MechTech

I feel your pain man, I've had similar issues a couple of time lately! The good news is that you can recover! This kit seems to have a lot of issues. Maybe the box side should say "For Ages 25 and up!" But the the older guys have issues too! - MT

Nice job Mokman! Congrats in getting closer to having one of everything! - MT

Grapetang is on it with the numbers! Yes, 500 mA is for trickle charging. Back in the day, those are what used to come with the R/C cars sets that everyone would throw out because they took all day to charge for a 5-10 min drive! Another possibility is that the motor is not rated for continous use and may be designed to cool between cycles. Compressors do build up heat (besides the motor portion). Unless you're painting something big, I'm sure you'll be fine (if you get an DC power supply). Using the batteries will allow it to cool. You gotta find yourself better resources for your hobby! I feel your pain bro! - MT

AWESOME work! That's definitely a space design with all the "extras" on it. Can't wait to see the finished job! - MT

Hey GU-11, you could probably find a power supply for this and make an adaptor, but it will need to be something like 6-8 volts, DC (versus AC). It will also have to have something like 2-3 amps CONTINOUS output (way more than the average wall adapotor). What's the output of your current power supply? I'm guessing it's a trickle charger and thus an overnighter (8 hr charger). - MT

They decapitated Sheryl!? That's messed up! Your repair job came out great though! - MT

It looks great WM! I think the finish is great on it too. That's cool Noyhauser. Does that kist come with all the wing tip pod/nose pod missiles, or is it a later version? The Genies will look cool. Most people don't even know about them. - MT

WM, how about putting a "creative" decal over the seam. Maybe paint some blank decal paper the same color and apply it - I won't tell Nice work Noyhauser! Those came out great! I love the Crusader too. I'm glad the A-7 kept the "family" alive longer. Any rockets going into the Scorprion? Derex, it's too bad you can't get back into there and foil line everything. Three ideas: 1) A metalic coat may work almost as well as foils. Maybe you can test it on a part? The metalizers may work. 2) Strip it with Pinesol and foil line the outside (with a matt finish that will hold paint better), then paint. Bare Metal Foil usually burnishes down well. It may even give you a cool finish after the paint adding some "metal skinned" effect. 3) Lowering the voltage may lower the effect, but it will also lower the light penetration. Sorry man, I can relate with the Deadalus. The whole right side will light up and I thought the plastic and paint would cover it up - NOPE! The good news is no one will probably ever see it with the left side open for viewing. - MT

Yeah, the Shah, my mistake. I still remember watching them tear up his body as "tribute" to his greatness after he died!!?? The American public was like "what the heck is wrong with these people!" We were about to deliver the Kidd class destroyers to them too before that all went down. We just absorbed them into our Navy then. That 747 that went down some years ago was an ex tanker they had too. It's amazing how one guy can change the course of a nation! That's interesting about the F-18A's being upgraded. I thought they would have phased them out by now. Even withsome making it into private hands. I thought the EA-6B's were phased out too, but they're still around as well. Those Cutlasses look awesome in the Black Tiger Scheme. Too bad it's just modeling and Photoshop! The Cutlass was one of my favorite designs growing up. It was a combination of hight tech airframe - lower tech engines. Any plane you keep the canopy open to quickly escape from if the launch fails can't be good! - MT

Ghettofabulous EXO! My last booth was cardboard too. I've gotta build another one (the Daedalus is too big for one ) -MT The finish and weapons load came out great on that missilicious build WM! - MT

Sadly, most small spray booths don't have enough draw on them. The fans that would work cost more and are noisy. A coworkers wife has a simialr sized booth and only air brushes food coloring onto her cakes. She always has "colors" around her nose afterward. I've even switched to Micro Sol Microweld (the GREEN bottle). It's citrus based and I've noticed I no longer get headaches from model building - that says something right there! I DO need to get a new mask though! - MT

A buddy told me the older Hornets weren't holding up either as originally expected. The last two wars put more hours on the airframes than expected and they had to retire a lot of them very early. It's sad seeing that old Tomcat in Iranian hands. They supposedly tried to maintain them and fix them, but with their current leadeship hating the free world, I miss the old Itolah days when they were buds and NOT trying to nuke the free world. That footage of the F-7U with that dude jumping out in front of it was crazy! The pilot probably lost his concentration when that dude ran out like that! - MT

I will never play pool or poker with JeffQ. Anybody that posts work that cool and then says they don't like how it looks can't be trusted Space Pirate, you should give the old Bandai transforming kit a try (maybe even kitbash it with the Hasegawa stuff). The have a lot of potential! - MT

She's looking better all the time! Why do I feel like there's a hook dangling in front of me with a valk stuck on it as bait??? - MT

No sweat. After living overseas for a long time and getting dragged around with my wife on shopping trips, I've learned to look for alternatives sources for some items. Tamiya does overcharge for some of their "repackaged stuff." But your right, there's nothing better than their paints and masking tape that I've tried. It's a convienace thing and some people simply don't know better. I haven't heard of the eye shadow thing. All I can say is - DON'T DO IT (unless the lady behind the counter is a possible wife someday) Even when I go to the beauty supply store with my wife, SHE pays for the stuff at the counter!!! I do have SOME pride! - MT

That came out perfect Kurisama! GREAT work! - MT

Cheap - NO! (even for us model builders versus toy guys). Fine bits are great, the larger sizes you can get cheap at a hardware store. Look there too! You still might find a cheap rotary tool or other great stuff. I even go to the beauty supply store with my wife for cheap sponge sanding blocks! - MT

That build might be a pain for you WM, but it's easy on the eyes for us! It looks awesome and that sucks about the decals! Have you tried coating them with the Microsol clear coat (as if you were making them from scratch?). I've rescued bad and old decals by coating them and they act as good as new. Keep the eye candy coming! - MT

Awesome TF custom EXO! The black DOES look like molded in color. The detail is better as you masked it. It's a good thing (but a pain) the decal failed. Nice clean paint job WM! I HATE masking like that and you made it look great and easy (deceptively easy ) The tank looks great Phyrox! People never understand scratchbuilds until that last coat of paint when it clicks in for them. I spent so much time working on my old 1/100 Monster, my wife didn't understand (but it was in the room and while she was just watching TV so no harm no foul ) Then she liked it so much it decorated our livingroom (and warded off Zentraedi). - MT

Is the dog included? They came out great! Perfect pose too - "yeah, I came out GREAT!" Too bad in 1/350 it would look like the walkie talkie antenna! - MT

Let's look at this from the 50,000ft point of view. More people get "pulled" into the story and our fanbase grows. That probably means more merchandise and cool stuff to look forward to. Try and keep an open mind. On that note, hopefully this will be Maross based versus the Shadow Chronicles take off. I know HG left a bad tatse in everybody's mouth so to speak, but this might just turn out great. Time will tell! - MT

Sounds like you're getting just what you need! - MT

The good news is that the drill (possibly your router too) will hold 3mm shafted bits. Most of Dremmel's and like brand bits are 3mm (1/8inch). That will help you with easily finding bits. And yes, I use those bits all the time in my pin vise too. I use many drill bits smaller than actual pins in my pin vise. There is no substitution for the delicate senses your hand has and belive it or not, you only break bits when forcing them or twisting them sideways when they're partially borrowed into the work. When sharp, they'll cut right into styrene so not much force is needed. If you have carpal tunnel issues, get a pinvise with a swivel head. You can use both hands (one supports while the other turns the drill) to take the strain off. Or you can just use one hand with your palm apply pressure while your fingers spin the drill. The other points the guys said above are great to consider as well. More tools give you more capability and options. I suppose you need to consider what you do the most and start there. Hope that helps. - MT A rotary tool will help you cut shapes into a model or remove unwanted parts. It can also be used to make other tools by getting grinding bits to grind metal. I buy cheap dentists picks or other types of tools and grind an edge into them. You can also resharpen exhsiting tool blades. It all depends upon what you do the most.

Hey Focker, I'm seriously thinking about doing them in 1/350 one of these days - they'll still be big even in that scale. That won't be for some time if I do. I'm pretty much redoing all my stuff in 1/350. You'll see more on that later on. These are definitely doable via shapeways, but I built these old school from plastic, so there's no virtual files for them. We've had most every other Macross vehicle put into resin, these should be done by somebody on MW. - MT

As long as you can swap out bits - YES, keep it! In fact, if the collet (the thing the bits go into) is replaceable, you can also go back to using it as a drill or with other tools by swapping the collet. The Dremmel ones might even fit. If you're doing a lot of model work, I HIGHLY advise you get a pinvise: http://www.micromark.com/swivel-head-pin-vise,6730.html Even with a drill press and mill, I STILL use my pinvise all the time; I'm even on my third one! You have the most control with one, especially for tiny parts. Basically, it holds the drill bits (most the size of a pin where it gets its name from) and goes from 3-4mm down to .5mm (or REALLY tiny bits). You'll find styrene drills and machines easy, so you can do a lot of work with one of these instead of needing to go with a power tool. Sometimes even the variable speed dremmels go too fast for some work and melt the plastic. Gun barrels for example are best hand drilled because of how delicate they are (trust me - I've done a lot of these, even in aluminum). Do you have a website or store website you can get stuff at there locally? I might be able to help you better if I knew what was available. I know you can get international orders, but do you have to pay VAT or other high import taxes? If not, I can help you with many other stores and tools. - MT