MechTech

I'm glad to see this thread is still alive! Nice works guys! Especially the scout mod. - MT

If you get desperate, check out Preiser's line of figures - here's a sample http://www.ontracks.co.uk/index.php?page=c...&toplevel=1 Scroll down and note the the guys in orange jumpsuits. They are perfect maintenance crews for the Valks. Get them in orange if possible (see my avatar). There has to be a Preiser dealer in your area. - MT

Looks great! I always did like that design. - MT

That looks great man! Especially for the scale. If you haven't seen this yet (in another older post), check this guys stuff out: http://www.geocities.jp/sidenet_note/sidem...dematerial.html . Awesome Macross models in there (serious 1/200 mods). - MT

I don't have one; but great idea! - MT

1/4", yeah, I think you're safe! You could hang your grocery shopping bags off that too ! So far so good. - MT

Ions ago I had the vinyl kit and loved it. A dream trip to Japan, I'd love that too! Keep up the great work. - MT

Update 11 November 07 Hey everyone, those stupid laws of physics have been getting in the way again! Long story short, there is not a powerful enough and small enough gear motor that I could find on the market to drive the folding mechanism and still keep a realistically low profile (and do it fast enough). Here's what I built and am not using (...again) and the updated version. Here's that beautiful gear motor (these little things rock!) and the clutched linkage I made for it. It's just not strong enough (with the voltage doubled and a bigger motor put on it too!). Here's the folding linkage with custom crafted ball joints. They worked great at least! Here's the whole assembly. A length of threaded (and machined) rod drives the arm to retract the joint. There's a problem with the fulcrum and power of a small profile motor. It works great at any angle OTHER than at 90 degrees when the ramp is fully open. Other than that, it works great! Another shot overhead. The fix... I took a 1/4" square brass tube and machined a slot all the way down it. The threaded rod will be inside and the nut will ride inside that too. Then a regular sized gear motor (hidden in the side of the ship) will drive the whole thing. The back segment of the ramp will ride that whole thing forward and backward with standard tracks on the other side for support. A lever will then catch and fold the middle segment within the same movement. The final segment will fold on it's own with a modified servo. Hitech recently came out with a metal geared low profile servo that should work (HS-82MG). It's tiny with the same torque as a standard servo. That's it for now. - MT

That's the most realistic box of Whoppers I've ever seen! And the dropship looks great too ! - MT

Awesome work! The steel shafts/photo etch are a great touch! A lot of fighters (at least US/UK Air Force) fighters are pretty clean like that. - MT

Looks awesome man! I'm still teething through the ramp on my ship! Two weeks of work just went down the tubes, so thanks for the encouragement! Keep it up! - MT

Except for the whole kite symbol thing, I like the custom decals, especially the victory decal. - MT

So far, so good. Overkill would be 1/2" pipe . That's me, trying to work with what I have. It's just cheaper that way! - MT

Thanks for sharing that link! That's a new one on me. - MT

I'm catching up on the forums... Great job. The background looks great too! - MT

Looks great. The flash made them look lit up in the lenses. If you want to get rid of a bunch of those kits, let me know. I know of a good home for them. - MT

The next step is you break out in styrene blemishes, but they soon fall off. Working on more models speeds up the process. - MT

Thanks guys! Sorry, I've been off line awhile. The gearhead is not strong enough that I got for the rear, so it will fold the short front piece and a larger gearhead for the rear two pieces. I'm having fun engineering it all though! - MT

Looking awsome! Gotta love those small brass parts. You can firmly attach armor n' stuff, then just unscrew it off! - MT

UPDATE 21 OCT 07 Thank God Royal Mail finally finished ALL of it's strikes. Yesterday I got the gearcase so I'm starting in on the folding mechanisms. The included photos cover the hydraulic support that's supposed to go down "perpendicular to the ramp" as described in the drawings and notes. Nothing really works on this (of course). The foot actually sits VERY loosely on the hydraulic cylinders and just hangs or swerves into position. When the ramp goes down (as shown), the foot swings out and the cylinders just sway wherever the foot goes. When everything moves,it actually looks real. Machined Tamiya ball joints (brass). One of the joints snapped into place and the other joints shown. In the end the brass parts went because they occasionally bound up. I replaced them with hinged ball joint-looking joints. Those work 100% every time and are lighter (there's the at word again). On to the actuators... - MT

Looks great! Not bad for younger students either! - MT

You know, my son is only three and he already knows what FIREPOWER means. That's a pretty good definition pictured there! Nice creativity. If it's 1/72nd scale, I'd recommend getting after market brass shells to throw underneath it. Like 1/32nd scale products. 35mm tank shells would be about right I think (I can't scale the magazine from the photo very well). An old mecha with a few holes nearby is good... An unfinished labor with "Barret" styled 75mm cannon. - MT

That looks great! Don't tell me you didn't include the missile load; that's the best part! - MT

Thanks guys! And welcome Ahab and Juan Jovv! I think after all this work, I'm going to make a special shelf for it to sit on and occasionally play with it. And when my children turn about 35 (in thirty years), I'll let them play with it too . For now it's in about four pieces on every shelf! I probably will take it with me to modeling shows and stuff. They're always fun! Royal Mail FINALLY finished all of it's strikes in all areas so I'm hoping to get my gear cases soon! I'll post videos. Thanks again! - MT

You got to get them off their butts or current projects to finish these first . I saw the update and thought they were! I know honneamise is busy on a 1/200 IJN Yamato (52" long) last I heard. That takes some serious detailing! - MT