Valkyrie

I'd be in for a set of missiles

Alright, we seem to have a clear winner, so I'm going to call this thing. 1/1000 it is! And I have to say, I'm pretty happy with that result After some research and experimenting, it's looking like most of the laser cut pieces will be acrylic. I've gotten some very good results etching lines in the stuff. They're a tiny bit wider than I can scribe by hand, but a hell of a lot cleaner! I'm going to be working on the CAD drawings for the next few days, but I can't wait to start cutting out parts and building up the basic shape of the ship! The goal is to have this thing ready for sale in 6 months. Wish me luck!

Looks like it's just the two ships announced so far. And the big shocker is that they're by Finemolds!

Alright, first build update! Sort of, anyway. So, on the way home from Wonderfest, I met up with some family in Indiana, and to make a long story short, my cousin ended up giving me his laser engraving machine! It's kind of a beast, and the work area isn't quite as big as I'd like, but it's looking like this thing is going to be extremely useful! It'll let me do a lot more of the project in-house, instead of spending money and calling in favors to get some parts of it done. After spending the night jumping through a lot of hoops getting everything set up, and the CAD files imported into the machine's software, I finally have a test piece to show off. So I give you, the deck plate (at an arbitrary scale of 4.5"), laser etched at low power onto a piece of scrap MDF board. I've also tried etching onto lexan (with decent results) and styrene (with horrible results). So I'm going to have to figure out what the ideal material for the job will be.

The Oberth is in the TV 'universe', though. I'm building the movie-type ARMD. So that's less of an issue to me. Oh, and it's a poll now! Sweet! Thanks to whichever mod made it happen

It only just now occurred to me that I really should have made this a poll for the 3 scales that I'm considering... Would a mod be able to edit the thread to make it a poll?

Whichever scale I end up going with, I want to try to include some 3D printed Valkyries and launch arms to include with it, that can be placed on the launch bays

Yea, that is a factor. I have a 5 gallon pressure pot, so I can cast some fairly large stuff, but I'm not sure if I could do a 1/1000 version with the equipment I have now. I'm sure the other two would be no problem tho.

Being at Wonderfest this weekend has gotten a lot of gears turning in my head. For the past few years, pretty much all of my modeling time has been taken up casting, and I haven't gotten anything creative finished in ages. But now, I'm determined to change all that. So I've decided to resurrect an old project that I never really got off the ground. A large scale movie-type ARMD-01. I know how I'm going to do most of it (including getting a little help on etching the deck), and now I'm going to get off my ass and make it happen. The only thing I'm not sure of is the scale. I know I want it to me at least 12" long, but I'm not sure how big will be too big (and too expensive). I was thinking either 1/1000 or 1/1400 (both 'real' scales), which would put it at 17.7" and 12.6" respectively. But I was also thing of splitting the difference at 1/1200, which would be 14.7". But I'm not sure that's a generally accepted scale. So I pose the question to you, fellow modelers. Which scale/size would you prefer, both in terms of size and price? I can only guess what the end cost would be, but I'd estimate a 12" kit would end up costing around $100. And obviously, a bigger kit would be more expensive.

Just got mine! It's pretty sweet!

Anyone else going to Wonderfest in Loisville, KY this weekend?

Very cool! Can't wait to get my hands on one!

The HLJ page has been updated with a few pics. Not sure if the profile views are new, but it's the first I've seen of them. And the Japanese text says it comes with a pilot figure!

That is ridiculously awesome! And this from a guy who owns four (rather expensive) VF-11 resin kits in 1/72!

Yep, it had me drooling too, back in the day. That's why I wasn't about to pass it up, now that it's finally happening! It's expensive, but I'd be kicking myself in the ass for years if I let it pass me by! It's looking good, John! Can't wait to see more!

Can't wait to see this at WF! Hope I'll be able to afford one!

Yep! I'll probably do the basic clean-up on the parts as I get them, but hold off on assembly until I have them all. Looking forward to getting the instructions. I'm still not sure how some of the parts are supposed to go together!

Wish I did... My one attempt at metal casting was a horrible failure. I still have no idea what I was doing wrong :/

I finally got around to finishing the prequel Gaiden stories just recently. But it's been a good 3 years since I watched the main series. So I'm in! Also, I picked up the LoGH manga series when I was in Japan last month. So it should be interesting to try and see how it matches up with the anime. It's much shorter than the anime (11 volumes), and the ship designs are very different...

My wallet is gonna hate me... but I'm in.

Crap... I was really hoping I'd be able to buy this one while I'm in Japan

Well, I know I'm going to be relying on my iPhone a lot, so I'm trying to get it set up so I'm as self-sufficient as possible without a data connection. So I've got a few offline dictionaries, bookmarks in google maps of sites I want to visit, and I even figured out how to pre-load city maps into the google maps app, so it doesn't have to download them on demand, like it normally does. But of course, all that does nothing to let me communicate with the outside world...

Nah, sports aren't really my thing. Maybe a sumo match would be interesting though. I'll have to look into that. I've got a tour of the Hobbylink Japan facility lined up, so I'm looking forward to that. I was hoping I'd be able to get a job interview there too, but they're not hiring And one thing I've been curious about... Does anyone know how readily available public wi-fi is in Japan? I'm going to be relying on my iPhone a lot to communicate (Skype, email, etc), and I'm hoping that's not going to take either a lot of searching, or waiting to get back to the hotel.

So close... I'll be there november 10-11

It's almost my turn, at last! In just under a month, I'll be on vacation in Japan for two weeks. The first week, I'll be touring the country a bit. From Tokyo to Osaka to Fukuoka, to Kyoto (and I'm hoping to squeeze in a stop in Nagano too.) The second week is all Tokyo. Suffice to say, I can't wait But, I've been looking for stuff that'll be happening while I'm there, and I'm not finding much of anything that interests me... I'm thinking along the lines of shows, concerts, movies, etc. Would any of our resident Japan-dwellers have any suggestions? And if anyone wants to hang out and get some drinks or something, by all means, hit me up! And not to worry, I have hotels booked, so there will be no begging for crash space