kanata67

this finally arived... today! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=3140197712 No communication from tehe seller at all while I was waiting. It was mailed 09/08 , after I had the wife threaten fraud charges. Even worse is how big of a piece o' crap it was. Non matshu head lasers, touch up paint consisting of the wrong color nail polish and white out. Only usefull things were the wing and matshu back-plate, which is already on a much cleaner looking jetfire <_<

as much as I love my marauders... ahm, I mean glaugs..., the vinyl four pack is somethingI have passed up numerous times at $20 for all four still in container. If you have to ask why... the glaug was the best looking one of the lot if that says anything.

one nice thing about toy "merging", rather than just having a box of broken bits, is that you usually end up with two customs at the end rather than one. Even nicer is when the thing used as parts turns out cooler than expected with less effort... what would hikaru think when confronted with this in a dark alley.....?!?!

I believe this set of wings came off a series 2 or 3 spawn, but don't feel the need to dig through the closet to see which. Heck, I don't feel like digging through the closet to see which 7 spawn figures I need to have the first 18 series complete . You can see this doesn't even qualify as dry fitting as any choice besides the zoid boosters [which just happened to have posts that fit in screw holes] will require some modification. I refuse to simply glue stuff on as I always disliked models for lack of structurable stability so I make sure my mods can be played with by a five year old. I don't care if they choke as long as the toy doesn't break so which version do you guys think looks best?

spawn delux movie figure [i think] wings and grapple...

now here are the options for customization based on what I have in my bits box at the moment... option one... zoids liger zero boosters

I tinkered with the power armor last night. I also took lots of pics as I "planned" what I was going to do. I put "planned" in quotes as my planning basically consists of going through my bits box, primarily spawn refuse, and seeing what would look good. [god how I miss the bitz box I had back in school with all my and my friends broken GI Joe vehicles and other cool stuff] In fact... After doing a head swap on the power armor, I am left with a couple choices... what do you guys think looks coolest? here it is after the head swap. Like all my work, the head still rotates fully and the toy can be picked up by it.

hey bigkid... I never have any plans when I do anything that isn't something that must meet code enforcement LOL. Basically, I wing it as I go. As such, some things are cool and others are not so cool. Sometimes A thought occurs and I kinda plan, but my kinda is basically going "this would look cool glued on/mounted on ..." and making it work. Familiarity with power tools and owning a dremmel helps. To give you an idea... here is a pic of all the custom worthy stuff I got from canada besides the matchbox vf. I say spawn worthy because what else is this crap good for???

Can you explain pre-shading when you get the time? I've read articles on most of those techniques except for pre-shading. I think Seichii at the MW con mentioned that's what he did too. It looks like a very effect technique. pre-shading, as I know it, is basically doing a wash or two after you prime it and then doing repeated thin coats with an airbrush or multiple dry-brushing sessions, depending on your preference, gradually lightening the paint to give it a smooth shade transition. It's how I'm doing the violator valk. I still have a few more painting sessions on it before I'm done but pics aplenty will go up so you can get an idea of how a retard does it Something I would love to see again is a diorama someone posted a long time ago using a super posable in a post war setting where the abandoned battroid was being used as a diving platform in a swimming hole. The detail was amazing. Wish I knew how did it or that I had thought to save the pic.

I'm thinking the paper monster scaled the size you want printed on styrene would be a good start

I have pics of a few customs I've come across while surfing and on ebay. I can post a couple but don't ask me who did it or what it is

LOL ... Thats something I've been thinking about for a while. Molds for a jetfire set were estimated at about $5000 including scan from daytona molds. They will give me a direct quote once/if I send them the parts. This still doesn't count getting a place to pour/press the kits from the finished mold. The nice thing is... for a bit more money a mold of ALL five 1/55 armor sets could be done in one mold and sets could be spit out every thirty seconds or so. How much would you pay for all the sets in one nice carded package? Seriously... I'm still thinking about doing this but doubt I would get the money back in a timely fashion.

Mix all two part compounds very well. Agitate individual components vigorously before mixing for best results. I have another resin question though. I know many of the jetfire armor bits that have come through my hands have had stress marks. I also know that jesse's resin was brittle and prone to breaking rather than stressing. I don't know if this is typical of all resin or only specific mixtures. I know that I broke a tab off one of jesse's strike bosters and a tab off the cannon, though that was due primarily to my own stupidity of not dry fitting the last part I had to assemble. Robs resin on the other hand, which I have a lot more of, ha sonly suffered one break of a medium leg armor post during shipping so I can't be certain of the tensile strength. As all of robs stuff dry fits perfectly and I have no desire to break something just to find out, can anybody tell me if some smooth-on types are more flexible than others when cured? I was also wondering if anybody has ever tried using extra metal for strength in their resin? From past concrete experince I know that laying steel down before pouring not only meets DOT standards, but with enough can support a school bus. I'm thinking maybe some copper wire strands might not prefent it from cracking, but might help it not break completely. Has anybody experimented? Also... has anybody done any wax/disposable molds? I have a tube of some really nasty, really expensive commercial self leveling epoxy that is almost bullet proff when dried [depends on the calibur and thickness], but I am sure that the mold would have to be burnt off it when dried. Can a one-shot mold be made easily and cheaply, or am I better off waiting till a mold is only good for one more cast and then doing it?

WTF... TRANSFORMERS 1984 G1 TRACKS 125% BUY NOW $38 --- TRACKS'S BIGGEST FLAW IS CORROSION TO HIS FRONT/DRIVER-SIDE WHEEL AND SOME DECAL WEAR. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...7&category=4696 How in the heck is that 125%?!?!?!? Here's another funny one... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...&category=36568 At least my "macress" toys came with boxes for less than that. Missing the "jet pack thrusters" my ass Poor spelling yet still has bids ... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...&category=36568 ugly ass skyfire custom jetfire... again. Same seller? another custom? or was the last buyer that un-impressed? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...0&category=4696 how much?!?!?!?!?!? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...8&category=4696 and thats it for this week. Anybody else find something worth laughing about?

Thats looks dang nice. Makes me want to assemble the 1/100 spartan I have. More pics please

Might as well hang on to it if you enjoy it. It's one of those toys that I never expect to see re-issued so it can only go up in value. Unless of course you want to see it to me for $50 in which case, by all means get rid of the silly thing...

I've been watching them for a while. Nice boxed ones still average around $100, maybe $150 for an absolute mint one with unapplied decals, etc. They go down in value remarkably if anything is missing. I passed on a set with everything but one small armor piece that ended at $50 because I didn't have that particular piece at the time. More pieces missing and severly damaged boxes can drop them down to $30-$40. You almost never see them loose, but they are near worthless without the box. I think the loose one I have is cool just as variety next to my 1/100 valks, but I do hope to have one mint in box with all the pieces on day.

this isn't that funny but for the fact that I still can't justify it. Maybe some-one else here can... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...tegory=348&rd=1

Give me the dimensions of one of the cannons, if the can be removed individually, and consider it done LOL. Not that I don't have more experience building "non-macross" customs . If it makes you feel any better Agent ONE, I am also going to document Refurbishing a super O' Painting and assembling resin 1/55 super O', Seeker, GBP-1s, and strike armor. Performing a super o' conversion performing a seeker conversion Dis-assembly/re-assembly of a 1/55 as well as misc repairs as broken stuff finds it's way to me.

I come across stuff that is makes me laugh me head off periodically. I figure I'm not the only one who finds such auctions so why not start a post we can all laugh about. first off is http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...gory=16467&rd=1 What can I say but that the seller is on crack, but if it sells I might try to do the same LOL. someone pointed out in another post people who claim "I AM NOT A COLLECTOR OF ACTION FIGURES"... and has a "GAKKEN MACROSS ROBOTECH ALPHA FIGHTER" as the title http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...gory=16467&rd=1 something Non-Macross that I've been looking for on card, which this isn't, but funny enough to have you guys look at... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...egory=2472&rd=1 So u guys see anything funny? I'll update as I stuble across them.

Ok boys and girls. I finally got the box of debris I have been waiting on from canada for months now and I get to start some new projects. They will all get done sooner or later but I figured I would start off with whatever you guys want to see first. Projects already in progress enough for me to have made [but not uploaded] web pages for, but not finished yet are... 1. 1/55 spawn manga violator custom valk [needs some external finishing, but I am proud of the blood/gore splattered cockpit LOL] 2. 7" spawn tomahawk [needs decals, or not... I haven't decided] 3. 7" H2O camo tomahawk [ I still need to add a jamaican flag and pot leaf decal] 4. SDF-1 main-cannon repair walk through [i have one SDF-1 breakage type done but haven't gotten to the second style break on the other SDF yet] As well as... 5. Making a matchbox VF transform [Watch me try pics] 6. Making a 1/55 spawn exoskeloton valk 7. Spawn matchbox glaug 8. spawn 7" zentraedi power armor and when I figure out how to... 9. scout pod conversion of a matchbox tactical pod 10. Removable fast-packs for the 1/100 die-cast valks [Leg armor done but attaching arm armor has me stumped so far] At some undefined point in the future I am also planning on trying ... Spawn custom SDF-1 Spawn 1/55 GBP-1s [As I learn to recast and get scraps] Making a GI Joe night raven into a transformable valk [i am not optamistic] Yep... As you might have guessed... most of the stuff in my bits box is spawn crap, hence the spawn theme LOL. If some-one were to give me some GI JOE vehicle weapons there's no telling what would happen LOL. I can post pics of the first four things now, and of the next four as I go. The last two are going to take some serious four-thought so they are on hold unless you have input/ideas. Soooooo..... What do you guys think? Input? Suggestions? Ideas? Donation of parts or broken toys???? Here's a pic of some of the destroids so far...

I started off doing warhammer mini's way back when. I am a big fan of "citadel" products, although many of their best paints are no longer made so I have to spend much time tracking down paint thats 15+ years old. The paint is still as good as the day it was made with some shaking which is one reason water based acrylics are nice. I ALWAYS use a spray primer for my stuff. First I use some "goo-gone" to remove any sticker residue and the wash the parts/toy in water till it feels "clean" The spray primer holds extremely well I have found and is still readily availible. As for texture... I never mastered the art of airbrushing as I found it extremely wasteful of paint when working on mini's and the lack of experience kept me using brushes when I moved on to bigger things. I can get a nice shiney finish using the correct "citadel" paint without a primer, but it flakes easily off smooth plastic without the primer. The main reason that I love water based acrylics over oil based paints is that... 1. they are easy to clean up {my work area is a sheet of glass and a sponge works days later} 2. they are easy to mix 3. you can dillute them to the consistancy desired [You can "ink"/wash with any water based paint if you dilute it enough] 4. They dry incredibly fast. I found I could paint the shield of a mini, then paint the armor, and by the time I was done with another part the first part was dry enough to work on again. Warning... this leads to undertaking many projects at once and results in an almost assembly line meathodology. With "citadel" spray matte sealer the paints are almost impervious to accidental flaking and damage. TO give you an idea... I made a snow globe for a girl in high school ['93] using citadel paints and sealer. I lost track of her before the paint had any issues SUBMERGED continuously for years! I also found it remarkably easy to clean up my airbrush [while I was experimenting with one before I learned that I couldn't get the detail I wanted on a 1/2" figure] when using water based acrylics by simply spraying water through it till it was clean. Oh yeah... water based stuff is also non-flamable for you smokers/pyros

sorry if I am particular about the products, but I know the results. I would first prime it black [i use citadel spray primer]. I would then dry-brush it "citadel" gunbolt metal. I would then give it a wash/ink of whatever ink most corresponds to your desired final paint... going by the pic Batou posted I'd suggest "citadel colour" blue ink. I would then give it a layer of "citadel Fortress grey or sky blue" and possibly a black ink depending on how it looks at that point. Seal it and you are done. "citadel spray matte sealer... go figure". Is it obvious that I learned painting mini's

you forgot the industrial size jar of vasaline exo... "honest... it's for the toys" I remember waaaay back in the day a couple supermarkets had mid level G1 transformes like trailbreaker and prowl, but not a chance in heck you'd find a jetfire in one. I'm amazed that you can buy DVD players in supermarkets now-a-days for less than $100. I see much crap non-grocery related, but few toys. I do keep checking the asian grocery store hoping they will get some 1/55 bootlegs in so I don't have to pay as much for shipping as the toy costs.

Well, I'm sure we would pay much less for each part of our collection sometimes Just thing: This weekend at Wallmart!!! Tomatoe and spinach 20% off ! All Soul of Chogokin products 2x1! Yamato VT-1 & VE-1 40% off . Just $45 each! Pepsi 1 lt 3x2! Corona beer six pack $3.50! [mmmm... beer....] Wallmart sells beer?!?!?!? Where??? I know I've wandered around the local wallmarts for numerous hours looking for crap and I sure as heck would have spotted beer! My favorite trick still has to be... Get a toy or something on clearence at wallmart, take the price sticker off carefully, then return it to K-mart at full price store credit, and buy beer with the credit as K-mart DOES sell beer . Good way to get your beer even cheaper