MechTech

Hasegawa Trytool Engraving sets (TP-1 and TL-2) For those of you who would like to add some access panel lines or hundreds of other types of engraved detail to your model, these two sets are awesome! Top three panels are from TP-1 and the bottom two with scribe is set TL-2. Template Set 1 (TP-1) looks more aircraft specific, but there are hundreds of other uses for it. TL-2 Looks more mecha specific and even comes with this handy guide on the back to show you how to make compound shapes. Several of our resident artists have used these templates very successfully to engrave panel lines into the master models they've made prior to molding copies. The scribe that comes with TL-2 is not fine enough for some of the shapes. That's no problem. Go out, get some hand sewing needles and put whatever size you need into a pin-vise. Or shove it into piece of wooden dowel with a pair of pliers (some glue on the end will help secure it). Using the templates is easy, tape them onto the surface to scribe and keep the needle 90 degrees vertical AT ALL TIMES. If you angle it you will mess up the perfect shape. Start by going around the shape slowly and SOFTLY. Too much pressure and you may move the template out of the tape, or skip out of the groove. If you skip off course, use a bit of superglue in the unwanted line and sand it down when cured. The detail you can add to a kit or project with these two sets is amazing. Try them out if you've been thinking about, you won't be disappointed! - MT

I recently purchased a bunch of materials to help in building my Daedalus. I also realized a lot of it had poor pictures and little or no review from where I purchased them. This thread is dedicated to reviewing scratch building materials and tools - NOT MACROSS specific items. I'm hoping this helps us ALL out in the community with whatever projects we are working on or thinking of starting. - MT

Friday afternoon...as a matter of fact... Thanks MilSpex! Tiny Update. I skinned and engraved the end ramp. Note the transparency. The first two segments are .020" plastic sheets; the end is .010 to keep it light. It was fun engraving that! Not too much, not too little. The rest of the week I spent installing a new stereo in my shop (after returning the first). Gotta have tunes man! That's it for now. - MT

Thanks Steve! OUCH! My wallet just kicked me! - MT

First off, thank you to everyone updating us with pictures and details!!! I don't get to spend a lot of time on line. I think things are looking good for just prototypes. The media and method used for making these prototypes will really limit the details that can be shown. We can only speculate for now. Remember, Banadai's BIG market is not us old farts waiting on the latest and greatest Macross kit; it's the younger less experienced modelers. Some just want to put something together from that cool movie they just saw! Even with the following of varied ages Macross has (none more loyal than me). What I bet we can expect to see from this kit: the decent overall shape we've seen, ABS in some joints, polycaps, and I'm praying for water-slide decals! I'm keeping positive for now. Even the sculpts shown so far look good. - MT

It looks so real I just gotta ask, "so what kinda gas mileage does it get?" - MT

Thanks CE - very punny! I'm going to try! I keep having setbacks like the connector on my ramp breaking (who knew the wires would break in the spring tube and the connector). The good news is the ramp is all skinned and I just have to do the end sides and some flashing LED's for warning (nothing that big would move without a warning light/horn). Pictures hopefully coming soon...

The diorama (and videos) look awesome! I'm LED'ing myself now too. Gotta love all the soldering! AWESOME pictures AND work! Thanks for sharing! - MT

Neptune and Cowie, the Tomahawks look great! Neptune, for added realism, get a small brush with some thinner and write in scale letters, "wash me." It is heavily worn and tired looking alright, but done great! - MT

That looks awesome! It's huge too! Stick a handle on it and it could be the ultimate Macross lunch box! - MT

Parts cleanup requires "Preparation H" to reduce the swelling . - You gotta love knock-off's! - MT

If only they were in 1/200th! I got some spare cash for that! They look awesome by the way! - MT

I just saw this! That's awesome! Keep it up! I love watching good engineering challenges solved! - MT

OK, I just gotta ask. If you flex your arm does it transform . Sorry, I couldn't resist! - MT

UPDATE 4 MAY 08 So no one thought I just sat on my butt this weekend (OK, a lot at my workbench), here's some updates. I'm still paneling and engraving the ramp. There is still A LOT of work to do so what you see is all still very rough work. The pictures are kinda dark so the panels lines show up. Last week's pictures didn't show the engraved panel lines. Mid section (this week's work). Ramp sides so far... The mysterious humps; I put side and front lights on them (nothing worse than tripping down a GIANT ramp in the dark). The rest of the frame needing to be "clothed." The little bits and light connection are next after some surface clean up. That's it for now... - MT

Does this help for sizes? I know it's DYRL... - MT

Looking great so far. Two tough colors to work with together. - MT

I just saw this too! Looks awesome! Congratulations! - MT

Thank you guys very much for all the compliments. After the bow section is done, it's all downhill from there! - MT

Looks great guys! Makes me want to work on my destroids, must r-e-s-i-s-t! - MT

Nothing much more to say other than awesome (and the stuff everyone else said)! It looks as real as you can get for 1/72nd! Any live action Macross movies coming up? - MT

Thanks for the kind words guys, I'm humbled. UPDATE 27 APR 08 WITH MOVIES One warning, we're limited to 500MB uploads so the movies are SHORT. I took movies in 5 second intervals. This is only the ramp in ATTACK MODE, not ASSAULT MODE (landing). The noise was amplified by the camera being on the table too, otherwise the servos are really quiet. Note the flap on the joint to allow room for opening up, it fits smooth and flush when the ramp is opened. These are just teasers until I finish skinning the ramp and painting it. You can't see all the panel lines yet in the photos until a good wash goes down. Ramp_Up.MPGRamp_Up_II.MPGRamp_Stowed_Back.MPG Going up... Ramp_Down.MPG Ramp_Locked_Down.MPG Going down... More photos of the ramp folded with all mechanical parts. All joints and even the tip "serrated edge" move automatically. That's it for now. Time to skin the rest of it and get the far end edges covered with the facade. - MT P.S. Something's up with the post and things are slightly out of order. - MT

That thing is awesome looking! Totally awesome job on it! It looks like it would do Mach8 right off the rails!!! - MT

Absolutely awesome work!!! I gotta ask, are you doing ant CAD/CAM CNC stuff? All the parts look it. For sloppy rivet lines, you sure laid them down straight! I've been panel lining this week on the ramp and it's driving me nuts. At least all my runs are on level surfaces. Keep up the awesome work Moscato! - MT

Those are awesome! That's skillful. - MT