Mechamaniac

Yeah, they left it out. They alluded to it in the scene where Hagrid was telling Madame Maxine about his father being so small etc, and then he says "What about you?" or something like that. In the book, he was a lot more direct, and she got all kinds of pissed at him. But since they wind up going off together at the end of the book to rally the Giants, I guess the film makers saw fit to remove that little spat. Yeah, I thought they did a great job with it...right up to the part where it turned into a typical action adventure chase scene that never happened in the book.

I saw it on Friday. It was MUCH better than POA in my opinion. Some thoughts I had... Brendan Gleeson (Mad Eye Moody) STOLE THE FLICK. He was awesome!, the special effects of Moody's character were damn good, and he nailed the part. Michael Gambon is growing on me as Dumbledore....a little. It's sad to think that Richard Harris so brilliantly portrayed the ancient Albus Dumbledore because he himself was very sick. However, I still think Michael Gambon is a little too animated as Dumbledore. Remember we're talking about a VERY old guy here, somewhere around 140 years old according to JK. Another thing that bothered me in this movie was his portrayal of Dumbledore's anger and frustration. After the Goblet scene, where he runs in and shouts at Harry "Did you put your name in the Goblet???!!!" and later, after Harry has discovered the Pensieve, and Dumbledore is sitting on the floor and expressing his frustration etc. One of the coolest things about Dumbledore is that he doesn't get angry, and he would never express his frustration (weakness) in front of a student. Dumbledore is calm and composed all the time, which is why he is so formidable when he faces Tom in the Ministry in book 5. I also didn't like that they showed Crouch Jr. in the first scene. I understand, cinematically that they had to dumb it down for those who have not read the books, but still,it irked me. I wish they had shown MORE of the Quidditch World Cup, and I wish they had been a little more accurate about the Death Eater's attack following the World Cup etc. They left out the ENTIRE backstory about Dobby, Winky, S.P.E.W. etc, and that kind of pissed me off. For fans of the books, this is an affront, but they successfully dumbed it down for the click and drool movie audience. One side effect of this was that they actually re-wrote the book and had Longbottom provide the Gillyweed for Harry instead of Dobby, MEH... The Tri-Wizard Tournament was done very well IMHO. They left out some details in the maze at the end, but replaced it well I think. The graveyard scene was VERY well done. I love the Death Eater's maskes and costumes, they were very scary looking. The only thing that let me down about that scene was Voldemort's voice. That is partly my fault since I have listened to Jim Dale doing Voldemort for years in the HP Audio Books, so I was a little disappointed that Voldemort's voice wasn't as high, shrill, and cold as the one Jim Dale does. All in all, I really liked the film. It was MUCH better than POA.

The Duke is correct. I'm not positive about the first pic, but the two from the box are from the This Is Animation Illustrations poster book seen here... http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/books/...lustrations.htm and here... http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/books/mecha_illub.jpg

I just hope the seams in the legs isn't due to them being die-cast. If the 1/48 taught us anything it was that you could make a damn nice, and sturdy toy without using die cast, and the die cast legs on the 1/60 VF-1 were craptastic as well. However, after a second look at the second page scan, it looks like the leg armor might be magnetic, see the round metallic thing in the center?. I bet they are magnetic, and the legs are freaking die cast.

Especially now that it seems they have killed off that goldbricking smelly C word last episode.

It would be really cool to have a sculpted base then. Something that looks like runway, or hull plating.

Will these bases support 1/48 Yammies?

OK, I took apart the electronics on the Windu saber, and measured. The blade on the Windu saber descends into the hilt 2 1/4 inches. I think that would be fine for removeable blade with a set screw.

Well, the base of the blade sits about a half inch forward of the power switch when the saber is put together. So, there's probably about 4 or 5 inches of embedded blade, more than enough in my opinion for making the blade removable.

And finally, here's a pic looking down the maw of the saber. I'm no expert, but looking at the conversion sleeves they make and sell at TheCustomSaberShop.Com, I think there's plenty of room in there to make this blade removeable. I think the main reason for not being able to do it on the Windu is that there are no screws near the blade like there are on the Anakin and the Vader. I for one, won't mind if I have to add a thumb screw somewhere to allow me to remove the blade. We'll see though, as soon as I get done being BROKE, I'm going to order a Vader conversion kit and experiment with the Windu for size etc.

Here's a pic of the re-assembled saber hilt...

Here's a shot of the battery sleeve / electronics housing, and where the plastic will break when you unscrew the hilt in Step 6. The piece that breaks is only a cover for the tab on the electronics housing. This is only to make sure the battery is aligned properly as it follows the same line as the yellow indicator. It didn't hurt anything at all in my case, when I reassemble my Saber it works fine...

Once you get to this point, you should be able to slide the middle portion of the metal sleeve forward, and off of the blade/electronics assembly. Here's a shot of the disassambled Saber components...

Step 6... Now, here's where it REALLY gets tricky. On the 05 Sabers, you can slide out the whole electronics housing intact, but on the Windu, you can't do that since the inside of the hilt is varying degrees of circumfrence. Locate the middle section of the hilt, just forward of the gold rings (see pic) The Saber threads apart here. However, there is a small tab in between them. This is where the battery sleeve meets the electronics housing. When you unscrew this, it will break the plastic shroud that covers the tab on the electronics housing. THIS WILL NOT AFFECT THE FUNCTIONALITY OF THE SABER, so don't worry. Completely thread off the rear portion of the Saber hilt, and remove it.

Step 5... Again, tricky. In my case, I removed all the gold buttons on the top of the hilt thinking there would be screws under them. There were not. You can leave all but the middle (power) switch in place before you proceed. Now, again, this is a little tricky. The gold power button is rubber cemented onto a plastic underpiece that actually clips onto the power switch inside the saber hilt. VERY CAREFULLY pry upward on the power switch, and you should be able to remove the gold part from the plastic underpiece. Once this is done, you will have to again VERY CAREFULLY remove the power switch, but remember, it is clipped on, so go slowly. There are two small rectangular holes in the top of the switch. Take a very small screwdriver, and insert it into the hole, and apply outward pressure to release the clip. Repeat this on the other side, and remove the switch completely. I would take pics of mine, but I broke one end of my switch in the process, so I don't want to set a bad example.

Step 4... Here's where it gets tricky. YOU DO NOT NEED TO REMOVE THE PLEATHER!. I did, but I did not have to. There is one screw underneath the pleather. It is directly in the center, and about a half inch from the pommel end of the pleather. If you feel around with your finger, you should be able to feel it. You can either carefully peel back the pleather (but it is rubber cemented on) or, once you have located the screw, cut an X over it with the xacto, and remove the screw.

Step 3... At the blade end, the hex screws in the gold rim are misleading. If you remove them, you will be able to remove the golden ring, and you will find a rubber o-ring in there. The o-ring is probably just there for shock absorption. YOU DO NOT NEED TO REMOVE THE GOLD RING. Simply unscrew the end piece, and it will thread off. You can then remove it down the length of the blade. NOTE - There will be some resistance as (if you have followed the instructions) the O-Ring will still be present inside the gold ring, and therefore, there will be a little drag as it goes down the blade.

OK, here's the deal with taking apart the Windu Saber... You will need... A phillips head screwdriver (small) A 1.5 mm allen wrench A 2 mm allen wrench An Xacto knife Step 1... Remove the battery cover and battery caddy. Step 2... Locate the countersunk set screw opposite the hanging fob on the pommel end of the grip. Remove it with the 1.5 mm allen wrench, and loosen (do not remove) the hanging fob with the 2mm allen wrench.

OK, I've got my Windu saber completely taken down, and put back together again. I can post instructions w/pics if anyone is interested.

Wow, I thought I was the only one who was considering changing the color. Been thinking about green or blue for my Vader.

WOW The Dude at Ultrasabers is running a grand opening special on his website.... CONVERSIONS ARE NOW $69.00 - SHIPPED http://www.ultrasabers.com/ultramod.html Sucks, dude knocks off $100 and I'm too PHUCKING BROKE to do anything about it!

Too bad the crap ass licensing issue exists. Otherwise, I would suggest approaching Sideshow Collectibles about doing this. They did the 12inch Connor Macleod figure, and are doing the Kurgan as well. And they are making the Kurgan figure 13 inches since he's a tall mofo like Roy. Ah well... Then again, I wonder if you could use a 13 inch Kurgan figure with Roy's parts?.

Cool, thanks Chowser! I e-mailed the dude at Ultrasabers, and he said the Windu could be converted to Luxeon LED, but not removeable blade for safety reasons. Having had my Windu saber apart, I think the mod could be done exactly the same way, if not better. I'll post some pics of the broken down Windu later on, but there is plenty of space to do the blade conversion I think. Either way, I'm going to convert one of them if not both. The other added benefit to converting these is that you can display the hilts in the MRFX stand without having to worry about the blade warping.

Can you take some close up shots of the blade mount?. Thanks! I'm determined to pull this off myself. I just can't see paying someone (at least with how BROKE I currently am, and Christmas coming up etc.) to do this when wiring in a new LED is child's play. I'm keenly interested in the blade mounting thing though. Thanks! Also, I think it looks great. Yeah, it may not be quite as bright, but the color looks tons more even to me, there's none of the "color ring" effect you get from the EL blades.

Looks like it's time to mention Shawn again...