MacrossMan

Nice and clean. Way too high for my preference, though (standard is to put the center of the screen at eye level from the viewing position).

Yeah, I was wondering about the height too---do you have to constantly crane your neck up?

The height is somewhat deceptive. The main sofa sits far enough back that when you're watching TV it is perfectly at eye level. As you sink back into the sofa it sort of naturally tilts you back maybe 3-5 degrees. Perfect for those watching from the kitchen as well.

...but I don't like the idea of drilling holes into the walls. Plus all that cord coming from the side just looks tacky! I dont want to spend moer than $1500- as there are much Macross toys to buy for this yr too.

I was afraid of drilling holes too until I found out how much it would cost to have someone come out and fish all the cables I needed to my specs. Instead I took a week off from work and went drill bit shopping. I had no idea they made bits 6 feet long. My wife cried when she came home and saw the disaster the first day. I had to cut a hole in the wall then force the drill bit through insulation then ran into a fireblock. Then my friend who was in the attic would have to take over and drill down from the attic hoping he hit the same spot in the fireblock I would. Apparently code requires this on a wall that has a fireplace. Once we got past that it was pretty simple and cleaning everything up with nice faceplates was easy. Here are some pictures of my week of mayhem. In the end it turned out good and I saved myself a few thousand dollars in the process

If its not too much of a trouble, can you post up a few pics of your entertainment system around your fire place? I need that visual idea.

As a matter of fact I'll turn it on later today with the TV on to give you a better visusal. Me and this misses have spent many nights with it fired up watching a movie. It's not wood burning. You flip the light switch or hit the remote controll to turn it on. There are fake logs with some mash looking stuff that glows like hot ashes when the fire is turned on. It's is a sealed vented system with the vent running along the backside of the house. We turn the ceiling fan on to keep the warm from rising and the room stays nice and toasty. It doesn't affect the performance of the TV, but then again the system is not engineered like a traditional fireplace. Here's a picture to give you an idea. There's no chimney; just a small vent coming out the roof for the fireplace.

EDIT: for added pic with fireplace burning

If its not too much of a trouble, can you post up a few pics of your entertainment system around your fire place? I need that visual idea.

Not a problem man. Here's a before and after. Our builder built a house next door to us with a theater. My wife was hell bent on two living areas so we chose this house and the second living area became my space. The builder and his contractor stopped by once I got the room completed. I popped in Iron Man and jumped to the scene of Tony Stark coming out the cave and causing mass destruction. The look on their faces; you could have bought'em for a nickel! The couldn't believe the sounds and wanted to know who dialed in the sound. I just smiled. The theater next door has stadium style seating with hollow floors to create more resonance that gives you that heart pounding bass from soundtracks. My room sits on a concreate slab in an open area off the kitchen where sound goes everywhere, yet as Tony is coming out the cave it feels and sounds like something big and heavy is moving in the house. The sound is phenomenal.

When guys are over they say they hear stuff they don't hear at home on their set-ups. All soundtracks have the same information, but it is a matter of having the right equipment to unlock it all along with good speakers that can reproduce the sounds that the engineers have laid down. Many have complained about the first Transformers soundtrack being weak; specifically Blackout's attack in the opening scene but I don't have that problem. I'm only pushing 55 watts of high current power to each speaker. My two fronts have powered subs built into them that I have set to turn off when 5.1 surrournd. I let my sub handle all the LFE. A good sub will have a good crossover that you can dial in to where there is muddied sound coming from it. For example, the high frequency of thunder will be heard from certain speakers while your sub will step and grab all the rumble. Good subs love to just hang out in the background and wait to pick up low frequency effects. A sound system is only as strong as its weakest link. Keep that in mind while building your set-up.

I will look into the Pioneer you mentioned. While we are at it, what does everyone think about the LED?

The fireplace is sealed but I don't like the idea of drilling holes into the walls. Plus all that cord coming from the side just looks tacky! I dont want to spend moer than $1500- as there are much Macross toys to buy for this yr too.

Thanks MacrossMan!

Mount that baby above the fireplace then! Pioneer makes a flushmount for their plasmas that actually makes the TV looks like it is "glued" to the wall. The guy that built my house has a contractor he uses for home theater type stuff and was blown away by the flush mount for the Pioneer sets. Since the fireplace is sealed you can't go wrong. I have a 50" Samsumg hung over a sealed fireplace since December 2006. Not single problem other than its picture can't touch my older Pioneer with a 10 foot pole.

As promised....

You're one sick dude! What is that in the lower left hand corner? Didn't realize you had gotten your hands on so man 1/48 exclusives. Damn! I can only imagine.

Sheesh! I've searched high and low for a transformation video for this. As easy as I remember it being to transorming it, I followed the instructions of a video. I'm wanting to put this back into fighter mode and was wondering if anyone knows of transformation video. Otherwise he'll spend the rest of his life in battroid.

I'm looking to buy my first HD TV 1080p and I was wondering which platform is best overall. The LCD or the Plasma? Any particular brand, make or model?

You're the expert so you know who you are! lol

Yo Q, I used to sell home audio and video some years back so I have a little expertise in this field. I've read some of your posts and noticed that you said the new place has a lot of natural light. 50" should serve you just fine, but I would go with plasma. If you're money will buy Pioneer Elite go for a 50" plasma Elite. I won't go into all the technicals, but it is hands down the best money can buy. I paid $4500 for a regular 43" Pioneer plasma in 2005 and it's just as beautiful today as it the day I got it. Pair it with Direct TV HD Satellite? You won't find a more superb picture.

Pioneer has actually gotten out the plasma TV business, but Panasonic has picked up some of their patents which explains why their newer plasmas quality can compare to Pioneer's. Don't quote me on this, but I think they used the same glass that went into the Pioneer sets. Super deep blacks and rich warm skin tones. Let all the light you want into a room and promise you the picture won't wash out. It's almost comparable to CRT without the black levels.

I have an LCD in my son's room because it's more "robust" if you will. He'll be playing games on it and watching a little TV. He's notorious for pausing TV or video games and leaving the TV on overnight and I don't have to worry about burn-in. I've actually done this on my Pioneer set and I forget the name of the technology it has that prevents the burn-in. LCD's are easily washed out with light so I would avoid them at all costs since you will have a lot of natural light.

WmCheng mentioned mounting above the fireplace and he is right that electronics and heat do not mix. Unless of course like he stated, the fire place is a sealed unit. The heat generated through walls can affect the performance of the TV. Plasmas kick out enough heat as it is.

Another nomination for Al Bundy. A pleasure to deal with and super fast secure shipping. Thanks man!

Yep, that's v1. If you see it for sale with no designation of which version do not buy it unless you intend to add it to a v1 Valk. It is NOT compatible with the newer v2 Valks.

I thought i uploaded them but the after pics are still at home.. at work at the moment and i thought i had them uploaded already.. no worries when i get home they will be up

Looking forward to the after when I get out of class tonight.

After lying and spoiling Christmas morning I am nominating www.hobbygen.com

My wife placed an order for a 1/48 VF-1J and 1/48 VF-1S as Christmas gifts for me with these fukcfaces on December 18th and paid for expidited shipping with guaranteed delivery before December 25th. No package on December 24th. The week following Christmas she filed a dispute with Paypal for not receiving the item. Miraculously the next day the package shows up. Get this, the package was mailed on December 24th. There was no communication after the sale and attempts to contact them afterwards were unsuccessful. No answer to emails or voicemails left at their contact number. I though to return the package to them, but with the service they have served up thus far I decided to keep them. Be weary of ordering from these guys.

Okay, still no new photos. I'm awaiting the arrival of my table top lighting studio as well as some new subjects to shoot. It also looks like I might have my third lens before spring is in full swing. Hope to be the proud owner of the Nikon 70-200 2.8 VR II by the end of April.

Couldn't resist the bump. Too bad ass to let it fall to the wayside. New members daily so they need to see this.

man, i was on Mari Iijimas facebook page,and asked her if she would ever play a gig in Australia and she said 'I would love to,someone needs to invite me with a solid plan for my gig tho.' getting a reply made my day! but damn i wish i knew a few people in the music industry....just imagine if Mari played at MacAusCon...*nosebleed*

If I am not mistaken, she played at one of the earlier cons stateside.

I really don't like how light the newer, cheaper-made flexi-stands are. The lack of extra weight on the hollow base makes putting larger Valks on them unstable. A friend bought the set of 3, and after handling them, I don't like them. I prefer the older versions.

I have to agree. Although I do like the newer flex-stands I like the solid feel of the older version better. If we could get the solid base back along with stronger bracing plate that doen't crack under pressure that would be awesome. Oh and the clear rubber thingys instead of the black ones. Overall it's a good stand, but it appears the new style cut down on the shipping weight and cost of packaging while comprising the quality of it. Somewhat watered down while maintaining the price like many things today. I can remember when bananna bites (laffy taffy today) were 5 cents each when I was a kid. Today they cost a quarter each and they're about 1/3 their original size. I don't mind the increase in price, but please don't sucker with an inferior product for more money!

This is one sick build!

So glad i have been tied up with other projects and haven't picked up many of the new 1/60's; especially the Super O and Elintseeker. Hopefully by the time I pick these up they will all be fresh stock with the appropriate fixes.

I love the sheryl guard! Great custom. I look forward to seeing what everyone will do with their blanks.

Right on miriya! I mean I so don't want to see the MG's made in this scale, and looking at the "rough" Sheryl Guard provides just a glimpse of how bad ass the MG's would be with the new 1/60 mold. I've gotta kick my 1/48 addiction so I can pick up more of these. Can you imagine this in the Thunder Hammer armor? That would just be NASTY! That clear Tamiya paint has to come in gold as well and we could get the cool gold sunvisor that was done on the original! Okay, I'm starting to re-think the whole "exclusive 1/48 MG" thing. That being said i'll always love my 1/48's, but looking at this thing really sets the wheels in motion for what can be done with a blank canvas...

Don't transform it, I got my CF0A and D-A Ghost and haven't transformed it, I just mated the booster and weapons and that's it.

I did the same thing with 0A and Ghost Set I got a couple years ago which I believe do not have any issues. I was fortunate with my stand alone 0A and 0S. I've had them both for over two years and I never had any issues with them except for the shoulder ball joint becoming a bit loose. Seen the horror stories about these, but again I was fortunate. Getting rid of them cleared out some space for Roy's 0S with ghost set which is supposed to have better joints and what not but I plan to display it in figher mode with the ghost.

Eagerly awaiting the VF-0S with Ghost Booster set.

Another photo of mod 1/60 GBP armor...

Ho-Lee cow!!! Please tell me that is not a 1/60 diorama with the v2 1/60 Valks! Asise from the awesome custom job, the dio's are to die for. If you have other pics of this scale diorama please post them. Thanks!

Man I haven't gotten a chance to take pictures outside yet.. been busy reorganizing things.. just took quick pics of the destroids.. hopefully this weekend i can play with the camera more .. man i need to get 2nd lens.. and there are a lots of lenses suggested on here.. damn.. getting more confused..

What lens are you using right now Kick? I'm trying to get a 70-200 f2.8 and I'll be finished with lenses for a while.

There will always be another one for 200 bucks just around the corner, so - don't worry....

Pete

So true.... lol

Valks are like buses...this one; next 15 one's coming.

This has got to be one of the most loaded threads I've seen in quite some time.

All fun aside, I would tug it a bit; but carefully. It should come loose. I've had to do this with some of my v2 1/60's.

I guess casting the hinge in metal will mean you will have problem of paint loss since it swivels like you said or we have to live with it in Raw metal to prevent paint loss if they did do it in diecast metal.

I might be wrong, but this piece being metal won't have any effect the parts it's attached to for swiveling because it's just placstic. There are no painted parts either. I belive the part would make for a more secure shoulder if it was metal and there was a rubber bushing in the metal loop for the pin to "fit" inside to give the shoulders/arms better poseability without the fear of it falling apart. On some of my 1/48 Valks the front wheel bay doors are metal and I have no earthly idea why this is. I don't see why they can't put metal where it really counts.