pengbuzz

On my first VF-1S kit build, much of the plastic was brittle in places. It was an Imai early issue (1/72, transformable), where you switch the nose out to go from Fighter to Battroid. The Battroid nose practically crumbled, so I was forced to develop a transform to compensate for this and it became more like the Bandai version (plug-in legs). I also ran into this with the SDF-1 Storm Attacker model from Arii, where the arm connection to the carriers was pretty brittle as well. Additionally, the pin connecting the leg to the body disintegrated and I had to dig its remains out of the upper thigh. For non-Macross models, I recently had an LST (Landing Ship Tank) model kit that was so brittle that even snipping the parts off the trees using any method (snipper, xacto knife, scissors) would cause the part to turn to crumbs.

Looking pretty good there, derex! The panel-lining on the main "eyepiece" really makes the detail pop, and the thrusters look good as well. One thing I have noticed though in some older kits is that the parts after a while tend to get brittle when cutting them. Have you run into that at all with this kit? I'm not sure how old of a kit you're working with of how new it is if it's a re-pop.

Yeah; creativity and mediocrity don't do well in the same boat.

Question: What can you make using the roller barrel from a "rolling ruler"? Answer: a jet engine. So, "how did you end up thinking of this" you ask? Well, I was looking through the other "Factory" kits that Arii had in 1/170 (that Revell later issued under the Robotech line), and saw one that had a jet engine or two in it: I couldn't resist... I just had to have one for the diorama. And so: One section of ruler barrel, a trimmed-down fan assembly from an old F-15 fighter kit and some masking tape and paint later, I had one to put on the dolly that came with my fighter. Here's how it looks in the factory dio: This is probably now going to progress beyond the scope of the original, with some additional stuff culled from other sources. Stay tuned....

Okay, my guess on Rey's lineage: she's cloned from Luke's severed hand. That would qualify Kylo's remark about her coming from "nobody".

After looking up what The Price of Smiles was (seriously, Tatsunoko: you chose THIS for your 55th anniversary??!!), I think calling it a "trainwreck" is being charitable.

I didn't know oil drums were that hard to find! O.o

It would appear that Tatsunoko has a bit of a track record making bad judgment calls. That helps explain in my mind a little bit of how HG kept a death-grip on Macross all these years.

I have oil drums:

It's pretty much the visual equivalent of Ebola.

This is the only safe way to handle this guy's work: In all seriousness though, looking this kind of thing up is so not a good idea, that even VPN's, "private" and other options I would not trust.

Thanks MT! I think you'll like what's next: More of my progress here:

Okay folks, an update on my latest progress: I got to thinking about it, and simply having the turntables immobile and the crane in much the same condition was just not going to fly very well on this project. If they could get both working on the 1/100 scale, then I had pretty much no excuse (i.e.: laziness) for mine to be stuck in place. Soooo..... I began by cutting the "turntable" sections out the rest of the way; they had already been scored during the initial assembly, and it simply took a little more to separate them entirely. I then backed them with several thick layers of old vinyl-covered foam Venetian blind slats (pretty heavy stuff) and turned them into rotating "blocks" that would sit in the turntable wells: The wells themselves got lined with thin sheet cardboard and then surfaced and painted: (We'll get to the small yellow tow car in a moment) So the turntable blocks sit in the wells and rotate simply by turning them by hand. No pivot point is needed, as the well guides the table and the rotation naturally happens. Meantime, I needed a few more things than just the "Bucket Truck": From the aforementioned "foam slats" and a piece of wooden dowel, I crafted the rolling transport platform that the mech stands on while being rolled into the factory area. After covering the transport in masking tape (what else? ), I painted it in a way I thought would make sense: How it looks on the turntable: Now onto the tow vehicle: I noticed that the 1/100 factory also had one of these, so if they have it, I must as well! I glued 3-4 very heavy pieces of plastic that I had from and old printer/scanner, and glued some sprue to the bottom for wheels: Then a snazzy little paint job with some spare decals i had from a couple of previous builds: In place amongst the other vehicles; I also painted up a spare gunpod dolly in the same yellow. In a bit, I'll make a "pin" to allow the tow vehicle to tow the dolly around (Heloooo dolly! :D). I then devised a system to let the crane slide without binding up: I figured a simple pin-and-slide system would work, with the pin riding the slot in the housing A pair of guides on the inside keeps the slide from wobbling: Pin and slide in place: Front side (with crane arm in place): The bottom of the crane is essentially a "boot" of plastic that glides on another piece of plastic in the track. It allows for simple movement that is supported, yet also allows for the crane to be removed so i can transport this setup safely: The crane fully attacked; I also made a multi-utility arm that needs some warning stripes and other graphics. it also moves on the crane arm via a sleeve that goes around the upper arm: And of course, the gate has been named; So all of this bring us to this point now: Still needs some paint work and a few other things. But it's come a long way from this: Stay tuned....

Okay...what evil maniac at CBS Studios made poor Jeri watch Star Trek Beyond? O.o

ROFL!!! It's MinMan!!!

As soon as I'm done with this: Guess what I'm doing now with this?

lol Yeah, if I had been rebuilding the SDF-1 for UN Spacy, I would have had it done about 6 weeks after the crash.

Little bit of an update: Started some of the gantries/ walkways on the wall, and also added a bit more detail.I diverged from the original a little bit here, wanting to add my own details. I may also add another wall to one side or something; we'll see. I also put a bucket on the end of the boom truck that is jointed (more pics of that when the paint dries). Stay tuned folks...

I'm pretty sure that what HG thinks is "protoculture" is actually SPAM.

Thanks! I'm doing my best with this.

UPDATE: some more paint and detail work- While it's still not finished (still want to add my own details in addition to the walkways, crane and other regular detailing), I wanted to show the paintwork I got done so far: And yeah: the lettering was a royal PITA to do freehand, especially curving around one of the turntables (no printer ink right now, so this is my only option): More to come; stay tuned...

Yeah; I like the actual motorcycle itself. As for the anime, when it was tacked on to Robotech, it was the depressing end to what started out with Macross. But on its' own, it takes on a whole different light. (On another note: I thought I had posted something like this already in this thread, but it vanished. And I keep noticing that happening with several of my posts. O.o )

Really looking forward to seeing this painted up, derex! BTW folks:,I recently saw a kit in 1/144 scale on Etsy for about 50 bucks: https://www.etsy.com/listing/668836899/vintage-robotech-macross-queadluun-rau?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=robotech+toys&ref=sr_gallery-1-19&organic_search_click=1 That's my "PSA" for today. In other news: some progress on my project- Stay tuned folks.

Thanks for the pics, tekering; I'll see if I can use some of the details in this! Thanks Bolt. Just wanted to post a bit of an update here: The truck was actually a knock-off g1 Constructicon that was dirt cheap: Mixmaster. I simply did some mods and rebuilt it (was busted anyways) into the boom truck for the factory section: Stay tuned folks...

Oh well, here goes; I can always delete it if needbe... I did this as a concept piece of what it would look like if a Transformers commercial from the 1980's had been done with Photoshop available. Since I can't animate anything to save my life, it became more of a "back-of-the-box-art" type of thing.