NZEOD

I used to paint figures many years ago under the Asylum Art Label to pay for Varsity before I joined the Bomb Squad. So many techniques forgotten now!

Its been out for years with Warhammer 40K stuff Its an older technique that was used to emulate metallics without using metallic paints. The end result came out looking very good but very Cartoonish. Its also used to emulate the back glow and reflection off screens and weapons like power swords. Its fallen out of favour in the last few years but was amazing for how well some could blend in the colours. There is a bit more info on it here. http://www.bugmansbrewery.com/topic/28395-nmm-a-myth-or-is-it-reeeal/ Another good tute site for getting your Anime look (Referred to as NMM - Non Metallic Metallic Technique) is http://tutofig.com/painting/metallics/nmm/

Last nights mission while we waited for the Old man to have his CT Scan was to base coat a 1/72 Regult in EXPENSIVE Alclad II Steel and Magnesium so its top paint layer can be chipped and worn off later. I intend to heavily wear the paint but not to rust anything. Rust implies Steel and Iron and that just doesnt seem to fit with the Zentraedi advanced Tech. Next step is to fit up the LEDs for the Leg and Body sensors - basic red LEDs, Main "Eye" - Programmable Neopixel LED so it pulses and oscillates red shades, and 2 Blue Blinding Ultra Bright LEDs for the main Beam Cannons as well as the wiring and foot socket for the connections to the diorama. The connection will be hidden within a crushed car the Pod has stepped on as its fired on, and blown off its Super pack, the Valk thats hugging the Hotel block. Very easy kit to build, very fast to assemble, HORRIBLE seam lines and joins with a pointless opening rear hatch - pointless as it opens to an empty hollow detailless space more like a Mr Potato Head! Make sure you have a tube of Putty and lots of sand paper for this one. It also needs 2 spots of clear resin to replicate the two upper body sensors as they left the clear parts for them out for some reason. Buying some more of these to make bookends like the limited edition ones out of them. Have 4 of the Resin Valks in the kneeling/aiming position for the other side of the bookends.

If you ever need something made up I can always work it for you then email the .eps or .ai vector file back to you to print out. I used to make the stencils up for my guys to slap on anything and everything. Helped pass the time between weeks of boredom and moments of tension when your stuck in the back side of god knows where. Making some silhouettes of some Zentraedi capital ship for kill markings for some EMU units and some Pod/Anti UN SV-51 kill markings for the Valks.

its 3.5mm x 4.5mm. Its nothing fancy and anyone here can do it. I used Inkscape freeware as the vector program (all decals etc should be made in vector format as it is lossless when scaled up or down) and downloaded a freeware freehand arrow Vector pack and a freeware font pack called Permanent Marker. Its printed in plain A4 paper. This one was just a test piece to see if the idea would work. I'll be making a slightly smaller one for the final version once the pilots are painted up, hopefully tonight. All my models have a small joke hidden somewhere on them. Legacy of being in uniform so long. You'd be amazed at the things we get up too to let off steam. I tagged an M113 as "Canned Veggies" for its crew as our infantry wear green berets so get called Cabbages. I've tagged a SeaKing for the Aussies called the Suai Sally - The Timor Express. YOu park a vehicle, ANY vehicle, whether a ute, a Humvee or even an armoured vehicle unattended near any unit while on deployment and you can expect it to be tagged with that units logo or mascot within minutes. Check the rear of military vehicles, especially Commonwealth ones, and you'll see all sorts of small odd logos and numbers and symbols sprayed on them.

Anyone ever make any Meltran/Zentran 1/72 Figures? Or is there anything in 1/10 to 1/12 figures that can be converted into ground troops?

Yus!! Got home from helping the olds out with winding up Dads business whos a medical mess at the moment and found a Sonic birds VF-1 and and 1/72 Regult waiting for me. Now to buy JasonCs Ghost and Jeffs spare Valk models. This is becoming an addiction

Hasegawa hands down. You'll start with the Fighter only kits but then find you'll want to try the Gerwalk ones... which will lead to the Battroid ones. All 3 modes are a joy to build and have some great lines and personality to them.

My tribute to the Mach Loop...

This mornings efforts

Definitely the more realistic DYRL hands

Same! I have 3 trainers I have on the bench right now that I'm all set to slice to match the my 1J Gerwalks to my 2 seater Navy unit... stuff that! Saving them and getting this one!

SDFM hands?

Damn, that's pretty crisp and nice looking! And we finally get pilots that are more than vague blobs!

Also, Unified forces works on small scales but in a larger organization it gets messy. Its been studied many times and is a favorite for Promotion courses to throw at candidates for debate. It works because of a unified command structure and simplified lines of communication. It fails because of differing logistic, technical and infrastructure requirements.

The important thing to note in the A10 vs F35 argument is that the F35 is a concept, as in, its still not finished, still has "on paper only" components and functions that haven't been proven to work yet or have been built and failed requiring a rethink (helmets, weapons bays etc) where as the A10 is a real tangible item that can be built and deploy right now. Too often designers look too far to the future at the expense of the Here and Now. Its all good having a future weapons system but not if it means having nothing in the meantime. That costs lives. Britain has just had that lesson hammered home with the number of IED deaths on deployments while they wasted 350 million pounds studying a replacement APC/Scout capability since 1996! They had the Production version GtK Boxer and VBCI vehicles to test during Parliments Trials of Truth assessment yet chose the Piranha Concept which has since failed.As a result, the British have been using open top Landrovers and have been dying in droves while the Germans have been driving on the same roads in their Boxers and the French in their VBCIs with no casualties. Makes for great reading and shows that the Pentagon Wars Bradley Development debacle isn't just an isolated US screwup. I've added links to the UK Report and the movie of the American mess. Welcome to what we, as soldiers, put up with day in day out with some of the gear that makes to down the line to us. NZArmy Steyrs with Minimi C9s are a good example. One fires after being submerged, one doesnt. They use the same 5.56mm round but different magazines... yet both are in the same Section together. http://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/from-scimitar-to-fres-to-ajax/ They have since had to ask BAE to retool and restart their old Warrior and CVR(T) Hull production lines to rebuild the worn out chassis of the Vehicles that WERE to be retired but now cant as they still dont have a replacement for them. The F35 is another such concept heavy unproven program. Thought really should be given to building new A10 IIs in the meantime. The current fleet HAS to be retired as its operational tempo has worn them out. But replacing them with more A10s makes more immediate sense than with something new, based on the operational needs of the fight RIGHT NOW.

What resin model is it?

Wish you hadnt told me that.... didnt know about the low viz version. Now I MUST have one

That'll be getting modded to permanently Fighter only and placed in my Hallway Museum display!

lol uhuh... so its a 2 seater Capital Ship killer then... Intrigued so see this now! I'm messing round with using that excess Gundam Vulcan cannon on a Super pack and maybe chopping up some Warhammer 40K Tau Battlesuit Railguns for some EMU packs. Or is it the next logical step from the VT-1 Ostrich, the VT-11 Emu (or maybe Cassowary, Moa, Kiwi to save confusion with the E.M.U. projects?)

So what scale is it to end up being? Collecting 1/72 (wheels down where possible) And the rough estimate cost of that scale as it stands today?

You building a Capital Ship Killer?

There is one called the Laylax Shock Equipment Crate. Its for storing your Stun Baton, Shock Stick and Tazer gear in... lol

39USD each and there are other sizes