or are the CM's 1/18 versions the only way to get a straight-out-of-the-box full-transformation set of all the bikes shown in the series?

I know I may catch some flak for this, but.... meh! I'm too VF-1'ed out to care about another Valkyrie. Kudos to Hasegawa for making it, and to all those who are excited about it; as for me, call me when they get around to doing the VF-11, VF-4, and VF-2SS in 1/48.

Time to switch to Decaf...

I must admit that Elfen Lied had me a little misty eyed in several episodes... and sickened, shocked, disturbed, intrigued, and left wanting more. One of the best animes I've ever watched. Another good emotions tug-ger was Witchblade... the end was quite melancholy. For Sci-Fi movies, one of the only ones I can remember getting me teary eyed was Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan: Spock's death and Kirk's eulogy, even taking into consideration Shatner's acting style, really pulled at the heart strings.

Personally I couldn't care less about all the non-UC MS releases, so the announcement of a MG Victory is very welcome... and the fact that I'm currently watching the Victory Gundam series makes this news is an added bit of sweet serendipity. May the V2 and some BESPA MSs be in the pipeline for release in the near future as well.

The release of a FV-11C isn't what I'd call "stop the presses" news. Once the Gamlin's VF-22S was announced it was clear that Yamato would jump at the chance to amortize their VF-11 molds; heck, the differences between the B and C 11s are even more negligible than those between the 21 and 22s. Regardless, this is welcome since (aside from more Macross toys being always welcome) the implication of the 22s and now the 11C is that the M7 floodgates are open and we are almost garanteed VF-17s and VF-19s in the future (I prefer the Blazer over the Kay myself), and the possibility of the Protect Armor for the 11. I have just aquired the B version and love it... the soap bubble effect on the canopy is a thing of beauty. The 11C will go on my to-buy list pending either a sale, discount, or more favorable exchange rate... as long as I can get one for aroung $200 USD, shipped, I'm in.

As interesting as these look, they are not worth $30.00 plus shipping. Beside, I would be much more interested in auxiliary equipment such as the tractor, tender, and personnel transport from the series, as well as a slew of figures like maintenance crews, standing pilots and ship's crew in uniform in 1/60 scale to populate a nice display diorama.