modelbaseguy

Okay, I am a newbie to Macross so where can I get this kit? MUST HAVE NOW! THANX

Well it is finally here gang, first of the bases are curing up now. I have added them to the website so put your order in today. I really have to thank all of you for your input on this project and I look forward to working with you on the next batch of bases. I am sorry that it has taken this long to get these in the works but you all know Murphy's Law. The thicker 5" base is ready to ship and the Larger base will be ready this weekend so they both should start shipping Monday. Take care all and have a great weekend!

Thanx for the input guys. The greeblies thing would not necesarily be a base, I am talking about manufacturing the greeblies to kit bash into a base or diorama. If we could produce these cheap enough I think that even the hard core modelers would have to say it would be cheaper than building their own. What kind of greeblies would interest you guys? Sorry for such a short post but I have got to run for now. See ya.

Well sorry gang I did not get around to taking the photos of the bases. I will give a shot again early next week. While looking through our stock though I came across this base that may work for the gear down displays. The actual surface area of this base is 7.875" wide by 5" tall. I am not sure that would work for these kits but it is an option. Personally I think that a circle would look better but we would definately have to cut new masters so we need to settle on a size. 12" might be pushing it a bit for the thinner base as the resin will tend to warp as it cures. I think that we could go to 7" or maybe 8" in the thinner base with little or no warpage. I push the thinner base for the cost reasons I mentioned before. While we are on the subject I was thinking of creating some bits a pieces that a person could apply to a generic base to simulate a hanger. Things like bulkheads and other little greeblies that one could assemble with other items to make a really detailed diorama. What do you think?

Okay so there's one how about the rest of you, what do you think of the photos? Do you agree that we need something larger for the gear down display? Thick or Thin?

Okay gang, Chad has sent me the photos of his kits on some sample bases. I will try to post them here but if I run into a snag, Chad could you post them? Once again I am new to this but it would seem that you could benefit from two different sized bases. A roughly 5" size for your figures and for kits in battledroid mode and a larger 6"+ size for your kits in flight or carrier mode. The smaller base would work great for "In Flight" displays as well and that is what most people use our bases for. There are different thicknesses as well and I do have a couple with a different edge detail. The thickness of the base determines the amount of resin which determines the cost of the base and the shipping costs. Take a look at the photos and lets chat about it, I really need to get a good idea of what works best for the majority. Startup costs for the masters and the molds is rediculously expensive so we have to be sure that we can recover these costs. Perhaps it would be a good idea to post picts of the various sizes of the bases with the various thicknesses along with a price and have a poll here to determine which will work for everyone. I will try to get some of those picts together and start a new thread tomorrow with a poll. Admins, I may need to contact you about help with this and to make sure that it is cool with you guys to do so. Take care everyone and Happy Modeling! If you do not see some picts at the bottom of this post then you know that I messed up. Here it goes. This is the Battroid on our thicker (.875") 5" base This is an Ostridge on our thinner (.375") 6"+ base. You can see that this base has a different profile as well. This is a VF-0B on the 6"+ base again which appears to be too small to me. It just looks a little tight for all of the gear to be securely on the base, perhaps this should be a little larger. Sorry I don't know the scale on this or any of the other kits, Chad? Finally we have a VF-1A on our 5" base which I think works okay in carrier mode shown here it would work better as an "In Flight" mode mounted with a metal or acrylic rod. Just have a look and post your thoughts. From what I see here we should shoot for the 5" base and one that is a little closer to 7" or 8". I will try to get more base photos tomorrow.

Hey Gang, sorry I have not been around much since this thread started. Been busy with my newborn son, Jack, those little ones take a lot of one's time you know. I have three designs ready just waiting on a definitive answer on the size. I sent Chad some sample bases and he was going to get me some test shots back as soon as he could. The three designs are the Kite, the Jolly Roger and an anamorphic shape that I think refers to "the bad guys", please forgive my ignorance on the subject. I also have some art for a carrier ship is it the UN SPACY in a starfield and the kite logo in the background courtesy of Electric Indigo. As we draw closer I will post some vector art of these designs to get your feedback on them. I think that things will move rather quickly once we get the size and finalize the designs. I would certainly be in favor of a pre-order thread or I can set it up on our website. I will have to add these items to our website anyway so now is as good a time as any. We use a paypal shopping cart so you can add multiple items and best of all you don't have to be a paypal member. You can use your checkcard or credit card to pay but if this does not suit you then you can always drop us an email with your order and we will reply with a quote including shipping. Then you can send a check or money order and we will be happy to complete your order. International orders are a little tricky for the Paypal shopping cart so please bare with me on those. It seems that paypal's shipping uses only one table and shipping rates overseas are more so we can't put a flat fee for domestic and international shipping. I am working on this now but I am not getting much help. If any of you are web gurus and think that you could help I am sure that we can work out something for your services. Getting back to my ignorance on the subject, does anyone know where I could rent some videos of the Macross series? Is there any feature length movies of Macross? What about reference books? I have seen the kits you guys are turning out and the bug has bit me so I got to have some of these kits. Unfortunately I am unsure of what kits to buy. I have been modeling for some time so I think that I can tackle any project that comes my way. I would like to find some of the better kits cause I know from dealing with Gundam kits there is a big difference in quality between the grade levels. I would assume that these kits would be the same. Well I hear Jack singing my song so I had better go check on him and mamma. Take care guys, I will be back online tomorrow morning I'm sure. Happy Modeling.

Hey Gang, All great ideas for bases. Now I keep seeing SDF-1 as a request and as Grayson72 said I am a newbie to Macross so I have no clue as to what that is. Electric indigo was so kind as to work something up for a SDF-1 base and I like it but is that what everybody would like to see for this base? Could anyone explain what SDF-1 is to me? Just from what I am seeing here I would imagine it to be some sort of aircraft carrier that hauls around the Macross fighters, excuse my ignorance. Well gang I will leave it with you, please post more picts or you can email them to me of what you would like to see for a Macross base. I will have my crew working on getting them produced for you. Thank you all so much for you interest and your help on this project, oh and my wallet curses you for introducing me to Macross modeling. I just found a whole new genré of models to blow my paycheck on.

I am new to this forum and to Macross and I have got to say You guys are simply awesome, I love this thread. I am an art director for a large package printing company in the US, and you guys can come work for me any day. I considered myself a photoshop wizard but your work has put me in my place. KEEP "EM COMING.

Hello All, I am the owner of The Model Base and let me first say Thank You to Chad for jump starting this thread and getting such interest in my company's products. I wanted to drop by and post a little something to let you all know that we are very interested in giving you some bases that you would be proud to display your wonderful models on. A little background on The Model Base, I will be brief don't worry. I started this company a little over a year ago after many years of building custom bases for individual collectors. Typically I would be commisioned to build and paint a Starship which came with some dinky base. I decided one day that my customers deserved better than that and so I made my first base. It was a rather expensive endeavor but that did not matter, quality is what mattered to me. After a while I started getting emails requesting just the bases from folks who built their own kits. I did a lot of research on the molding and casting process including talking to some the best casters in the garage kit business. I got a lot of helpful info and so I bought some materials and started casting away. The response has been overwhelming and so here we are hoping to continue to serve the modeling community the best that we know how. A brief note about the process, just because I am asked this all the time. First it takes a LOT of cash because the masters are laser cut then a silicone mold is made from that master using only the finest silicone available. After the molds are made we begin casting each base by hand checking for imperfections all along the way. Once again only the finest resins are used because you can tell the difference and like I said, Quality matters most to me. Okay so enough of the corporate junk, lets talk Macross. I am new to this genré of model building but I do have some Gundam and Patlabor kits in my personal collection. I don't have any kind of background info on what's hot and what's not and that is what we base our designs on. I have read through this thread and it seems as though there are a few base designs you guys are interested in and I am sure that we can accomodate you. If anyone would be so kind as to post some picts or links to picts of the logos that you would like to see for the bases I will have my team work on them right away. The "kite" logo is a given but it seems as though there are more designs that would make a cool base. I really like the suggestion by wm cheng about the clear base but unfortunately the clear resins are VERY expensive and it is very difficult to get ALL of the air bubbles out before the resin hardens. We could certainly do this but be warned the price will be more than double that of our regular product line. The idea that the surface be level is one that we have dealt with on our Gundam bases. We realise that most of those kits are standing on their own and need a smooth surface to keep them upright. That is why the relief is only in an outline of the logos and type. Size is another issue but if you guys can come up with a size that will work for the majority of the the available kits then we can accomodate you. Currently we have a 4", 5" and a 6.25" circular base as well as a 9"x4" oval base and a diamond shape roughly 9" across. The last two sizes are used on our super hero bases so have a look to see what I am talking about. These dimensions are for the outer edge of the base the upper surface or "face" of the base is typically .875" smaller so that the 4" base has a surface of a little more than 3" the 5" base is 4.125" on the surface and so on. Hopefully one of these sizes will work for your kits but we will make a custom size if we must, once again quality is our main goal. Well carpal tunnel is setting in and I am sure that you folks are tired of reading this long winded post so I will end it here and just say Thanx and I hope to hear from you all.