MechTech

@derex3592 Your sub looks great! If only the REAL LA looked that good these days. - MT

@pengbuzz Your Enterprise and the custom comm badge stand looks terrific! Cool idea! That sucks about your hands! If you DON'T use your hands, they get stiff and won't work right. Use them too much and the arthritis kicks in. I don't know what to say! - MT

@derex3592 Congrats on not only making a BEAUTIFUL model, but actually getting it to its final destination in one piece too! The case makes it stand out and add that much more professionalism to it too! Your in-laws have some cool decor too! - MT

@arbit BEAUTIFUL print! Looks like the anime minus the paint! @Thom You making a mirror image base for your ship😁 That's some heavy hardware!\ @foundshaian My recommendation, get a box big enough that if it is crushed a bit, won't touch your model. Then use soft, spongy type foam to cradle it. I've moved MANY times with my models. In the end, what worked best was ammo cans (they don't crush easily) and then soft packaging. Assume the box will be crushed, and then hope for the best. - MT

That's cool! thanks for sharing! - MT

Thanks for sharing; that's cool! - MT

@electric indigo Great looking pilot! @Urashiman EXCELLENT save! Plane is looking great too! @derex3592 The Derex shipyards keep rolling (or floating) them out! Great looking finish and detailing work! Nausicaa's people of the Valley of the Wind are having to wait extra long for their gunship. This is taking longer than expected, but coming along alright. The problem, how do you make full length flaps/engine exhaust plates break and come together like magic? Magnets! The cool part, the flaps almost line up perfectly when opening or closing the wings. I didn't plan on that, but it's cool. I'll have to post a video. Now I have to cover over the magnets and clean up all the seams over them. Thanks for checking in! - MT

@derex3592 They're there to help you loose build your model assemblies. You should be honored😁 Ha ha! - MT

That's cool! Thank you for sharing! - MT

@pengbuzz Looking good! Hikaru's ride is almost ready! @Urashiman Cool! You gonna paint the Chuck Yeager figure that comes with the kit? - MT

Thank you guys for the positive comments! By the way, did you guys know Plastruct has tiny letters in multiple sizes? Just found this out myself recently. They have multiple tiny sizes too! Cool for plaques (or names on your ship😉) - MT

@Shawn Thank you for trying to contact Ron! I think a lot of us would like to say "thank you" to him at the very least - if you can get a hold of him. Especially if his health is bad. Many people never know how they were a positive influence in people's lives. He needs to know. - MT

@derex3592 Your sub mottling is looking good! Especially for free-hand work. @electric indigo That dessert hornet looks SMOOTH! So does your cockpit and pilot detailing too. @pengbuzz Your VF-1J DOES live again! Its looking good! @Thom Your Akagi fixes are looking good! It will look great when done! @arbit Your sculpts look superb! I'll have to get a Patreo account just to download them and save them for a printer some day. Two projects going on simultaneously this weekend. First, the Naussica gunship. I used .005" thick brass and folded it over .015 wire. Then crimped the brass around the wire to make it snug. The pieces were then cut to shape and CA glued to the flaps. The brass was made to the width of the flaps to help hide the hinge and when done, will be acid treated with brass black to give it a cool sheen (the flap brass still needs cleaning up). And last but not least, the 76mm Oto Melara gun turrets are COMPLETED! Now the ship is about 1/3 done. These are the first finished pieces of the ship. They will be weathered more with the ship to match. later. Only Turret 1 is shown here (I took a few minutes to get fast photos). You can see the seam on the turret bottom, but it will not be visible when mounted aboard ship. The toughest part was probably making the water cooling lines and grounding strap that goes to the turret barrel. Thanks for checking in! - MT

@gtc_fan Thanks for sharing! I think my story is similar. Though mine started with the Revell Robotech kits and getting to see the first episode because my track training was canceled that day. I learned how to program a VCR just for that. Then learning what Macross REALLY was on its own. @Shawn Oh man! I remember seeing the "1/170 HEWAT" in the catalog and Ron saying it had larger weapons. I said "cool!" and ordered one! - MT

Thanks! Yeah, its time to get this one done, hopefully soon. @pengbuzz Your factory and Valk are looking great! I'm glad you can tackle the cannon fodder scheme. Too much masking for me!😁 - MT

Taking a pause from the Oto Melara gun turrets for a short bit to do the Nausicaa Gunship. That's this upcoming month's theme "Any kind of gunship." The first two photos are from a couple of years ago or so. I've picked the model back up and redid the massive guns in the cockpit with smaller ones (still needing detailing). And the hing pieces are self explanatory. They are kinda toy-like, but heavy duty and there should be no seams if all goes well. You can already see my screw-ups and fixes😁. Thanks for checking in! -MT

That's cool! I'm glad to see you doing this! The model is rarer than moon rocks on earth! - MT

Thank you guys! The box CLEARLY says not to eat it or pour hot water into it. Can't say I wasn't tempted though!😁 @pengbuzz Yes, the cleaner will strip acrylics (Tamiya very quickly). Spray can may take longer. You may need to agitate it a bit too with an old toothbrush or something. A few pages back I mentioned having to use it on my gun turrets. The spray paint was horribly rough and orange peeled. I didn't trust anything else because of how thin the plastic was. It took about a couple of hours. After stripping the paint, there will be a weird greasy film on the plastic. Common dish soap will remove it. Didn't harm the super glued joints either! - MT

@electric indigo That Hornet is looking great! @pengbuzz Three models from one!? "Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!" I gotta see this one! @Mog Interesting choice of droid, with option parts too! @Bobby Your painting revamp looks REALLY clean! Congrats! If you do it again, try "LA's Totally Awesome" cleaner from the dollar store. Won't harm your plastic, and just needs a bath of soap and water afterward. Works great! @derex3592 You got some busy shipyards! Your work is REALLY looking good! OK, wanna hear something funny? This month's model club contest theme was "Open Mouth, Insert Paint - any subject with a larger than normal intake, A-7 Corsair, F-8 Crusader, etc..." At the beginning of the year I thought about this year's themes, and what to bring. Jesus reminded me of the Cup Noodle model for this month. I thought it was funny, but went for it anyhow. I brought the model in and said, "It's got a mouth, definitely has paint in it, and it has an intake (for water). I'm saying it's in the "Etc" part of the theme. The guys laughed and we joked around about it. I said it;s the first time I shaded shrimp! I mentioned finding some chop sticks to go with it. Somebody said, "Those are aftermarket parts" to which I laughed and agreed. It was funny! And the REAL punchline, I won the contest for this month!🤣 It was all just TOO funny! Full disclosure, there were only two other models in this month's category, so it wasn't all that great! The Bandai model is great! AWESOME parts fit for the complicated pieces too! Look closely, the letters are all pieces that snap in. I forgot to photograph the back, but it was filled in with furniture crayon and permanent markers. I left the stickers (yeah, stickers, no decals) alone. The leek pieces had to be shaded too with a lighter green. The solid green looked way too fake. I left it on the living room coffee table, my son kept wanting to throw it away thinking its an empty cup! Get some hot water and enjoy! Oh, and the box AND instructions warn not to it eat or pour hot water into it! - MT

That's cool! Although in a real-world situation, the bad guys would have taken down the carrier truck in a few seconds😁

@Bolt @Thom Thank you,both! Nearly completed them this weekend. @arbit Your sculpts are looking awesome!!! Funny comments! - MT

Thanks for posting all the photos guys! I'm having some serious flash backs😁 I think those "flyers" are shipping box inserts. They're not color, but help identify stock. - MT

WOW! ABSOLUTELY AWESOME looking! I look forward to seeing the completed model! - MT

Hey everybody! First off, my apologies for not being on the boards more. More of my hobby time has been spent with family as I try to keep things balanced. Second, my apologies for not replying to EVERYONE'S GREAT WORK! I missed several pages of updates and A LOT of GREAT work! I'm glad to see everyone is keeping at building. Third, my apologies AGAIN for all the photos I'm posting. I didn't realize how far behind things got. I'll try to keep up with everyone's work better. Nearly done with the Oto Melara 76mm gun mounts. I FINALLY got Brass Black to finish bras pieces off with a nice finish. Like gun buing, it's just an acid that turns the metal black and preserves it. No paint scratches either! I believe these represent the recoil spring housings on the real thing. Good ole' Gundam markers to the rescue! They were used to color what I believe is the gasket that seals the turret housing from the gun mantlet. It was also great for highlighting the etched doors on the back and handles. The housings will get another coat of paint. The gun mounts sit on a riser that is covered with an angled shield. Various navies use various covers. This design was the consensus of them all. If you remember, these are the base that were done last year (wow, last year!). I then took a old piece of stainless tube, about hypodermic needle sized and "punched" it into the plastic to simulate fasteners. They came out better than expected. Next I used thinned CA with acetone to get into tight areas with a cut sewing needle. NEW FINISHING IDEA! BEFORE building these turrets, I struggled with what to use to cover or coat the mantlets (the cylinders the guns go into). They will rub with the housing so paint is out of the answer. I prayed and was like, "Lord, what the heck can I use?" Then I was reminded about graphite lube. So the undercoat is flat black and then coated with a rub of graphite. Then its burnishd over. The color was perfect and stands the friction (after all, it's a lube!). Just don't use it where your fingers will touch it. The fingerprints start to show up in the finish. Mine need another coat before I glue them together. One of the hardest parts was these dumb little rings! I tried gluing them and that failed miserably! So I had to solder these tiny pieces (smaller than a pinhead) to the barrels. Gundam marker to the rescue again! It coated these nicely and left no shine like a Sharpie marker. The mounting rings got some paint, weathering, and a flat coat. Needed some scraping to keep tings turning smooth, but they're done! Another TINY but LARGE pain to create were the water cooling pipes and grounding strap that go on either side of the barrels. The real gun actually has a water cooling jacket that the water flows through like a hose at the very end. After messing with a lot of materials, TINY insulating tubing stripped off micro-electronic wire waste worked out great! These are the pieces for each gun compared to a sewing needle for size. They were CAREFULLY glued in place with CA. The pieces all glued in place... (note the discoloration on the mantlet that needs touch up). And with the top test-fit in place... I'm hoping to finish these this weekend. I'm short on time so sorry for any typos. Thanks for checking in! - MT

That is totally cool! Thanks for posting that! He's even got the chute with ammo in it. All he needs is a pair of choptsicks to go with it (the drive through scene). - MT