wm cheng

I just picked up the re-release of Arcadia Megazone23 1/24 Garland and its re-ignited my love of 80's motorcycle anime.  What is the best Priss & Motoslave toy there is?  Is it the Metallic version of the Yamato toy?  Any hopes that Arcadia might have purchased those and re-release?  Any news or suggestion on where I might find one of these - I've looked at Manadrake for the past year and nothing comes up.  It's too bad as I do love BC series and the music, but it doesn't seem to have quite a resurgence as some of the other 80's toys lately. 

7 hours ago, Kurt said:

Grungy JLTV is complete. Starting to work on some stowage. Doors are not glued on. Will likely have at least a couple of them open once I settle on a diorama idea.

Had a moment of horror just before I started weathering. I was squeezing some white paint out of one of those Valejo bottles onto a pallet and had the model too close. Opening had some dried paint on it that let loose and squirted white paint on the model. I quickly was able to remove most of it, but not entirely. Had to apply some weathering a bit heavier in certain areas to hide what remained. 

 

Wow @Kurt absolutely stunning!!!

Well I selected the "HLJ Quick Pack powered by Yamato Transport" and now I get a UPS shipping notice from Tokyo - but it was about $15-20 cheaper than selecting UPS as a shipping method.  Odd, I guess they choose to go that route instead?  I thought maybe the last mile might be UPS, but its coming from Tokyo via UPS - I guess there will be brokerage fees and customs & duties charges when it arrives.  Has anyone else selected this HLJ Quick Pack and gotten UPS instead?

OMG!!! That's so funny, I didn't expect that!  I hope its a new way to avoid Brokerage fees & Customs for us Canadians.  3-5 days is pretty good in my books.  I used to always go EMS, but boy their prices have skyrocketed since returning after the pandemic.

I couldn't find anything on the website shipping FAQ (are the desktop version different from the mobile site?).  Where did you get that screen cap from @Froy? 

Delivery to Airport?  Does that mean I have to go to the airport to pick up my toy?  Argh.

Sorry don't know where to ask this question.  Just saw a new shipping option on HLJ.com in my Private Warehouse that is called "HLJ Quick Pack - powered by Yamato International".  There was no explanation on the HLJ shipping FAQ.  It was the cheapest shipping option and was trackable and said it was 3-5 days delivery.  Has anyone used this before?  What is it?  It was cheaper than EMS, Air and Ship.  I selected it and now I guess I'll be the guinea pig find out how it's shipped.  Being in Canada, I hope it uses the Post Office in the last mile as it often forgoes the Customs, Duties and definitely the Courier's Brokerage fees.

Hey @SteveTheFish DO NOT USE lacquer thinner straight on the model, it will eat into the plastic.  Sometimes people use lacquer thinner as liquid cement. 

It's working thanks!!!

Hey @Shawn - sorry to bug you again, but the emails from MW have gone strangely quiet, could you check if you're still sending out updates?  Am I the only one that uses email updates? 🤣

17 hours ago, Chas said:

Try this link. Scroll down and look at the Pick and Pack Foam, or the Convoluted Foam. I just always save the packing material from stuff I order or purchase always have lots lying around.

https://www.uline.ca/Grp_18/Foam?pricode=DB055&AdKeyword=packaging foam&AdMatchtype=e&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiArfauBhApEiwAeoB7qEO61VrwLqij9PRVbqVbaDQrRc_rIHYncOV-bbxrViXMBqQY-RaHdRoCqiMQAvD_BwE

That's  a canadian site by the way👍

Thanks!!!

It's weird that everyone I see seems to be using the same kind of small celled black foam but where are they buying it from?  I don't have this stuff laying around (Pelican case foam is rare if you don't have Pelican cases :P) - I don't see it for sale anywhere (other than very expensive Pelican cases).

Looking great @derex3592 - wow really nice riveting on that wing especially for 1/72 scale!  Where does people get those black foam inserts that you cut up to block up the intakes or landing gear wells?

OMG!!! @MechTech that's absolutely amazing.  Are you making this for a naval museum?!?!  Wow, just absolutely incredible.  What scale is that?  I've got one of those fuse thingys on top of your shell - I always wondered how big the rest of it was.  It's heavy and doesn't turn anymore, but I thought it was a nice paperweight.  Now I know where it belongs!  I'm just absolutely floored.  You are the Master!

3 hours ago, derex3592 said:

Well....the little brass breakup pattern stencils didn't turn out quiet as easy to use as they were in my head but I guess it looks ok... Dunno.. Still undecided if I wanna keep it or strip it off and do my freehand marbling method like I did on the subs.... The problem was keeping it flat on the complex curves and angles all over the plane. 

That's looking great, I have a stencil like that too that I've been thinking of trying but I have found this guy I'm following on Facebook and he's amazing in 1/72 scale.  I think I might try his acrylic ink technique instead of these spray patterns as I find it more scale appropriate for 1/72.  Have a look here;

https://luftraum72.com/layered-ink-patina-technique/

He's a fellow Canuklehead too and I have his book and its amazing!!!  Highly recommend it.

16 minutes ago, grogall said:

Although I'm really happy that Bandai is releasing the Ostrich, I find it kind of lazy that they aren't releasing it with"Mech Guts"! Such a wasted opportunity to make the ultimate version...😥

YES 100%  Something we haven't seen before would have made me jump on this, but I'm happy with my 1/60 v2 version of this for now.

What a Hunk of Junk! @Chas - looking great!

Nice warm tones @Rock - never seen those big ass missiles outboard before, are those their version of Phoenixes?

Wow that's so eye opening @no3Ljm - thanks, it really puts into perspective when ordering from Japan nowadays.  Just before the pandemic, I was complaining about 3,000Y EMS to Canada for similiar sized/weight toys, but now that's increased over 3 fold (that's only 4yrs ago)!!!  I had to factor in brokerage fees and customs, duties and taxes for us Canukleheads (if it was anything other than EMS - and still I had a 50:50 chance of customs), but not only is the toys getting so expensive, the shipping is astronomical nowadays.  I wished I got a 300% increase in my wages over the last 4 years!!!

2 minutes ago, electric indigo said:

A bit of progress on the Intruder. Decals are from Caracal Models.

@wm cheng this is 1/48 scale - you are the one who makes their 1/72 kits look like 1/48 😄

LOL!  Man that looks amazing and I love high-viz schemes especially orange!!!

16 minutes ago, borgified said:

Got my order in as well thanks to @Shizuka the Cat! Glad that I'm not forking out close to $500 Beaver Dollars and gettting reamed out up here Canuckle Land.  

It is over $500cdn shipped with customs & duties charged by Amazon (I only went that way because I had US gift cards to spend).  I think the Canadian store options are actually cheaper in the end - even though they are pretty crazy prices.

Woohoo!!!  Thank you @Shizuka the Cat so much - ordered with Giftcards!  Ah, I can relax now that I've got one or not?!?! (or arrives months later)  There seems to be so much Joy that has been lost in Macross Collecting over the years (at least in the last decade).  So does Amazon charge now up front or only when they deliver?

So do people here generally think it WILL become available on Amazon.com in the coming days/weeks/months?

I did love watching the old one as a 9-year-old boy (Star Wars every week!!!) and had the perfect simplicity for a kid to get immersed in it.  It grew up with me seeing the 2003 version but it's just too bad that it started strong but waned and lost its direction towards the later seasons unfortunately.  I'm happy for any Science Fiction on TV, but I hope any reboot should only be done if they have something different and better to say instead of just replacing everyone with opposite genders (I do love Katee Sackhoff as Starbuck!) just to tick off some HR checklist.  Why not come up with a new series instead of rebooting a reboot?

Thanks so much for your assessment @jvmacross - I would have thought the spine would be so much thicker being an all Macross Encyclopedia!  I haven't seen anything I don't have already except they're all smaller.  I already have all the TIA, Perfect Memory & Gold Book - now I don't feel like I'm missing out too much.  Whew, wallet saved!  I guess there just isn't anything new for such an old piece of art.

@pengbuzz the real foil looks amazing!  I love the subtle blue highlights you have in the silver.  It looks great!  I worked on the remake and this version just rocks so much harder!

Thanks @IIymij - I'm hoping to use my Gift Cards for Amazon.com, but now I don't know if I have enough nerve to wait it out for the possibility it might come back to Amazon or just bite the bullet and order from USAGS and hard swallow the delivery, customs, brokerage & duties just to ease my mind that I'd get it.  This is as bad as the middle-of-the-night madness except this lasts longer than the 1-5mins rush.

Thanks @Shizuka the Cat so it wasn't my Amazon Search-Fu was so weak, it was that I was too late - argh.  I really hope it comes up on Amazon.com for sale again.