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tetsujin

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Everything posted by tetsujin

  1. There's no need to compromise: when I build I can do a half-ass job and still miss my deadline!
  2. Queadluun Rau Post I was working on this project for the MMC Female Mecha Contest - I got quite far on it but unfortunately it just wasn't enough to meet the deadline. At this point I have all the basic colors done (except the red dome on top of the head - I forgot about that) - but I didn't even get as far as putting the first gloss coat on it, let alone applying decals, washes, etc. Closest I've yet come to meeting an MMC deadline with a new project, so I guess that counts for something.
  3. Here's hoping I don't botch it. The Rau project is the latest in a series of failed attempts by me to meet my own model contest deadlines... It's going pretty well so far but it seems something always goes majorly wrong at the painting and finishing stage...
  4. I've got a Queadluun Rau on the bench right now, taking its first coats of paint... I got the kit a few years ago (as part of one of my early Yahoo! Japan binges) and did some test-fitting back then - fast forward to this February, when I put it together in earnest... Anyway, I was thinking about what to do with the "missiles open" parts - whether to paint 'em up and use 'em or not, and I discovered I only had one... I thought I must have lost the other one, looked around a bit, and then finally checked the instructions - the damn kit only comes with one "missile open" part! As if any machine in Macross would ever fire only half its missiles at any one time! Personally, I felt that both the figure and the suit interior were total junk. I'm sure somebody could do something nice with all that space in terms of detailing it - if you're not going to go all out, though, it's better to just seal it up... Makes the kit easier to deal with during the painting stages, too, 'cause you have fewer assemblies to deal with and you don't have to hinge everything together right away...
  5. I love love love this kit line! Well, actually this kit line does have some problems... Basically I started collecting them in 2004 because they were being reissued, because they were in-scale with my Destroid Monster, and because I like small kits... These kits mostly seem like scaled-down counterparts of the 1:100 scale ARII and IMAI kits, as far as I can tell... Those kits had some problems to begin with, and the Nichimo versions add simplified detailing (hands, head) and screw-holes to the mix... I think the Destroids and Zentradi machines are the best out of the line... And the Super Battroids are pretty good, but the gerwalks aren't so hot IMO... But, yeah, I built two of these things and did extensive work on a third. (Haven't finished it yet) I only have photos of my Regult on-line... Regult Before and After... ...With artifact of Protoculture... I also built a Super Battroid VF-1J... With both models I had some decals printed so I wouldn't be using the crappy stickers that come with the re-issues... Back when the "Cyber Model Comp" was still on-line, there was a nice buildup of the Nichimo Armored Battroid - the modeler opened all the missile hatches and mounted missiles inside. Good stuff...
  6. Hey everybody, This month at Mecha Model Comp is our Macross Valkyries contest. Entries can be any VF from any Macross show, or any diorama with a VF as a central figure. Entries will be accepted until the end of the month, at which point judging will start. I'd like to encourage people to enter, or at least check it out. Thanks!
  7. I can understand how it'd happen, though. It is perilously tempting to think of one's own car, when locked, as being secure. It's not. I've had two car-breakins (though, thankfully, none since) in which I lost the CD players and a palm pilot (Handera 330 - flaky as hell but it was a fun model...) and two backpacks full of expensive Japanese textbooks. In the first they just smashed the window (comprehensive glass coverage: Yay! Difficulty in finding a non-smoked rear door window for a Jeep Cherokee: Boo....) and in the second they jammed something in my doorlock and twisted. Did I learn after the first time? Apparently not. But apart from that, one's car is very personal space, and 99.9% (in my neighborhood anyway) of the time it's perfectly safe to leave things in the car for a bit. So, like I said, it's tempting to think that stuff's safe. But windows break, locks break, and I don't think anybody takes alarms seriously, either. cyde01: I sympathize with your loss. It's not just the cost of the things or the fact that in this case it's hard to replace them even with money. They were yours and I know how it can feel when somebody violates that.
  8. If you're referring to my post, please think of it in purely mechanical terms. What I have to say, it's not good, it's not bad, it is what it is. I'm talking shop, it's something I enjoy about this hobby. If grayson or Cap don't want to deal with me on that level that's their business. If what I have to say is something that's abundantly obvious already - well, then maybe "duh" is the right response to it. But maybe you can leave the decision to be offended or not up to the people who have a real stake in this? John's not making a kit for me - not as far as I know, anyway. I think it's a terrific project and it's great that he's selling cast copies for people who can't or won't scratchbuild things themselves - I presently have to cut my spending and so won't be buying one. So to me, this is more like someone's model project, rather than a new kit release. I assumed there'd been plenty of positive feedback already and that I could proceed straight to the meat of what I had to say without a redundant (and somewhat dishonest, in the sense that it was a statement I'd be immediately contradicting by questioning his design decisions) "it looks terrific/thank you so much for making this/I want to buy one for sure, but..." Though, to be fair, I've been on the other side of this sort of thing before (somewhat) - been told in response after response after response that part of my design interpretation was wrong, or "If I were doing it, I'd make such-and-such decision"... when I'd already spent a lot of time coming to the conclusion that I did and verifying it to my own satisfaction... It's hard to not get a little irritated by things like that. Makes you want to say "Go build your own, then." I'd like to be able to make criticisms like that without offending modelers, and as a modeler I hope to be able to accept criticisms like that without taking them personally as I often do. v Cap, glad to hear the project's been personally rewarding. A while back I started to feel that I was spending too much time on projects that weren't quite at the core of what I wanted to do, and so had to swear off such things and re-focus on the bits of the hobby that were really compelling to me. So for me, too, it's very important to be personally satisfied with my projects.
  9. Those orthos aren't going to be perfect, either (and, frankly, comparing to that front view it still looks like your model's head, and the hump on the back, are both too large) - you have to balance the priorities here: do you take one piece of reference as gospel or do you attempt to compose something based on your own observations of the shape described in the art? I think with anime art it's necessary to compromise between the two. Used alone, the former approach reproduces the flaws in the art while the latter strays too far from the source. I also think when you're faced with conflicting references it's best to choose the reference that looks best and turn it into a working 3-D design, rather than take a version that's already a working 3-D design without concern for whether it looks good... Also, why did you sculpt in the cannon stripes? I know they did this on various model kits, but from the lineart the stripes look painted on... (Or is that detail shown in relief in a "high detail" version of the lineart?)
  10. 2004. The re-issued a bunch of stuff from Macross, Macross II, and Mac 7, including the 1:100 Destroids and Zentradi machines (apart from the Regult, anyway).
  11. 1) I would love to - but I absolutely suck at meeting deadlines for such things, so probably not. 2) See #1. 3) Probably not - but if you did I think my suggestion for a theme would be the "Flying Circus" - models and dioramas exemplifying the dynamic action choreography of Macross. So missile swarms (and even better, the evasion of missile swarms) would be worth bonus points. 4) I don't understand the question. I think there should be designated judges responsible for judging, though. Popular vote is too easily swayed. 5) I'd be just as happy competing for bragging rights. 6) Mach 3, but slower in gerwalk mode.
  12. You should also check Yahoo! Japan auctions. Old Macross kits (and many other old anime kits) turn up there much more frequently than they do on E-Bay. You can order kits from Yahoo! Japan sellers using a proxy-bidding service like Celga. I got a couple Imai Monsters this way, probably paid around $100 for both after all (incl. proxy fees, shipping, etc.) was accounted.
  13. Interesting... I had no idea there was a new DVD release of Votoms coming. Soft subs and improved video? Sounds pretty good... (Of course, I already picked up the whole series a while back, the bargains available on the old DVDs were pretty good - though still not as good as $100 for the whole series...) It's really a great show. Chirico is the f'n man.
  14. Yeah, but you can't just "drop" them, you have to "de-orbit" them - apply enough force to them to make them fall out of orbit, and quickly. For the amount of energy needed to de-orbit something massive enough to survive atmospheric entry and do some significant damage after the ground-based defensive weapons have taken a crack at it, I feel like the amount of energy going into this attack (especially if the rocks aren't readily on-hand, if they need to be imported from an asteroid belt or something) could be better spent elsewhere, unless the particular circumstances of the battle are such that you really need a lot of cheap, disposable ballistic mass. Plus bombardment can only accomplish so much. At some point you need to get your hands dirty. Here's my take on the situation. IANAMC ("I am not a military commander" for those not familiar with this every-day shorthand... ) First I assume there's a compelling reason to take the planet and/or a large portion of its population alive rather than blasting them to space dust. I'm also going to assume the attackers don't have an overwhelming advantage in technology or numbers - because what fun is that? If my troops have godlike powers we'll just invade however we like. Troop drops (Starship Troopers/Gundam Seed style) have the advantage that the enemy isn't presented with large targets, but rather a multitude of small targets and comparable decoys. This is great for establishing an invasion on the ground or for harrassment attacks as depicted in ST. Once some territory is secured, I would want to reinforce the ground forces by sending down larger drop-ships carrying more troops and heavier units (large land/air/naval battleships, etc.), and establish a base of sorts. A drop-capable cap ship could serve in that capacity, though I expect there would be better ways of doing it. (Normally a space ship would be specialized for space, not generalized for all environments. An all-environment ship could get the job done, and be good when the base needs to be established quickly - but I expect a better option would be to send down materials to set up a field station - something that would be semi-permanent and likely abandoned if need be.) Space superiority is important, but like air superiority it alone can't get the job done. I would think an orbital bombardment happening concurrently with the land invasion would be best - if the bombardment happens first and goes on for too long then the defenders have time to rally their defense and harden their position, making the ground invasion tougher. Rather I'd want the initial bombardment to cause chaos, which the drop troops could take advantage of. So the bombardment happens just as the troops are being sent into the atmosphere, and the troops arrive to promptly mop-up the military forces not already blasted into atoms. The initial invasion would likely have to be concentrated on one defensible area - a small continent or two, perhaps. (I'm assuming my invasion force isn't large enough to immediately conquer the whole planet.) This has the disadvantage that the defending forces on the rest of the planet will have an opportunity to rally for their defense and counter-attack, but it makes it much easier for my forces to become established on the planet's surface. The space forces would likely hold mostly to a stationary orbit over that area, while ground and space forces establish defenses against long-range missile attacks which could threaten the fleet. The fleet's space superiority would be used as an offensive tool to expand the ground forces' territory, and the ground forces' territory would be used to establish defensive measures to protect themselves and the space fleet.
  15. Hey, can I ask you something? I'm curious about the kind of planning you did for the build. Did you lay out the whole thing in orthographic plans before building or did you start with another model kit and scale/tweak measurements to fit the scale and your taste, or what? If you made plans, would you be willing to share them? I'm working on a set of plans for my first scratchbuild now... It's tough going but it's interesting stuff.
  16. Have you tried Yahoo! Japan auctions? I can't find the items there right now but I'd say it's probably your best bet, unless you can find an import shop or something that has some kicking around. (I had given up hope of finding an EX Redtail until I found one at Gundam Store & More - likewise there was a point in time where I was trying to find the Gasaraki Raiden and a bunch of them turned up at Gundamshop. It's unusual, but there are times when the kit you want will just turn up, if you do the right digging...) As for reissues - I imagine Bandai will reissue all the 1:35 Patlabor stuff at some point, simply because they have the molds. But they'll make us wait years, I'm sure, since Patlabor, while popular, isn't so hot a property that they can just keep the stuff in constant circulation...
  17. Terminator's continuity isn't that solid to begin with. John Conner is born because of a predestination paradox. Kyle Reese goes back in time to stop the terminator from killing Sarah Conner, mother of John Conner. In the process, they have sex and he winds up being John conner's father. Meaning that the rebel leader Skynet attempted to prevent was only created BECAUSE the terminator was running around in the past. A predestination paradox requires a rigid and unchangable timeline, at least with regards to the events responsible for the paradox. There is also the perspective to time travel which says that if you change something, the timeline forks, but without destroying the alternate timeline. So we have: Timeline 1: Sarah gets pregnant from some other guy, John is born, apocalypse happens, John is the great leader and the terminator and Kyle are sent back in time. (But in this timeline, neither Kyle nor the Terminator appear in the past.) Timeline 2: Kyle and the terminator appear in 1980-something. "Terminator 1" happens. The future John of this timeline is different from the John who Kyle remembers - but based on things said in T2 this John's history must have been similar, at least including sending Kyle back. Timeline 3: "Terminator 2" - John (son of Kyle) sends back Schwarzenegger to fight Robert Patrick. The result is that the apocalypse doesn't happen. In each case, the people who come from the future change the past - but not their own past, rather they create a new past, sort of like an alternate reality in the "Sliders" vein. The world they came from could still exist, but its connection with the altered world is broken. From this perspective, sending anybody back at all seems a waste of time, in the sense that it won't change one's own world - but there's no way anybody involved would know that unless someone actually succeeded in returning to their own future. (I always liked how "Bill & Ted" and "Back to the Future" played with the notion of time travel paradoxes, though...)
  18. Yeah, they got rather imaginative when they came up with the romanized spellings for the Zentradi words.
  19. Hey, it's cool. As far as I'm concerned pictures of unpainted, OOB kits are fair game for reference purposes. I just saw it and it was like, "Hey, I recognize that!" It's just kind of funny, 'cause it's a photo I did a couple years ago now, but it still turns up every so often. BTW, you said that half the pod would be clear-cast: would it be possible to get a pod where both halves are cast normally? If I buy one, I'd rather paint the exterior than have the X-ray, and I'd rather not have to deal with two different types of material in the two pod halves.
  20. Hey, that's my Regult! Great to finally see built-up pics of your Regult... It looks great! (EDIT): Do you have a Hasegawa Battroid for comparison? I could maybe do a ruler-standup shot of my Regult for further reference...
  21. I will be there again this year, and I'll be running the Mecha Modeling Workshop there again, too! I look forward to seeing the Macross panel...
  22. In principle most any mod chip should work. There are also easier-to-install options like flip tops and such. Personally I wanted day-to-day convenience so I put down the money and effort for a mod-chip. In my case, the DMS4. Before you buy a mod chip you should find out which version of the PS2 you have. (If it's the old-style PS2, that is. The slim PS2's are version 12) You can get some of that information from its model number, counting screws on the case, etc. If you have a v12, I'm not sure what the state of modchips with that version is... Last I heard, there were issues.
  23. There were three Robotech panels and not one Macross panel. That's just sad. (But not nearly as sad as my Macross panel last year...) Not Macross-related, but I ran the Mecha Modeling Workshop on Saturday and it was a great success! Thirty-two people, the biggest turnout ever for the event. It was very hectic, especially since AB staff dropped the ball and didn't have my projector there, meaning there were no visual aids for the instructions.
  24. Thanks. Yeah, I use the legos for mold boxes. And I went through a lot of RTV on this project... The Doro Doro in the background, though, that stuff is the real star of this show.
  25. Wing Zero, I'm almost at the point where I can finally prime it and maybe start painting. I scratchbuilt the feathers and the V-fin.
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