Hey, finally! i completly agree with you, Mechanics over Cosmetic, eventually you can make it look nice, but the engineering comes first, in the process usually this projects look horrible but in the end if you finish your project they look nice, they are steps, that is the order the process has. Saddly some people less involved with the mechanic aspec just care about the cosmetic aspect, i know that is the final stage of my project.
Thanks for the advice on the customs tariff issue, i´ll chek on the list you mention.
Beside the sliding heat shield if you check the original toy i also modified all the leg system, i add a yamato like bar for them to place in both figther an battroid, and i modify the knee to allow a knee cap (i dont know if this is the way to name it, is the cover of the knee junction) and a rotation system too wich didn´t come on the original toy. The nose cone was modified too, i´ve removed the black cockpit cover and tried to cast the inside of the cockpit wich didn´t came on the original toy either. Notice the legs I apologize for my english, some times i want to tell many things but i realize i´m not clear enough.
Regards and thanks.
The pic...