pengbuzz

12 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

I'd pay real money just to hear it read by the intense voice guy from Honest Trailers.

I was not familiar at all with "Honest Trailers"; had to go look it up on Youtube.

2 hours ago, Bolt said:

Been home for a few days and haven't touched a model! Wah! Gotta get that garden in..oh well. Soon come.

Lol! I hear ya!

Meantime...got some more work done. The detail got a little buried by paint, so I did my best with it. Doing this a second time around, I would forego my usual techniques, but I really don't feel like trying to strip paint off of this (not to mention there's no alcohol in the stores!). Anyway, the latest on my VF-1 Hasegawa build:

11 minutes ago, tekering said:

I'd pay to see John de Lancie perform it as Q.

You know...that would work!

52 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Honestly, the biggest problem with Star Trek: Picard's original characters is that they're all blatantly designed-by-committee.

Not an intelligent committee either... that kind of tone deaf, out-of-touch, diversity-minded committee that produced cringe-worthy garbage like Marvel's new superheroes "Snowflake" and "Safe Space" or the SJW robot in Solo: a Star Wars Story.

Cristóbal Rios is a citizen of the Republic of South American Stereotypes, a cigar-smoking, hard-drinking, unkempt, shady, roguish sort of character with a troubled past and nothing left to lose who speaks in an exaggerated accent, curses awkwardly in Spanish, and reads Spanish philosophy books just in case the audience forgot he's South American over the last week.

Raffaela Musiker is a down-on-her-luck Sassy Black Woman™ who developed multiple substance abuse problems after losing her job and her family, who's just trying to go straight and get her kid back.

Dr. Agnes Jurati is a standard-issue Socially-Awkward Nerd Girl whose main character traits are that she's naive, trusting, painfully shy, and more than slightly autistic.  

Elnor's not just a McNinja, he's an effeminate prettyboy, an orphaned kid who sees Picard as a surrogate father, a rebel against his native culture, the exposition magnet whose naive ignorance makes everyone explain things, and a comic relief character whose social awkwardness is played for unfunny laughs.

Fleet Admiral Clancey is the foulmouthed professional woman who is trying too hard to be taken seriously and can't abide having her authority questioned for a second.

Soji is the everywoman, a painfully generic character with no distinguishing traits to speak of except for the fact that she's good at everything... which they try to justify as her being an android.  She's brilliant, skilled in multiple scientific disciplines, speaks multiple languages, is an instant expert on alien cultures, possesses superhuman strength, speed, durability, and reflexes as an android despite being made of flesh, and is instantly liked and accepted by everyone she meets and even gets a man who's been trained from a young age to hate and fear androids to fall in love with her while on a mission to investigate her.  She's a Mary Sue.

I'd pay real money to see you do that entire post as actual dialogue in a ST:Picard episode with the crew as a "Reason you Suck" monologue.

10 minutes ago, JB0 said:

The Lancer size strikes me as odd. Wasn't that designed as a space fighter? I'd've expected some big fuel tanks in it.

Or at least an "AAA" sticker on it (so it could get towed back to base).

On 3/23/2020 at 11:01 AM, Seto Kaiba said:

That'd be another way to look at it... though admittedly a pretty sad take on the series as a whole.  You'd think Jean-Luc Picard had a better imagination.

 With that kind of syndrome, I wonder if imagination would deteriorate as well?

On 3/23/2020 at 11:01 AM, Seto Kaiba said:

I think I see the "out" here for Patrick Stewart.  Picard's going to "die" but they're going to transfer/copy his mind into that "golem" that Soong built, so Jean-Luc Picard the human will die and Patrick Stewart will bow out of the series and they'll continue forward with a new actor as Android!Picard.

I would consider that even sadder; the only reason anyone is even watching this is because of the OG crew cameos, IMO. On it's own, most of the characters couldn't convince me to shop at 7-11 for a Slurpee.

7 hours ago, Thom said:

Welcome back Peng! And roaring right back into it I see! Lovely work in the slats and flaps. Keep it up!

Thanks Thom! Well, you know me: I never do anything normal.

6 hours ago, MechTech said:

That's coming along great Pengbuzz! The flaps add realism. No plane sits out on the ready minus flaps down.

So to relate with everyone's pains, I just had carpal tunnel surgery about two months ago. Next hand is probably coming up soon. I can only hold parts for a while before my hand goes to sleep. I miss the days of my "kung foo grip" on parts. That's one thing that slowed me down. Now it's just reworking my current design. - MT

Thanks MT! I wanted the diorama to look like an "actual photo" taken on the Prometheus flight deck. Going to be researching flight deck ops and get the appropriate deck crew figs and equipment to make it look like Roy is launching from Prometheus on "blue water ops" (conceptually, this would be several weeks before Launch Day for the SDF-1, so I want to tell a bit of a story with this one).

And yeah, Carpal Tunnel just plain sucks. I decided not to get the surgery, as I didn't want the "bowstringing" effect from them cutting the tendon. I manage mine with stretches and rest.

47 minutes ago, jeniusornome said:

Admittedly, the dimensional bomb and reality merging from the beginning of Orguss can pretty easily be used as an explanation for just about anything, even the various inconsistencies that come up in different Macross shows whenever someone tries to figure out what's "canon".

I don't know if it fractured reality quite enough to turn the "first spacefaring civilization" protoculture into a "fuel source derived from a magical flower" protoculture, but...

It did shatter HG's connection to reality apparently.

Minor update: finished the leading edge slats on the wings. Just have to decide if I'm going to try to fit in the clear lights near the hinge end of the wing, or just suggest them in with paint:

1 hour ago, arbit said:

I hope everyone and their families are staying safe and taking all necessary precautions.

Despite the stay at home with the kids, I don't plan on modeling anytime soon. I seem to have developed some arthritis in a couple fingers and need to sort that out first.

Ouch, I feel for ya, Arbit! I have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, and my hands can end up to where modeling is a no-go for a few days.

4 hours ago, derex3592 said:

Looking good Peng!  Glad to see you're enjoying the hobby once again! 

IS it kinda bad I'm wanting my bosses to tell us to go home this week (with pay hopefully) so I CAN work on ALL my kits I have waiting??!! 

LOL! Hey, let your boss know you're trying to do your part to fight COVID-19!

8 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Read a WEIRD fan theory online today about this latest identical descendant of Arik Soong... some fans are theorizing that Alton Soong is actually a "skinjob" version of Lore who may have been reactivated by Maddox at the Daystrom Institute.  IMO, it's not a particularly credible fan theory except for the fact that Soong is INCREDIBLY blase about the ancient androids commiting mass murder to protect his double handful of "children" and that he's named all of his androids after less-than-factual forms of written records.

Personally, I suspect he's just another mentally ill and incredibly naive Soong who's inherited the family thesaurus.

Personally, this is the theory I've formulated since I had time to sit down and really think this through:

This is all a feverish dream in Picard's head. He's actually back at his vineyard in France, laying in bed dying, with Dr. Crusher and whatever friends there for him in his final hours. What we're seeing is his last thoughts and wishes in a delirious state, and he's constructed one last "grand adventure" for himself. Keep in mind the symptoms of Irumodic Syndrome:

Quote

Irumodic Syndrome was a degenerative neurological disorder that caused deterioration of the synaptic pathways. The condition caused confusion, delusions, and eventually death. It could take several years to develop and several more before it proved deadly.

(source:)  https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Irumodic_Syndrome

The reality probably is that between Romulus being destroyed by a supernovae and the diagnosis of his then-newly onset Irumodic Syndrome, Picard decided to resign from Starfleet. He most likely felt he had failed somehow, that he should have been able to do something to help. As the years wore on, his mind degenerated slowly, and he began to fantasize (as some who have disabling diseases and infirmities do) that he had to leave Starfleet for some grander reason than over his illness.

Finally, in his dying days, Picard was confined to bed, and constructed for himself one last "mission" in his mind. One that would sing the praises of Jean Luc Picard and wrap up his life in a great adventure that would once again lead him to the stars.

My clues to this? Improbable happenings with the storyline (granted, the writers are idiots, but we're making lemonade with lemon-colored somersetting or another, so bear with me here!), people just happening to be in place where he needs them and going along with his "crusade"; an admiral who at first denies him but grudgingly gives him what he asks for (symbolic of the service that Picard found himself at odds with several times); a great conspiracy that only he could solve; and living in his chateau, even though they are deep in space (requires one holodeck and a whole bunch of suspension of disbelief to work).

But...that's just me and I'm probably disregarding / overlooking a bunch of stuff, got a few somethings wrong and misread/misfired/misfiled/ Miss Moneypenny/ Miss Piggy/ misunderstood something or another...

UPDATE:

Got much of the main body done. I then decided to do something a tiny bit radical, seeing as this is going to be the centerpiece of a catapult launch diorama...

...I dropped the flaps and slats:

Right now, I'm just waiting for the glue to dry on the leading edge of the wings before I proceed; once it's solid, I'll refine the width and shape of the front and superimpose another piece over the very front to re-create the leading edge. Then it's just sanding to shape and adjusting everything until it looks right (using pics of the VF-1 with flaps and slats open to go by):

Meantime, I'll have to check my options for a pilot and ground crew. kinda wiped myself out on the factory, so I may be hosed for that for some time. We'll see.

Stay tuned...

5 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

As I noted on the previous page, Titan Comics hasn't been answering reader questions about the status of the series on their social media.

That's one of the things that makes this "delay" so odd... Titan Comics is normally fairly willing to communicate with its customers via its official website and social media, but there has been no news about the now-substantial delay in the fifth issue's release and questions posed about the status of the series on social media go unanswered.  If this was just some kind of delay caused by mundane business reasons like a key staffer's illness or a problem at the printer's it'd be a simple thing to announce that wouldn't reflect badly on them.  Even if the series were cancelled, saying something about it being cancelled would be the norm.  This total silence on the subject is what makes it look suspicious.

Possibility: HG's check bounced?

On 3/21/2020 at 8:32 AM, Dobber said:

Re-release the TV Storm Attacker SDF-1 so we can use it’s more accurate bow section for cruiser mode models.

Re-release the TV Storm Attacker SDF-1 so I can combine it with the Cruiser-mode model and make a transforming SDF-1.

1 hour ago, Seto Kaiba said:

... eh, I wouldn't put it past Star Trek: Picard.  Its writers seem absolutely determined to turn Star Trek into another maximally dystopian sci-fi setting like Star Wars, Alien, or Warhammer 40,000 where there is nothing but hate and war and hope is a weakness for those who don't know better.

The should rename it Star Trek: Dante's Inferno.  Ship's motto: "Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate"

On 1/25/2020 at 4:12 PM, kajnrig said:

...what even is robotech remix

A steaming pile of explodium wrapped in dog crap, with a timer set to near infinite capacity.

3 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

The Star Trek relaunch novelverse and the non-canon novels both attributed those barriers to the Q Continuum.  The barrier around the outer edge of the galaxy was set up to keep a malevolent entity called 0 out, and the one in the core was a prison meant to hold the being who presented itself as God in Star Trek V after both were tried and convicted of various crimes by the Q.

(That particular storyline connected the sudden supernova that destroyed the T'Kon empire with Q and four extradimensional ne'er do wells... 0, * AKA the Beta XII-A entity, Gorgan, and The One AKA "God".  A bored Q let them into the universe via the Guardian of Forever, and 0 was the one who first put Q up to the idea of "testing" lesser races for entertainment.  The Q Continuum took a dim view of them blowing up the T'Kon Empire's homeworld with a supernova and arrested Q, 0, and The One.  * and Gorgan escaped but lost most of their powers, to be encountered later by the USS Enterprise, while The One was depowered and locked away on a remote planet behind a barrier in the galactic core and 0 was depowered and punted into intergalactic space with a barrier put up around the galaxy to prevent him from returning.)

 

That said, I have to wonder if this incredibly lazy and apparently incredibly unoriginal Star Trek plot will culminate in these machine people from outside time and space being the machine race that created V'Ger after Voyager VI fell into a black hole.  Since Star Trek: Discovery was stealing ideas from the novelverse it seems likely Star Trek: Picard will too... Control was straight out of the DS9 Relaunch, and the machine race (The Body Electric) were encountered while pursuing a project that would've caused the extinction of all life in the galaxy.

Don't be surprised if the Whale Probe from ST-IV shows up with a beef against the Federation because it used the whales Kirk brought back for sushi in Sisko's Creole Restaurant.

On 3/17/2020 at 7:52 AM, pengbuzz said:

That's just it Gabe: with the family finances in tatters, the new job falling through at the last second and my birthday a bust, there are no kits to set aside, and no money to buy any. The certification and job were going to put us back on solid ground; now I'm back to square one, and we have gas and electric bills backed up from over the winter coming due in April that will just about break us. And a family friend that had been helping us has turned their back on us due to a dumb misunderstanding.

Anyways, I've gone on long enough on this. I'll leave this up for a day, then pull my p0osts off so as not to derail this thread any further. I appreciate the advice, but it won't help, sad to say.

Bye.

Well... I gotta admit when I'm wrong, and that's one of those times folks. I'd like to apologize for my negativity; no one needs it, especially right about now. I really appreciate everyone's support here, and I'm lucky to have folks online like y'all to help me keep perspective on things and focus on what's important. What's more, things are happening now in the background that are working in my family's favor, and hopefully, we'll be okay. it may take longer than I had hoped, but things have brightened up considerably since the last time I posted in here.

Thank you to everyone here for your kind words and thoughtfulness towards me and my family

On that note: a friend IRL has helped me out by sending mea few kits to keep me going during this time. One of these has been a kit I've been dying for years to take on: Hasegawa's VF-1!!!

My progress last night:

I got this one on Friday, and started it after giving the parts a good accounting and washing! I really like the build on this: very instinctual in many areas and a pleasure to build in comparison to Bandai's recent transformable blunder kit. The only thing that was a minor setback was the heavy mold parting line right down the middle of the canopy, but some ultra-fine sandpaper, steel wool and a good rubbing on my pants' leg fixed that issue.

Where I am now:

(Light wasn't so great, so I took some with a flash as well)

Got some paintwork on the inner parts (cockpit, intakes, gunpod, engines and vector/feet); on the parts that would get ho, I went for a "burnt metal" heat-discoloration scheme I saw elsewhere online:

I also did the same for the gunpod:

(Okay...better like this? Or like this? lol )

Since Hasegawa is known for their aircraft models, I wanted to treat this as an aircraft model first, then as a sci-fi/anime model second. I plan on using this when completed to permanently take the place of the original Bandai VF-1S on the flight deck diorama I built some time back. That way, it can be displayed appropriately while the transformable one can stay in the factory dio safe and sound.

Stay tuned folks.... the Pengbuzz is back!!

46 minutes ago, JohnMc said:

Diamond has it listed as cancelled.

Yeah, I know; that's why I asked Old_Nash where he was getting this from:

4 hours ago, Old_Nash said:

The 5th edition will be release in the 03/25.

Next Wednesday XD

1 hour ago, Old_Nash said:

The 5th edition will be release in the 03/25.

Next Wednesday XD

Source of info please?

1 hour ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Yup... though it's UN, not US.

lol Sorry...late night and I was replying on two different forums. Guess someone on another site is wondering what "UN Air Force" is. O.o

4 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

It seems that it never occurred to them that the Zentradi wouldn't fight a conventional infantry war... rather than being a 100% mechanized force.

  Given the ship that they found, you'd think they would have had someone there who would have foreseen that possibility.

4 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Not any of the ones that were introduced during its mass production run and service with the UN Forces and New UN Forces as a main variable fighter.

Hakuna Aoba's VF-1X++ custom may have gone a ways towards solving it by adopting the same, more efficient engine technology developed for 4th Generation VFs, but the VF-1 is really just too small to have significant endurance in space.

And that brings up a point that continues from the first one in this post: space capability almost seems to be an afterthought with this fighter. One would think that with the intakes on the front, it would be able to pull reactants from the atmosphere in some manner. But in space, it would all depend upon whatever the mech had in its' tanks to run on. Now add in the Destroids being specifically ground-based, and that leads me to think that US Spacy believed the war to be one that would have been fought on Earth terrain and not in space with 5 million ships versus a planet, one battlefortress and whatever allies it could get via music.

On 3/19/2020 at 9:29 AM, Seto Kaiba said:

It was actually motivated by Battroid mode.

One of the program goals of the Earth UN Forces' First Generation Variable Fighter program was to have the Battroid mode be close to the expected size of the alien giants (~10m), in order to fight them effectively in an infantry context and interact with them and/or their equipment.  Constraining the size of Battroid mode ultimately constrained the size of the VF-1 Valkyrie and its unsuccessful competitor the VF-X-2 to around the size of the F-16.  That, in turn, resulted in the VF's available internal space for fuel being too small for the VF to carry enough fuel for extended operations in space and made the addition of conformal fuel tanks and FAST Packs necessary.

Master File explains the larger size, and origins, of the VF-0 as being the OTM-enhanced F-14s being used as a starting point for VF development.  That proved to be convenient since that provided enough space for conventional jet fuel storage for short sorties when thermonuclear reaction turbine engine delivery was delayed.

But it never occurred to them that the craft the Zentraedi would be piloting would be bigger than their infantry (as we see when comparing a VF-1 Valk to a Regult). I wonder though if the later VF-1 engine upgrades eventually relieved the need for FAST packs?

On 3/19/2020 at 9:29 AM, Seto Kaiba said:

Yeah.  They only ever built a few dozen VF-0s as technology demonstrators and evaluation airframes, and those were sidelined when production VF-1 Valkyries began to enter service in the UN Forces.  Master File alleges that some VF-0s were updated with the FF-2001 to become the VF-0+ Phoenix Plus and were stationed in places like Grand Cannon III, but almost all VF-0 airframes were lost in the orbital bombardment.  At least a few VF-0 airframes did survive the First Space War in storage, though.  Hakuna Aoba's VF-0改 "Zeak" in the Macross the Ride light novel is a surviving/existing VF-0 airframe that was extensively modified with YF-25 parts by Katori Brown-Robbins.  Variable Fighter Master File: VF-0 Phoenix also features an aircraft called "VF-0A The Nostalgia", a remanufactured/restored VF-0 produced by Shinsei Industry for the 25th Anniversary of the First Space War Armistice made using parts from two VF-0A airframes (No.7 and No.13) and fitted with a reproduction VF-0S monitor turret and painted in Roy Focker's iconic colors.

Admittedly, I never liked the VF-0; it never really grew on me for some reason.

3 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Well... CBS initially promised that Star Trek: Picard was going to focus on new characters and that returning Star Trek cast members would be used sparingly and limited to small guest roles.

Nine episodes in, the content of the show has determined that was a lie.  If we're charitable, it might constitute a massive course correction instead in the face of audiences finding the new cast to be underdeveloped, cliched, and generic enough to blend into the background better than a Jem'Hadar.  They literally don't matter to the plot at all, except as vehicles for dialog Picard can't deliver to himself.  Soji is literally the only original character who has any real relevance to the plot.

 

The new cast may as well be rejects from BSG Reboot: gritty, but no direction. Much like dirt in a windstorm.

3 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

  Hide contents

Even the planet of the androids is the handiwork of another bloody identical relative of Noonian Soong played by Brent Spiner.  Either that family does a LOT of illegal cloning or they're more inbred than the Hapsburgs to keep producing identical children.

 

AllIi can say is: