1/48 SOUTHERN CROSS BIOROID

[tekering]

Your enthusiastic responses are much appreciated, everyone! 🥰

Here are a few shots that didn't make it into the video:

On 9/11/2021 at 1:26 AM, Boobytrap said:

I can't wait to see what you do with them for the contest.

Well, it's taken me three months to get this far, and I can't devote nearly as much free time over the next three months... and as much as I'd like to incorporate all three, they never appeared together onscreen anyway.  I'm not sure how I'd justify it.

I'm sure Podtastic would like to see me go completely off-script, and throw in a bunch of Invid models I've yet to complete... 😅

6 hours ago, Podtastic said:

is it possible you could pose either the Blue or Red Bioroid next to your Kamjin to show how they scale?

Well, they don't scale at all, of course...

...but you already knew that.

Moscato's Macross kits are all 1:72 scale.

[Podtastic]

17 minutes ago, tekering said:

Your enthusiastic responses are much appreciated, everyone! 🥰

Here are a few shots that didn't make it into the video:

Well, it's taken me three months to get this far, and I can't devote nearly as much free time over the next three months... and as much as I'd like to incorporate all three, they never appeared together onscreen anyway.  I'm not sure how I'd justify it.

I'm sure Podtastic would like to see me go completely off-script, and throw in a bunch of Invid models I've yet to complete... 😅

Well, they don't scale at all, of course...

...but you already knew that.

Moscato's Macross kits are all 1:72 scale.

Thanx.

Perhaps "how they look together" would have been a better choice of words.

"Is that a Zentraedi warrior? I thought he'd be taller."😁

[Podtastic]

16 hours ago, tekering said:

I'm sure Podtastic would like to see me go completely off-script, and throw in a bunch of Invid models I've yet to complete... 😅

This is true.😂

[gundamOO]

On 6/23/2021 at 9:51 AM, captain america said:

 I shall be unto thee a real pain in the wallet!

is there any line art for these guys besides the front view?  

 

[Podtastic]

2 hours ago, gundamOO said:

is there any line art for these guys besides the front view?  

 

[gundamOO]

17 hours ago, Podtastic said:

 

Nice thanks for the extra picture but thanks all they got right?

 

[Podtastic]

1 hour ago, gundamOO said:

 

Nice thanks for the extra picture but thanks all they got right?

 

That's all I can find in my Robotech Southern Cross visual archive, albeit I actually got those from the net.

I dont recall any others.

Maybe someone with some Japanese source material may have more, I'm not aware.

I'd be surprised if there is.

[captain america]

 

 

Edited September 17, 2021 by captain america

[tekering]

Cap's got real Photoshop skills, too! 

You know that katakana in red says "Seifried Weiss," right?

[captain america]

11 minutes ago, tekering said:

Cap's got real Photoshop skills, too! 

You know that katakana in red says "Seifried Weiss," right?

I do, but I don't have the ability to create Japanese words/sentences, so I contented myself to copy-paste the text from the plastic kit packaging. It was an exercise to see what a proper Bioroid kit might have looked like had the series not been such a failure.

[Bolt]

That looks awesome Cap'n !

[tekering]

49 minutes ago, captain america said:

I don't have the ability to create Japanese words/sentences, so I contented myself to copy-paste the text from the plastic kit packaging.

Feel free to copy-paste this instead, if you like:

[captain america]

35 minutes ago, tekering said:

Feel free to copy-paste this instead, if you like:

I see what you did there! Noo-maa-ru Taipu!

I'll have to try to find a suitable armorial achievement for the top-left corner. If not, I'll just make one. Does the rest of the text make sense, or will that need correcting as well? Bear in mind that this is just for fun. If I ever tried to release a kit with that box art, HG would get so far up my butt that I'd be coughing-up Rick Hunter hairballs for the next 5 years!

Edited September 17, 2021 by captain america

[tekering]

7 hours ago, captain america said:

Does the rest of the text make sense, or will that need correcting as well?

Well, the lower-right caption still identifies Seifried as the pilot, but otherwise it's just the usual copyrights.

The original "SOL" packaging had a sentence under Seifried's picture that said "this kit does not include a pilot figure."  Kinda miss that.

[Podtastic]

So what does the text on this Bioroid Mecha girl say?🤨

[tekering]

"From Super Dimensional Cavalry Southern Cross: Bioroid female variant costume"

"September 2021, AirRide"

"skin"

[Podtastic]

14 minutes ago, tekering said:

"From Super Dimensional Cavalry Southern Cross: Bioroid female variant costume"

"September 2021, AirRide"

"skin"

Cool, thanx.

"skin"?

OMW, that arrow had better not be pointing at her belly button.😆

[Convectuoso]

My "Lloyd" has been delivered

[Podtastic]

Mysterious double post.😶

Edited November 24, 2021 by Podtastic

[Podtastic]

4 hours ago, Convectuoso said:

My "Lloyd" has been delivered

Excellent.

Duck model kits?

[Convectuoso]

3 hours ago, Podtastic said:

Excellent.

Duck model kits?

Yes. He built it for me

[tekering]

9 hours ago, Convectuoso said:

My "Lloyd" has been delivered

I see a lot of of blemishes in the finish, but the airbrush work is nice.

What happened to the rubber hips?

[Convectuoso]

2 hours ago, tekering said:

What happened to the rubber hips?

What rubber hips? 🙁

Please, let me know so I can ask the builder to correct that.

 

Forget it, I just found them in the box

Edited November 23, 2021 by Convectuoso

[captain america]

Those would make great contest pics. 

[tekering]

9 hours ago, captain america said:

Those would make great contest pics. 

Absolutely; adequate lighting, sharp focus, clean white background.

You should encourage Duck to participate, @Convectuoso.

[CoryHolmes]

I love the matte colour scheme.  A welcome change from all the glossy paint jobs.

[Convectuoso]

8 hours ago, tekering said:

You should encourage Duck to participate, @Convectuoso.

I'll tell him

[Podtastic]

I dont know if Duck Model Kits will participate in the competition or not, but pics of his Red Bioroid are already all over the web.

Edited December 3, 2021 by Podtastic

[Boobytrap]

One thing the recent contest taught me, among many, is that I need to improve my picture taking. So I went back out to see if I could take some better pictures to share. They are improved but still not great. I'm definitely going to be investing in a light box. I think the better light source and lighter background will help things out. And of course... practice, practice, practice.

[Podtastic]

Those pics are great!

And if your current camera isnt doing the model justice then I cant wait to see the results of the new set up.😎 

Oh and scince your first mentioned it here, did you come to an arrangement with Cap about producing the Gigamesh?

Edited December 19, 2021 by Podtastic

[captain america]

17 hours ago, Boobytrap said:

One thing the recent contest taught me, among many, is that I need to improve my picture taking. So I went back out to see if I could take some better pictures to share. They are improved but still not great. I'm definitely going to be investing in a light box. I think the better light source and lighter background will help things out. And of course... practice, practice, practice.

 

For what it's worth, it was a close call between your Bio and Ted's Norbert in terms of the build, and I realy like what you did with the Biover, but the photography was what hampered you the most. You don't necessarily need a light box as much as you need less harsh lighting. I personally just use regular lamps with a sheet of white paper wrapped over the bulb to diffuse the light. I don't even use a fancy camera, just an iPod. A vibrant background color, like green or yellow would also compliment the red nicely and offer a good contrast to the model itself. Just be sure that it's set a bit further back behind the model, especially with green, otherwise it will reflect on the model and make the reds ketchupy and less vibrant. Helpful hint: dollar store construction paper.

[jenius]

52 minutes ago, captain america said:

For what it's worth, it was a close call between your Bio and Ted's Norbert in terms of the build, and I realy like what you did with the Biover, but the photography was what hampered you the most. You don't necessarily need a light box as much as you need less harsh lighting. I personally just use regular lamps with a sheet of white paper wrapped over the bulb to diffuse the light. I don't even use a fancy camera, just an iPod. A vibrant background color, like green or yellow would also compliment the red nicely and offer a good contrast to the model itself. Just be sure that it's set a bit further back behind the model, especially with green, otherwise it will reflect on the model and make the reds ketchupy and less vibrant. Helpful hint: dollar store construction paper.

As Cap said, the lighting in those last photographs is too focused which causes too much of an extreme between the front of the sled and the back. It's almost as if there's an explosion going on in front of the model (which is certainly an affect you can emulate when you're going for that). For something like the competition where you really want to highlight the details, you need well diffused light. When I take shots for anymoon, I try to have a lot of diffused light coming from in front and above the toy. Then I can use a higher f-stop value to flatten out the image so there's minimal blur on the toy itself, only background items look blurred. The light is important because the higher the f-stop the darker the image. I just stick to neutral backgrounds but Cap had some great advice if you're being more artistic. 

[sketchley]

Good advice all around.

One other trick I've seen some people on this site use is to photograph outdoors in natural sunlight.  It may be seasonally limited in your neck of the woods, but depending on where you live, you could also exploit the outdoors for some interesting backgrounds.

[tekering]

We've seen your Bioroid, @Boobytrap.  Show us more pictures of that custom display base!

46 minutes ago, sketchley said:

One other trick I've seen some people on this site use is to photograph outdoors in natural sunlight.

Absolutely.  With digital photography, more light means sharper focus, and there's no substitute for the sun!

46 minutes ago, sketchley said:

depending on where you live, you could also exploit the outdoors for some interesting backgrounds.

There's no substitute for a real sky, either.

[Boobytrap]

Thank you all so much for the feedback. I will be sure to put it all to good use. This is the first time that I have tried to photograph a figure in this manner. Most of my photography experience is of nature and landscapes.

I have occasionally taken pictures of figures outdoors and with mood lighting and I thought they turned out OK.

The reason why I was thinking the lightbox would help was because the pictures I took of the figure (pre-final flat coat) in my detolf cabinet turned out much better. It has evenly disbursed, multi-directional, dimmable lighting which a lightbox would be able to replicate even better. I liked the gloss look so much that had I won I was planning to make the green one clean with ultra shine and build a mothership interior display box with lots of mood lighting to reflect off of it.

As requested here are some more pictures of the base, warts and all.

Here's where one of my major last minute mishaps occurred. I was literally applying the last swipe of blue to finish it up and the ramp box on top snapped off from the side. I had only a little over a day left before the deadline so there was no way I was going to properly repair it in time. It still took me a while to get it back to this state and was the reason I didn't have time to finish the cannons. Eventually I will have two slightly raised platforms with one cannon apiece on this side.

I'm going to leave the front semi-circle as high gloss and etch in a line for detail to replicate the show. Because of that I will need to smooth it out more so that it doesn't show as many ripples and bumps. I'm going to change the mounting position so that it is slightly in front of the display and looks like it is floating. I will also be carving out sections of the front plate and putting in recessed pipes and hoses which will be lit from the interior lights.