fernarias

Hm, I made some obvious changes and I think perhaps you are right. But that's something the kit builder could change if he wanted. I prefer the shorter legs and of course I will be buying a kit. F.

Yes, the toluene (a volatile organic compound that makes up to 40% to 50% of lacquer thinner) in the squadron putty will eat though plastic. You should realistically use spaudron putty only as a scratch filler prior to final priming. For anything bigger than a scratch, including adding detail etc., you should use an epoxy putty like Magic Sculpt (find it here: http://www.sculpt.com/catalog_98/CastingMa...icsculp0001.htm ). Other people here use Milliput but for the price of 4 oz of Milliput you can get 1 lb of Magic Scupt and it's pretty much the same thing. F.

You can use Castro SuperClean with warm water or brake cleaner. F.

Wow, this is awesome. This whole setup screams LEDs. As for the magnets, I think everyone here gets them here: http://www.kjmagnetics.com/ They have a huge supply and you can get magnets to fit the arms exaclty without showing. F.

I loved this series. It was pure satire and spoofed other mecha shows (I think some of you took it too serious). I thought the opening title had a good retro feel. As for the T&A, it wasn't as good as Aika (the camera shots were increadible on that show to get so much pantsu on screen) but it cracked me up every time it saw it. F.

Wait a minute, while I was at work you completed the the signal arm and painted as well. That sucks (for me), I've been going to meetings and going through the general ledger and budgets during the same time period. Anyways, it looks even more amazing with everything mounted to the base. One of the things that I like from the pictures is that it looks like the valk is about to fall. I'm sure this effect is even more apparent in person. I wonder if it's earthquake proof. F.

Wow!!! Now I wish I had bought an arm. Oh well, too late. It looks great unpainted, can't wait to see it painted. F.

Well, magnet to magnet will give you the strongest pull force. If this is too much, you could do magnet to metal. I definately think that the magnets will hold the weight of the valk. (Here's a pull force table for others that are thinking of doing the same and need to buy magnets http://www.kjmagnetics.com/pullforce.asp ) I'm more concerned about the booster to valk hold and what solutions you can come up for that. I personally, don't like to glue these down, like you said, friction fitting is the best option, but that won't hold the weight of the valk. I hope your trick of inserting the magnets through the engine bells works. Here's a suggestion, (see pic, yeah I know but I'm at work, on break of course)using plastic tweezers, initially glue with crazy glue (for positioning and since it will dry fast) and then overlay with epoxy glue (the 25 min stuff has the highest strength) over the interior of the booster (for strength and long holding power) using a syringe. This may seem like over kill but neither crazy glue or epoxy form a permanent bond, especially with plastic, and the magnets are strong enough to pull themselves out of the glue overtime. (maybe someone can make you a small decal saying, Warning keep away from electrical equipment). Let the fun begin. Good luck. F. (disclaimer, this is a technique for those of you that have already built your valk, if you're doing this from scratch you'll have more options)

Just a thought, but I thought that this would be a good place to insert neodymium rare earth magnets to hold the valk (see pic, of course underneath the plastic). This way it wouldn't be permanent and you could just put magnets on different valks and use the arm as temporary display. Of course, I don't expect WM to destroy his completed valk and show us an example. Looking forward to see what you come up with. F.

Wow Mano, that looks terrible. Do any of the other kits look like this? Removing the sprue and seem lines and filling pin holes and bubbles is one thing but having to re-sculpt pieces that result from a misaligned mold is unacceptable. I still don't know how you're going to fix the misaligned brass rod. You can't sand it, you're probably going to have to split the piece in half down the rod, remove the rod, create a new trench for it to sit in and then putty and glue the two pieces back together.

Nothing wrong with Robotech. It was a means to an end and it got a lot of us here. I know I wouldn't of bought all those nice things in 86 if it wasn't for Robotech (still miss the weekly trips to Books Nippon and Tomy Toys in DLA). I just need one thing: 1/200 VF-1D Battriod (thought I bought one but it had the wrong kit in the box) Lol, everytime I drove by LAX I thought, why did LA spend money on such a stupid ugly project. They should have spent the money on the Green Line diverting to LAX instead of ending up in Redondo Beach in the middle of nowhere (at Castle Golf, WTF).

Why is Marvin the Martian on Aquarion? F.

I use my computer to broadcast fansubbed anime onto my 1080i tv and it works like this: If the anime is old 4:3 format then my player (currently using Core Media Player) puts black bars on the side of the screen just like it would for regular broadcast quality signal. If the anime is new and at 16:9 format, my player will fill the entire screen. Quite frankly, I think using a high definition TV to play downloaded anime works great. The video quality is fantastic and I love the large screen size. Even downloaded J-Dramas look better than broadcasted dramas. Example, Densha Otoko was shown in LA in SDTV and my downloaded episodes looked cleaner and brighter. Only problem that I haven't figured out is why my video card and player will not let me watch DVDs that I own in high def on my TV, it says that screen resolution needs to be set at 480P, even though I can watch the same DVD on my LCD when resolution is set to 1280 x 1024, a higher resolution than my 1080i, which is just 1920 x 540. Of course this is just for CSS DVDs as my non CSS DVDs play just fine (example Farscape) and look great. The only solution that I have come up with is to just make copies of my DVDs and just watch these. FYI, the Animego Macross DVDs play just fine. F.

One way to save money is to use the new Urethane Casting Rubber that cost the same but last longer than Silacone Casting Rubber (number of casting per mold). F.

New: Yakitate Japan - if you want something funny Bleach - Something with action Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan - bizarre parady filled with comic blood Monster - must see Not new but not old Tenshi na Konamaiki - good story and funny, animation is different style from traditional Ebichu - Ecchi comedy, over 18 please Kanon - sad drama Old: Touch - from the 80's, a sports drama with a great storyline the long list here: http://www.animesuki.com/series.php for licensed material available on DVD: Full Metal Alchemist - weird name but great story and characters Elfin Lied - Kawaii killing machines Last Exile - lush animation, good story F.

I saw this drama this weekend and it was hilarious. The plot is basically; what happens when an Otaku meets a gorgeous, successful woman (and she actually talks to him). I loved the visuals of Akihabara (those maid bars exist???) but the funniest part was the chat room scenes, "don't worry we're all behind you", lol. I really don't want to give too much away but you must see it. Here is more detailed information: http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Densha_Otoko . It's a new series that comes on Thursdays in Japan and it just began to show in LA on channel 18 Sun. 7:30 to 8:30 untranslated. For those of you with a Anime background the opening title sequence is an animation made by Gonzo that's a homage to the Daicon IV opener made by the founders of Gainex, including using the same song (and yes, some of the founder of Gainex founded Gonzo). Details here: http://www.cjas.org/~leng/daitrivia.htm F. Download ep 1 - http://www.d-addicts.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19436 Download ep 2 - http://www.d-addicts.com/forum/viewtopic.p...1bc41c7a4b79887 Download ep 3 - http://www.d-addicts.com/forum/viewtopic.p...758439a9d1c7eae Download translation ep 1, 2 & 3 - http://www.d-addicts.com/forum/viewtopic.p...a5d86a729b45884

I don't think Basara is a good pilot, the only reason he didn't get shot down is because no one wanted to come near him. His repulsion quotent is pretty high. I know I couldn't watch more than five minutes at a time, which meant it took forever to finish M7. F.

fulcy translated the Suku-Suku casting pages at hobbyfanatics.com. Here's the link: http://www.hobbyfanatics.com/index.php?showtopic=5150 Hope this also helps. F.

You can use a foodsaver to vacuum your RTV and Resin: http://www.childofmecha.com/Modeling/Resin...BasicResin.html The new foodsaver handhelds are only $59: http://www.foodsaver.com/products.ad2?Prod...&CatalogID=1000 F.

This has been bugging me for a while, since episode 3. I just don't understand why the harvesters get away everytime, this part of the show is just stupid. If your main goal is to protect humans from being harvested, then you would naturally always attack the harvesters first and worry about "the boss"(yeah, I still don't know what the other enemy mecha is called) for later or at least until it attacks you. Right now the battles play out the same way; they scramble to an alert, destroy some small fry, destroy the main mecha, let the harvesters get away, and then feel bad that they let them get away. Makes no sense. F. For the record, I'm waiting for the three chicks to pilot the ships and combine. I wonder what kind of "Iku" we're going to hear. I also know this probably won't happen but I bet they will have the three guys pilot and join together.

You can get a reconditioned one here for $279: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...garden&n=507846 Reading the reviews, it kicks ass. F.

The best DVDs for archival purposes are listed as Archival grade or Medical grade. They both offer a 100 year shelf life and the Medical grade offers superior scratch protection. They are available from all the major makers of DVDs but you will pay a price premium between 10% to 50%. I haven't checked but the Macross DVDs may need dual layer DVD-Rs to make copies, if so these are very expensive in Archival and Medical grade. F. Here's some info on TDKs: http://www.tdk.com/corp/tucpress/112304_rsna_dvd.html

You'll have to do some work but here: http://www.animeringtonesplus.com/aindex/macross.html F.

Since your so close to SF, go here: http://www.artstuf.com/polyurethane-casting-resin.html and take your girlfriend with you and make a day of it. For lunch and dinner, I recommend Cioppinos on the Wharf: http://www.cioppinosf.com/ Good food good prices. F.

The HP-BC is a better brush than the Eclipse. The HP-BC is built to tighter tolerances which accounts for the difference in price but therefore has better atomization, meaning a smoother paint job. The Iwata HP-BC and the HP-C, are basically the same airbrush head assembly with just different feed mechanisms. I prefer the HP-C since gravity feed allows for better control of paint flow at low psi, meaning I can put down a finer line with the same size nozzle. The gravity feed is also easier to clean. The only drawback is that it only holds 1/3 oz of paint to the BCs 3/4 oz. But 1/3 oz is quite a lot of paint and you shouldn't need more. Right now you can get an Eclipse for only $79.97 with free shipping at dixieart.com or get the HP-C for $90.95 plus $8.23 shipping at KFI Beauty supplies. For only $20 more I recommend the HP-C F.