Shaorin

GUESS WHAT, PEOPLE!! i have an external HD! it has MANY neat things on it, including some ROBOTECHtm S%$t!! this means that VERY EXCITING things are happening for the ROBOTECHtm franchise!! expect BIG things to come in the coming year, Peeps!!

great work, both of you!! i recognize the base of that stand you made from the old 1/170 ARII HEAVY WEAPON/DUAL SPECIAL SUPER/STRIKE VF-1 BATTROID kits, of which i once had a copy of the VF-1D version. i had done a MOST HIDEOUS job on it at the time, FYI, nevermind. actually, i'm quite surprised that that little base, coupled with a relatively thin parts-frame shaft, is enough to support that heavy chunk of solid resin, suspended so high above. i sure hope that that shaft doesn't warp and bend...

DAMMIT, just cant seem to help myself! i'm a natural-born tweaker! i was planning to keep my HCM pretty much original, finished with the provided decals and nothing else, but now i've found myself tweaking it with a combination of decals from my 1/60v.II and my old 1/72 VF-11B hip-shatterer, and painting in the beacon lights on the wings, tail fins and MAIN LANDING GEAR doors; i pretty much replaced the original nose-module UN-SPACY kites with those from the 1/60v.II sheet out of necessity, as the leg swingbars were always catching on them and messing them up. these new decals, however, do not get in the way of the transformation at all. yes, they ARE a mite oversized, but it doesn't bother me at all. in sum, i think she's about as finished now as she's ever going to get. i now have a very rugged and detailed HCM that looks perfectly at home alongside my matching 1/60v.II, and plays every bit as well in it's own unique way as the 21st century YAMATO offering does... also, a completely unrelated project on the fire; i've been a TREKKIE since i first watched STAR TREK; THE NEXT GENERATION with my mother during it's first U.S. TV broadcast run, from the 1987 pilot ep. "ENCOUNTER AT FARPOINT" onward. not long after, we bought our first VHS copies of the STAR TREK films, from 1979's STAR TREK; THE MOTION PICTURE to 1986's STAR TREK IV; THE VOYAGE HOME, and that's how i experienced the TREK films for the first time in my life, at around eight years of age or so. i saw STAR TREK III; THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK, and i INSTANTLY developed a geek-hard-on for the "U.S.S. EXCELSIOR" registry no. "NX-2000" testbed for the experimental new "TRANSWARP" warp drive system, that was stationed at earth spacedock during the events of the movie. anyway, i pined for a toy or model of that starship for a good long while, until, around 1993-ish, when my father found a copy of the 1991 AMT-ERTL 1/1000 EXCELSIOR model kit and bought it for me. i had precisely ZERO experience as a plastic modeler, so my father attempted to work on the model, while teaching me along the way. it was to be my model, so my father, rather stupidly, took instruction from me on exactly what colors to paint it. for whatever reason, i had had it in my mind, rather firmly, that the starship was supposed to have an overall DARK GREY tone about it, and, despite the fact that my father repeatedly attempted to convince me otherwise, i had insisted on that strangely presumed color scheme, and he gave in to it. the result was a TERRIBLE looking paint scheme on an otherwise beautiful(IMO) starship. now, if that wasn't bad enough as was, my father let ME, an 11/12 year old with almost NO modeling skill ASSEMBLE a glue and paint model kit ALONE, BY MYSELF. OH GOD, the "finished" result was predictably horrid. a tragic waste of a 20 dollar model of a gorgeous sci-fi space vehicle. ANYWAY, fast-forward 17 years, and here i am, with significantly improved modeling skills, stopping by my local HOBBY TOWN USA to pick up some more TAMIYA COLORs, and i happen across this brand new, late-2010 reissue of the 1994 "STAR TREK; GENERATIONS" 1/1000 model of the U.S.S. ENTERPRISE NCC-1701-B variant/refit of the old EXCELSIOR AMT-ERTL kit. it was but $30.00, when existing unbuilt copies of the old EXCELSIOR kit frequent EBAY for $50/over $100.00, so i saw my opportunity to give my beloved starship of my childhood another shot, and repent for my childhood sins, and attempt the model one more time!! as you can see, i fairly know what i'm doing now, and i have the basic work already done. i've TONS of detail work to do yet, however, and much of it will have to wait until i hit HOBBY TOWN USA again to pick up some TAMIYA MASKING TAPE. also, i have a source here for custom U.S.S. EXCELSIOR waterslides that i intend to take advantage of, and make my model a refit of the EXCELSIOR herself, remodelled to the design standards established by the ENTERPRISE NCC-1701-B back in 1994; http://www.starshipmodeler.biz/shop/index.cfm/product/1028/uss-excelsior-nx-and-ncc-2000-decals.cfm i've a HELL of a project ahead of me, wish me luck!! EDIT; i just realized that that custom decal sheet actually has pretty much every detail marking that i would otherwise have to hand paint! i think i'll wimp out and hold off on my MASKING TAPE stratagem, and just buy myself this decal set and use it for all the detail work! after all, i'm not all that hot of a model painter, even after all these years, and many, MANY crappy GUNDAM kits, and even a handful of MACROSS ones under my belt. i'd just like this model to at least look somewhat professional, if possible, and i see this decal sheet as the best way to be going about achieving that. i know i'll be needing to seal the decals in with a lacquer, so what would best work; DULL or GLOSS? i'm leaning towards a GLOSS myself...

i remember that!! Ar Tonelico I and II really are sweet, wonderful little games, despite their rather unimpressive in-game graphics and bizarre character fashion sense. a pair of honest-to-goodness gems in the rough. i PRAY that AT III maintains the high standard. i am REALLY looking forward to it...

"Your Move, Creep!!" ROBOCOP's one of the great sci-fi movie series of my childhood. to be honest, i was really much too young and innocent-minded for any of the films when they first saw their theatrical debut, but my parents still ended up taking me to see the last two films, in 1990, and '93. granted, the last two were not quite as over the top as the first movie, most especially the last one, but ROBOCOP 1 is, IMHO, one of the last movies any sane parent would ever wish to take their six year old child to,(my age, back in 1987) and a nine year old seeing something like ROBOCOP 2 in 1990 was not a terribly grand idea either, IMO, in retrospect. nevertheless, thanks to my rather liberal-minded parents, i got to see some rather nasty cinema in my young childhood, and none of it really actually bothered me at all back then, to be honest, as i was more than smart enough at the age to know full well that it was simply a movie, so perhaps i'm being a wee bit conservative, considering the times. at any rate, Alex Murphy's awesome, and the movies are good flicks for the not so faint of heart, but BUSTS have never been my idea of great merchandise. just my opinion, nevermind...

got to admit, that's quite cute... and so is that!! oh god, ♥Kawaii♥ i LOVE her darling sweet sincere little expression♥ is there any higher-res/larger version of that to be found anywhere? she is such an ♥Angel♥

yeah, most likely due to the fact that T-cats, Voltron, He Man, Wheeled Warriors, Etc. didn't have;

both, actually... yeah, it's too bad KENNER didn't make a toy, no? perhaps they might have, had the toy line and animated series been more successful. in fact, i feel it might very well had been so, had KENNER and Aramaki decided to design the MASK vehicles to transform into actual humanoid mecha rather than gimmick-laden "super-vehicles" too bad there's no firm line art/high quality images to be found (or is there?) of this "Hermes Jet" because then you could pay a skilled modeler to scratch-build you a replica. actually, if you were to buy the DVD set with that ep, buy screen shot/video capture software for your computer, you should be able to screen cap the shots i provided above in high-res, and use them to have a model built...

yeah, she's a purty little thing, surely another great Aramaki design. here's some crappy low-res screencaps to salivate over; as an aside, i sure miss the physical lines of pre-1990's military fighter aircraft. for me, it all went downhill starting with STEALTH aircraft such as the F-117 and B-2. that's been bad enough as is, but then the F-22 comes along, and starts totally taking over. totally fugly trainwreck of a fighter aircraft as it is, IMO, it even forced the legendary and beautiful F-14 into complete retirement. a paramount and completely unforgivable sin. fear not, i fully understand all the ways and means of modern military fighter aircraft design, improved aerodynamics, reduced Radar Cross Section and all that wonderful S%$t, it's just so regrettable to me that the incredibly gorgeous lines of traditional military fighter aircraft must be so completely sacrificed for all that fantastically important crap. DAMMIT, i want my 1960's/1980's fighter jets back!! NOW!!!! ah well, that's what scale models are for, after all...

Meh. BUCK ROGERS was and is great!!

ALL of this; * YAMATO 1/60v.II VF-1J ICHIJO TV TYPE * BANDAI 1/72 HCM VF-1J ICHIJO TV TYPE * CM's CORP. 1/8 "GUTTO KURU" Lynn Minmay * VICTOR/JVC MACROSS; THE COMPLETE three CD SDF;M/DYRL/FB 2012 OST SET (NOT PICTURED) * MACROSS CHRONICLE MAGAZINE Vol.1 (with large detailed article covering the Ichijo TV VF-1J) (i have a transparent plastic ring binder envelope bound into the magazine, between the last page and back cover, that neatly contains the instruction manuals and HCM file cards for both 1Js) make no mistake, there is LOTS MORE MACROSS crap out there that i very much want to own. that in mind, the items shown above are what i've always wanted the most, and THE essential core set of MACROSS merch. for me. i'd loath to contemplate living without it...

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awesome!! thanks!

ah, the classic, All-American "it's a Cartoon, a disposable product for kiddies, and not to be taken seriously" wiewpoint. no matter how damned hard U.S. Anime fans work to gain ground for Anime as a legitimate Audio-Visual art form, few outside the core fanbase will ever see or accept it as such. cultural perceptions are just too damned strong. i fear that the Great U.S. Anime Boom of the first five/seven years of the 21st century will likely be the closest Anime will ever come to gaining it's rightful place in the mainstream U.S. video-entertainment industry...

just picked up the third and final entry in NIS/GUST's 2006/2011 "Ar Tonelico" series, and i don't even have a PS3 for it yet!! like all of my boxed special edition games, i converted the front-opening outer box into a much more convenient slipcase design;

that's actually very well done!!

i never had an opportunity to see the T.V. series, not even a single ep. though i DID have the "RHINO" KENWORTH W900 semi truck. as a child, i thought it pretty damned cool, and in retrospect, it actually holds up fairly well; incidentally, i recall someone somewhere claiming that KENNER hired Shinji Aramaki of ARTMIC fame to design all the vehicle toys for their M.A.S.K. line. can anyone verify this? DAMN, was the decade of my childhood Effin' COOL...

IIRC, Hikaru and Misa were using full GERWALK mode, arm units deployed, of their VT-1 all throughout the "escape" sequence with Focker in DYRL, up until the scene where they found Minmay and got sucked out that hole in the hull of the Zentran ship, then they shifted to FIGHTER mode after the space fold, simultaneously jettisoning their VT-1's FAST-PACK system as they were entering earth atmosphere... oh, and the VT-1 never was a big seller among anyone but the hardest of hardcore MACROSS fans; the Valk collection completests and the few out there who are genuinely fond of the VT-1 design. the VE-1 ELINTSEEKER is an even tougher sell, i believe, as it is an equally unorthodox design, with nowhere near as iconic a status as the VT-1... why settle for your mistake? dismantle and reassemble it until you have it right! -♥ Sunset Beach ♥-

i can see why; it dries fast, wears hard, and looks great! water soluble, too!! VERY nice features in a plastic modeling pigment, especially after making do for so long with some pretty rancid oddball brands, such as BATTLETECH "RAL PARTHA" colors and GAMES WORKSHOP "CITADEL COLOUR" if i ever run afoul of any of that crap again, it'll be FAR too soon!!

it's too bad she is so small, but she IS quite detailed, and VERY accurate indeed, so i'll gratefully take what i can get!!

i've pretty much finished a restoration project on my 1985 BANDAI High Complete Model VF-1J that i hadn't been counting on doing when i bought it, but became increasingly obvious in it's necessity the more that i've handled the model since receiving it. one thing i HAD been planning ever since i payed the seller for my HCM, however, was to paint the little DYRL Lynn Minmay figure included with the model. my large stock of old late '80s/early 90's TAMIYA COLOUR and TESTORS MODEL MASTER plastic modeling pigments left over from my ex-father's binge of military aircraft and land vehicle modeling, and inherited by me about fifteen years ago, is getting MUCH too old now, and simply WOULD NOT DO for a rare and expensive vintage MACROSS item, IMHO, so i invested in some brand new TAMIYA in the shades i needed for Minmay, as well as a handful of tones that i figure i often use, and a complete set of translucents for wingtip beacon lights and the like; these are some of the first TAMIYAs i have ever bought, and their coverage and hold are superb. i plan on rounding out my small collection of fresh, 21st century pigments with a few more of my common-use tones, mostly blue shades. i don't do a whole lot of plastic modeling anymore, but at least now i'm on my way to being well prepared for the future. here's the Minmay figure, before and after painting; now, regarding the HCM Valk itself; the entire model was, straight out of the box, moderately loose in the joints, with VERY loose wing joints. that, for me at least, SIMPLY WOULD NOT DO for a $150.00 toy-like model, no matter how vintage, so i dismantled the entire model, and went throughout, cutting tiny strips if electrician's tape, and wrapping it on the peg/pegs of nearly every joint area, from the landing gear doors, to the gear themselves. from the arm and leg joints to the folding tail fin joints. i also firmed up all the screw holes with LOCTITE "TITE-N" screw tightener; the ultimate result was WELL WORTH the hassle, as i've now an HCM Valk that is literally TIGHT AS A DRUM. no S&%t, this baby is a ROCK, with tight, positive, smooth joint action. it's beautiful, really. in the end, i'm contemplating detailing up this HCM some, maybe some of the fine details such as those wing and tail fin beacon lights. i don't want to veer too far away from it's out-of-box appearance, but i figure it should have painted detail roughly equal to my Yammie 1/60v.II, at least. we'll see...

she is said to be about 6.75in. in height, which is about the same height as my ALTER brand "Fauna" from the eroge PC game and Anime "Megamisama Chuuihou" (not measuring her stand or it's metal support bar, only from the toe of her left boot to top of her head) http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll310/shaorin-chan/Cute%20Fauna/CuteFauna.jpg http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll310/shaorin-chan/Cute%20Fauna/Fauna-Leukothea-Jordh2.jpg bear in mind, though, that Fauna is in a crouching mid-prance pose while measuring that rough 6.75" and Minmay is standing pretty much erect, so yes, i'd say that Miss Macross is pretty much somewhat smaller than 1/8...

awesome. it's on my short list. i just read Graham's Yammie 1/3000 DYRL SDF-1 review, and i think that it's pretty much a must-have for me as well. it'll hurt financially, as the cheapest i could find it was for $405.00usd total shipped from HK, but i think it'll be more than worth every penny. it'll be some time indeed before i'll be able to actually afford any of this crap, perhaps some time this year if lucky, but i KNOW it'll all be worth the saving and waiting...