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  2. TehPW
    maybe. What I hope is how they show Pike still grieving into next season...
  3. Palantirion
    Glamour shots, if we're being generous. I was pressed for time.
  4. TehPW
    You need to at least watch MASH. It's a show that everyone on the planet can relate to, morally or humoral speaking.
  5. Hikuro
    I've been working off and on with Nissan for nearly 30 years, yeah, pre-teen, and my family and I have always been Z enthusiasts since we owned a 280ZX brand new off the truck back in 1980, so growing up around them I've always thought of it as a dream car. Then in 2022 I sold my old Honda HRV and bought a 2014 Nissan 370Z....sadly the market in the area for them was just terrible and the closest I could get was a Touring model with a terrible paint job and some issues. Spent a lot of time working on it making it better....then I had an incident with a police officer running me off the road doing damage to the car that was entirely his fault and his department refused to pay up to fix. Well when the new Z was released in 23, I'd been sorely wanting it since first seeing the prototype variant at our dealership. Sadly these cars are super expensive for someone like myself scraping by. Well, we had some pretty good deals over the summer, and I had enough of fixing a car that was never going to be how I wanted it. So I was able to work a deal with my sales team and we managed to find me a two tone silver/black sport model for the right price. I've been absolutely loving this car, it handles real well, better at higher rates of speed, the engine has got enough umpf to it that it's made me really enjoy going out for long runs on my weekends off. Just this weekend I took it on a 100+ joyride just having a blast. Ended up picking up donuts and coffee, watch the sunrise then drove home. I've named it Bluestreak in honor of the Fairlady 280ZX the G1 Autobot was designed from. It's got a nice 3 liter twin turbo V6 pumping out 400hp and right now sits as the top of the line now that the GT-R has been discontinued. I honestly don't see myself doing much of anything to it for modifications as it feels and handles nearly perfect for my needs. Since getting it I've had to clear out my entire garage so I can safely store it as we've had some pretty wicked storms with quite a lot of hail falling, and I don't want someone trying to break into it being in a not so great neighborhood. I really need a nice long trip somewhere to really have fun with it, but I have no idea where to go with the limited budget I got.
  6. Palantirion
    Then I did some proper dot filtering with the oils. And drybrushed highlights. Then used Musou Black for the edge. Finished! No, wait, no I'm not. I also had to make a box with foam lining so Chris could transport it safely. The lid (not shown) has foam blocks that stop any Z axis movements.
  7. Palantirion
    THERE'S NO BASE! Oops. So....I stole a one from a Figma figure. I textured it with Smart Mud and some sand pieces. The Smart Mud is awesome at being mud, but it's crap at holding on to anything else. So I have to thin down some canopy glue in order to make sure everything stayed put. Then it primed it with MY NEW FAVORITE PRIMER. This is Molotow's One-4-All line of marker refills. I have had my issues with Molotow's marker paint before, but One-4-All is awesome stuff. It dries almost instantly, yet airbrushes really smoothly. It was so hard that I had to try really hard to scrape any off this base with my thumbnail. It's waterproof...but I didn't wet sand it so I don't yet know if its really waterproof. But this is now my go-to primer, particularly as it comes in various colors and can be mixed to create others - perfect for zenithal or preshading. DOTS! Some wet-on-wet blending action using dot filter randomness. FYI I used a little too much paint. And dry.
  8. TehPW
    I have not yet watched this series yet (between the clips i see on YT and the comments here, i remain uncommitted). As for the use of nuclear weapons, wasn't the end of the fourth Alien film set on a destroyed land scape (possibly Paris, France, depending on the application of Deleted scenery or not)? likely the home world will be nuked... what would be funny? Someone the Octo-Eye is currently driving is the one that pushes the button.
  9. gabuyan started following Bandai DX Chogokin 1/48 VF-1
  10. Palantirion
    Here are all the materials I used. If you have any questions just ask. Some final detailing touches.
  11. Palantirion
    Then I used water-soluble oils to pinwash the panel lines. And to add subtle heat stains to the thruster. And to add some grime from sitting out on the tarmac for years. Then final assembly. And gluing the canopy - because I didn't catch during parts prep that it's shape slightly interferes with the body cutout and this means it won't stay latched on its own.
  12. Chronocidal
    I'm betting the price is blown out by all of the larger elements involved in ship builds. I don't imagine the keel is built up from normal bricks, and those sorts of ship models have always gone for a premium because of the unique parts involved. That Cobra looks like a beauty though! I should probably think about that one before it poofs, but I'm still debating burning my VIP points to pick up the Shuttle Carrier 747.
  13. Palantirion
    So what now? As they say "It's not a flaw, it's a feature." So I pivoted to implying a story with this kit. Instead of simply being Rick Hunter's Fanracer, this kit will now be Rick Hunter taking a last ride in his previously years-long abandoned Fanracer before embarking on the Pioneer Expedition. If you are a fan of Japanese (particularly WWII) aviation then you know what aotake is. And if not: It's a bright translucent (typically) blue/green laquer primer. My thought was to try to make it look like the aotake was showing through where the paint was worn or cracked. And in a few spots the base material (mostly yellow aramid fiber) would be seen too.
  14. Palantirion
    I then wet sanded the small parts with 6k then 10k (note: Japanese grit scale!), and polished with Tamiya's 3-step polishes. Liking the results I started wet sanding the main body... And then this started happening! Micro cracks slowly appeared all over the kit. Looking back I now suspect that my airbrush's water trap was too full and had stopped trapping water, contaminating the Tamiya hybrid acrylic and changing how it cured, which then got trapped under the airtight Future clear and that led to this. I sanded, VERY carefully, through the cracked clearcoat and polished as best I could. Worked fairly well on some of the smaller parts. But not as well on the main body. It was clear that the only way to get rid of the cracks was to sand down the the primer and re-shoot the model. BUT since I didn't know what had caused the reaction that didn't seem like a wise use of time.
  15. Seto Kaiba
    Perhaps, in the future, check your facts before attempting to argue and not after so I don't have to explain basic concepts like I'm ChatGPT? Just a suggestion. đŸ˜œ Yes, what works in the US market doesn't necessarily work in Europe or China and vice versa. When it comes to EVs, the biggest barriers are more in the US's systematic negligence of infrastructure. Range anxiety is not a wholly separate issue from the fact that the grid is so badly maintained and so far behind in development that it's simply not possible to make EV charging stations as common as gas stations. All the work being done with ANL and USDoE on "smart grid" applications, DR, rate-conscious "smart" charging, etc. on EVSEs and in-vehicle only goes so far when the grid is a creaking ruin in a lot of states. A-segment and B-segment small cars are never going to sell here regardless, that's just a fundamental difference in needs. Thermal runaway is a nasty topic, the subject of a lot of back-and-forth between the industry and regulators over the last seven or so years. The EU's latest package of emissions laws and regulations (Euro 7) has some new requirements for OEMs on that front, as do some updates to China's GB/T standards for vehicle-to-cloud regulatory communication. China's EVs rotting in ports... yeah... they're massively over-exporting in a braindead go at conquering the EV market through sheer volume. Between the brands being new and suspicions about the connected features spying on you and concerns about good ol' Chinese quality they're not finding an audience as big as they hoped for. Tesla's having a similar problem now that its CEO is one of the world's most hated men and has alienated the vast majority of his customer base. đŸ˜† Despite the growing pains of EV technology, EV sales are still up 25% globally in 2025... most of that being outside the US though (which only grew 6%). Considering how badly designed and badly built Teslas are, was it ever safe? Hardly a quarter goes by without someone suing Tesla for false advertising over their "autopilot" feature that keeps causing high speed crashes because Tesla lied about its actual capabilities. Their current flagship is a pickup truck held together with glue and wishful thinking that can't go offroad, can't drive on roads in snow, can't carry cargo without risking permanent damage to its tailgate and truck bed, can't tow for sh*t without risking frame damage, can't charge without risking the connector getting stuck in the inlet, can't charge in hot or cold weather, shorts out and fails during basic fording tests, frequently bricks itself, is often mistaken for a skid full of garbage by racoons, and is a writeoff in anything more than the most gentle of fender benders. đŸ˜† What part of that sounds safe to you? đŸ˜† Your lemon being tagged by an irate protester is the least of your worries. Their safety record is so bad we're starting to see talk of states banning the sale of Tesla vehicles.
  16. Palantirion
    If you don't yet have some Musou Black GET IT. Stupid web stunts aside it is an incredibly unique and valuable modeling tool. Unlike any other black paint it is both dark AND flat. Meaning you can use it to literally paint shadows. So in the case of these little exhaust vents that don't have recessed holes, a little Musou Black makes it very convincing. Similarly the far depths of the thruster now have more depth. I put the model into my dehydrator after clearing but didn't turn it on, just used it as a dust shield. I cleared it twice. Finished base painting Rick. Unmasked after clearing. Test fitting Rick. Then I had to fix the red area behind the canopy that was partially covered by the mask. I did this by brush, thinning the Tamiya a little with Mr, Color leveling thinner. The gap of the canopy hinge will be painted Rubber Black later. Detailing Rick, weathering looks a little heavy up close but reads well at normal viewing distance. More Musou black for the engine and radiatior intakes. Rick is now glued in place.
  17. Valkyrie Hunter D
    Yeah, eat your heart out Bungie Inc.:
  18. Valkyrie Hunter D
    Yeah, if it was larger I'd get one. It doesn't even have any figures of Liquid or Grey Fox (R.I.P.) to establish scale.
  19. Yesterday
  20. Palantirion
    I mixed an orange-red from these Tamiya colors. Unmasking the white, but leaving the canopy mask on for clearcoating. I cleared it, after letting the Tamiya cure a couple days, with Future. I've dipped with it before but not used it as a final clearcoat. It sprays beautifully, mists well and can also go on fairly heavy. On a small model like this I didn't use a retarder, so I can't comment on how it would react. Then I painted the fans a dark metallic gray. NOT a metal color! Even though that would have been prettier. I figured since this was an '80s show that the blades would have been ceramic, as Japanese ceramic knives and such were new and unique then. Granted a ceramic could be any color, but in the show they are dark gray - and not shaded as if they were metal. I added some directional glazes on the thruster, because it was just too plain. And little nicks and streaks to the blades. Then I lined the booster pods with Rubber Black, partly as a heavy panel line accent and partly to represent a buildup of soot over many uses.
  21. Palantirion
    I wanted a somewhat heavy and splotchy preshade, closer to black basing, but this went a little overboard. Also, in hindsight I now see a issue here with the spray pattern that I think was the cause of the big issue later. Then the white base coat, using Tamiya acrylic. Then masking for the red color.
  22. Palantirion
    This was my first time scribing lines, and I didn't do a great job of it. These long curves panel lines under the wings were done freehand. Priming. Scribing the front landing gear doors using scribing tape. Worked really well. Then I masked around the cowl and airbrushed it. And also gave it a little interference blue to better tie it in with the rest of the cockpit.
  23. Palantirion
    I will point out that there are factory errors with this model. One is that the pilot's hands are both on side console controls but there is supposed to be a center control stick. And also the rear landing gear doors were scribed but not the fronts! I wanted to keep this a strict "what's in the box" build, so no scratch built bits. I used a few layered drops of Tamiya Clear Blue to build up thickness and give the impression of gauges. I dipped the cockpit in Future. and then lined the underside lip with Tamiya's Rubber Black to represent a seal. And then with the cockpit and canopy finished I joined the fuselage halves. Very annoyingly the center seam goes right through the cockpit cowl. Which means I needed to fill and sand there, and then repaint without overspray onto the cockpit or canopy.
  24. Bolt
    Very nice work!
  25. kajnrig
    It was indeed deafening in the theater. I may have posted about it the night I saw it. Well worth the price of entry.
  26. Palantirion
    I base painted Rick and the cockpit, based on screen shots from Macross. The colors are not consistent, nor is the lineart, so it's open to interpretation. Then I thought the green was too green and so I desaturated it a bit, lightened the lighter green-gray, and repainted the cockpit. I used Molotow Chrome for the gauge bezels and two details that look like latches behind the seat. Then distressed the leather seat with thinned acrylic glazes. I still through the cockpit looked a little plain. Since the colors changed from shot to shot in the show I thought that maybe a little interference blue over the top of the lighter green would give it a subtle accent to catch the eye.
  27. Big s
    Looks like it’s coming along fairly well
  28. Palantirion started following Fanracer kit build (PIC HEAVY)
  29. Palantirion
    Greetings all. Below is the chronicling of my Fanracer kit build. This kit was given to me by Chris from Scorched Earth and I built it so he could review it with the Bandai DX toy for this video: First, cleaning! I use Simple Green and a toothbrush (or strainer for tiny parts). It's cheap, available, rinses completely away with water, and won't react to any plastics. Then priming. At this time I was still using Vallejo primer. I have since switched to a MUCH better primer, but more on that later... For gap filling I used homemade spru-goo. Not my favorite filler, as it shrinks a little, but it welds the styrene parts together making the seams stronger than a simple filler. Sanding. And more sanding. Then some more sanding. But a note on sanding: Frank from Thingergy recommended 3M's "Flexible Abrasive Hookit Hand Sheets P400" and while very expensive they are AWESOME! Totally worth the price! They are flexible cloth so no sharp paper edges if you bend or fold them. They fold and refold without damage (unlike paper), wet sand (of course), and their tooth is much more durable than the Godhand foam pads I used to prefer. I used one little cutting from one sheet for this whole project and then used it on my next project too. They seem to be comparatively unkillable. Then priming again.
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