tetsujin

Yeah, but that's a pain, you know? And it's such a hack. The opening music they used on the DVDs is weird... It's so sedate. Plus it has those crappy sound effects dubbed over that they use in the English dubs of all the Gundam shows. :yuck:

There's a greater concern - and that is that games without licensed NFL logos and the like won't be able to compete. If that turns out to be the case, if the mass-market is more concerned with having the real teams and players than with having a quality game, then the competing games may be produced on lower budgets, or not at all. And if EA doesn't have any serious contenders they need to compete with in the real of football videogames, they're less likely to spend a lot of effort making their games better. It's more likely they'll continue milking their existing code for as long as they can. That's the real concern, I think - that this exclusive license will result in a lack of competition, and a lack of competition will result in a lack of innovation.

The Paasche VL is a good entry-level airbrush. It's good quality and easy to use, and you can get it for around $50 at places like Dixieart. You should definitely get a compressor if you're going to airbrush. Aircans are just too expensive. Some people use other approaches, too - like filling old fire extinguishers with compressed air and spraying from that - but I don't think it's worth the hassle of having to cook up the solution and keep refilling the tank. You can get a simple Sears-variety compressor with a tank for around $100. I got mine from Wal-Mart, it's made by Campbell Hausfeld. It makes a bunch of noise when the compressor is running, but when it's running it's filling the tank - so there's no noise while I'm actually working (running from the tank) - it just kicks in again every few minutes of working when it needs to fill the tank again. Avoid Aztek airbrushes. They are cheap junk.

You know how much I hate that phrase? I mean, does it really have to be one extreme or the other? Can't I be dissatisfied without being colored as Comic Book Guy humming a whiny protest song about what a victim he's become? And I don't like applying the term "rape" to something so trivial, either. Pet peeve mode off. Personally I feel like the situation sucks, but I'm happy that I'm not powerless to do anything about it. I can get my hands on a DVD recorder pretty easily and straighten this out once and for all. Dig through here for the original opening: http://www.toonamiarsenal.com/download/almost.php You can also Google for "Toki wo koete mp3", but it'll take some digging.

I know where you're coming from, but this is different. It's not like them leaving out god-awful drivel like "Tobe! Gundam" from First Gundam, and it wouldn't be analogous to them leaving out some forgettable piece like the Gundam Wing or Gundam Seed openings. "Toki wo Koete" is damn good, and it has a strong following in the Zeta crowd. "Believing a sign of Zeta" (a line from the theme song) is a rallying cry for fans of the show, as evident in the "Operation Zeta" campaign. For them not to include it at all downright sucks. But if that's the way it's gotta be, that's the way it's gotta be. It still sucks, though. It's still worth being upset about, I'd say. Maybe the novelty of watching that opening at the start of each of the first 20-odd episodes would get old, but not anytime soon. Especially after the long-ass wait to get (legitimate) discs of the show in the first place. If you were a fan of Zeta you'd probably understand better. It's different for different shows. I'd probably skip through the openings of Gundam 0080, 0083, or Azumanga Daioh, or even the original Macross (as much as I love its opening, I've seen it so much...) pretty consistently. But Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, not so much. Zeta, not so much. They're worth listening to. The novelty does wear off, but now and again it's still worth sitting through. With my current bootleg Zeta discs, the opening is only present at the start of the disc (not on each individual episode) - as a result I find myself wishing I could easily watch the opening more frequently. I'll probably see if I can combine the opening of my bootleg Zeta discs with the episodes of my legit. Zeta discs onto DVD-R. It's good that we're not powerless in this. (Hopefully the requisite data will actually fit on a DVD-R...)

I listened to those sounds once on my CCA DVD... It was pretty nauseating to listen to the Geara Doga make that hyrdraulic/ratcheting sound... But it's only in the dub track, right? No damage. I'm pretty pissed about them dropping "Toki wo Koete" though. That song is awesome.

The one on the right is the Garland from Megazone 23. (Great series, I highly recommend it.)

The right arm is the one that gets exploded in the manga. It's also the Gold Frame's right arm that's found in Heliopolis, and the right arm of the Gold Frame that's replaced with Blitz's right arm. I like the idea of putting a Gold Frame arm on there. I think it's a neat idea. As for Impulse - no, the Force Silhouette is not very similar to the Astray flight pack at all. Really, the Astray flight pack is very similar to the M1 flight pack because it is an M1 flight pack (though modified, of course.) I'm planning to do one by taking the parts I need from the M1 kit. That'll involve hacking up the M1's torso parts (because the M1 pack is actually fused to the M1's torso) but it shouldn't be too bad. For the (horizontal) wings... personally, I'd leave 'em out. I hate them. In the OVA the Astray ejects those wings after a certain period anyway. They're reasonably similar to VF-1 wings but I can't think of a VF-1 kit that would be the right size for that. The old 1:144 Valks maybe? Or maybe the 1:170 trading kits? If you can find them...

Yeah, I think either that, or the Gundam novels. If you ignore the ending of the Gundam novels, the events of Zeta make a lot more sense. In that context the Titans don't seem at all out of place in the Federal Forces. Neither the original TV series or the Gundam movies really portrayed the Federation's Earth Elite satisfactorily. The novels also give a better presentation of the different "Newtype" ideas (Zeon's, Zabi's, Revil's) and their relation to the psychic phenomena which became associated with the term. Basically, I feel like if you see the Gundam Movies, and then Zeta, it's as though the existence of the Titans, and their overzealousness and autonomy is the only explanation for why the "good guys" of the movies (the Federation) are now the bad guys - and that leads to a different conclusion when the Titans are finally defeated, as though that fixes all the problems with the Federation. But in the context of the novels, nothing the Titans ever do seems out of character for the Federation, and their defeat at the end is more like the corrupt organization (the Federation) losing some power and beginning their decline. Rather than the "Evil Part" of the Federation being exorcised, I think it's good to recognize that the "Evil Part" still exists after Zeta, it's just weaker. This makes Char's decisions in CCA much more understandable, and Amuro's position in CCA somewhat harder to justify. But when seeing Zeta it's definitely good to at least be able to recognize the original series characters who pop up, and the events they draw upon. A lot of the series draws on the original Gundam - you can probably follow along without being familiar with the original Gundam, but really Zeta was written for people who were already fans of the first Gundam after it became a hit.

Do you have a higher resolution version of that scan? It's hard to make out the text. I love the DYRL-style controls and am interested in knowing more about what each part of the control is supposed to do. And what exactly is a "tapet"?

I think it's fair to be skeptical at this point. Every Pixar production I've ever seen has been a damn fine piece of work. Disney can't match that track record.

Well, you could always photo-etch it yourself...

"senpai" is a hard thing to translate... It's an idea that just doesn't exist in U.S. culture. I think attempts to translate the word are generally a bad idea... better to either familiarize the audience with the term and retain it, or remove the concept from the translation. It's good in a sense that they tried to stick to the original in that regard, but... One of these days I should see Robotech again. In order to properly bash it, I should be more familiar with it.

And there are even at least three versions of that (Star Trek 1, Star Trek 2, and Star Trek 3 versions...) But the 'Trek 2 version was awesome, I'm glad they stuck with it.

So which is worse: the fact that people wrote all this bickering that doesn't appeal to you, or the fact that you just read it all? I haven't seen Ep. 5 yet, so I'm a little bummed that I read this and got the minor spoilage (my fault) - but damn... I'm glad there's a Monster in Zero! I like how close it is to the original design. I love how they took the original legs and feet and made them a bit more detailed... The feet look more articulated now - the articulation in the toes was always there but now it's better represented. The claws don't bother me so much... I'm used to the "prototype is better" nonsense that's pervasive in Gundam so I don't mind that they're removed later on, either.

There are several reasons I recommend against using tube glues. Tube glues contain more fillers, and an adhesive which you don't actually need or want for bonding styrene parts. The best bond you can get is the solvent bond you get with liquid solvent glues. These fuse the parts together by chemically melting them. The fillers and adhesive in tube glue make it harder to get that good solvent bond, and they'll also break down over time. Thicker glues are also messier than liquid glues. New modelers will probably also be more tempted to apply greater quantities of tube glue than they would liquid glues - that could potentially lead to damaged parts as a result of all that solvent. I use the Testor's Model Master liquid glue applicator bottles (those black plastic containers). But avoid the Testor's version, usually in a black bottle with a red label. The glue is pretty much the same, but the applicator bottle has a nasty tendency to clog up. I bought like 10 of those for a model-making class, and most of them have clogged up to the point where I can't clear them out. Some of them clogged up quite quickly, others too a little while. Spend the extra dollar and get the Model Master applicator bottle with the metal tip.

Good stuff. I feel like the washes on certain areas (airbrake area, landing gear, etc.) are a little sloppy but overall the models look nice.

Better yet, remove the metallic plating altogether. This is actually really easy, give the parts a little bath in oven cleaner or Formula 409, and the plating will come right off. Unless, of course, you actually want a chrome plated SDF-1...

I didn't think the fighter pod had a clear canopy - I figured it was a hatch with monitors inside, like the Glaug. But if you want to build a cockpit and have the hatch be open, basing it on the Glaug design is probably the way to go.

OK, I have to nitpick... Why are the flaps hinged upwards? And would they be moved at all in space? Also, I feel like the weathering effects are overdone - and one place that should be dirty, the area of the wing which slides into the fuselage, is conspicuously clean. Panel lines seem a bit erratic, too. For instance, the line between the brown and white areas of the wing seems like it's all over the place. I'm not sure if that's a result of brown paint going where you didn't want it, or if it's just a panel line wash that covered too much area. Then there's the seam on the front edge of the wing... The fluorescent effect on the headlights is good, it makes them look bright - but the fact that they're the wrong color is a little distracting. Another choice you might want to consider for that kind of effect is reflective safety tape. Because it reflects most of the light back in the direction of the light source, it's especially good for model photography situations where you can control the placement of the lights. Anyway, it's a good effort, I hope to see more work from you in the future.

Oh, my mistake. I thought this list of models was for modelers, not collectors. Once the model is assembled there's no way of telling if it came in an Imai box or a Bandai box. I just think that Imai tooled the kit and made the decals, so even if Bandai molds and ships it, it's an Imai kit. Bandai deserves credit for making it available every five years or so, but it's not a kit they created. (And "you're" is "you are". "your" is the posessive second-person pronoun.)

About the Bandai releases: Their 1:72 lineup of Macross (re)releases is a repackaging of the old models by Imai. I think they should be treated as duplicates of the Imai versions, rather than as separate models.

Hmph, says you oh master sculptor, the whole point of using the scale up technique with Hydrospan is cuz the rest of us suck at sculpting. He's got a point, though. You could expand a mold made from a crappy 1:100 model to make a degraded and more crappy 1:72 model - or you could take measurements of the 1:100 model and make a better 1:72 model. It takes some effort to get good enough to pull it off, but the whole process of growing and re-growing a mold, losing detail and skewing surfaces on each pass seems like bad news to me.

Yeah, polycaps are another option, though I find they can be a bit difficult at this scale. I installed 3mm polycaps in the hips of one of my Destroid Tomahawks (unfinished). It was tough, there wasn't much space. You might want to check these out: 2mm rod 3mm rod 2mm polycaps 3mm polycaps 2mm and 3mm polycaps Basic metric drill bit set The matching drill, rod, and polycap sets can make polycap installation a lot easier. Particularly the rods, it saves a lot of time to have rods that are already the exact size for the polycaps. 3mm is one of the most common polycap sizes in Gundam kits. I don't think they use 2mm in Gundams so much, but they can be very handy for smaller work. Most often I anchor the polycaps and rods with either Bondo or SGT. Bondo's a lot faster, but sometimes SGT is stronger. I'm not sure if the gloss finish on the arm will be enough to protect it from the torso paint. I really don't know, though. I guess it depends on the circumstances. If you're going to paint the torso while the painted arm is permanently installed, you may just have to be really careful, or else mask the arm part. You may want to check this place out, too: when I was first collecting my Nichimos, I was able to find some here that I wasn't able to other places. (These days they mostly just have the common stuff, but it might be worth checking out if you want a Regult or something... http://shop.store.yahoo.com/akihabaratoys/nic12scalsna.html

I got my Monsters through Yahoo! Japan. I think I paid about $150 total for both of them (including shipping and proxy bidding fees). One is complete in box, the other had a few parts missing or assembled. If you want to get one, I would recommend checking E-Bay regularly - they do pop up from time to time, and sometimes they don't go for a very high price. The key is to watch for an auction that's not getting a lot of attention. Maybe somebody spelled the item name wrong, or didn't add enough extra searchable keywords to make the item really easy to find. Or maybe they just chose the wrong week to try to sell it. But choose a price (maybe $50), bid on each Monster that comes along, and don't go over your price... some Monsters will slip through your fingers, but eventually you'll snag one. If you want to try Yahoo! Japan - it's a great resource for this sort of thing, but you'll have to proxy-bid through Celga or something (most Japanese sellers won't ship outside of Japan), and you may need to be able to find the item on Yahoo! Japan - so reading kana is helpful. Babelfish may work as well. There's all kinds of model kits on there, chances are there's a Monster listed right now. Future for the washes themselves? Interesting... So does that mean there's a lot of Future in your wash mix, or a little? As for the arms on the Battroid and Gerwalk... it can be tough. On my Nichimos (Super Battroid and Regult) I made most of those parts removable by snipping off some of the plastic from the arm/head/Regult booster, which would otherwise have forced me to go with a sequential build-up like that. So I assembled the arms, assembled the chest, and then plugged the arms into the chest. It still holds a pose just fine, and the arms don't tend to fall out at all. Try to snip off just enough that you're able to plug the arm into the chest. I'll try to get some photos up tonight to show you what I mean. Alternately, the way to go might be something like this: assemble the arm, clean up the seams, then assemble the chest, clean up its seams, and then paint both. It's a little more complicated, because you have to deal with having those parts together when you paint them. You'd need to be more careful when painting, or possibly try masking off the arm parts with tape. I think it's much better, when possible, to modularize the assembly and then deal with the separate parts separately.