Mechamaniac

Dude, all things considered, I'd rather see Anthony Keidis follow in his father's footsteps, and go into acting, cuz that is one tone deaf, non-singing mofo.

Yeah, I posted it for the price. Even for non Matrix fans like myself, that's a pretty tempting deal. All the movies, extra DVD's and a little Keanu statue I could plink at with my .22. I'm one in the minority I'm sure, that thinks that the series would have been much better if they didn't have [whoa] Keanu [/whoa] in them. The only Keanu film I like is Point Break, and that's because he is ok at portraying a pothead surfer type.

Any sign of your modded saber yet Chowser?. I'm dying to see pics!.

Actually, I didn't know his arms moved until you said something. The problem has been corrected. Max no longer looks like he's fondling a bull's nutsack.

I'm not a Matrix fan, but I know a bunch of you d00d5 are... Hey, if you're not a fan, but know someone, and want a good HallowThankMas present... http://www.woot.com/ There ya go...

LOL, great minds think alike. The best part is that the pieces under the clear stands are just images I printed on the color laser at work, and trimmed with an xacto. For the skull squad guys, I scanned Takatoys sticker sheet. . All the other DYRL figs got the Macross Summer '84 logo that we got from Garoquel. You can't really see it, but Isamu got the Mac Plus logo that I scanned from one of TheLoneWolf's cd jackets. I still need to come up with one for the Flower Ho, and a standard Kite logo version for generic Macross use.

I hate the stock CM's stands with a bloody passion. Therefore, I improved upon them... I ordered some action figure stands, and then when I got them, I was struck with another idea. I have personalized them per character. These stands will support EVERY CM's figure to date, except for Ishtar of course since she's really lying down more than anything. It should be pointed out that I have modified my CM's figures in order for them to work. I had to drill a small hole in the foot of each figure. Don't worry though, it is an easy mod on all but Misa and DYRL Minmay (Series 1) since their feet are so small. Also, if you want some of these figs to stand on their own, you will have to add extra support to the legs. Namely, the Flower Girl, Misa, and DYRL Minmay (Series 3). I added extra support by taking long push pins I stole from work, and driving them very carefully up through the bottom of the figures foot so that they extend into the calf. This is necessary since the PVC is so soft on these things that they will usually bend under their own weight. Anyway, on to the pics...

Remember Kanata, first wash plane, THEN drink... Also, yeah, that site is cool, but a word of caution. Pastel chalk panel lining is A PAIN IN THE ASS Yes, it looks cool, when you are done, but WOW is it painstaking wiping all that goo off. I wish I had seen that site before I did my first pastel chalk lining, I was freaking out thinking I was doing something wrong.. You can't really see it too well here, but I did my Zaku desert scheme in Tamiya flats and then used a pastel chalk wash to dinge up the lines a bit. The cool thing about using the pastel chalk goo method is that it actually leaves grime in the grooves which is really cool when you consider dirt and dust interacting with lubricants etc, and leaving a general gunk on the mech...

Thanks John!. Any praise from you is a compliment indeed!. As to the surgery, meh, no big deal. If you look in the background, you'll see my cordless dremel... I strongly advise everyone building this kit to EXPERIMENT. Little bits at a time. I have hot glued this part together about 15 times now doing test fits. But, IMHO, the cockpit is the coolest part of the D, so I want to make sure it looks as good as I can make it with my lack o' skill. John is right about the second pilot, if done correctly, the feet will rest pretty much on the tires, and if you mod the forward seat as I have done mine, you will give the rear pilot that much more leg room. Right now, I'm trying to make sure that both DYRL and TV pilots will fit in there correctly. Back to work...

OK, here's the pic... As you can see, I have completely gotten rid of the screw hole in the middle of the cockpit. This is a pretty huge leap of faith, as it also requires you to remove the middle section of the piece that gets sandwiched between the fuselage halves. That piece is what links the fuselage section to the chestplate etc. However, since there is no screw there any longer, there's not much sense in having the screw hole there since you are going to have to glue the whole thing together anyway. This way, you have plenty of space for the second seat, and the second pilot. Also, notice that I have modded the first seat as follows... I have removed the raised back section (where the tanks are) as well as the edges at the back of the seat. This gives you a place to secure the second console since it is to be attached to the back of the first seat, and it also gives you more room for the second pilot's feet.

Whew, I finally got done modding the cockpit for my kit. I had to make some very extensive modifications to make everything fit, but now it's great. If you guys want, I can post pics of my mods.

OK, so I e-mailed the guy from Chowser's auction. BTW - due to the demand he has been getting from his auctions, he has set up a website... www.ultrasabers.com For those of us who have non-4th gen FFX Sabers, he has advised me that they can be converted with the Luxeon led etc, however, due to space limitations within the hilt, they cannot be safely modified to removeable blade. He also advised (because I asked ) that he does intend to sell conversion kits as well as offering the conversion service. So, for those of us who want to mod our own sabers, and hopefully save a few bucks in the process, it will be available. I took my Mace Windu saber apart last night (I just can't resist messing with stuff ) and it doesn't look hard to mod these things. I haven't gotten into the electronics yet, but it looks pretty simple. Chowser - any sign of your modded Anakin yet?. I'm really anxious to see pics of the removeable blade mod.

The only pin you will have to provide is the one for the backpack hook. All other pins are the stock pins.

Oh, I know, I listened to the commentary the other day. But all Lucas says is that they wanted to change his voice down a little to make him sound more ominous. The voice changes I'm talking about were numerous. I mean, the dude used at least 5 different voices within a 10 minute time period.

True dat. They were not so far apart in age for it to be unbelievable. I'm not sure about the Obi-Wan / Padme thing though. I'm not a big enough SW fan to have ever seen this clarified, but either Obi Wan aged VERY badly in the 20 years between ROTS and ANH, or he was much older than he looked in ROTS. I guess he's in his late 30's by ROTS, but he looked younger. I also agree about the Windu vs Palpatine duel. That was sweet. Up until that time, you could tell Palpatine was evil, but it was right under the surface. It all came out when he broke bad on the Jedi that came to arrest him. You could just see his face twist with evil joy when he ran that first Jedi through, and quickly cut the other two down in pretty short order. After that though, he kind of went to crap. I wish they hadn't changed his voice SO many times during that duel scene. One second, he was normal, the next, he was feeble sounding old defeated man, then he was croaking NO NO NO, then he was screaming UNLIMITED POWER!, then he was half wheezing when Anakin swore allegiance to him, then his voice changed again, and again, and then he became the cackling old fool when he fought Yoda. Am I the only one that notice that?

Actually, the Cap is the now owner of the VF-1J I donated for the conversion process. What can I say?, [godfather]He made me an offer I don' refuse[/godfather] However, I did get both the pigmented, and the non-pigmented versions of this kit, and they are AWESOME. You will not be disappointed if you snag one. Unfortunately, my conversion is sort of stalled right now since I ran out of paint, and had to order more. That's what I get for being a Tamiya junkie, and picking an obscure-ass color...

Well, after playing through a couple of missions, it seems like Battlefront all over again to me. Granted, the visuals are great, especially the fighter battle over Coruscant, but I don't think this one will get too much play time from me. I'm glad they made the flight part better, but no SW flight sim will ever take the place of X-Wing vs Tie Fighter for me.

Rented it today, and ripped it to my xbox So far, I have played a couple of missions. One thing I definitely like so far is that the fighters handle like fighters in this one. The aircraft in BF handled like crap.

Yeah, sucks. I have had my Windu saber for a week now, and have dueled many times with my kids using broomsticks etc, and had no problems at all with it. I bought an Anakin today at BB, took it home, the kids used it for all of 10 minutes with me right there, and one of the cells in the blade died, so I took it back, and exchanged it for a Vader. I don't really like all the crap on the hilt of the Vader, but I LOVE the color, the recessed ricasso area, and the distinctive Vader sound effects. I wish that dude could convert my Windu saber, but it's a 6 cell. I wonder why they went from 6 to 3 cells?. IMHO, there is a definite advantage to having (RRR) More Power (/RRR) my Windu saber is a good deal louder than either of the 3 cell Anakin or Vader sabers. I too would miss the blade function, but I think it's a worthwhile tradeoff for a sturdier blade that you can remove too. YES! - I really hope MR makes the ObiWan Saber, I love the knobby pommel on that puppy, I can just see it crushing someone's jaw. And the handle is very clean, so you could actually maneuver it without leaving chunks of your palm on the various parts jutting out etc.

Just picked up the Vader at Best Buy They have FFX Sabers on sale for $99 bucks! Now I'm really considering the luxeon conversion since the Vader is a 4th gen. But, can anyone clarify what Chowser said?. The guy doesn't mention anything in his auction about losing the on off lighting effect.

Wow, that's one expensive Focker!. Sorry, I just couldn't resist.

Hey, I've got two empty boxes if you want one of mine. Just LMK.

Coolness, I love the Homeworld ships.

I want to see some more pics before I make up my mind. I'm not kidding myself, I know I will get one anyway, but I really want some better shots and to know what features it has etc.

You're not? 341956[/snapback] Yeah, he doesn't have a spare valk to customize...