drifand

Inspired by Dekard's waist-joint mod, I decided to operate on my MPSS as well. But instead of clipping those dumb hip-balls off, I decided to do something else: Add 2 more hardpoints to the wings so that the 'sidewinders' won't be wasted. So now I present you with... Fully-Armed Masterpiece Starscream Initially, I thought the matte look of the sticker sheet would transfer well onto the toy, but the excess edges really looked crappy! Using a good sharp hobby knife, I trimmed off the edges as best I could without damaging the surface of SS in the preocess. Frontal view... I learned my lesson, the nose emblem was trimmed on the sheet before application. Underside view. To be honest, I wasn't too precise with the hardpoints on both wings, so one of the pair of missiles is just about 1.5mm forward of the other. Can't spot it during play anyway :-) Here's what the hardpoint looks like. It's taken from a pair of spare parts from a Zoid. The diameter of the hole was enlarged slightly with a round file to fit peg on missile pylon. Thickness sanded down to 2mm, then superglued in place. The peg on the missle pylon as also sanded down so it wouldn't protrude too far from the wing surface. More importantly, I snipped off the trailing end of the missile pylon as well. This combined with the proper placement of the attachment point means the missile can stay in place even as the flaps are folded over during transformation. Neat! Waist-op: Circled areas are where I cut off protruding parts obstructing the turning of the upper torso. Improved poseability comes from greater forward rotation of hips, greater clearance for frontal skirt armor, AND... ... Careful positioning of the hip-kibble. Last note: With the waist-joint mod, the upper torso cannot be fully slid down if you want to pose SS with canopy off-centerline. Result: there is a noticeable 3~4mm gap between the tops of the red chest pods and the back edge of the air-intakes. What I do is to rotate the chest pods upwards to conceal the gap... sure the chest pods aren't flush with the blue torso halves anymore, but it still looks great overall.

Always did wonder if FSW designs are LESS stealthy than 'normal' designs...

When I watched TRL, the only part of the film that resonated with me was when the troops were moving through the bull elephant grass on their way to attack the Japanese base... the tension was so palpable I could imagine myself in the perspiration drenched ranks. Otherwise, the rest of the film was a let down... cinematically there are better ways to communicate such ponderances without boring the audience to sleep. Will definitely catch Clint's latest, though both of his last 2 'hits' were absolute misses with me. The critics were too kind.

Assuming you've already gotten the intakes and 'shoulder guns' into place: 1. Work the wingroots on both sides OFF their pegs on the 'FAST Pack' sides. 2. Grabbing both wings at the rear and close to the fuselage, lift and tug together so that... 3. The central piece with tabs over both wings is LIFTED off it's own peg. 4. Now gently jiggle each wing under and away from the central piece's locking tabs. 5. Continue folding wings over etc. Also, for unfolding the arms, it's a lot easier if: 1. The hip-kibble is pulled out to the sides first, so that... 2. The small pegs on the closed forearms are not trapped. 3. Continue as per instructions...

The TOYS: http://www.toyboxdx.com/data/dougram/dougram.html

With those babes, MAYBE!

Check out the sleek lines on those... planes! http://www.leschevaliers-lefilm.com/site/intro.html And, er... the director is Gerard Pires.... he did the original TAXI comedy-action films, I think.

Deckard, Excellent mods for the waist - it really shows up the questionable choices of the design team Maestro to engineer a waist joint into the toy, THEN cripple it with: 1. Protrusions at the bottom of the blue torso halves; 2. Front skirt armor that rotates nowhere; 3. Hip-balls... Nice mod for the back-mounted kibblr, but I'm still more partial to leave the parts attached to the legs for the illusion of an alternative perfect transformation :-)

28 Days Later was good until 'stupid dad got the dirty eye-drop'... I liked SHAUN OF THE DEAD best... can't beat 'Harry Potter's disembowelment'.

Just wanted to share what I thought was the funniest photo of any jet I've ever seen. Photo credits: "Phantom" by Simone Micheli, published in CREATIVE REVIEW Oct 2006

Kawamori's interview translated on Seibetron: http://www.seibertron.com/news/view.php?id=8612 So: 1. Alt mode 'realism' intended to supersede bot mode. 2. It's supposed to be 'gray', and there's 'enough red' to show it's SS. 3. Shoji wanted to do more to cover the underside but would have compromised bot mode too much. 4. The hip kibble are supposed to evoke 'samurai wearing 2 swords'. Rage on, fans!

Just imagine if they'd gone for real Lizard Green... hoo hoo! (More cries of anguish from the purists)

Singapore Airlines has been running a prominent advertising campaign from about Q2 2006 boasting 'FIRST TO FLY A380'... bet the compensation has to cover some of the costs already plumbed into the ads!

For all the problems I had with the toy, color wasn't the biggest one. It's 'real enough' to me. Any more 'real' it would be an Alternator, I guess. Besides, the original Strike Eagles did come in 'Lizard Green' paint scheme. In the right skies, it'll look 'blue-green' too. (See pic.) At the end of it... haters just keep your fingers crossed and wait for the Hasbro edition, though chances are the hip-kibble's here to stay. Nothing else is gonna happen from Takara except more repaints.

Roy is saying "STOP! You don't want to taste the BS here!"

Luck was not with me on this one. My MP-SS had a bum leg... stuck! Simply wouldn't extend. I like the overall execution even if it's a bit light - the only metal is in the ribcage and a couple of actuators/linkage arms. But I'm more bummed out over the ghastly gaps in the front bulges of the 'FAST packs'... really detracts from the superb disguise! Also, the 'switch face' gimmick is not easy to do... you need to flip up the head and pluck/tease the face down a central peg, rotate it 180-degrees and push it back up. Trouble is, the face-piece is very tight, plucking at SS' chin might cause scratches. In the end, I sent mine back to the shop. As stocks are reserved/low, the seller has promised to attempt 'repairing' the bum leg first. I got a feeling I'll have to wait it out for new stocks in a couple weeks' time. Oh, I paid SGD130 (~82USD). 7/10 - inspite of all the heartache, as compared to an instant 10/10 when I first handled MP-01.

Perversely, I'm more interested in the non-motorized Zoids toys, like the 'Metal-Action' Liger Zero and Berserk Fuhrer, and also the 'playset' Mecha Collection series... really love the Hover Cargo, Whale King, plus the idea of expanding your Zoids 'army' thru capsule-machines. I've got TWO 'battalions' of Empire Zoids on my Whale King versus THREE Hover Cargoes loaded with different Liger-led units. Lately, I've given the 'bio-Zoids' a try, but found them lacking somehow. It's like I was hoping for a 'MG' or even 'PG' level of mechanical complexity in the joints but all I got was simple snap-fit ball joints covered by rubbery 'armor'. Bleah. Anyway, I've also put in a pre-order for the upcoming Kotobukiya Shield Liger kit... now THAT looks like a 'MG/PG' style endeavor! Keeping my fingers crossed :-) Here's one of my fav Rumbles for TBDX... Liger Zero FTW!!! http://www.toyboxdx.com/rumble_plus/170602-liger.html

Soltic, it's Soltic. But seriously, some mecha designs don't seem to translate well into RvT-style. Both RvT Dougram and Soltic look more like actors-in-suits! Guess I'm just too used to the original 1/72 incarnations.

Wan't it Lockheed's legendary engineer 'Kelly' Johnson who said something like, "If you design a plane that looks good, it will fly good."? The F-14 will always be remembered as one of the best looking planes that ever flew.

1/60 Daedulus opening-ramp deck display set. Sold in a Ikea style flat-packed carton. Includes 1 set exclusive paint-variant destroids (blue scheme?). 3 'Monsters' in forced-perspective relief-molded detailing in the back of the case.

It's so chunky the wings seem superfluous... will never take off in atmosphere.

Thanks for the input, Dave. It's definitely something that bears closer scrutiny when the toy is released.

Sorry if this is covered already, but is there any word about the non flush fitting black 'collar' piece in fighter mode? Correct to lineart? Or a step backwards from the 1/72?

Simple answer: $$$ Strike Armor is Movie-style. . Folks who want the TV-style Super Armor for their VF-1S can only do so with THIS package. Or am I wrong?