Xigfrid

I would like to learn more on this technique, is it cost effective for single sample production?

That is a big update!

Be prepared for free shipping on Shapeways this weekend begining Saterday 3rd at 9am CEST on all orders!

Of course, just to support Arcadia against Bandai and its "nightmareous pre-order". I have passed on a few Bandai releases for the 0D and I don't regret it, but was a tough decision...

It finally arrived! The color is much more saturated (more like a fluo) than it appears in this picture. The good points are that the paint is UV reactive and it also glows in the dark, bad points are that it glows orange instead of pink and that it lasts less than 30sec! Anyway, I still believe it is a great inside color.

I have a small panel that appeared to be easier to be made, assembled and painted if seperated from where it was attached. Once detached, I realised that this panel could act as an opening trap where the Super parts would attach, so I tried to make it movable. But since this part is so small (1cm x 3cm) and located in a tough to access position, it is very hard to make it articulated. Well without a drawing/picture, it would be hard to explain it better until I finalize the design. Should be rubber then, I need to search on ebay/amazon, last time I searched for this kind of rubber I ended with O-rings BUT the easier to find/traditional ones are too thin to act like a 1:60 plane wheels. Any idea is welcome on the rubber! NB: Also the wheels would be an optional accessory, mainly because of the price of printing it in Steel from shapeways is quiet prohibitive (like 20 USD) About the HMMs, I plan to make a sort of cage of rods where the HMMs will attach by friction, this cage being clipsable into the launch bay. By doing this design I should make different cages to adapt more weapons such as the classical HMM from the YF-19 or nukes from the VF-1s as the ghost is supposedly able to bring different types of weapons depending of the mission.

Really nice idea about the intakes, I would make the same if it can still transform, can't it?

That's big!

Thank you all for the great comments. The more I am working on it the more it is becoming complex with moving panels and such. I am still having design dilemmas such as should the landing gears have rubber or plain plastic/resin is good enough or do I need to make the mini HMMs ?

Here are the shots after the second primer layer. I think that I will be done once I sand it tomorrow and prime it in white before painting.

In fact I have no idea of their mold costs, but it seems after K comments that they are heavy on the final price. I use to work with mold companies for large steel injection molds (a single part would be at least 30cm in the smaller length) and I know the costs for these: 15k-20k each mold where a single part would cost 25 On a run of 200 pieces per year. As you can see the molds alone represent a large portion of the cost. I am ignorant of how these numbers would scale with Arcadia's model. How many valk do they sold in each run? To cut the expenses, I have been suggested to work on resin molds, instead of using steel. My company is also working with thermo-formed plastic, and for smaller runs (order of 20) we work with materialise who make something really similar to SLA 3D printing. Anyway, I feel bad for being judged as an ignorant simply because I am registered to 3Dprint.com newsletter and that I suddenly wanted to share this latest news to illustrate the fact that there are alternative to steel molding. You know that Google will give you the most recent news in its first page.

Here is the Ozma car model. I have modified it to include most of the adjustments I made on the first version. There should be some plastic that would have to be cut out around the front gears to perfectly acoomodate the rotating wheels. https://www.shapeways.com/product/47C9VPQF7/can-car-custom-ozma-lee-v2

In fact we have 14 in 1:72 scale, this is why I am pretty much confident this is feasible and the copy would be as nice as the first recast

That's something feasible. Probably Jasonc can make additional 1:72 recasts but just to avoid confusion with the paid orders and if it is ok with you, I can put you on the waiting list.

We just made a new print of wings so things have slowed down a bit. But I am sure everything is going fine, and that the 1:72 molds should be almost done by now. Anyway I will let Jasonc confirm it

I don't know what you meant by "selling 3D printed Macross products". I can swear I never saw one that would have been directly painted after being printed. If you mean that Mr K uses 3D printing to make prototype, it saves only on the prototypes , which to the scale of traditional molding method is almost nothing.

Mr K. has no excuse for making more and more expensive toys nowadays with all the new technologies going around 3D printing and such. I couldn't imagine why Arcadia could continue to make "traditional" molds knowing their high costs and also knowing that they don't make very large production runs. I came across this small article describing how a European molding company uses 3D printing in hardened ABS to make smaller and swapable molds that would fit a unique injection module. This is just brillant, and that kind of injection method would greatly reduce small production cost such as Arcadia's. If anyone want to suggest it to Mr. K on his twitter, here is the link to the article: http://3dprint.com/95743/stratasys-hasco-injection-mold/

Posting a few pictures of the new parts, they are perfect! Now the head is tight in close position and it's stays also tightly semi open. You can go on shapeways and grab the 9 parts that compose it there: https://www.shapeways.com/shops/xigfrid3dshop?section=Bird-Human+Head&sort= All the parts are articulated around an axis that goes between the head's ears, the assembly is really basic and you will need very little sanding because the exterior texture should be rough. I gave a special treat to the head, just use a cutter and chip off the supplement of plastic if you want a smooth skin as mine. There is no stand adapter for it as it would best be in the VF-0D/SV-51 CF arms or simply lying semi open on the ground. If you have any question about the assembly or transformation just leave me a PM, I would be happy to answer them. And if the head has a great "selling" success, I can also make a quick manual in PDF for it.

Perhaps this is the problem: the rvf's ghosts included in the super parts are too small. They should be 2/3 of a VF-1 and not a little more than its half as they are.

I will prepare the car model for you, but I doubt FUD is a viable option because you have to ploy a little the model to insert the front tab. Additionally when I drive mine, the car hurts hard the walls

I am receiving in a few days the last updated parts. Can't wait to review them and they will probably give the "good to go" for this project!

Just realized that the antenna was missing on gerwalk and battroid shots, is it alright Saburo?

Saburo, they are amazing shoots! New computer desktop background and phone lock screen!

Have you really found the lancia in 1/60? I was looking for it for a long time before deciding to go the custom way. If you find a link where I can get one I would love it

Sure, Yamato compatible because this is what I will use and the bandai stand are so not convinient!