Mechmaster

I think the thick 5" base would be ideal for inflight models, not too big but heavy enough to be stable. The larger base definitely looks better, thinner. As you say though the 6" is pushing it a bit for the larger kits, going oval would be a good idea as the shape would suit a gear down aircraft and you could maybe go to 4" by 8" with it. (I don't have any 1/72 aircraft built, would 4" be wide enough for the rear gear? Anyone?) I'm not too sure about the greebly idea, such bases are not too difficult for an individual to fabricate, perhaps it would be best if you concentrate on the logo style bases, these would probably have more appeal to a greater number of potential customers. Certainly as a modeler myself I would be keen to buy logo bases but anything else I would be inclined to build myself. I would suggest a thick 5" 'flying base' with the Macross kite logo, a thin 6" round base with kite logo and a thin 8" oval base.

The postman just delivered mine. Fantastic! Incredible detail, all those panel lines, just superb. This kit is on a par with the very best professionally made resin kits in my collection and a damn sight better than some of the stuff I've bought in the past. Many thanks Honneamise. And if anyone is thinking of getting one the unclaimed models Honneamise mentions in the above post but can't make up their minds, I would recommend going for it, you won't be disappointed.

I have a couple of cels from the second series of Magical Princess Minky Momo with backgrounds and one from Iczer 3 without background but generally I spend so much on model kits and DVDs that I don't have much cash left for other things like cels.

Probably something to do with this "life" thing they were talking about. Sounds kind of complicated, I think I'll give it a miss.

I never liked the variable kits either, a compromise in all modes, didn't look good in any. Sizewise the Imai/Bandai kit is virtually the same size as the Arii battroids, I just measured mine and it is near enough 6 inches to the top of the fast packs.

Life? I think I heard of that. Is there still going to be a poster (the original aim of this thread) or has everyone just drifted off into other things? Like life perhaps?

There seem to be at least four more titles in this series. I Googled "masters of the future" and found quite a few references to online DVD shops, all German which ties in with the German sub-title on the image you posted but according to at least two of the sites I looked at 'produktion' was in the USA in 1999

Its the Bandai 1/100 plastic kit but he has modified it a little, in his own words (translation by excite.co.jp) :- I have this kit myself and it is definitely a lot better than the Arii 1/100s even without the detail-up work. Here is a shot of mine, un-modified apart from replacement hands.

Payment sent.

Wow! I feel strangely hungry just looking at that picture of all the kits. Checking back through the thread though, I see the issue of bases is still up in the air. If it comes down to it I have a spare base from an Arii 1/100 VF1 fighter kit and some brass rod which would do the job, but I was wondering if there was anything else in the works. Will Cobywan be producing a base or should we maybe wait and see what happens with themodelbase.com in Grayson72's thread on that subject?

http://www.spaceelevator.com/ http://www.liftport.com/ http://www.elevator2010.org/site/index.html http://www.isr.us/Spaceelevatorconference/

They would do better to put their money into the space elevator project, get that up and running and there would no longer be any need for people to ride what is essentialy a barely controlled bomb. As for the attitude that if it hasn't caused fatalities it doesn't need fixing, I think that is universal. Where I work none of the forklift trucks had driver safety cages until a few years ago when one of our drivers was crushed to death beneath a stack of timber that collapsed when he tried to move it. Now they all have safety cages and drivers have to observe a "safe stacking" code, compared to the cost of overcomiong some of NASA's problems the cost of fixing this safety flaw was negligible, however it still needed someone to die before anything was done. Lets just hope that the shuttle returns safely and that future missions (if any) go well.

The back of the case says "English dual language" but having seen your post I just checked and although the onscreen display says that both audio tracks are English they are actually Japanese and there is no option to turn off the subtitles. Mind you, the back of the case also says that there are 72 episodes while there are in fact only 52.

I picked up the complete series in a 6 disc set just a fortnight ago on ebay, this looks to be the same set - http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...eName=WDVW&rd=1 Its says Region 1 but the set I got (from a different seller) is all region, English and Japanese audio and English subtitles.

Please put me down for one, thanks.

1 Only a movie, the link posted by Black Valkyrie gives a little more detail of why this is so. 2 Probably the same reason why computers/televsions/music centres have dramatically decreased in size over the last few decades, they learned how to make them smaller. 3 F91 takes place 50 years after the original UC series. Since Mobile Suits are pretty much taken for granted in UC123 most people probably don't take that much interest in older models, how many tanks/aircraft from WWI can the average person name? 4 No, but there were some manga appearances and those kits are really just an excuse to part modelers from their money anyway, the original MSV kits didn't appear in the MS Gundam anime but people bought them and Bandai got richer.

Most good model shops should have MicroSol, what it does is to soften the film of the decal so if you apply it to an irregular surface, one with panel lines or raised detail for instance, the film will follow the surface better. Obviously if you apply decals to a smooth flat surface you will not really need the MicroSol. Here is how I do it... 1 Give the finished model 1 or 2 coats of Future to seal the paint and provide a smooth surface for the decals to stick to. Make sure you give the paint plenty of time to dry first, especially with enamels or oil based paints, a week or 2 if you can be that patient. Make sure you only use Future floor polish made by SC Johnson as other kinds of floor polish/wax probably will not be suitable. Future may be sold under another name in countries other than the USA, in the UK it is called Klear. 2 Apply the decals, use MicroSol if needed. 3 Apply another 1 or 2 coats of Future to seal the decals. Polish the kit with Tamiya rubbing compound/polish to blend the edges of the decals into the surface. 4 Apply a final coat of dulcote or Future to give the surface an appropriate finish, matt, satin or gloss depending on the model. You can use any form of clear finish for that final coat, what I do is to add some Tamiya flat base to Future so it dries to a flat/matt finish. Be careful if you do that though because too much flat base will turn the finish white, test it on a piece of scrap material first to see how it dries before putting it on your model.

I think its a damn good start. Do you have any other work you can show us?

The Gundam Typhoon model is one of a number I created for some friends doing a Gundam Wing fanfic. For this picture I deconstructed my original CG model, breaking the parts down in a manner suited to a real kit. I used actual kits from Bandai's 1/144 Gundam Wing range as reference for the sprue layout and also modeled the particular polycap sprue supplied with that range of models. I flattened out one of the box trays and scanned it to get the card texture for the box as well as scanning a few bits of the box lid for the barcode and text. The original models were posed and rendered for the box-art, including cel-shaded renders for the images of other kits in the 'series' on the side of the box lid. I even produced bump-maps in katakana for the labelling on the sprues but I didn't go so far as to add numbers to the part identification tabs beside each piece... maybe next time

Mine certainly isn't, I'm thinking of running the belt-sander over it to clean it up a bit. I agree the texture on the bench really does need improving, this pic is one I did when I last upgraded my CG app, my first experiment with radiosity and I didn't put much effort into the bench texture, I have an old wooden tabletop which I am planning to photograph for a new texture. I also think the boxes need a bit more work, I do have quite a few in my collection which look as new as those but I really do feel that something a little more worn and dented would add to the realism. I think we spot CG more readilly because we work with it ourselves, I don't think the average person would spot it so easilly (then again I tend to think that the average man in the street couldn't find their own ass with both hands and explicit written instructions so perhaps I am underestimating the ability of Joe Average) certainly one friend to whom I showed this picture needed a little convinvcing before he would believe that it was fake. Can you imagine the response if I had produced a picture like that with, say, a 1/48 resin destroid or a 1/24 VF1 and posted it in the Model Kits section, I bet it would have got a few bites at least. Rod... heres a photo of my workbench,the original is 4048x3040, if you think you can use it let me know.

Since we are talking about faking up CG models to look like real kits, how about this?

Black with lots of little lights? I can't say that the camo scheme appeals to me Rod but it certainly serves to break up the pod's outline quite well, in the correct enviroment it would be very effective.

Why have I only just found this thread? Awesome work Chrono. The model is gorgeous and the cannon firing looks great.

Thanks Hellohikaru, I guess I missed that thread, it pretty much confirms what I thought. I had certainly noticed the difference in design styles between the first five humanoid robot kits and the later four. My own searches on Google had turned up both the Run Valam models in that other thread and the 3D art that Honneamise found was actually mine, my first rendition of the Dha Gards done back in 2002.

Back in the mid '80s I discovered Macross and anime in general as a result of my local model shop stocking the Imai/Arii kits, among the Macross kits were a number of other Imai kits from a range titled Megaro Zamac. I aquired a few more Zamac kits in the years that followed and as far as I am aware the 9 that I have are the entire range. While I have learned quite a bit about Macross in the 2 decades since I bought those first kits, my knowledge of Zamac has not increased at all. To the best of my knowledge there was no anime or manga series associated with the range. There is some Japanese text on the sides of the boxes which looks as though it might be explanatory but it is beyond my ability to read it. I did spot katakana saying Artmic in the copyright info on the assembly instructions. I think that they were perhaps a 'mechsploitation' range produced to cash in on the popularity of giant robot kits at that time. Google searches turned up a couple of web-pages with photos of the kits built by other people but no information on the background to the models. Does anyone know anything more about Megaro Zamac? Is there a background story? Two or three years ago I built a CG model of the 4 legged ATAT clone from the range and recently I have been working on CG models of the 3 legged walker and the Zamac itself and would appreciate anything anyone can tell me relating to Megaro Zamac.