Jasonc

Mine should be at home when I get there at 1600. Looking forward to some vegetable curry with rice, and a glass of shochu while taking this show in.

This can be cancelled out. I found one. Looking at doing a CAD of this in a larger scale and with some mods.

I really wish they would've actually made some updates to this, like reinforcing the hinges and ball joints, and created some locking mechanisms for battroid. I'll most likely be keeping my renewal version, but I will say that I do like the matte finish. I'll probably get one from Japan, just for that exchange rate.

As the vague post says, I'm looking for the Studio Halfeye 1/100 Macross Pheyos Valkyrie. If any of you have one to sell, or know anyone willing to sell one that's not overblown in price, let me know.

On 8/22/2022 at 4:03 PM, oshanmacross said:

I got a question!
If I purchase a regular S.M.S. admission and add the 9AM early admission does that grant me early admission to the dealers room?
It states early admission to the vending hall, is the vending hall different from the dealers room?

Sorry if a silly question....

Hey, sorry if this wasn't answered. yeah, dealer's room/vending hall is the same thing.

There should be a nice surprise announcement around the corner, so I'll be excited to see that come up. Stay tuned for it.

21 hours ago, nightmareB4macross said:

JasonC, that kit looks amazing.

Can’t wait to see it finished at SDCon.

Oh man. Now I'm held to that date. This is going to be really tight squeeze.

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As promised, here is my print of the finalized set of parts. Quality of the design is top notch, as I mentioned before. There's still some sanding to do on the leading edges of the wings, where I had supports attached, but it's pretty minimal. The canopy parts came out well. They look cloudy right now because that's what happens to them after the cleaning process I use to remove excess resin prior to curing. As soon as I do the progressive sanding and then dip in Future, they become crystal clear. I'm leaving those parts on the supports for now, but will remove them prior to sanding/dipping. I'm leaving the control stick on its supports as well, just so I don't lose or damage it. Very small and delicate part. Not sure when I'll have time to actually build and paint this, but at least the printing is done!

For that back seat, you can just use another of the front seat. the back seat there is an option if you put magnets in it, the 3 x 1 mm round ones, but it not, you can just use a second front seat. Aside from that, the prints came out great. I just recently started painting other parts. It's not the easiest to paint the cockpit, the pin stripe, nose, and then the body, but I'm hoping for the best. Trying to get it done by 9/17 (Super Dimension Con).

This is just a thought, but why don't we make it to where only people who are on the Straight shooters list can sell items. At least until the issue is resolved. I know that puts a rough patch on selling items, but then again, if people want to sell items, they'll need to have sold items before, and have someone vouch for them that the transaction(s) were good. I don't buy from regulars here, and if there are no plans to do anything like that, maybe we should all only be buying from regulars here with a good strong past selling items.

On 8/14/2022 at 8:37 AM, Anasazi37 said:

Agreed. I look back on where this hobby was circa 2000 and we were lucky if someone was able to carefully handcraft parts and then successfully cast them in resin during limited production runs. If you missed out on those runs, you were out of luck. Some true artistic masters emerged during that time period, like John Moscato and Mike Salzo, whose craftsmanship continues to be exquisite. We're now living in a print-on-demand world, which brings with it new opportunities and new challenges for folks who want to build awesome-looking models in ridiculous sizes. The fact that I can print and assemble insanely detailed versions of the Aliens Drop Ship (with matching APC) and the Last Starfighter Gunstar, both at 1/35 scale, much less the SDF-2 at 1/4000 scale, boggles my mind. Struggling with how to print the clear sections on this beast is a problem I'm happy to have.

I've found that Elegoo translucent never really comes out completely clear. They've prototyped a crystal clear resin, but haven't released it yet. So I'm using Anycubic Basic Clear for now. It can yellow a tiny bit during initial cure, but if you leave the parts alone for a few days afterwards, the yellowing goes away. To make the Anycubic resin work with my Elegoo Saturn, I switched over to NFEP film in my tank (made by Siraya Tech) to reduce stickiness during lift, lowered the lift speed to 20 mm/min, set the bottom exposure to 45.0 sec, and set the regular exposure time to 4.0 sec. My goal was to minimize the possibility of creating small cavitation bubbles during lift and so far it seems to be working. Does it require all of the changes I've made? I don't know, but I'm in "if it isn't broken, don't mess with it" mode right now. I'm happy to wait a few more hours for a print job to finish if it means I only have to run it once. Below is a screenshot of my settings in Chitubox.

@Jasonc uses a different clear resin, Siraya Blu Clear V2, and he adds some blue dye to mitigate yellowing during initial cure. Blu Clear V2 is supposed to have pretty good anti-yellowing properties on its own, but I haven't been able to test that claim. I have some, but for me it's been more annoying to work with because it's a lot thicker. I'll get around to testing it at some point in the future, but for now the Anycubic resin seems to be working fine.

I do include the blue alcohol dye because I also add 10-20% Saraya Tech Tenacious. It has a clear but slightly yellow tint, which doesn't affect the blu clear v.2 too much, but I like being a bit cautious. Tenacious mix adds strength, but also flexibility, which is a property that is needed in some parts like a canopy. Those setting looks quite good. I've noticed that I have had to use a longer exposure time going from the Anycubi Mono X 4K to the Elegoo Saturn 2. I am still waiting on the Elegoo Jupiter, but I may end up biting the bullet and getting Anycubic's Photon M3 Max, which has about a 7K resolution. 

What I do like about Anycubic, is that their build plate doesn't use a ball joint to level, but 4 screws, which secures it extremely well, and doesn't require leveling all the time. I know I'm going off topic, but I will probably try these settings on the Saturn 2 to see how the canopies come out on my end using the same resin you are.

5 minutes ago, Halfstep said:

How are the hip joints?  Loosey goosey?

The one I opened seems solid, and I don't plan on opening up the second, so I am happy for now. If it gets loose, I have ways of permanently fixing it.

Got my two today. Love the matte finish.

19 hours ago, Anasazi37 said:

I'm currently printing the finalized set of parts. First will be the front and rear canopy sections in clear (multiple copies, in case I run into an issue with air bubbles), then the wings in standard grey, then everything else in standard grey. Will post pictures when done.

Can't wait to see it. I just printed two for orders, and I'm really happy with the outcome. Definitely not a beginner's kit, but seeing it put together is joy for me.

I wanna print this on the Elegoo Jupiter once it comes in. Nice and LARGE!!!

On 7/20/2022 at 10:29 AM, arbit said:

Nice. Which clear resin are you using?

I was using a mixture of Saraya Tech Blu Clear V2 and their Tenacious brand. I also used a little bit of blue alcohol dye to eliminate any possible yellowing. The clear blu v.2 is extremely tough, while the Tenacious resin adds a bit of flexibility to it. I think my ratio is about 90% blu and 10% tenacious, but even at 80/20, that works well.

On 7/20/2022 at 5:21 PM, Xigfrid said:

That’s a great price considering the work and numerous prototypes involved! 
 

I would be interested by the stl but I need to find a painter first

 

I have two tips I would like to share with you:

i didn’t see any display stand option, but I have noticed that it can save a lot of place by displaying the toys mid air on a flight stand. The most practical stand I have found is the Gundam / 1:12 figure display stands which have a plastic pin. They sell for 2-3$ each on aliexpress and can be found in any Gundam stores. And it is easy to design the hole or drill it. 
 

Buy pins! I have bought hundreds of 1mm diameter pins in different lengths: 3mm, 5mm, 6mm, 8mm, 10mm. 12mm. And never regretted it. Each time I am running short of one size I can’t imagine myself to cut the pins, sand them smooth etc. So I just buy them over and over.

I didn't put a hole in the body because of the ability to build it where parts can be interchangeable. I don't have any of those stands, so I would need to have the correct size of the hole to make for the display stands.

On 7/20/2022 at 11:13 AM, jvmacross said:

I think at one point it seemed like Macross poster collecting was dead or dying...good to see collectors still interested in Macross posters....

Well that was great for us during that slow time. It was easier getting a lot of the posters I couldn't find. I think my collecting of them has slowed quite a bit, since I haven't really had any other posters that grab me. Although, looking on this thread, it does sometimes draw me to get one I don't have here and there.

3 hours ago, Anasazi37 said:

And for what it's worth, I can attest to the high quality of @Jasonc's work. I volunteered to do some test prints of his original files and provide feedback to improve the final version. Design, fit, and finish of the parts, even at that early stage, were exceptional. I basically just had to figure out how I wanted to orient and support them for printing, which is both an art and a science. @Jasonc, if there isn't already a plan to do so, offering STL files with the supports in place as an option, based on what you've determined works well with your printer, could save folks a bunch of time and guesswork. That way all they have to do is slice and print.

Now for a little eye candy. Using the standard progressive wet sanding approach for canopies, and after a dip in Future at the end, this is what the front canopy section part looks like for me:

I can post pics of the other parts, if anyone is interested, but they're basically standard grey versions of what's already been shared in this thread.

Wow, that canopy is very clear. I should send you the updated body and canopy. I've updated it quite a bit so that the rear canopy opens much easier, and I kept the "roll bar" on the main body attached. I also adjusted the size of the rear section that attaches to the main body. I'll send it all over to you.

As for doing the supports for people, I don't want to do that only because based on what resin people use, it may not be feasible to use the supports I do. I also try to keep my supports medium, but keep .35mm (in general) tips and them 5mm long. That works for my printer, but it may not for older resin printers.

I need to do a video documenting my posters like that, but I first need about 3 or 4 more of those B2 poster galleries.

I can't wait to get my kit of this. It looks great.

That is one great looking Wonder Fest figure. I really want to look for that.

OK, with some time on my hands, I did my final testing (canopy alignment, and the ability for it to open and close) and it is successful. With that, the files are now available for purchase. Fee for the .stl file is $26 including Paypal fee, $25 with Friends/Family. If anyone wants one printed because they do not have a printer, I can print it, but due to the fact that it does take time from other projects, and there are at times print failures for various reasons, I can print it the set for $75 personal payment or $80 with Paypal fees shipped (in the continental U.S.). I will also include pins (which will need to be cut to proper size), so all you have to do is do the cleanup, paint, etc. Just message me if you're interested. I'm happy that all this finally worked out. I can't tell you how much work I put into making this work properly.

On 7/13/2022 at 8:44 PM, Bolt said:

Great job , mate ! Really love the design.

Thanks. It's still a work in progress. I have the bulk of it done now, and parts seem to fit the way I want them to. It looks like I should be putting the file up for sale very soon.

On 7/3/2022 at 6:45 AM, Xigfrid said:

Very nice! How did you do the canopies? We’re they printed?

Yes, canopies were printed. I still need to polish them more, but they are coming out pretty clear. here's a few images of my settings for printing them.

It looks great so far. Although it's not the feet I look at first, it looks promising.

Here's a couple pics of parts printed after a good number of tweaks.

Today I'll be adding the magnets to the landing gear sections

I should be seeing the Nora SV-51 in about 2 days. I am looking forward to it.