Jump to content

tekering

Members
  • Posts

    3692
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by tekering

  1. Use a hair dryer to heat the figure's legs. Whether it's vinyl, resin or PVC plastic, heat will make the limbs more pliable, and you'll find it easier to reposition the foot enough to peg it securely into the stand.
  2. True enough. That $750 Optimus Prime was painfully lame for the same reasons. ๐Ÿ˜’ Still, if this 70cm SDF-1 was available as a model kit, it would make for a fabulous Attacker mode display with only minor modifications. ๐Ÿ˜‡
  3. Welcome, Harbinger! That looks like the RG Restraint/Transport Platform Set from Premium Bandai. RG Evangelion figures are a little taller than the Robot Damashii EVAs, but I think you could make it work... Also, each of the old Sega 00's came with restraint/transport platforms, if you prefer the TV look.
  4. Oh, I certainly hope not... ๐Ÿ˜’ The conning tower sits absurdly high, the VTOL thruster assembly is sagging like grandma's chest, and the main cannon booms appear to be finalizing their divorce. ๐Ÿ˜‘ Say what you will about cruiser mode, it couldn't possibly be worse than this looks. ๐Ÿ™„
  5. Hurry up and announce the next Dynaction figure, Bandai! RAH NEO and ThreeZero are kickin' yer ass!
  6. I don't know if it's Kate Mulgrew... ๐Ÿค” ...but it sure as hell ain't Jeri Ryan! ๐Ÿคจ
  7. As much as I appreciate your "can-do" attitude, bud (and I really do -- you're an inspiration), that segment is already properly-shaped and angled for cruiser mode: ...so it's not too tall, it just sits too high after transformation. I've got to figure out how to slide it further down into the fuselage so that it sits lower between the shoulders in "Attacker." ๐Ÿค”
  8. Damn, this is really starting to bug me. ๐Ÿ˜‘ The bridge is supposed to sit between the shoulders in "Attacker" mode, with the conning tower sitting almost parallel to the VTOL thruster assemblies on either side of the chest. This establishes the eyeline for the bridge crew, as I've outlined in red. The toy positions the conning tower much too high, meaning the bridge sits well above the shoulders. ๐Ÿคจ This is a big reason why the proportions look so far off-model in this mode. ...and now I can't unsee it. ๐Ÿ˜’ Gawd, how am I gonna fix this? ๐Ÿ˜ฌ
  9. In the final episode of the season, the Jedi in exile faces off against Darth Vader in a lightsaber duel. The fight somehow results in Vader's helmet being cut open across the faceplate, revealing scarred, white skin and a piercing, yellow eye, and suddenly we hear Anakin's voice, rather than Vader's. His Jedi opponent is deeply moved by the sight, and ceases the attack. Vader is able to leave without sustaining further injury. That's from "Twilight of the Apprentice," the second season finale of Rebels. Sorry for the spoiler from a seven-year old TV show. ๐Ÿ˜
  10. tekering

    Test

    This week's update is for you specifically, J. Final painting is underway! I think I've got a very good color match to your "Attacker Mode" SDF-1. Here is where I had to make one significant deviation from your existing custom. Painting those little "thruster" circles blue is totally unacceptable; it matches neither animation, nor promotional art, nor existing merchandise of any kind. It demonstrates a profound lack of research. ๐Ÿคจ I think you'll find this much more accurate. ๐Ÿ˜Š
  11. I don't actually think that's possible. ๐Ÿ˜‹
  12. "Rarest" is difficult to quantify, but I'd say these three fit the description: I bought the Yak Face from a Dutch collector through a classified newspaper ad in 1989. I found the vinyl-cape Jawa at an Edmonton antique store in 1991. The Blue Snaggletooth was purchased on eBay around 1999. Signed Star Wars photographs don't even qualify as "rare," much less "rarest." ๐Ÿ™„
  13. It's too bad they have to bring in another character to save the show, like they had to for The Book of Boba. ๐Ÿค• Still, as poorly as they've handled Obi-Wan, they haven't screwed up his legacy half as much as they desecrated Boba Fett... ๐Ÿ˜’
  14. Sweeney Todd is the only horror musical worthy of the name, but its Gothic sensibility wouldn't work as a Joker sequel. ๐Ÿคจ Come to think of it, if Joaquin Phoenix could capture the tone of this scene from Gamer, it would be perfect:
  15. That brought some much-needed levity to the series for me. It's been entirely too serious in tone for such a cartoonish aesthetic (and plot!), so when young Anakin was revealed I literally laughed out loud. I laughed even louder when they cut to Obi-Wan in that wig. ๐Ÿคฃ This material would've been a lot more fun if they'd presented it as a comedy.
  16. I was hoping to have made improvements to the Prometheus this week, but I had trouble finding consistent reference to work from... 'cause it doesn't seem to exist. ๐Ÿ˜‘ At the top you see the cleanest and most detailed orthographic view, as provided by Hasegawa (from their 1:4000 SDF-1 decal placement guide). Their model (right) reproduces the shape of the deck precisely as their instructions depict... However, the drawing directly below it shows significant variations in deck width and conning tower placement, thus the proportions are a little different. This is how official animation model sheets depicted the Prometheus when attached to the SDF-1. The Takatoku/Bandai/Matchbox deck (right) seems based on this image... ...except official animation model sheets depicting the Prometheus by itself show considerable differences in shape and proportions again, as the third image illustrates. This design tapers towards the bow, and is thinner even than Hasegawa's modern interpretation. Given the extremely thin deck of the 2016 MegaHouse toy (right), I assume they were working from this image in particular. Line art of the ship in profile is a little more consistent, but the merchandise is far less accurate from this angle; the proportions are way off, and the hulls are substantially different from each other. Hasegawa's is clearly the best representation, but that's not saying much... At this stage, I'm about ready to toss the old Prometheus toy in the trash and start from scratch. ๐Ÿ˜’ It's way too small, to begin with. Hasegawa's line art confirms the proper size of the Prometheus deck, but their design is somewhat suspect; their TV model was reverse-engineered from the movie design, as you can see in this side-by-side comparison I made. Notice how the movie-style legs have a completely different shape to them, forcing the support craft further away from the central hull. The legs also end up too short, leaving the Prometheus prow jutting out past the SDF-1 itself! ๐Ÿคจ This image further illustrates the danger of relying on secondary reference sources, like Hasegawa's. See how their hybrid design ends up placing the bridge conning tower in a totally different location than the original animation model sheets depicted? Oh, and speaking of the conning tower location: The original toy tried to reproduce the way the conning tower changed position during transformation (ridiculous and nonsensical, but canon nonetheless), and -- while the attempt at anime-accuracy is appreciated -- the results were half-assed at best, requiring a huge L-shaped support that stuck out of the central fuselage. I have endeavoured to correct this problem, and reposition the conning tower more accurately as well: Mind you, I'm not much of an engineer, and failed to come up with a more practical solution than what the Japanese designed 40 years ago. My approach was simply to mount the two parts of the conning tower on metal rods: I've drilled two corresponding holes into the base of the conning tower, so that the pieces can be mounted differently depending on which mode the toy is displayed in. It's not a very toyetic solution, but I'm more concerned with aesthetics than playability.
  17. I had no idea what you were referencing, so I dug up some online images for context: I own this one: Would you consider a Korean knock-off a "custom?"
×
×
  • Create New...