Thom

3 hours ago, electric indigo said:

May I suggest this nifty 1/72 Trumpeter J-31? It's 98% there.

Wow, that is a nice hybrid of the two, ain't it?!

1 hour ago, renegadeleader1 said:

Now? He do something else stupid or weird lately within the last two years I don't know about other that being your typical Hollywood weirdo?

Now, in that the time has past. The iron is cold. His reputation is 'weird.' Unless something major happens, I would think that he is 'one and done' with the franchise.

(I could be mistaken though. He's had a few smaller movies that garnered some acclaim in recent years, and actors have come back from more...)

6 hours ago, jenius said:

Wasn't the plan to hand this series off to Shia LaBeouf? Boy, that didn't pan out.

That was certainly the feel I had watching Crystal Skull. At the time, I wouldn't have minded if they popped out a sequel with him moving into the role, but now..?

Well, it's news. Good or bad? Time will tell. Personally, I'm alright if they continue with the Kelvin-timeline. Beyond was pretty good, if still riding the too-familiar trope of Big Bad Wants to Destroy Earth. Again.

But maybe it is time for something new. New crew, new ship, and something far out there rather than constantly coming back to Sector 001.

On 4/9/2021 at 7:37 AM, electric indigo said:

,.....

Here's a preview of India's effort:

Now there's an F-35 I'd build a model of!!

Well, if they had wanted to focus on all new characters, then they should have left out Picard... Or just had him be a guest every now and then. Once the Big Guy is there though, the next question is just naturally, 'who else is going to show?' One follows the others.

On 4/9/2021 at 2:31 PM, easnoddy said:

Would be cool if they did a re-cut of the season 1 in linear order prior to releasing season 2.  Anyone who wasn't familiar with the story or characters was completely lost watching it the original way.

Great idea!

On 4/9/2021 at 11:48 AM, jvmacross said:

 

Aww sweet poochie!! Cuddle him, and then give him a Darth Vader chew toy!

F&CK!

Bring it!

When I pay to watch ST: SNW, I might peak over and see if the writing and actor has moved past the juvenile stage.

@Chronocidal Looks like a real good model is on the way!

@pengbuzz for a moment I legit thought you had blowed it to hell! Glad to see it's moving along, and sorry to hear about the rippy-offy. Tear into'em!

On 4/4/2021 at 1:43 AM, Convectuoso said:

Please, look at this:

 

source: 

 

 

 

I'm sorry for the purists, but I have the Robotech theme going in my head when I see that!

8 hours ago, Convectuoso said:

Please, look at this:

 

source: 

 

 

 

Love it! Like it was snipped right out of the anime.

Yeah, when the news sounds so good, always check the date first.

The recast I need to see!

7 hours ago, kalvasflam said:

At this rate Scar Jo is going to be 50 by the time that movie comes out.

But it won't matter with the de-aging tech they have now.

@electric indigo That is a great looking 262!!

@derex3592 Congrats on the milestone! Don;t know if you need clear plastic ideas, but my local hardware store, in the gardening section, they have the clear propogation domes for seedling. Some can be crazed and a little cloudy, but some of them are as clear as glass!

5 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

 

Definitely will guys!!! She deserves it with what I've put her through!

@peter I found the heads; unfortunately, they are missing the laser cannon and back plate on both, but you're welcome to them. I'm sure you could scratch something up if needbe, here's a pic:

If you want them, just send me an address and I'll try to get them to you!

------------------------------------------------------

UPDATE:

Okay...some work on the cockpit tub and control panels for my new kit. Since this is the last  'cat I'm ever building...time to pull out all the stops and cut out the limiter.

I began by scraping the molded panel detail from the cockpit tub, using a needle file and xacto knife:

Then, the rough part: cutting individual panels out and fitting them so there was a tiny amount of space between them. I wanted the panels to look individual and not "one giant panel" when paint was applied:

I also added in some missing details, such as the hydraulic for the canopy lift behind the RIO's seat, the canvas cover on the left side besides the Pilot's seat, and a few other odds and ends that got left out (such as the throttle, I mean yeah, it's not like the pilot actually needs that, right?)

While that was setting up, I took the time to prep the seats for Maverick and Goose:

The older seat designs needed some modifications 9as did the pilots) in order for maverick and Goose to look like they were sitting in the seats, not just  plastic figures sitting on top of them. That meant using a dremel tool to grind away seat belts, shave down the pilot's backs and other areas, and ensure they fig snugly. not 100 percent, but close enough where looking in the cockpit does not reveal any issues:

 

"is this your idea of fun, Mav?"

- Lt. JG. Nick "Goose" Bradshaw.

Back to the cockpit tub:

From here, detail painting, weathering and decalling will commence, followed by painting the seats and attaching everything into place.

Stay tuned... revving up the engines, listen to them howl and blow...

 

Good looking start to the new (last?) F-14 build!

16 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

Not so much an update, but a confession of temperament gone bad, and a wife who is an utter angel...

I came back to my Tomcat model after working a bit on the 1/537 Refit (waiting on primer to cure fully before buying flat white for it). Anyways, I started scrubbing the model to get some of the paint off...

...and the blasted nose section  (along with one half of the top fuselage)cracked off the plane:

...and my last bit of patience went with it as well.

I ended up flying into rage I hadn't experienced for the better part of 10 years. When I was done, this was the result:

I scraped up these bits along with the nose cone, and just put them in a bag and left them in the dumpster. My wife came in after I sat back down, and I was just a mess. I crossed a line internally that I very much don't ever want to, and failed a project due to being utterly incompetent.

She just gave me a hug and we sat there for a good half-hour.

That was Thursday afternoon.

I narrowly averted having a seizure, but ended up with a major headache, not to mention scaring my poor wife nearly to death(how she puts up with me is known only to the good Lord!). So, I slept in much of yesterday (got up occasionally to look at online) and again today until a little before noon ,and got some hydration into me. I made my way to my worktable/ computer, and sat down to something unexpected. '

The note: "Honey, I knew the model you were working on was giving you problems. I knew you had put a lot of work into it; I felt so bad for you for trying so hard and it ending that way. I don't blame you for getting upset over it. 

I hope this helps you feel better. Love, Meg. <3"

And this was under the note:

*cue Top Gun Anthem*

I love my wife. I honestly don't deserve her, especially after the fit I had.

Damn, that is one fine wife! Give her a big hug from all of us! And good luck with the new build.

10 hours ago, peter said:

AMT 1/2500 scale Enterprise set done.

Got two rattle cans of Tamiya Flat Clear on top of the Pledge and I'm calling it a day.  The other night, I had dreams about applying decals so I decided to walk away from this build despite leaving numerous mistakes.

Once again, I do not recommend this kit for noobs like me.  Still, despite a lot of frustration, I'm satisfied with the end result.  Bear in mind though, my standards are low, so even builders with a little experience will spot a lot of errors with my build.

Use hot water for the decals, the decals are prone to fragmenting if the decals are cold.

Final observations from a beginner's point of view:

NX-01

Probably the easiest of the set.  Nice crisp details, no fitment issues, minimal sanding and filling.  Decals went on like a breeze, but maybe because they were cut nice and small and did not have to conform over many odd shapes.

 

TOS

Older tooling but thankfully no gridlines.  Do yourself a favour and sand off the windows and the pylon detail as the decals do not line up with these.

 

Refit

I built my refit from the Cadet Series Motion Picture Set, but I would recommend using a dark primer to mask the trademark stamp on the inside of the saucer or you will see it if you hold a light behind it.

 

Ent B

Do yourself a favour and sand off the gridlines.  Also, if you can, paint the blue chillers on the nacelles, as well as the darker gun metal detail if you can.  The nacelle decals do not want to "wrap around" as the instructions suggest.  They prefer to fragment and break into a million pieces.  Also, long lanky nacelles that may not line up correctly.  Ugly gaps and seam lines in the deflector dish area that I failed to fill.

 

Ent C

Get your surgical gloves out, and have a bath of water ready to readjust the large saucer decals.  Making this one a smoothie would be difficult because the grid-lines come in direct contact with many details such as life boats and windows.  You might just have to live with the grid-lines but it makes decal application a nightmare.  Tons of Micro Sol or Mr Mark Softer for this one.

Nacelle upper decals are horrendous also, recommend lots of water to move them around in place, then it's tons of decal setter.  Cutting them up will not make it easier.  In my case, it made it worse.

 

Ent D

Sand off the gridlines and some of the other surface detail that appears on the decal itself.  If you can live with the seam line between the neck and the secondary hull, recommend you do not glue this section in place until after you apply the decals.  Apart from that, pretty smooth decal application, especially if you sanded off the gridlines.

 

Ent E

After gaining confidence with the End D, you may think the Ent E will be easy, but it is not.  There are fitment issues and crooked nacelles.  The decals twist and turn in some spots and may drive you nuts.  Details aren't very crisp on the Ent E, maybe the tooling is just old and tired and should be retired.

Oh, one more thing, if you use Gundam markers for the windows, recommend sealing them in before you add decals because decal solution and Gundam markers don't mix well....colors will run.

 

 

Great looking fleet. Sure to be a bane against the Klingons, Romulans or whomever! 

1 hour ago, MechTech said:

For the past few weeks I've been trying to engineer and machine the parts for the 1/72nd scale Oto Melara 76/62 76mm naval gun. Since the parts are small and don't have much "meat" on them, it has been tough with a lot of reject parts, but a lot of gained knowledge too. Some parts were just redone so they looked more accurate. It all adds up! Badly scaled parts and things don't look right.

The magazine that sits below the deck looks like a sort of bottling plant. It actually spins around independently from the turret which sites inside it (the interior green colored cylinder). Each row holds TWO 76mm rounds. The whole magazine holds 80 rounds total between the carousel and the feed mechanism. That is what you're looking at here:

My son thought these looked like torture devices. It was fun cutting all those tiny lengths of brass wire and the gluing the into place on the top row. The bottom row is friction fit. You can see a complete round in one of the rows.

Do you know how hard it is to line up all those tiny pins with all those tiny pieces? It took hours just to do that - before the gluing. I then made a couple of jigs to keep the parts evenly spaced while gluing them in. Flush cutters were used for trimming the excess ends off.

And FINALLY, trimmed, sanded and test fit around the turret piece. The 1/72nd scale figure and a complete round are for scale.

If you noticed the big bolt is no longer attached to the turret? I VERY CAREFULLY machined-out the interior roof so the feed mechanism (next part of this project) can fit up in there.

Thank God I'm only making one of these! - MT

And some truly intricate, fantastic work. 

13 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

Perhaps the reception to this cut could re-stoke the fires for another Justice League movie with Cavill, Affleck and Gadot....

I'd be up for that! Just not something that rushes into the future story line from the SnyderCut. Just have them all together to face another Big Bad.

Liking it. Looks like it should be up on stage with her.

4 hours ago, peter said:

Lol, so true.  It totally looks like a real plane if it weren't for the background to give it away.

Just CG it onto a black/white flight scene. @electric indigo Nice looking plane!

1 hour ago, peter said:

Your advice on making the Ent D a smoothie really paid off.

Looking at the number of decals, I was honestly a bit intimidated.  Even though I sealed my 537 Refit in decals, those were HDA and these were AMT, so I had some serious concerns about ripping and tearing.

First decal.  The indents didn't line up with the decal, but I'm fine with that.  Look how smooth it is compared to the ribbed mess on the Ent B and C.  Love it!

The saucer bottom when on quick, there was barely any messing around and I didn't have to cut any of th decals into smaller pieces like I did with the Ent B and C.

Nacelle bottoms were fairly straight forward too.

Already on the saucer top.

And the D follows it up with a win! Feels smooth all the way from over here!

So much better than the theatrical version! It in no way felt like four hours of viewing. Each time we got to a new chapter title I was surprised at how fast the previous hour went. Also much more serious than Whedon's, though I wouldn't have minded had they left some of the theatrical's comedic moments in. Also thought they dug too deep into some of the motivations of the heroes, to the point that I felt the main plot was put on the back burner a little too often, but still, I very much enjoyed this.

I would definitely watch if Snyder is given the means to complete his story. Though...

1 hour ago, Convectuoso said:

https://www.facebook.com/545859750/posts/10158380974619751/

Great Regult build

Insane level of detail!