Kylwell

Hi

Shipping to the US is NZ$177.47 via EMS (Tracked and insured)

For inks and excellent quality decal paper, try Tom Prestia of Tango Papa Decals

Thank, I'll pass this info upline and I've done biz w/Tango Papa before. Good people.

HI all

Interesting thread. I picked up on it via the referrer stats collected by Alps Supplies (I own Alps Supplies), and I'd like to support some of what has been written, and correct some points too.

1. Yes, the MD-5500 is still available, and is still manufactured.

2. The only source outside Japan for the MD-5500 is Alps Supplies, and Alps Supplies is the only source of the English driver for these printers. Printers sourced from Japan will only have Japanese drivers, and Alps Supplies do not provide English drivers for printers that have not been purchased from us.

3. While decent quality decals (Alps & Inkejet) can be produced from bitmap artwork, it is a major undertaking to do so. Any resizing will result in "jaggies". Vector artwork (CorelDraw, Illustrator, etc.) is quicker to produce, and easier to use.

4. Very good quality decals can be produced on the Alps, provided the designer knows the limitations and can work within them. For example, while the screen for dithered colours is not very good (Preferable to print purely with spot colours), there are methods that can be used to force the printer to print with a finer screen and a higher resolution.

5. Inkjets can't print white. It's fine using white decal paper, but what when you want white lettering 0.5mm high? Try cutting that out! Also, printing colours using a white undercoat gives an opaque decal, something an inkjet just can not do.

Dang, cool. I'd read that the line had been discontinued and they were offering no support. Glad to hear otherwise. So what's shipping on one of these to the US and can you name any good US suppliers for the foil & inks?

Just finished this up.

Love the zip ties.

I got a handful of those "Super Space-Time Models", which are knockoffs of Arii 1/170 kits and Nichimo 1/200 kits, and decided to build the 1/170 VF-1A.

The kit was a couple of per-cent smaller than the original, with paper decals instead of waterslide so options for decal use were limited. Fit of parts was a bit off in some places. For fun I just decided to build it stock, coating over the more-or-less accurate mustard brown metallic plastic it was made from. However, some of the plastic didn't want to take the white paint, even after pre-assembly washing, which was a pain because I just wanted to throw the thing together representative of its knockoff state, rather than modding it or improving it.

The box had lots of fun Engrish on it:

Were those those oddball Korean knock-off?

wow, that's a lot of work on priming and fine sanding.

can you use oil wash to panel line directly on the alclad? or do you need to clear coat first?

and if you clear coat after panel line and decals, how does it impact the metallicness?

I clear coated then oil washed it. The Stainless Steel gets a bit shinier with a gloss coat but that's about the only impact. I used Chrome, Polished Aluminum, Stainless Steel, and Steel. The Chrome all got a coat of clear Tamiya Red over the top.

Yeah, way more work than I'd had planned. But once you start you canna go back (well, or at least I can't seem to).

Alcladding? You are applying the metal coating finish?

Very Nice! but how do you do it?

Edit: Do you have your own "home" Vapor Ion coating kit?

Alclad

Airbrushed metal finish. Every stinking piece.

Been busy Alcladding an AC kit.

Not for the weak of heart.

Nicely done Zeppy. Always in the mood for more non-canon SV-51s.

I looked around a bit and couldn't find the thread I saw it stated in. I know not to use a sharpie fine point, LOL. But where would I be able to find a good pen that won't fade or green? Thanks guys!

Rapidographs, or technical pens, will give you the finest line but cost a bit more than a good Sakura felt tip. On the plus sid eyou can load them with what ever color ink you want. As you can see here a set will set you back a bit but should last far longer than anything else. Copic also makes some stunning fine line pens.

Holey crap Cody, that's....that's....big.

This just left my workbench.

Sea Dragon, nice.

Well, I finally did some modeling/machining today. When I get the time (and my Votoms books) from HLJ, BeNippon, I'm getting to work on my Bandai 1/20 Scope Dog RSC. It is an awesome kit and hyper articulated. I thought I'd upgrade it with better armament and details like photo etch and spring hoses. I remade the main camera "eye" from an old aluminum Tamiya gear.

The machine gun will have an upgraded longer barreled cannon, with a fancy muzzle brake I made up from an old piece of R/C car shock absorber. (note the 45 degree angled exhaust) The barrel is a Lion Roar Pak42 L/70 barrel (for a Jagdpanther funny enough HWR). For years I've had the Tamiya 1/35th scale 75mm brass ammo just waiting to be used. In 1/20th scale it looks like it's 35/40mm ammo so it's perfect. A few spent "rounds" on the model base will look more convincing. A couple on top of some magazine would be cool too.

Have you seen the stuff Alder's Nest is making? Stunning stuff.

Looks like hairspray technique for chipping....

??? Never heard of that before, hows it work?

Price not withstanding, I'd be up for one.

Nice work MT.

BTB, that 1:20 Bandai Scopedog is a heck of a kit.

More than likely it's just undergoing another labeling change to meet US standards like the paint went through a few years back. Gunze is probably having to do that same with their supplies.

Well, it's done. 25 days late but it's done.

More here:

http://www.hungrylizardstudio.com/mak/nihu.../rfcudetail.jpg

http://www.hungrylizardstudio.com/mak/nihu.../cufldetail.jpg

http://www.hungrylizardstudio.com/mak/nihu...inal/lrfull.jpg

http://www.hungrylizardstudio.com/mak/nihu.../lrcudetail.jpg

http://www.hungrylizardstudio.com/mak/nihu...detailunder.jpg

http://www.hungrylizardstudio.com/mak/nihu...inal/rffull.jpg

http://www.hungrylizardstudio.com/mak/nihu...al/rearfull.jpg

http://www.hungrylizardstudio.com/mak/nihu...cudetailgun.jpg

http://www.hungrylizardstudio.com/mak/nihu...final/ffull.jpg

http://www.hungrylizardstudio.com/mak/nihu...final/lfull.jpg

http://www.hungrylizardstudio.com/mak/nihu...l/rearfull2.jpg

http://www.hungrylizardstudio.com/mak/nihu...detailunder.jpg

http://www.hungrylizardstudio.com/mak/nihu...detailunder.jpg

http://www.hungrylizardstudio.com/mak/nihu...l/rightfull.jpg

Looks really good Kylwell. What type of Ma.K is that ?

It started out in life as a Heinrich suit. Some parts and several applications of Aves later it became the Nihus, an anti suit sniper. Seen here in winter whitewash.

Heh, thanks all.

Here's a better overall view.

AH'M BACK!

What's lying on my workbench is, well, a bit of a backlog ...

Still, at least now I have a workbench!

hmmm, I know a way to reduce that backlog....

How about the helios from neon genesis?

Ah'd be more impressed if they were built.

Speaking of sitting....

Had this on the bench

but now am working on something a little lager scale.