Nekko Basara

Speaking of compressors, I'm unsure if I should buy a second moisture trap for the airbrush. While the compressor has its own moisture trap, there's still the hose itself. That said, I always paint with the AC unit on, which lowers the humidity to somewhere between 50-60%.

Just from my own experience, the moisture trap attached directly under my airbrush used to collect loads of water when I was using a compressor without a trap, but once I changed to a different compressor with an attached trap, this practically stopped. While in theory the air cooling as it passes through the hose can precipitate moisture, in practice I haven't seen enough to matter; I still use the secondary trap because I have it, but I never see fluid in it.

This is in New England summertime weather, so reasonably humid. Humid enough that airbrushing with no trap at all turns to spitting and cursing in minutes.

I can't tell who's being serious and who's being sarcastic anymore.

I can't even tell when I'm being sarcastic anymore. The idea of an AKB0048 crossover started as a big joke to me, but now I kinda want it. Or at least the "idol group" concept.

I'm just bummed that the new series is set too soon after Frontier for any of the main characters to be children of the Frontier cast. Unless it goes all "War in the Pocket," anyway. Even with all of the different opinions on these boards, I doubt there are many folks wishing for grade-school protagonists.

That's a really cool trio, Mike! I think your experiments with detail painting look great. I'd say it's normal to be your own harshest critic, because you know everything in the build that didn't turn out how you wanted - but from the picture, all I see is three cool mobile suits.

I will make one suggestion on the photo, though: get those legs moving! The suits are doing cool stuff above the waist, but below the waist they're just standing up straight. Legs that sexy deserve to do some posing, too!

I actually love the stark contrast of full-on black panel lines on a white Gundam, but I think it's purely a matter of aesthetic preference. It's certainly a less "realistic" look than gray, but I dig the more animated feel where giant robots are concerned. I might feel differently if I were weathering my models and going for more of a real-world look.

At any rate, I'd suggest picking up both gray and black to get started (those things last for ages by the way). You'll at least want the black for pieces that are medium colors like red and blue. I'd suggest leaving dark colors (black, dark gray, dark blue) unlined to start out; these can look very striking when lined in white or a light gray, but you'll need to use a panel wash or paint for that - the gray marker is too thin and dark.

If you want an easy start that will (I feel) significantly improve the look of your model, I'd suggest just grabbing a gundam marker and panel lining your next build. It's really easy to do, and anything you aren't happy with its completely reversible. Gundam kits are generally made with easy panel lining in mind.

context: i've been doing straight builds but never bothered with stickers, decals, panel lines, or paint

quick questions:

1. which should go on first, panel lines or stickers/decals?

2. which is the best for panel lines: markers, felt pens, panel wash?

3. gloss coat before panel lining or not? what type of paint would be best to use?

4. are mark setter and mark soft absolute necessities?

5. if everything gets messed up and i want to start over, how do i get all of that stuff off?

thanks in advance! =)

I'll take a crack at some of these, but I should say that I have only done fully-painted builds on historical subjects; all my gunpla are relaxing, straight builds with only detail painting at most.

1. If you aren't painting, do your panel lines first, because the marking ink or paint can run under or around any decals and stickers and make a big mess; on bare plastic it is easily cleaned off. In a "full" build, paint first, then clearcoat, then add decals, then clearcoat again, then do panel lines and weathering, then topcoat.

2. On bare plastic, I generally like Gundam panel-line markers best. While a lot of folks remove the excess with alcohol, I actually prefer to let it dry and remove it with a toothpick that is softer than the plastic. This wouldn't work on paint or a clearcoat, because the surface is too soft. In those cases, or for spots with a ton of surface detail (like the back of a Gundam's shield), I use the Tamiya washes. I've also mixed my own using ink, oil paints, or enamel paints, with varying degrees of succes.

3. If you have painted or added decals, I would add a gloss clearcoat before panel lining (and use a wash or ink). This will let the wash flow smoothly, and protect your previous work; you can just wipe off any lining you are unhappy with. I think Future floor polish is as good as or better than other clearcoat "paint" I have used.

4. Only if you want your decals to look painted-on. If you want them to silver and look like fakey decals, then go ahead and skip these ;-)

5. I'm not a pro with paint stripping, but most washes and some non-acrylic paints (including Gundam markers) can be removed with plain alcohol. Future can be removed with Windex. Acrylic paints can be removed with a specific acrylic paint remover, but it will lightly damage bare plastic.

Yeah, they can have the main villain as an incredibly annoying guy with a crazy hair fart style cut.... Kamjin with a guitar!

I could totally get behind hating THAT kind of guy...

Finally, a place for country music in a Macross series!

Just a historical note about the T-4 - theres a famous story, possibly more of a legend, that Stalin mandated that it had to be an exact copy - to the extent that the airframe included copies of holes that had been drilled by mistake in the original...

I also heard that the rudder pedals, which were cast pieces, still included the Boeing logo.

Of course, when you think about it, it would actually have taken more work to modify a mold taken from the original piece in order to remove the logo than to simply leave it intact, so maybe that's not just a case of slavish replication.

Hikuro - that is a lovely beast. Nice work! It's a shame if it can't move much, but it looks great just hulking around

SchizophrenicMC - I guess I'm just not seeing the moment you mentioned. I know exactly the tab you're talking about. It's a bad system, and it will be a shame if it performs as poorly on the PG as it does on the MG. It sounded like kanedestes might have been saying this was improved on the FA version, though. I don't know - mine is the "HD Color," and the slightest front-back moment will dislodge that tab in Destroy mode.

It is amazing just how much of that transformation is just the MG blown up. What I'm really bothered by is the fact that it looks like they haven't engineered a good locking mechanism for the knee (just like the MG) and that the locking mechanism for the torso is the exact same as on the MG. That torso mechanism is almost as bad as the knees. On the upside I'm glad it looks good in Unicorn mode with the split-horn part, and I'm super glad the cheeks don't have to parts-form. And, to be fair, a lot of the MG's transformation just works. The only problems I've had are the knees and that torso lock.

I agree that the knee looked just as fussy as the MG, but you're seeing better than I am if you can tell that the torso lock is the same mechanism. I watched the part where he stretched the torso several times, and I couldn't tell what mechanism was used to lock it (although he points at both sides of the waist afterwards - if the lock is there, that's a totally new system).

Another thing I noticed on re-watch was that the presenter didn't seem to pull the front of the feet down to a new angle when he extended the heels. I'm not clear if that step is gone, or if the presenter just missed it (or maybe I missed it as the feet went briefly off camera).

Folks have probably seen this already, but there is also a video showing the change to "Unchained" mode. If there was any question whether this mode was part of the Unicorn design from the start, note how previously mysterious panel lines in the chest, shoulder, and upper arms suddenly come into play:

http://youtu.be/PdIhV0fsIhE

Great choice! Happy birthday, Sheryl!

I'm thinking a probably implemented version of II's enemy Emulators, i.e. an enemy that sings and wins over the percieved "good guys."

It's Macross II Two! Somebody put Adrian's wallet in his mouth so he doesn't swallow his tongue!

Holy moley. If someone had told me that video was of an oversized KO of the MG Unicorn, I would have believed them. The only difference in the transformation that I spotted was the cheek plates staying attached (and no hip widening, but the reviewer might have just forgotten that step). It even had some annoyances of the MG, such as:
- Needing a tool to get the shoulder "lights" out.

- Front skirt armor pieces popping off.

- Knee extensions that don't want to lock.

I won't say I'm disappointed, exactly. I like the MG version a lot, and there's no point re-inventing the wheel. Its transformation scheme could be just fine if the engineering were tightened up in a few spots. But it is troubling to see the PG appearing to behave exactly like its little brother in some of those problem areas.

Hey, apologies if this was obvious to everyone else, buy I just realized that the PG Unicorn's LED system will only work on its stand.

Comparing the hobby show pics with the blog posts of the LED set, it looks like the box for the batteries goes into the center of the base, and you can see the controls on the front. It must run wires up the stand arm and have some kind of connector in the backpack. So, no stand = no batteries = no light. Now I'm curious how dynamic a pose it can manage on that stand without messing up the connection.

While I also dislike the Winning Gundam, I can't come up with a better way of showing that Fumina is sacrificing personal ambition for the sake of the team, and is essentially the force that enables Yuu and Sekai to unlock their potential and succeed. In other words, while it sucks as a character MS, I get what the show runners are doing with it and why it is necessary.

Having said that, I'd also love to see them replace it once the point has been made. Fumina deserves another badass ride like the Powered GM Cardigan.

"Fulfilled by Amazon" means:

"Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a service we offer sellers that lets them store their products in Amazon's fulfillment centers, and we directly pack, ship, and provide customer service for these products."

Instead of the seller packing, sending, and replacing returns, Amazon does it on behalf of the seller. The seller pays Amazon for storage and handle the customer service for them. So if you need to return an item, you can return it to an Amazon warehouse instead of to the seller, and then Amazon ships you the replacement from the seller's stock at Amazon's warehouse. So the transaction is still essentially with the seller. Amazon is essentially doing the "last mile" of the transaction between you and the seller.

Argh, FAQs - my only weakness!

What you characterize as "last mile" might also be called "distribution." Amazon is doing everything except importing the product and setting the price. I don't think it's unreasonable to think that HG might take legitimate issue with that.

I salute you sir.

Said comment forced the hot coffee out of my mouth and nostrils and all over my keyboard. No harm done, yet.

My apologies!

If this is a common issue for you, may I suggest one of these? My wife uses one and has been very happy with it.

Ah, but then there are things like this:

http://www.amazon.com/DX-Chogokin-Macross-Messiah-Valkyrie/dp/B0058LT9GC/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&rps=1&ie=UTF8&qid=1416632137&sr=1-1&keywords=vf-25f

I don't know how long that will be valid, but it's a VF-25F renewal eligible for Prime, being "fulfilled by Amazon", meaning that Amazon is actually involved with shipping/distribution and not just a storefront.

I found a number of these recently - Prime-eligible current-production Macross items, which mean they are more than just your typical "marketplace" sellers like we've had for years.

Yeah, that's what I was talking about. That's an importer, but the fulfillment via Amazon - with Prime available - means that they must have inventory stateside, presumably in Amazon's warehouse system (I don't claim to understand the details of Amazon fulfillment). It's not the same as Amazon actually being the seller, but it seems like a step in that direction. Either it's not a big enough step to bother HG, or HG hasn't noticed (unlikely, because there are loads of these sellers), or HG isn't dumb enough to tangle with Amazon.

It's been interesting reading folks' different experiences with the waterslides, because I have never tried using them on bare plastic. My experience with them is in military models, applying them on a layer of Future or gloss paint and then covering them with more Future or a similar topcoat. I wasn't sure they'd settle or stick properly on plastic, but it sounds like some folks have had good luck with that. And others, not so much.

My guess for anyone who finds that they just fall off is that maybe you are soaking them too long or too vigorously, and the adhesive is dissipating in the water?

But for the folks who aren't having that issue, do you find you can actually handle the model with uncoated decals normally? Or do they basically just stick well enough to survive until you can topcoat it?

And let's see if we could bring in a Brazilian for the first time in the franchise

Do you mean the nationality or the personal grooming practice? Because the latter may be a bit too explicit for the usual demographic.

Snoopy is great and all, but I was really hoping this was going to be about those twins who sing to wake up Mothra.

I built the Char Z'Gok already, and I posted my thoughts (probably) a few pages back.

To summarize, if you're a fan of the RG line, go for it because the experience is much different than building the various Gundams in the line. Compared to most of the other RG's, though, I found it to be a little simple for most of the parts, and a little tedious building the upper arm and thigh segments.

I didn't post my impressions of the Z'Gok because, frankly, I would have just been repeating what you said!

I will add, though, that I was disappointed upon opening the box and seeing how few sprues and stickers it contained; "Why even make this design as an RG?" I thought. But throughout the build process, my opinion steadily improved. Not only is it a very unique build, but it has a solidity and playability that is really unusual for the line. Only the Mk. II compares to the Z'Gok in how you can just pick it up and mess with it; all of the joints feel great, and hardly any parts want to fall off. The design may look out of place with my RGs, but it is definitely not a trumped-up HG in engineering.

Bottom line - anybody who is waiting for a blue one should grab the Char version. The kit is so good and so inexpensive that you won't mind getting a second one if the grunt version ever comes out.

Once upon a time, this was not so grasshoppa... Some of the debates Keith and I had over the show were like knife fights in a phone booth...

Gotta buy five Wing Zero RG kits, then. Maybe do them up as a Super Sentai team ;-)

I thought that the Gundam Wing EW Real Grades were effectively confirmed. They showed us that "Project Meteor" graphic with the new frame at the center and the five clear silhouettes around it.

But, as Hikuro said, that doesn't mean they will release all those kits back to back. You're gotta figure they want to get more use from the Exia RG frame than just a few web exclusives.