MechTech

I have to second everyone! I've been buying from them since their early days (wow, a couple of decades now?). I believe they are now one of Japan's largest if not THE largest of exporter hobby goods from Japan. Many stateside stores get their products from them fro retail. - MT

Dobber - Pencils! That's funny. I forgot about that. Thom - I'm not familiar with the kit, but if it's 3D printed (vs resin casting), you can take down the bias lines with a good fogging of acetone. Gonna need a big bottle though Peter - That's cool that your "Zentraedi" are having fun with your models. It's not called butchering, it's called modifying. I won't tell anyone you put Gundam hands on a Macross model if you don't. If it does sudden;y burst into flames though, you'll know why. I actually have some of the aftermarket hands to do the same thing on a couple of models myself. - MT

Pencils - They're just not for paper and carpenters anymore! That looks great! - MT

Thanks for sharing guys, it's cool to see a bit of actual anime. It's driving me nuts now. Where were the cels of Mint from Mospeada? We're watching that now and I was going to show my children. -MT

Peter - Thanks for sharing your old models. I don't even have a lot of mine anymore. I believe those are the 1/72, 1/100 and 1/170 scale kits. I'l have to post some of my earlier ones too. My M-16 in Afghanistan was named Frankenstein. Everything was a different color! It looked Frankensteined! Dobber - Derex is just saying what we're all thinking. You are crazy! It looks good though. You should put a hidden message in the paneling. - MT

The dust adds texture! I retired a few years back from active duty. Same reason. Dad was coming home too late or deployed. My family was tired of me not always being able to be there. Now we're in our first home and it's weird not moving all the time. - MT

That looks AWESOME Peter for an old Bandai kit! Personally, I have missillitis. So the more missiles the better! You have a squadron now too! Thanks for the shot of your M-4. I had to use the M-16 in the dessert. Now I know the difference. The M-4 has "Pew" stamped on the selector switch vs Semi and Auto. - MT

Alright, after 17 years, I'd at least expect to see some LEDs in there Seriously though, they look GREAT! The colors look great too! The arrangement give it some presence too, vs the usual, "Look, here's a model on a stick!" Sssshhh, don't tell anyone, but I don't prime either. Maybe in the future when I do more airbrush stuff. I'm mostly rattle can too because of the durable finish. Years of packing up and traveling in the military, you gotta build for practicality. Then my models went into ammo cans since the packers always knew which cardboard boxes to crush! Is the Hase kit even 17 years old!?!? Where does time go? - MT

Looking good Peter! I remember when I got my first Bandai 1/72 "Super Fighter." I was so stoked, and then I saw that nose! I was bummed out! You're making it look good though. - MT

That's cool Pengbuzz! Not even the "real" helicopter got any respect! Looking online, any model of it is INSANELY expensive! That's crazy! Thanks guys, now the dumb theme song is stuck in my head - MT

Pengbuzz - The weathering looks great on that! The nozzles are cool. I don't think I've seen a valk with discolored nozzles (besides the fast packs) before which is an overlooked idea. Is that the fully transformable valk you built a while back? If so, what did you do for the leg joint connections? I searched our boards and found an old post for it, but the photos are no longer linked. Cross Air - There's a tiny mech in your yard! That paint scheme is cool! It fits it perfectly. The decals and splinter camo all compliment each other. I built the green version of that kit last year with our model club at the county fair (to recruit members). That is a neat little kit. The cockpit is cool. A lot of our members were surprised by it because they are mostly plane and tank guys. Gundams (that's they're general termed) are something new to them. Next year we actually have a Bandai theme night which should be interesting. - MT

Thank you, Weiser, I appreciate it! To follow up with this project, the LEDs came with a 4.5 volt battery pack. One pack did power three strips meant for one pack with no problems (except batteries don't last forever). So I actually used a 5 volt USB power supply. It has made the LEDs brighter, but it does not look to the point of burning them out prematurely. So if you have a 4.5 volt LED strip, a 5 volt USB power supply may work safely - just do a test for a while first! - MT

The F-14 is cool! Macross went the way of Star Trek and made the pre-quil machines more advanced looking than the original - never got that personally. That cell shaded model totally looks Photo Shopped until you see it sitting in the box. The storage box brings it back into reality. The video game shot is a cool touch too! Someone took those old Zentraedi kits and made it look good! - MT

That Daedalus looks AWESOME! WAaaaaaaay better than the stock boxy thingy. The panels look great too! - MT

Thanks Shawn, that Tinami page is AWESOME! Tons of stuff and cool ideas. Darth - Where's the HUGE room inside that thing with the little control panel in it to take down the whole ship? That seems to be all the giant Republic ship designs - MT

Yeah, the Imai kits are off-white, but close enough for the Fokker scheme. - MT

That VF-4 looks GREAT! Nice-n-clean and the detailing came out great! - MT

So, anyone here win the VF-1S for a mere $50! What a deal! Thanks Pengbuzz! I was hoping for white, but we'll see.

Thanks! Sadly, it's a bid. It may go up to $100 something! I appreciate though. Maybe I'll win - if it's cheap enough -MT

It's sad, I realized I DIDN'T have a variable kit in my stash! I know, shame on me Even my family all thought I did. Now I'm trying to find a white one for sale. White would enable me to build it, and paint just the seam areas with "dirt" so the paint doesn't scratch off when posed. The VF-1J or S would be perfect for that! -MT

That looks cool! May need to cement the bricks together. We had to do that for my son's Star Destroyer - out of the box too! Bad design I guess. - MT

JoScale - That VF-4 looks great! Nice and clean. I'd second (or third) going easy on the panel lines. Maybe a little gray wash vs the usual dark stuff? I wouldn't want to ruin the clean-ness. WM Cheng - Your work-work bench counts too Congrats and I'm glad you went old school with the models. Great looking art design! There's no school like the old school with models! So, are you gonna put fast packs on the ships later on in the story? Same here, wish it wasn't on Apple. Everyone wants you to stream and everyone charges! What happened to network TV where everyone could see everything for free!? That's what commercials are for. - MT

The SD is looking good Derex! The mottled look is more realistic in this case. It's something so large, shadows vary over the surface area vs small panels. Your effort is not wasted! -MT

This is a cool thread! Now I know why it's hard to find eggs in some places! I love the box art models. It's all really cool though. -MT

That's cool Shawn! I remember Ron at GTC. He also helped fill in the gap for many kits I couldn't get elsewhere. Yes - Ahhh, the good ole' days! Of course it's awesome being able to find stuff online now. Not to mention seeing other people's builds. I used to have to go to Little Tokyo in LA to see other kits or modelers of anime. - MT