protostar8

Just an update. IF YOU ARE BUILDING THE LUCA KIT.... I took the advice and used a sharpie substitute (Bic Mark*it Yellow Blaze) and it works great for the Luca cockpit coloring. Just coloring the inside worked very well. Also worked out great on the little piece right in front of the cockpit. The Gundam GM02 pen for panel lines also works fairly well. An eraser takes off the excess with ease. Just gotta learn to use the right amount of pressure. I actually cut one up into different sizes/shapes that seem to help, thought keeping it square works best. Sanding with 600grit sandpaper (wet), then 2000grit sandpaper (wet), and buffing with a sock (sometimes with a little toothpaste too if the shine doesn't come back all the way with just the sock) makes the parts nice and shiny again where the sprues were. That's after I use snippers to clip the parts from the sprue tree and then use an exacto knife to clean the part up. Eventhough I've only built the nose of the plane, I gotta say I'm very impressed with the kit. I'm sure I'll be happy once it's built (and I get to built 3 ghosts to boot!)

I guess I just overlooked it at my local michael's (only hobby store close to me). I'll definitely go look again, though the Gundam marker GM02 is working pretty well. Today, my Luca arrived, and just like in the pictures, the canopy isn't precolored. What route would people suggest going to make the canopy yellow? Highlighter? Some form of paint?

My bad, I meant what stores carry them. I read my post again and I realize I wasn't clear. But thanks for the link. I'll keep that place in mind for sure.

How cruel....my super parts arrived today (with a gundam gm02 pen), but my Luca still hasn't b/c HLJ put my order into two boxes, which both shipped at the same time eventhough my Luca isn't here yet.... Oh, and to Chris, did you try an eraser? I mean the little things on pencils? It wipes the gundam marker I have right off, just like a sharpie. I know it sounds crazy, but it works for me. Then again, I'm using it on model kit plastic. Also, where might one find a "Micron Pigma" pen? I couldn't really find anything I thought would be good for panel lines, but I may have overlooked it.

Ugh, that's a stock photo. But the 1999 site does have a picture of the parts trees and it's CLEAR/Colorless......but other parts are molded in clear yellow....WTF BANDAI!!! Why the hell would they mold other things in clear yellow, but not the cockpit! Damn Bandai! Now I need to figure out the best way to get that to be yellow without making it look painted on. Is there a tips thread for that? I remember people mentioning markers and some type of "clear paint", but don't remember how they turned out and which was the best.

No offense, but looking at the armor and the original kit, I never thought they'd be able to do it without parts swapping. I wanted them to do it without parts swapping, but it just looked unrealistic. If you were gonna spend that much time on a kit and wanted the fast packs, then you might should have waited for exacts on fast packs before making the kit look very nice. I'm not trying to be mean or troll or anything, but I think it was unrealistic to think that Bandai would spend the time to do some sort of magnetic attachment system (which is about the only way to get the armor to stay on with no parts replacement if you look at the original kit). At least you'll know for Armored parts that there will definitely be parts swapping so this won't happen again. Does anyone know if the Luca cockpit piece is molded in clear yellow?

So glad I pre-ordered that already. Love that the sniper rifle has the extended mode, but I figured it would b/c it's Bandai after all...

Wow, I think Bandai made a very bad decision to make the VF-19 the next valk to be released. This early in the line, they need to be bringing out the heavy hitters that will get lots of sales to fund the rest of the line, I don't think the VF-19 will sell that well... Edit: Oh, and the design does look like ass. Never really liked it even though I love the YF-19.

Well, I can use a pencil eraser to completely remove any sharpie that gets in places it wasn't supposed to get. Sounds weird, but it really works. I'd bet the gundam marker can be erased too...

Okay. Sounds good. I'll very likely try that approach then. I hope the gray will work well with the Luca green color and the Michael blue color (if not, I may try an ultra-fine black sharpie). Thanks for the input! Of course, I'll try to post an update like I did with the sand paper stuff to tell how it worked out and any little tricks I picked up.

The "wash" sounds nice, but I see the same issue I see on every page that mentions "wash" techniques. All mention that the wash needs to be applied on top of a gloss coat (or other coat). I don't plan to use a gloss/matte/flat coat b/c I'm not painting my kit, so will this still work? And will it need to be sealed after application? After all, if a moist washcloth can take the stuff off, won't fingers rub the stuff out of the panels by accident? I know the sharpie I used was basically smudge proof and could only be removed with the eraser I used.

Okay. Someone helped me with sanding suggestions by pointing to a link to a good sanding thread, anyone got the good panel line thread? I've done a few searches here with mixed results, most being that the threads don't really say how to do well if you don't use paint. I have zero interest in using paint and want to use pens or possibly graphite (except graphite rubs off). I've tried using a rapidograph pen, but it wouldn't dry on the gundam plastic... Edit: Forgot to mention, I tried a sharpie pen (not marker) and it worked great, aside from leaving a large line. I'm kinda looking for something that will fit fine lines too. The sharpie didn't smudge or streak when rubbed either. Edit2: Found out an eraser will actually take off the sharpie, so if I can get an ultrafine sharpie, that might work. But will it fit very small panel lines? Someone on another board said that Crayola Water Colors is the easiest thing to use and since I won't be painting, MAYBE I'd be willing to try them...

I think the middle pic is the 19 and the far right pic is the 21. You can see the hump on the 19's chest and it's head laser.

Those hand kits are always overpriced...

Wow, I want my Luca + Super parts now dang it! Feb 26 here I come! (Worst of all is that I gotta wait for SAL shipping....)

Okay. Just a quick update. I've now built two Gundam kits using the following method: Cut sprue with "flush cutters" Trim remaining sprue with Exacto Knife Sand with 600 grit WET (liberal amount of H2O) sandpaper in CIRCULAR motions Wipe away water/plastic Sand with 2000 grit WET (liberal amount of H2O) sandpaper in CIRCULAR motions Wipe away Buff with an old sock. If it is still a little rough or not shiny, then I put some toothpaste on the part and rebuff Usually they end up perfectly shiny with no real marks and look like the sprue was never there. However... The exacto knife can sometimes leave nasty cut lines where I trim the sprue down, so be cautious when using one (I wasn't being super careful b/c I didn't really care too much about these kits and was using them just for practice). Another thing is the white area left by sprues from time to time...I have a hard time getting rid of them. I've tried several ways of getting rid of the sprue, but all end up with about equal results. Sanding them a little helps, but not always. Not really sure how to get rid of them without paint.

Or just wear a space suit, those things have built in toilets.

Saw that earlier today. Very nice. Sari matured quite a bit......but my thoughts are since the drawing is linked to no episode, we may be getting a glimpse at a future series, like what they did with the A/E/C storylines. I refuse to believe that even Hasbro, who have made some stupid moves, would make an error this big. "Let's take the show that pretty much the majority of TF fans and little kids like and end it for no reason, that'll be funny!" I just don't see that poo happening. Now "ending" the show to bring on a second show with the characters in the future (like 10 years later), I can totally see. Or even putting it on haitus, but just ending it now with the potential that's left, just don't see it happening.

8 days to 30+ days. SAL ships based on when the boat is filled up. So if the boat is just starting to get packed, then you're in for a long wait. Also, you can't tell the boat's status, so it's just luck...

I've thought about doing that too. I'd bet a lot of MW members have...

This is news that has been around for weeks. The Animated stuff is awesome. My wallet weeps, though I can't tell if it's for joy or b/c it's gonna be running low when those come out??? I can't wait to see Rodimus! Maybe we'll get a sneak peak during the show???

Hell yeah! Now that's a movie I'd pay to see. Just watch all the badly designed TF's get dropped into the little pool of molten goo so we'd never have to see them again...

Wow, just wow.....those movie bots look like SH**....AGAIN!!! Devastator is atrocious. He looks like a retarded angry troll. I want more re-issues from G1 era or especially some more UNIVERSE/CLASSICS. I love the Updated characters. And with the cancellation of Animated after season 3 (which still is a WTF were they thinking question in my mind), I will likely not buy anything Transformers related for a long time after I get all the current classics and a few more animated figs that will come out, like Rodimus and hopefully Omega Supreme.

Sorry if this has been posted before. http://ngeekhiong.blogspot.com/2009/02/172...siah-super.html Pics of all the valks with super parts. Now I absolutely can't wait for Luca and Michael...

The "Fallen" doesn't share any traits with TF's. He is just some random freaking garbage a designer spewed out and lucky us, Michael Bay loved it. Devastator looks like a troll. Heck, he's just plain crappy looking compared to what he could have been. Does he look "realistic", no way. None of the TF universe is "realistic", but they could have been done much better than they are. I hope that this movie tanks (I love TF's, but this just isn't a good direction for the franchise), that way maybe we'll get a new design team and director for the last installment. I actually like looking at TF's, and I don't think the movie delivers many robots that aren't generic or recognizable as Transformers without being told it's a Transformer.