Chas

This is very interesting: http://toyland.gizmodo.com/mattel-is-making-a-300-3d-printing-toy-studio-for-kids-1759078152?utm_medium=sharefromsite&utm_source=Toyland_twitter

Thanks for the coverage! Always enjoyable to watch your stuff.

The images with the 'foggy' canopies are 3D prints not polystyrene kits built up. That is why they have 'foggy' canopies.

Yep! Especially for us Canadians. Before shipping those are going to be $41 - $45 (Can) a piece. All of Hasegawa's kits except the 1:48 VF-1S Strike are less expensive.

In some of those images there are prices marked at 3500 Yen and 3800 Yen. Not sure what that means for final retail though (or pre-orders when they kick in)

To my mind all the evidence in The Force Awakens points to Rey being Luke's daughter. As has been said by Dio (and I think wisely so) anything else (of the hypotheses we have seen) would involve a such a major plot twist that the results would be completely out of character for those involved. And I don't understand where all of "I can't believe Luke would just leave her on Jakku" is coming from. Is it that hard to consider that when Ben went off the rails he slaughtered not only Luke's students, but also his wife. He and Snoke both knew of Rey's existence and in order to keep her safe (and do the thing he had to do - Mcguffin) Luke had to not only leave her with someone else, he also had to completely erase any memory of her heritage and family, or risk Snoke/Kylo discovering her. This is why we get this film - REY'S AWAKENING. She didn't just get left behind on Jakku someone (Hello It Had to be LUKE) used the Force to obliterate her identity. Remember she doesn't know about the Jedi being real. In this film it seems like she is the only one - that didn't strike anyone as odd? I'd even wager that 'Church of the Force Guy' from the beginning of the film was even put there by Luke to keep her from getting curious about the Force and ensuring that she would think it was all just superstition or stories. Leaving her on Jakku may seem like a Jerk move, until the plot reveals that it was the best option for keeping her alive and safe.

The first Jedi temple business only matters if it has a bearing on the story to come, it may simply be where he chose to pass the time, Like Yoda chose Degoba, and the writers are going to do nothing else with it.And really you think introductions are needed? Which one of the 3 characters in that final scene do you think needs to be introduced to the others?

That would be a shame, but I suspect you are correct. Although, we may get the important/relevant bits piecemeal in the next installment.

Why would it have to be picked up immediately in the next film? You didn't get that in that scene Rey has acknowledged her destiny and is asking Luke (who is clearly reticent) to train her? You really need the words to be said? The scene felt complete to me. The story of her awakening ends with that plea. What comes next should be the explanation of how we got to the events in the opening of The Force Awakens.

As I've already said I liked this movie more than I thought I would. That being said I just read this synopsis over on starshipmodeler and laughed my A$$ off! This is the most accurate synopsis I've yet to read and I don't think anyone could sum up the movie better. And I still like it! "Not-Luke meeting not-R2 on not-Tatooine and trying to get the secret message past not-Vader and not-Tarkin while they threaten the not-Rebellion with the not-Death Star which gets destroyed by the not-Rebels shooting at the not-thermal exhaust port . . . "

Yeah, that's why in the end I'm ok with it. As I said I really liked the movie. WAYY more than I was expecting to.

I don't mean to belabor the point, because as I said it is really only a minor quibble and I understand the reasoning behind it. Fin is the moral center of the story to a large degree and he serves as a moral navigator for Rey ( much as the Fin of a fish or a plane is used to steer). He helps her make the right choices when it is difficult for her. My problem with that could very easily be of my own making. As it is presented in the film Fin is essentially a child soldier and as such the First Order would have been a surrogate family. Breaking away from them would be akin to turning on your family and while that does happen I don't think it is ever quite so definitive and clean with no emotional kickback or remorse. The psychology of what happens to child soldiers after they are 'rescued' is never quite so simple and while Fin wasn't rescued I think it is still very relevant to his situation. Perhaps even more-so because he made the break himself with no outside influence. I just have a hard time with that.

Posted this over at Starshipmodeler, just gonna repost it here. Ok just watched it and this was after reading just about everything in this thread and many of the links within it. I'm not one to avoid spoilers. A couple of things. I liked this movie more than I thought I was going to. There are some obvious areas where things were a little too convenient, but the ones that took me out of the film were mostly all to do with Starkiller Base and it's destruction. The first half of the film was very well done, I thought, and I didn't have any issues with it save one minor one. That one problem was with Fin's character. I found it a bit galling to believe that someone stolen as a child and brought up in a military environment to fight for his captors would so easily reject them so completely and utterly and NEVER question it. The psychology of that is just a little hard to swallow, but as I said it is a minor misstep in my opinion and doesn't overshadow my enjoyment of the movie as a whole. As for some of the issues others have had with the film I don't really see them as problematic at all. Fin and Rey being able to last longer than a few seconds in battle with Kylo Ren. As has been stated by some Kylo was injured physically by Chewbacca's shot and he was also damaged psychologically by killing his father and these factors could help explain this. However, I think the true explanation is that this is done as a final conformation for the audience that this "new Vader" IS NOT VADER. He is a poseur, a wannabe. He does not have the strength in the force that Vader did, he is a fraud and deep down he knows this. His final mistake in this ACT he is perpetrating is to try and turn Rey. At this point his dabbling in that which he does not know enough about goes too far. By trying to prove himself worthy (to the galaxy as much as to himself) his bluff is called and he unknowingly awakens a the dragon which he cannot slay. This scene cements for the audience that this Giant killer is a fraud and That Rey is the true heir to the force, which is beautifully displayed by his trying to force pull Anikin's/Luke's light-saber to his hand only to have it fly past him almost taking his head off on it's way to Rey's awaiting grasp. Leia walking past Chewie and going directly to Rey (a girl she didn't even know - as the complainants say) is completely understandable to me. It had nothing to do with Han. Leia and Rey were at that point moved by the Force. the movie is about Rey's awakening, her realization about who she is and what her destiny is. That is why Leia went to her. Leia was aware, through her harmony with the force that Rey had awoken to this - and that is what that scene (and indeed the whole film) was about Leia acknowledging Rey's realization that she is this generation's savior. A scene showing Leia and Chewie mourning for Han would have, I think, been misplaced. It would have set the wrong tone as far as the pacing of the film and the story that was being told - Rey's Story. The climax scenes on Starkiller Base contained it's destruction, the death of Han and The Awakening of Rey. The more important of those three for the overarching story of the new trilogy is the last. As for the 'finding' of Luke this comes after the story of this first film has ended. It is the bridge to the next film. There is no need to show more about the trip to retrieve him unless something interesting and relevant to the story happens during that trip, which it does not, because at this point the story has been told. Why/How did R2 awaken at that point -simple, he awoke because Rey had awoken. The mechanics of how it happened are irrelevant. It reinforces Rey's own awakening and helps build the bridge to the next chapter. That is the purpose of that scene in the story. As for the wordless conclusion to the film there were no words necessary. That scene was the bridge to the next film (and has has been said, it could have been left out). In that scene what I think we get is the final confirmation that Rey has accepted who and what she is as we see Luke's conflicted expression at the realization of what is now before him. The time he has been waiting for has arrived and he must now face the challenge and hardship he knew was coming and that he fears he is not up to - the training of Rey. Rey's face as she looks back at him and pulls out Anikin's light saber is one of acknowledgement that she knows now who she is, what she must do, and, I believe, what Luke had done to her. Namely leaving her on Jakku and erasing her memory of who and what she was as well as her past and his part in it. There is a certain amount of youthful, steadfast defiance in her expression as she holds the hilt of the saber pointing it at him. There is that plus a sort of pleading. it is as if she is saying "I know now. I know and I know that you are aware of this too. And you MUST train me . . .please. This film is her story, seen from that perspective I think a lot (surely not all) of the problems some people have with the film simply become moot. By no means is it a perfect movie it certainly has it's issues, but as far as the story that it is there to tell, Rey's story, it does that extremely well. The issues that it does have: the destruction of the Republic being seen in the skies of a planet across the galaxy from the event, the physics of the Starkiller Base, the destruction of that base - both the ease with which this was done as well as it's echoing of past films; these were problematic yes, but these elements were part of the background for the story - not crucial to it. could they have been done better? probably. Does it hurt the movie - possibly, but I suspect that in the long run they won't really matter.

I use whatever I happen to have. Usually it's Tamiya, jt I've also used Squadron as well.

Nosutaru! One of my fav. Japanese builders! You can follow his process at his blog. It is a blog so there are other models of his interspersed in the posts, but it's all worthwhile stuff. He's does a fair bit of Macross, Mospeada and Votoms builds. This is a link to what I think is the start of his build with some computer modeling of the Mospeada. If you scroll to the bottom of the page you will find two arrows click on the one pointing to the left to move forward in time and the one pointing to the right to move back in time. Looks like he did some computer modelling, some 3d printing (possibly unsuccessful) and used de-folding software a-la paperkura plus more traditional scratch building techniques while executing this build. Check it out if you are interested. http://nosutaru.blog41.fc2.com/page-9.html one of the progress images: http://blog-imgs-68.fc2.com/n/o/s/nosutaru/FJ310924.jpg

If you missed out on it the first time now's your chance! Berttt over on StarshipModeller is planning to repop from the original masters purchased from John. Seated pilot figure included. See Here: http://www.starshipmodeler.net/talk/viewtopic.php?t=117502

If nobody does it before I get mine MechTech I got you covered. mm on the ruler ok? I also have an analog plastic micrometer I could use.

Just processed payment. Should be on the way soon

Aber makes some 1:100 photo-etch generic ship railings. http://freetimehobbies.com/1-100-aber-ship-railings/

Yep. The Limited Edition of this release, plus the fact that we have not seen a new tool TV SDF-1 in 30-odd years, makes me think that we aren't likely to get anything else for quite some time (if ever). Not gonna pass this up.

DING DING DING!!! What a fabulous Idea! Now I really can't wait for my preorder to come in!

Yep! Agree wholeheartedly! None of this is a deal breaker for me. Even if it turns out that I can't modify these issues (which I highly doubt will happen) i t still looks pretty darned good to my eyes, Plus I get a real kick out of taking kits that don't look 'right' and making fixin' em up so they do. (one of the reasons I love building old 80's kits so much.) YMMV.

This is a good start, bit it definitely is going to need some work. Along with the previously mentioned missteps, what is getting me is the main guns. It appears that the 'scoop' on the bottom of the booms is completely absent and the length from the tip of the guns back to the lower blue section of the main, central core is much too short. Gonna have to figure out how to mod this when I get it.

Some more tutorials from PLAMO: Plastic Modeling, Share & Learn. Seam line removal: http://www.ghostofzeon.com/diy/seams/seamremoval.html Applying water slide Decals: http://www.ghostofzeon.com/diy/waterslides/decalapp.htmll Edit: corrected 2nd link

The the club is local to you and the members suggested Tamiya cement to you, why not ask them where they get it? Here is a great video for using Tamiya's Extra thin cement to help eliminate seam lines with minimal sanding. I think practicing this technique would be a very good idea for you since you are just starting out.