MechTech

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

Yeah, Duymon, Y-M-C-A-! By the way, I waited nearly 25 years to get my own shop, so it didn't come easy. A little here and there saved up... Derex, I'm givin' your B Wing an "A"! Nice n clean. - MT

Arbit, that LED sequence is great! Duymon, nice finishes on those. Derex, the decanting is a lot of work, but it looks like you have a smooth finish going on. I forgot to take photos of my plane, but as part of our club build, we each built a 1/48 scale warbird and finished it in a NASCAR paint and decal scheme. The 13 foot track the club built is awesome with all the planes on it. I'll have to post photos when I get them. Then I built a 1/72 Osprey with hooks on it. We had to take our models and run them along a cable to make carrier landings using the hooks and a tailhook. I built the Osprey (only plane I had in the right size) and the other photo shows our "carrier deck." It was actually a lot of fun and something different for a change. Back on the ship now. It is taking forever, but it is a PAIN making everything aligned right and getting rid of seams. I'm sure you can see all the clear super glue joints used to fill the gaps a lot of the complicated angles create. Next time I'm drawing this in 3D and cutting parts out digitally. That's it for now. - MT

That looks cool! The first photo looks like you have the toy next to a comic book. - MT

Its quiet over here at MW today! The lifting strakes are now done. It was a pain bending them to fit and then using a ton a glue to seal them down. A whole day of sanding just to clean them up and the other joints. Where you see a visible joint is a lot of glue. The top of the bow is just sitting on to measure the rest of the top sides. - MT

Your finishes are always so smooth Electric Indigo! There's sides on it now! The gaps will become "steps" to provide stability and add lift to get it on a plane. - MT

The only thing I can think of is to carefully glue a piece of sprue onto the cover with a TINY drop of CA and pull it out. Then just clean it up afterward carefully with sandpaper and a bit of buffing. - MT

Thank you guys! Snow day today! So I got some minor work done aligning the water jets. I'm now cleaning up some arrows for clean shafts to go on the underside. - MT

Man! I get to work on my model and miss some great builds and good ideas! Lots of great stuff guys! And happy belated New Year too! Starting Christmas 2018, I finally started on the scratch built ship model. Months back it started as a card stock cutout after drawing it 2D for design. Everything is low tech for now. The bottom is one piece of styrene that was actually cut and folded (after lengthening it). Then came the ribs. I'm using cleaned up carbon fiber arrow shafts on sale for $4 at the local sporting goods store. They give stiffness and are so light. The ship will be 40 inches long and have three jet drives. The last photo is CFS (Cat For Scale). - MT

Merry Macross Christmas guys! I was thinking of getting one of these kits, but looks like they are no longer being carried. - MT

Cool Derex and Arbit! Merry Christmas everyone! Hopefully you got some cool models under the tree! - MT

It looks like the ramp hinges on a couple of tabs on the sides of the exit. Its gotta hinge on something - right!? Cool video. Looking good Electric Indigo! - MT

I'm just seeing this now. Welcome to MW and that IS an AWESOME intro! Awesome build and you can have fun getting carried away with all the extras on a build like that! - MT