mechaninac
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Everything posted by mechaninac
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No apologies necessary. Melda Dietz... much, much better. It "sounds" German. Although, with the somewhat ambiguous, and kind of interchangeable, nature of "R" and "L" in Japanese, the original spelling you had for her first name could also be deemed correct, but oh so wrong...
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Wait, what? Is that name for real? Merda, as in Scat? And Ditz, as in Scatterbrained? Oh, Japan, sometimes it's hard not to engage in ridicule with your choices of character naming...
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Yeah, and she looks pi$$ed!
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That could work. Design the parts so their internal geometry matches that of the ones being replicated so that fit to the toy is guaranteed, and make the outward facing surfaces as thick as they need to be in order to meet shapeways minimal requirements; the buyer then has to file/sand down to the final thickness.
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Hot damn...!
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... that's why I don't like buying from vendors that charge upfront. It's much easier to reconsider a preorder when no money's been exchanged. The best advice I can give is to send CDJ a very politely worded email inquiring about the possibility of cancellation and refund.
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But Bandai did do it already, use a more resilient plastic for the parts breaking on the 171 CF, that is. Alto's VF-171EX has the exact same design/engineering/molding and has had no such breakage issues reported; the problem with the CF is undoubtedly due to the use of either a lower quality/lower grade, cheaper plastic formulation, or some other change in their molding process (faster cycling time, change in molding temperature, something...) that results in ridiculously more brittle parts that can't handle the stresses present... stresses that were adequately addressed by the same parts on the EX model. Edit: I hope I'm wrong, but I have a feeling that one or more of the parts that need replication are too thin to be accepted by Shapeways.
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"Lie big and get away fast"... damn, I love this show!
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He looks like a proud papa showing off his precocious tricycle-motor...
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Planning on licking it, are you?...
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Add me to the list of those who've just received shipping notification from N-Y. SAL shipping, so it should be in my grubby hands in 1+ to 3 weeks; curious to see what $78 and change gets me...
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Maybe I'm just too jaded, but I wasn't all that impressed by the premier; as in, mostly "yawn".
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Arcadia is walking a mighty fine line with their pricing strategy: Charge too little and they have to make and sell a lot of units to make a profit, but in doing so run the risk of flooding the market if the item does not prove a hit (VF-22s anyone?) which leads to diminished returns, and antagonizing retailers who later have to discount to move inventory; charge too much and they risk scaring away a sizable portion of their prospective customers, and losing sales due to pricing themselves out of the market, regardless of them being the only game in town. Have they hit the correct price point?... Only time will tell. For me, the price is a hard one to accept as a consumer... it's a lot of money for a plastic toy! However, not being privy to Arcadia's overhead and target profit margin, I won't try to second guess them, but I will have to think long and hard if the MSRP they've settled on is something I can justify to myself in a world of so many other things that either offer far more bang for the buck, or take priority over frivolous collecting.
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Dobber, you've made that plucked turkey look fantastic.
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That stuff is mold release oil, not joint lubricant. It is bothersome as it does feel greasy.
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Of course it is. If the intent is to add material from the molded part, as in additional raised detail, or to slightly alter the shape so that the end result has more meat than prior to making the change, then that is a relatively easy tool alteration involving the removal of metal from the mold... EDM it, re-polish, and re-texture if necessary; on the other hand, if the goal is to subtract plastic from the final part then material has to be added to the tool, which involves welding of new metal to the mold, resulting in a somewhat weaker mold that then has to be machined to achieve the final geometry -- it can be done, but it's not ideal. In short, where molt tooling is concerned, it is always easier and preferable to remove metal than to add it; this is likely the reason no new recessed panel line details were added to the toy: recessed feature(s) in the part = removal of plastic = adding material to the mold tooling = big headache.
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It's back! New season premiering tonight... joy!
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I totally agree that if the choice is between forking over import duty tax to government bureaucrats or paying a comparable sum to the vendor supplying the goods, then the vendor is a far worthier of the lucre... the seller provides a service, the government just wants more money to waste. N-Y and Nin-Nin declare ludicrously small amounts that can save you a lot of mullah in import fee in countries that inflict such charges on their residents, so those two stores, and others, are an attractive option in this case. In the case of the US, their inflated prices are only worth it, at this point, as a last resort to acquire an item that may prove hard/impossible to purchase at or below MSRP elsewhere. If we're talking about Bandai's Frontier DXs, starting with the VF-171 CF their mark-up has been an unnecessary premium.
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OCD, when manifested in collecting, can be a wonderful or terrible thing, depending on your point of view; and in either case, very expensive...
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If they had the F model for near the same discount, I'd jump on it; I already have the S, and couldn't care any less for the Fire Valk.
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Why bother, AmiAmi still has available stock at 6% off (18,800 JPY + Shipping ~ $187.26 + $20.00-25.00 SAL) as of this post. VF-171 CF, RVF-25, and now the VF-27... all readily available well after release at or bellow MSRP. Now, where is the VF-25S re-release announcement Bandai? Edit: If it weren't for the fact I've already spent far too much this year, with a bunch more stuff I have on preorder due out before the end of the year, I'd be tempted to get a second one from AmiAmi.
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Expect a VF-25G Renewal reissue announcement a few months after the re-release of the VF-25S is confirmed, which hasn't happened yet... Bandai may wait until close to the VF-25A's release before announcing Ozma's re-pop. I would not expect any news on reissuing Michael's unit for at least another 8-12 months, but anyone's guess is as good as mine.
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1/250 in plastic, for a one off? You'd do better with rapid prototyping. Plastic parts require 3D modeling just like you'd need for RP, only more so because you have to take into account draft angles, undercuts, pull direction, plastic shrinkage, wall thicknesses, internal ribbing geometry to supply wall buttressing while avoiding sink marks, and on and on. Then there is the need for the injection molding tooling -- aluminum (for low production runs) or steel (for high volume) blocks ranging in size from a small coffee table to a Smart Car that need to me sourced, designed with cooling lines, ejector pins, injection gates, cams, swappable inserts, etc. After that you need to secure a factory with the necessary injection molding machines to accommodate your production run. You'd be in the hole for hundreds of thousands of dollars before you ever saw your first off-tool sample.
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I had mine shipped SAL from HS and it took all of 9 days to arrive at my door (NE, USA)... 7 days for the subsequent VF-25F that shipped 3 days later, also by SAL; both were very well packed and got to me in mint condition, so I wouldn't worry about it. If I'm not mistaken, HS offers the same range of shipping options as HLJ: regular SAL (no tracking), EMS, and FedEx; but other than SAL, the faster options are more expensive than HLJ's. Edit: regular SAL means uninsured, so HS has no liability for shipping mishaps.
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Guillermo Del Toro’s ‘Pacific Rim'
mechaninac replied to fifbeat's topic in Anime or Science Fiction
Already?... boy, that was fast.