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Chronocidal

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Everything posted by Chronocidal

  1. Chronocidal
    That's a pretty awesome little kit! I might dig out my Up! printer and set it up alongside my new one, just to compare later. What really killed that print was just purely that I was trying to replicate an injection molded part with a much smaller resolution than the printer, and a lot of very tightly-packed fine details. The only reason I attempted it in the first place was because the printer had managed to spit out the tiny wing cannons on my Excalibur model flawlessly, and they're of a very similar size/diameter. The big difference is that they are just simple cylinders, with no overhangs, and the only details are vertical strips at the base. The Tie Interceptor cannon was actually small enough that entire portions of the model were ignored. I'll post a couple better pics later of my test shots for the tail and exhaust nozzles, which turned out beautifully. I managed to confuse my cutting profiles, so the tail wound up with 0.375 mm panel lines when I intended 0.3, so I may run another, but it looks really clean regardless. I think the only pseudo-complaint I have with this printer is that it seems to take a really long time to produce a print, but I also think it's mostly my own fault for printing things on the finest quality setting. In the end, I think the results have been worth the wait.
  2. Chronocidal
    Hey, they could always just paint them red.
  3. Chronocidal
    I'd probably do that if it didn't mean dealing with liquid resin, and incompatibility with styrene. The accuracy and detail is amazing, but just not workable with what I'm using the printer for, for the most part.
  4. Chronocidal
    Using brand new Qidi X-Max, I was rather shocked at how solid the reviews (and example print photos) for it were on Amazon, and decided it sounded like a better (and bigger) deal than the other enclosed printer I'd been looking at. Honestly though, while I'm a little disappointed, I can't say I'm frustrated, or even upset. You have to keep in mind that the part I was trying to replicate is a 1/72 Bandai Tie Interceptor gun. I got the CAD model built just fine, but the details are nearly microscopic. I mean, that part I pictured is only 20 mm long, and the part has details on the 0.1 mm scale. I might try a few more temperature settings, since I think I was overcooking my ABS, but I think it's probably unreasonable to ask a 0.4 mm print head to duplicate something that tiny. I've done a few quick detail prints to gauge the printer's ability to print engraved panel lines, and I've gotten down between 0.5 mm and 0.25 mm before things lose definition. The printer has otherwise worked very well, and I'm in the process of refining that Wing Commander III Excalibur print I posted a few pages back. I'm sizing it up by 50% to give me a ship about a foot long, so I'm in the process of re-working the panel lines to print around 0.3 mm deep. Going to run a test print on a small part before I get too attached to one depth though, since the process of cutting panel lines with the software I have (3D Studio Max) is anything but trivial. I should go find the old 3D printer topic and dig it back up for more discussion. I'm hoping I can get the model all detailed and printed in the next month or so though.
  5. Chronocidal
    That looks soooo much better with the crappy weathering splotches stripped. She's a beauty! I am a little surprised they molded the intake ramps closed, but I guess that just means it's meant to be flying. I'm actually sad I didn't grab more of the 1/18 fighters when they were around, I had meant to grab the F-86 and MiG-15. I did wind up getting the USAF F-104 though, and that's a beauty. For the most part, I stuck with the 1/32 releases they did, since they were just a lot easier to store and display, but they never got past WWII aircraft in that series, that I know of. Far as pilot figures are concerned, I want to say some of the more recent GI Joe figures might work for at least a body, but you'd probably want to cast/print some better helmets.
  6. Chronocidal
    At this point, I've had enough of Poe to want to see him get mashed in the ANH trash compactor. Repeatedly. He is the Marty Stu here, so much more so than Rey that they felt the need to repeatedly call out how good he was at every turn. Then he managed to dodge a planet-sized karma-bomb in TLJ when he didn't wind up dying along with all the other people his actions screwed over. The teaser looks interesting at least, but can I just point out that, for all the money Disney seems to have dumped into this mess, they still apparently can't be arsed to hire concept artists to develop any new ship that isn't a hackjob of some old MacQuarrie art or otherwise OT design? Seriously people.. for all the "merchandising" focus this franchise has, they're failing miserably at coming up with anything even remotely original or compelling. It's like they're throwing everything they have at the nostalgia angle, and hoping it masks the lack of any original substance. If we start going down the clones and Katana Fleet path though.. I'm just throwing in the towel and calling the Zahn trilogy canon. On the other hand.. (wait for it..) Part of me is wondering if they're literally doing the Luuke story, but Rey is the clone. Seriously, at this point it's like a giant mashup of the EU. I can't believe the evil Rey is actually there though, the picture's fuzzy/blurry and warped enough to look like Rey took another trip into the hall of mirrors, or it's another Dagobah cave incident. It does make a bit of sense for Rey to use a double bladed saber though, considering she originally started off with a staff.
  7. Chronocidal
    I scrolled past the sack of potatoes too fast, and thought it was something else entirely. The first impression seems more accurate.
  8. Chronocidal
    I mean, I was seriously considering Disney+ just for the ability to have stuff like Chip & Dale, Darkwing Duck, Talespin, Ducktales, and Goof Troop at my fingertips. Good new content will just be the icing on that nostalgia cake.
  9. Chronocidal
    Quite a bit, it looks like. I'm not sure if the diver-mode heels are mistransformed, since they look pulled back too far, and exposing a ton of the ankle. Still.. this is going to be my first Legioss. I told myself I'd buy one if they ever fixed the legs in fighter mode, and by golly, this one looks like it nails it.
  10. Chronocidal
    Wishful thinking? I'd love to see it too though.
  11. Chronocidal
    That's him, I'm pretty sure he's going back to the Darth Emo helm
  12. Chronocidal
    Another 3D printed project in the works, though I might have to settle for farming this model out somewhere with a higher resolution printer (or just making one from scratch). Seems my printer just isn't up to printing a 20mm long replacement part. That lump of knobbly waste is the closest my printer can come to making a Tie Interceptor cannon. On the other hand, if I scale it up about 4x, and replicate the rest of the kit, I could print myself an awesome 1/18 Tie.
  13. Chronocidal
    Amazing print! That's awesome that it came out so cleanly on the first go. Far as tall parts go, I basically try to avoid printing anything flat, because I could never get a smooth surface in that direction. Consequently, I tend to print things standing on their engines, and printing toward the nose. I always found detail engravings seem to work better on the sides of a print as well.
  14. Chronocidal
    Preview of the next release is on the back of Vol 33 I gotta keep my eye on these, and see if they put out an F-35 in US markings (preferably a C).
  15. Chronocidal
    The problems I ran into with my Tiertime printer were mostly related to the combination of the printer mechanism, and my preferred print orientation. While translating beds are by no means unique to that printer design, they're also detrimental to tall prints, because the rapid motion can cause the prints to wobble. It's just unfortunate coincidence that I was printing a lot of shapes like wings and fuselages, which tend to print best in a vertical orientation. What happened to me many times was that the bed translation caused my parts to wobble slightly, offsetting a layer or two, and leading to either a disjointed, or ultimately failed print. The offset layers would cause the print head to add extra material near the edges, which would then cause the print head to strike the model when the bed translated through what should have been empty space, and it would knock the part over. The combination of that, and some cooling-related issues led to me buying a much larger enclosed printer this year, with a roughly 12"x 10" x 12" volume, and a print head that moves in the X-Y plane, while the bed translates vertically. I've only done a couple test prints, with really good results, but I need to experiment with raft and g-code settings, because the supports were pretty hard to remove, and minorly destructive to the model.
  16. Chronocidal
    See, the insane troll logic engine in my head is just throwing out the thought that they're purposefully trashing the entirety of the Robotech continuity with a hard Time Crash that will erase everything back to the original SDF-1 crash and collapse into... wait for it... .. an official adaptation of the entire proper Macross universe. I honestly don't see any real reason why HG would actually want this... but could they have been writing in a continuity failsafe that would default to official Macross content in case the licensing ran out? Or would they actually be crazy enough to hope that they'll have access to more official Macross content in the future, and leave an off-ramp on Macek's Wild Ride to allow a canon transition? From a storyline point of view, I admit, it kind of cleans up the situation nicely... since you would be erasing the convoluted mess that Robotech has become over the years, while simultaneously declaring it to be the canon un-written history of the Macross universe. Would they actually be crazy enough to try and sell Robotech to the Macross fanbase as a time-erased prequel? And yes, I'm aware, that doesn't fix any of the other massive story discrepancies (ie the Protoculture, Zentraedi, the Masters, etc), but nothing about this idea is really coherent anyway.
  17. Chronocidal
    I'm slowly rounding out my collection of other aircraft, up to I think six of the AFC line, and will grab a few more if certain aircraft pop up. I really appreciate the lower investment level compared with the fancier 1/72 stuff, but I do like the landing gear and weapons options on the bigger scales. Yesterday my second VF-31E showed up, along with a 1/72 Hobby Master F-35C. I haven't gone too deeply into the die-cast aircraft market, but I have to say I'm impressed with this release. HM have come a long way with their molding and detail since the F-106 release I got a couple years ago. Only one quibble really, while it comes with a full optional weapons load (including a full open internal bay), they decided for some reason that the 9X pylons on the outer wings had to be cemented in place? I was able to pop the glue easily enough, and they remain completely capable of being snapped on and off, but the glue stripped the paint under the pylon mounts. Not a huge deal, since I can probably touch up the bare metal, and the pylons obviously cover it, but still just a "why?" moment.
  18. Chronocidal
    I can't speak from experience, but any liquid resin printer is going to have a lot more upkeep and maintenance involved, just because of the nature of the material. I think you're also much more limited by size, since dealing with a multi-gallon tank of liquid resin is just onerous outside of an actual industrial setting. Personally, I've always stuck with ABS, since the vast majority of my prints are intended for use in either model kits or toys, and I like sticking to materials at least mostly compatible with styrene. Those prints look really good and clean, here's hoping they don't need a lot of cleanup!
  19. Chronocidal

    Bandai DX VF-31

    Chronocidal replied to UN Spacy's topic in Toys

    At the speed they seem to run, I half expect it's the only shipping they actually use. Seriously though, if they're paying absolute minimal shipping on their stock orders, it might be why they're so late to the gates at release time.
  20. Chronocidal
    I have to ask why you're "spoiling" things that were discussed here literally months ago.
  21. Chronocidal
    It does, though not perfect, and the gorilla hands are actually even bigger. I did actually look at how much modification it would take to permanently attach a smaller set of hands, but the transformation is just different enough to not leave room where the DX has it.
  22. Chronocidal
    I just got the VF-31 Cat yesterday, Black Lions one is on the way soon, so I'm up to four F-14s, an A-6, and F-4, all classic Navy. I'd love to see them expand into some older designs too, and would happily snap up any A-4s, A-7s, F-8s, even going back to the F4D, F11F, Banshee, Panther, Cougar, or pretty much anything else you could find on a carrier in the 50s-80s. A Vigilante would be a must buy. One thing I am curious about though.. has anyone managed to pop the phoenix mounts off the underside of an F-14? I always preferred look of a clean underside, but I think think every version of these has those belly pylons glued on.
  23. Chronocidal
    Aha, I recognize that printer! I got a good pile of prints out of mine, but the bed translation did a number on a lot of my taller items, causing a lot of wobble and disjointed layers. Do you use the included software? I've considered picking up Simplify3D, since I read it can do wonders with raft construction to make it easier to remove. Model is looking great, I love seeing how designers break down their models into sets of parts for assembly.
  24. Chronocidal
    Transform your DX enough, and you can have this for free, as all the gold tampos flake off over time.
  25. Chronocidal
    Actually, I think the biggest thing for me about this new version is that I'm suddenly feeling much less worried about keeping my original Ivanov in brand-new condition, and seriously considering customizing it. I need to go hunt down all those splinter scheme pics.
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