MechTech

Yep, the carpet is definitely cleaner in the after pictures! Seriously, that is looking way better than the original and it's a rare paint scheme too. Looking good! - MT

That looks like a clean print Chronocidal! Not too many bias marks either. That's cool Pengbuzz! I like the styling. - MT

With springy landing gear too! - MT

It's cool to see that Round 2 bought all those brands. They have redone a lot of the tooling such as on the Space 1999 Eagle. They even sell aluminum engine nozzles for them too. After three weeks engineering the radar masts, this is as far as I've gotten. The good news is that the whole thing is VERY quiet and the shafts spin true. I took an old Gizmoszone motor (too bad they are out of business now) and made an aluminum dog bone joint for it. There is an old grommet over them to keep them aligned and also quiet the vibration noise. The plastic motor mount also has a rubber ring in it to reduce vibration noise. The radar shafts all spin about the right speed at 1.5v. Also keeps it quiet from the motor not revving so high. The tallest mast has an IFF antenna around it, that's what the funny shaped hexagons are for. Still working on the radars. - MT

There's no school like the old school! - MT

This is a great idea! I thought of doing this in 1/350 scale, but A LOT is wrong in many references. Anime Magic! Most of all, the anime showing the Monster coming up on an elevator. - MT

This is looking COOL! Love the opening missile hatches. - MT

Nyankodevice, I knew some guys that would do some awesome paint jobs on the Lexan bodies. It's especially cool when you think that everything has to be done backwards including what colors go on first! El;ectric Indigo, The Toyota Bruiser was/is AWESOME! They still make it! Now they have the Tundra High Lift too (only $372 at HLJ - with snowboards!). The Bruiser's shifting gear box was genius and the whole realistic chassis too. Never got it due to cost and the third channel needed. - MT

Grayson, that figures. The front end looks like a Tomcat minus the (older) leading stabilizers and cockpit. Sweet work on that Lexan body Nyankodevice! It looks nice and clean (until you roll it) Is that a 4 x 4 or 2WD? I used to work in a hobby shop (some decades ago) selling all the Tamiya cars. I had a Frog, Hornet, and the Clod Buster with an all fiberglass chassis and hopped up motors/speed control. I've been seeing some of their cars are making a retro comeback - like vinyl records! - MT

The A Wing looks cool Vifam! It reminds me of some of NASA's original lifting body designs - minus the laser weapons of course. I've never seen it gear down. That's what makes it look different. Hey Arbit, Pantyhose might be too elastic. the mesh I have is non-elastic. Depending on your door size, maybe the fine mesh fabric tea bags will work? You may have to use multiple depending on size. A lightweight micro-switch should be OK. Maybe a stop on the door to trigger the switch would work? - MT

That's cool Pengbuzz! My children actually got me that toy many years ago when they were with my wife in a thrift shop. I was deployed at the time and they said, "Let's get it for daddy for when he gets back." So I got him for Christmas (in February when I got back). My children also thought he was great for busting up gingerbread houses! Make us proud man! He will look way better than the factory paint job mine has. My artist didn't care or "drunk" his lunch. The paint is all over the place. I'm going for the world's thinnest gearbox (well, close anyhow). One motor will drive THREE radar antennas in the same direction. Like the three bears, tall, medium and short. I just have to add a sheet to the top and then make two towers for the radars. Then of course the radars. The radar motion adds realism to the ship when its on the water. - MT

Hi Arbit, thanks! I took scribed styrene and cut it every third line or so. Then I taped the slats down to my work matt with double sided tape along the edge of a ruler. Making sure everything was straight and flush, I used some very fine mesh I have. Not sure where I got it. I see useful stuff and save it without becoming a hoarder. I then super glued it to the mesh and carefully broke the pieces apart after the glue dried. It was very smooth until the two cog strips got glued on. Then I had to re-break the segments up again to make the joints smooth. I don't think I will be using limit switches, but I'm still throwing it around. I'm trying to keep weight to an absolute minimum. The gearbox is from an old camera, but those micro ones you've used should work. I went through my spare gears and found ones that meshed with the cogged belts. Working on the radar gears now! - MT

Congrats Kenny on the silver and GREAT looking Viper! The hard work was worth it. Great finish Penbuzz! Your job came out great despite the doors hangup. I like the base you have it on too. I always loved that model. You never forget your first Valk! As you probably saw in the video above, the guy made a roll-up style bed cover for hid R/C truck. It was funny because I already made a similar door for my ship's hangar. This weekend I finally finished the drive for it. So just imagine a roll-top desk or a roll-up styled garage door - that's what I made for my ship. I cut slivers of grooved styrene and then carefully laminated them together with very fine mesh for the glue to adhere into. This made a highly flexible roll-up garage / hangar bay door. I then attached strips of cogged belts (from an old printer) on the left and right side of the door. Then I used an old focusing geared motor from a dead camera and motorized the door drive. A carbon fiber rod goes from the camera geardrive stretched across the door with a gear on both sides to drive into the belts. Styrene "I" beams make up the sides of the door / rails that the door rides inside of. The first photo shows one side up close. Gears on both sides of the door drive into the belts on the door making it move. Really simple, but it was fun to make it work smoothly. Sorry, no video yet. - MT

Sorry Pengbuzz, I'm familiar with those delicate doors. I know you can fix it! No way Tom, that's EXACTLY the same thing I'm working on now! Except mine is the hanger bay door! I cut plastic slots too (smaller and thinner). But then I glued them together with a thin mesh on the back as a giant hinge. Not sure of the drive, but I'm thinking of using belt and cogs to drive it. That's what I've been testing. - MT

Thanks for sharing that Tom! That is a cool video and the production was pretty professional too! It's the cat right? The cat reminded you of this build? He gets into every box I leave out and breaks in every new box I get in the mail. That's cool Thom! CnDs suck. That dude is not going to make any money off that kit. But hey, copyright is copyright.- MT

Thank you guys. This will be a light frigate, but similar to the littoral combat ships - just better armed. Hopefully the three water jets will get it going quick when done. Your Defiant came out great Thom. It looks very similar to the way the battle damaged the show models. - MT

Alright, I forced myself to get on the computer and finally download my camera. Here's what I've got done so far. Hasegawa's Tri-Tool was the inspiration to make the aluminum jig for making all the windows the same. Each one was scribed to make them the same versus just cutting on some lines. More work, but better accuracy (unless you have a laser cutter). All the cutting for the windows created bowing, carbon fiber rod was used on various areas to stiffen it up and straighten it out. Actual ships have girders between the windows in some cases, so I used Evergreen I beams and did that. Then they will double up to hold the windows when painted - no masking them off - YEAH! The clothespins are tiny craft ones, not full sized ones. Its starting to look like something now. - MT

Ahh, the simpler daze! That came out great Derex! The gold stand does look good, like the Solid Gold Dancers did - see what I did there - MT

Thanks guys! Those LEDs are looking great! - MT

Speaking of races... I almost forgot to post these. Our club build for the upcoming shows - NASPLANES. Its NASCAR, only planes. Rules: 1/48th scale, no clear canopies, no detailing and everything must be WWII era. So the guys made a 12 foot long track and we made mounts on our planes for 1/4" acrylic rods. I used an old large ploycap to hold mine up. Guess which one is mine? Being weird, I just happened to build the only pusher, the Shinden. I wanted a shiny spinner so I lathed it in steel and polished up. I had to make my own decals since there are none available in 1/24th which is what everyone else used. Sorry, no close ups yet. I had to rush so much I forgot to get photos of mine! I'll have to wait until our build finishes the tour circuit. - MT

Looking good Zombie! I remember building the original kit. You can make it! - MT

"Some parts of this kit were apparently designed to test your patience." Because filling gaps and sanding is so much fun - not! That's a bad fit. - MT

Now that's a way to get ahead! Nice improvements! - MT

Looking great guys! Great Star Wars and some Macross rising from the dead. I saw an original Defiant at the thrift store for like $32 (USD). It looked bad so I dismissed it. But first I saw an original Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea flying sub and was interested until I saw it was poorly assembled and obviously opened. Also too expensive. That put me off the first one. I think someone got rid of their childhood models. Just not good when you want to build it before they do. I gotta put down my work and post some pictures!

I don't get on the computer for a couple of weeks and miss a lot! Great stuff all the way around guys! - MT