Gundamhead

Resin kits tend to be very limmited in their numbers and are usually of 'unusual and uncommon' subjects. Resin kits use RTV rubber molds that only last for a few casts compared to the thousands that steel molds for injection plastic uses. Resin is a liquid plastic that hardens through a chemical reaction. (Sorta but not really like plaster.) Unlike other plastics, it doesn't need tremendous heat or pressure to form parts. Generally it takes two parts (A and B) to react with each other that causes the resin to harden after a certain amount of time. (I mix resin part A with resin part B and pour it inot a mold, a little while later I pull out a solid part.) Resin will only bond with crazy glue or epoxies. It generally sands easier because it tends to be softer, so go slow so you don't accidentally destroy details. You should get in a habit of wet sanding resin, because the dust is bad for you. Resin kits need a bath with a deteregent type of soap to remove mold release agent used in creating the kit. This helps paint and glues adhere to it better. The use of pins is just that. Long or heavy resin peices can warp over time. Using a small metal pin will help support the part like a skeleton. It can be any stiff metal, coat hangers and even paperclips depending on the parts you're trying to reinforce. It doesn't have to be brass, but brass gets used more often because it is easy to find. Your local hobby shop should have brass rod of various thickness. If you want a resin kit poseable you could try what you said. But the problem is most resin kits are solid and weigh 3 times what a normal plastic kit weighs. Your joints will wear out that much faster or simply be unable to support the parts. Now having said that, there are rein kits with the P-caps molded in, and hollow cast, but they tend to be pricey. Some use plain old screws for the joints, but resin is soft and this wears out even faster. Most people feel a resin kit should be a statue and not poseable anyway, so there aren't going to be too many poseable resin kits around. Most people will tell you you need to 'graduate' up to a resin model by building x number of plastic kits. I don't think this is true. A model is a model. If the subject grabs you, go for it.

I'm surprised the kit is so rough.

I'm interested. Shoot me a e-mail if he's still looking.

Great those will do nicely. Thanks Graham.

I'm looking for good reference pics of the F-14 from Macross Zero. Anybody have good line art of it? Maybe a few good color pics?

I said what I felt I had to. I was never looking to take the moral high ground, a soapbox for a cause, or being the 'kettle calling the pot black'. That is why I admitted I do own a couple of bootleg kits myself. I'm no purist crusader. I would never thought to see the day when a group would seek out a kit then offer it up to them. I see this thread being a new line being redrawn favoring the recasters over the originals. Nobody even tried to contact the kit's creator. I never blamed anybody for wanting them, or being excited about maybe owning one. I myself would love to own one too, but not this way. This thread wasn't here the last time I visited, so yes, I felt I did have to reply in it. I certainly haven't derailed it. A look at the creation and number of views is what made me speak up. Years ago on Macross World, Shawn himself would never have condoned a thread like this, let alone the mods. Times change I know, so trying to keep with the topic, I won't disturb it anymore.

I do get it. I'm not innocent and do own bootleg too. This idea here is still gonna help hurt the hobby. You are making it more profitable to bootleg than ever before. Even encouraging bootleggers. Now they don't even have to hunt down and buy their own kits, they get them given to them. What is to stop anybody from taking Cobywan's Lancer, or Monkey Nugget's Glaug Booster and copying and selling them cheaper than they do? You're only kidding yourselves if you say you'd buy the expensive original over the bargain bootleg. It's also unbelievable to think the bootlegger won't further gain from sales off this site. It's also unbelievable that the original kit manufacturers were ever told of the interest in re-releasing their kits, or allowed to buy the right to re-relese them. That leaves no incentive to ever see a company go after say a 1/35 Legioss or a 1/32 VF or various subjects. Somebody will buy one, hand it to the bootlegger and send them out of business offering it 1/2 price. The end result is fewer and fewer new kits. The next cry will be they're too expensive instead of they haven't been available for a while or I missed them when they were.

But that's just it. Are you gonna pay full price or get the 1/2 price bootleg? The original company had to pay for the rights to make the kit, or x number of kits. They had to pay the designer. They had to pay the sculptor. They had to pay the advertising. The bootlegger just has to copy it and collect the money. Why should the rightful kit companies make more if this is their fate? They lose, they don't make new kits.

I see this as a sad turn for resin companies. I'm not trying to be the righteous one, and I don't want to be posting this either cause I like this site. I've gotta be the voice of doubt at least. I get the feeling this won't make me very popular though. You're planning on taking a limited run kit, and handing it to a bootlegger. This bootlegger doesn't even have to buy the kit himself, and gets to charge everybody. He's gotta be the happiest bootlegger in history. I get that everybody wants a model, I'd like a couple on that list too, but this is just wrong. Can't you see the damage that will be done to anybody thinking of making more Macross kits? Any kit for that matter? Tell me why anybody would make new kits if their fate is to sell a few only to have them bootlegged?

I dunno if it helps you any, but in general the Destroids sport their nose art on their feet, legs, hips. There are only two that I can think of that didn't. A Spartan that had a shark's mouth on it's snout, and a modified Monster with the name Starslam on it's cheek. That is of course, strictly semi official model/drawing picture wise.

You gotta watch the original TV series of Patlabor. Top notch stuff!

WOW! Thanks for the interest! Well let me clear a few things first of all. Alfred Wong did not create this model. I did, my name is Joe Belding, but I run around as 'Gundamhead' on a couple of sites. I made the most accurate Monster model to date in my opinion. Your dimensions are nearly spot on. My model is 16.15" long (not including the engine plate) and 10.15" tall to the very top of it's rear humps. Most pictures of the Monster have him positioned in a semi-squat, mine is standing. He's about 4" acrossif you don't count the arms, with the arms he's 10.5" wide. Certainly not a small model. The model shown is a model I made, molded, and cast for myself. It is solid and a ton of resin. That model weighs about 5.5 lbs. I took these newer pictures with the 1/100 Macross Factory, a 1/100 Destroid Defender, a couple of 1/100 figures, a 18" steel ruler, and a 1/55 bootleg Valkyrie toy. I hope you will be able to get a good idea of the model's size in 1/100. It is big. http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/zaku2ace/...u2ace/my_photos I sent SMT the master of this this kit. If I remember it's about 53 parts. I sent a decal sheet that included several nose arts. I included a fictional history sheet for all those nose arts. I included instructions. Now I do not know if SMT will offer all of those things, but I really hope they will. They were fun, and in my opinion gives the model a bit of personality. I do not know anything more than anybody else what SMT has planned or how much they plan to ask. I do not know if it will be solid. Your best source for info is to contact SMT.

There is a Nebo here. It's the Revell version. Click on the Mecha/robots. http://www.starshipmodeler.com/trade.cfm

Wow...cool! Are they simply recasting your kit (I assume you scratch built it ? ) or are they adding more detail etc? Regardless, thank you for sharing the information...it looks great! I'll definitly need one! Yeah it was a complete scratchbuild. I had sold a couple when I was making my own. I do not think he's adding any more detail.

The pod Fighter is about 9.25" long in 1/72 from nose to tail fin.

That'd be mine. It's in 1/100. I don't know yet how much he plans to ask for one yet. Here's some pics of the one I did for myself a while back. I try to give a good idea of it's size using the other 1/100 kits and a bootleg 1/55 Valkyrie toy. The ruler is 18". I hope he offers the decals I made for it along with it's 'history' sheet. I thought they were pretty cool myself. http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/zaku2ace/...u2ace/my_photos

How can you 'recast' something that's in production?

Bah! Get a couple of cinder blocks and spend the money on real models.

You could always hope... "On the elleventh day of Christmas Here to blow for your Macross stash, a cold bunlde of hard cash."

It was the modeler's effect showing them coming out of the SDF's hatches. They are not fused to the deck.

They're called Hellhounds.

http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/models/models.htm This site (Macross World) has a great section on Macross models including the instructions. It can help you with the SDF and Focker kit for the correct paint and decal placement. Imai, Bandai and Arii are the original companies for your kits. The Orguss kits I'm not sure where to find the original instructions. Maybe somebody has a Vol 2 of the Hobby Manual? (It had Macross and Orguss kits) Gobot is the red Jupiter Base (Fuke) Armo soldier. Again I'm sure somebody here has a scanner and could scan you a copy of the original scheme.

The kits are identical to the original Japanese kits, except for the directions on how to paint them and apply the decals. Use this site for the correct instructions on paint jobs and decal placement. Visit your local hobby shop and pick up some stuff called E.L.O. (Easy Lift Off) made by Polly S. It's a paint stripper designed just for plastic models and works great. Brush on, wait 5-10 minutes, get a old toothbrush, and scrub off the old paint. Then use some warm soapy water to clean it. The stuff is cheap, safe, and eay to clean up. It also works really well.

It'd be better to order a couple from HLJ.com for the same price.

Then of course there's the seemingly endless Valkyrie toys that could be made model worthy. Check Yamato for the best looking ones.