Chas

7 hours ago, wm cheng said:

Hey @Chas - well perhaps I spoke too soon about EMS, I got dinged with Customs just over $40 for a $200 toy (where I already paid $40 for EMS shipping) 🤬.  I'd still say I get dinged 1 in 5-8 times so that's less than 20% of the time and still worth going EMS.  However, shipping is now getting a bit stupid with it coming out to almost 50% the cost of the toy nowadays especially if you get dinged with Brokerage/handling fees on top of GHST taxes even without actually duties.

Thanks for the heads up. I think I've only been dinged by customs one or two times in, mmmm . . . say the last 8 years of ordering. Fingers crossed my luck holds up. Went with EMS this time. Depending on how it goes I may consider reg. Air next time - EMS was double the item cost. - but as I said we'll see how it goes.

9

42 minutes ago, wm cheng said:

Hey @Chas if you’re in Canada like me, EMS is definitely the way to go.  It’s often a bit more expensive than FedEx or DHL but I never get dinged with $20 brokerage fee and GHST taxes which works out cheaper overall.

That sounds very enticing. Thanks for the advice!

Question about Mandarake shipping costs. I have only ever shipped via SAL(surface) from them before, but I've got a couple of items in my cart that can't be shipped using that method. I don't know what the relative costs are for any of them so I'm looking for advice from others who have bought from Mandarake before. My shipping options are:

 DHL EXPRESS WORLDWIDE

DHL EXPRESS WORLDWIDE WITH INSURANCE (+ 2,500 yen)

EMS

AIR SP registered

Don't really care how long it takes just wondering which is generally cheaper.

Probably between EMS and Air SP reg.

Any advice?

Beautiful  metealic paint schemes in these twin builds: https://twitter.com/MyKilling/status/1788104952826794319

So awesome I'm gonna steal that display idea! 😜

Seriously good paint job on that kit too.

16 hours ago, Raikkonen said:

Just watched a video on these, and I'm amazed by the genius articulation. The addition of the small figures is such a great touch!!! 

Only pity for someone like me with little time to build and paint these, is that they came in already as built action figures... 

Link to the video?

From the machine translation of the post it looks like it was done with a 3D printer.

"Milia is homemade. I was a complete beginner who had just bought a 3D printer, so it was extremely difficult, but if a large quadruple low is possible in this day and age, I definitely wanted to give it a try (thank you Hasegawa)."

Yep the bike and rider in those pics totally look like rendered images. Nice looking pics, but I don't think they have a whole lot of value when it comes to making a decision.

Yeah, the PX06 moniker and that JAN code are both for the fighter kit.

Funny thing is when I translate the page @Anasazi37 linked to into English (using the 'laguage' button on the bottom of the page) all the info about the fighter kit disappears, and it just shows the Rei Ayanami, the 2 Dougram kits, And the Asuka Langley product delays -- weird !

1 hour ago, Anasazi37 said:

VF-1J Battroid release date is delayed again. Moving from May to June:

https://www.goodsmile.com/ja/news/5853

 

That says "fighter" and my per-orderofthe battroidkit has a different JAN code, namely : 4545784013502.

So, are we sure that delay notice is for the battroid kit??

Delivered an assembled.

47 minutes ago, Big s said:

Nah, those are different 1-D’s. You can tell by the head coloring

You're kidding, right?

As for the changes in position or the holes. This was hand drawn animation remember.

Really  great build! The cockpit detail is exceptional. And the canopy itself looks spectacular! Congrats on a job well done and a beautifully finished kit.

When he gets hit:

Visible in transformation as he falls from the sky:

And when he comes to a stop ( after destroying the Studio Nue building) in battroid mode amongst the rubble:

And after he gets back on his feet:

And in episode two:

I was thinking that it looks like it would be a great solution for resin kits!

Nothing to say about the relative legitimacy of the video, but I was very interested in that UV curing 'glue' he used. Anybody here have experience with that category of product? I imagine it's a special formulation of a UV resin, á-la 3-D printer resin.

Looks like it could be useful for gap filling/ rebuilding parts.

Nice work salvaging that resin kit. Looks like it needed a lot of work!

You did a really good job with what many would have abandoned. You should be proud of it. It turned out looking really good!

3 hours ago, wm cheng said:

It's weird that everyone I see seems to be using the same kind of small celled black foam but where are they buying it from?  I don't have this stuff laying around (Pelican case foam is rare if you don't have Pelican cases :P) - I don't see it for sale anywhere (other than very expensive Pelican cases).

Try this link. Scroll down and look at the Pick and Pack Foam, or the Convoluted Foam. I just always save the packing material from stuff I order or purchase always have lots lying around.

https://www.uline.ca/Grp_18/Foam?pricode=DB055&AdKeyword=packaging foam&AdMatchtype=e&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiArfauBhApEiwAeoB7qEO61VrwLqij9PRVbqVbaDQrRc_rIHYncOV-bbxrViXMBqQY-RaHdRoCqiMQAvD_BwE

That's  a canadian site by the way👍

54 minutes ago, Chronocidal said:

Really nice detail, on both the rocks and the ship.  

If you can get ahold of some of the 1/144 Ties Bandai makes, you could probably add a couple of them to the scene.  They're a quick and easy build, and not so expensive you'd feel bad about melting one down to simulate it smashing face-first into one of the rocks.

Exactly what I was thinking of doing at the start of the project, but could not find any of the TIE kits at reasonable cost. If I happen to get my hands on some in the future it would be a fairly easy addition.

Well I'm calling this one done.

@505thAirborne beautiful Black Widow. The decals really make it pop.

@Rock What scale is that? Looks rather large I that pic. Love the look of it so far.

@derex3592 get some base colours on that! Can't wait to see her all dressed up!

Trying to figure out placement on the base for the Falcon and the 'roids 😉.

The rocks I've got figured out and the placement of the Falcon here is approximate (will be a little more nose up in the end).

Big one and two smaller 'roids - maybe one more mid sized to build.

Looks really great NB4M!

@MechTech dude! Your work is simply inspiring. (And your tools are enviable!) Always a pleasure to see what you've been up to.

@arbit wish I had the patience to learn 3D modeling. The things that 3D printers make possible, I mean the sky is the limit, and your designs look so good.

Fist asteroid underway.

Thanks arbit. I noticed that as well. Gonna balance it out a bit when I do the weathering on the bottom of the ship.

Got my payment request today ☺️ 🤗 😊 😁