Chronocidal
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Everything posted by Chronocidal
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What I had to do was trim down the blocky tabs on the boosters and make them square again, give them hard edges. Mine looked like they'd been melted.
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That was the Yamato one, I believe. The Bandai problem was that the process for actually attaching the leg fast packs was multi-step, and you kind of had to slip the pieces in during transformation, or the legs didn't fit right. Also, the booster packs on the wings had a very common issue where the locking tabs got mis-molded, and had to be reshaped before they would keep the packs locked on.
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Those are covers for an invisible screw that you can't actually access after assembly is complete. I think they go inside one of the large hinges in the main central hull. Also, there's no real reason to screw on the bridge, the fit is plenty tight to just press it into place.
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Yuuuuuup. Though, the whole foot is actually too thick. It looks mostly fine in battroid, but the center of the foot is too high, and it throws the whole thing off. Also, those are older photos, from before Bandai went and photoshopped the correct colors on the lower leg fins.
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Honestly, the only really sturdy points of contact for the F-14 that I like are either mounted inside the sparrow alley down the center of the belly, or inside the exhausts. Provided the fin recesses are deep enough, you could even make a stand that replaces the missiles themselves.
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The most recent releases come with a different type of stand like the ones shown in promo photos of the Robotech-branded releases. They're a common type of F-14 stand (I think I've seen them referred to as "Witty Wings" stands?) but I'm also hesitant to use those because of how they support the plane. They clip around the back portion of the speedbrake area, which on most 1/72 diecast F-14s should be fine, but the Calibre releases have that section made of plastic to allow for the opening speedbrakes. I'm not a fan of supporting the entire plane that way for long periods, so I've mostly just stuck to displaying mine on the landing gear.
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I think the wing glove pylons need a bit of work to fit snugly. The tab and slot don't quite match up, so I actually coated the tab on my pylon with glue, then sanded it down to fit better. This was one of the earlier releases from Calibre, and the more recent ones have fit better.
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Kind of, but that one was open longer, and people wound up getting cancelled after orders went through, so maybe some sites are being more cautious about how many they offer to begin with.
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Yeah, I actually had HLJ on two screens, refreshing alternative search terms. By the time I completed the order in one, the other screen showed order stop.
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Got a confirmation email with HLJ, so looks like it went through, but I'm not counting on it after that quick a sale. If I do wind up getting it, I might sell my original Messer here, and make a set of shapeways brackets to use, possibly modified to keep the underwing hardpoints intact, since it looks like the Bandai design just keeps them occupied.
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I'm wondering if this one got heavy demand from scalpers who intend to resell it to people who missed the first release.
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Cracks knuckles. Looks like I'll have to dust off the 3D printer and make some brackets.
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I'm not too concerned about finding out HLJ can't fill my order, but wow that was insanely quick. Maybe they're setting their pre-order quotas lower after the YF-19 cancellations?
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Up on HLJ now for those interested! Edit: Holy cow...it's gone. HLJ just hit order stop after I got my order in.. it lasted all of a minute or two.
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The bracket basically locks into the underside hardpoint on the outer wing section, wraps around the wing and provides a different hardpoint on top of the wing, and then braces the outer portion against the underside of the inner section of the wing so it won't fold all the way down. I have a sneaking suspicion it won't actually prevent the wings from folding up straight, but the drones will collide with the tails unless you fold them inward.
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All Things Videogame Related: EXTREME VS!!
Chronocidal replied to Keith's topic in Anime or Science Fiction
It's not so much the likeness as the lack of details in this case, and the dissimilar levels of detail between assorted aircraft. Even if they're trying to take creative liberties with the aircraft, I can't imagine they intend to leave the solid metal tailpipes on the Hornet, they look like they're taken off of a static display aircraft. :lol: The rest of the aircraft all appear to have animated exhaust nozzles. The licensing will definitely be a thing, but on the flip side of that issue, getting the licenses didn't seem to have any effect on the quality of models used in the first HAWX game.. those assets were just rotten and amateurish on multiple levels. -
All Things Videogame Related: EXTREME VS!!
Chronocidal replied to Keith's topic in Anime or Science Fiction
Looks like a good start, though that Superhornet model looks like a very rough placeholder. I think my biggest concern is that they decided to offer a demo before that particular plane is presentable. The rest of the models look much more finished, but I wonder how they hold up on close inspection. -
Honestly, I could care less about a PF GBP... I want a PF Super Hikaru 1J, or TV-style Super VF-1S. This Sv-51 seems like it's so far at the bottom of their to-do list, I'm not expecting anything yet.
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So, this actually makes me glad I only bought a single Messer the first time around, while I've picked up two of each other release.. I might go for it. Also glad I picked up two sets of drones. Honestly though, I'm more interested in the idea of overloading the 31 with missiles covering the wings, since I think the drakens mount on standard hardpoints.
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So, I've got two rather niggling annoyances with this kit, but it's otherwise really fun to put together. First.. why are the engine nacelles tilted so far off horizontal? I know they made the design's anhedral a bit shallower, but they just look offline. Has anyone tried to level them out by adjusting the mounting points? Second, I really wish they hadn't made the conformal missiles as halves, and had gone the full indent route. Not necessarily because I want to make a version that's unloaded, but because there are places I can see underneath them. The details around the intakes, and certain panel lines make it fairly obvious that there's not a complete missile there.
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Same, I was minorly disappointed that it wasn't the 31A order, but still happy to see progress on this one.
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The VF-31 armor packs are like someone spent an entire day looking at the VF-25 armor, and browsing for "more dakka" memes, thinking, "What else can we glue on this thing?" It's ridiculous, and completely excessive, but I think that's what makes me want it. My favorite parts are the heavyarms-style gatling cannons, and the missile launchers they mounted on the.. other missile launchers.
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It's also far easier to capture the shape of Slave I's hull when you use the correct orientation of slopes.. the UCS version's construction of the lower hull is just a disaster of misused pieces. It would have been incredibly easy to stack slopes and panels in a more shapely manner than what they used. Similarly, the Y-Wing is great, and really beautiful.. if you ignore the cockpit. It's misshapen, undersized, and just badly proportioned compared with the rest of the ship. You know there's a problem because both the tip of the nose and the cockpit are the same width as the smaller minifigure scaled Y-Wing set (which actually looks in proportion for the size). The nose really needs to be at least a stud or two wider, and the cockpit needs a re-design from the ground up, especially the flattened fairing under the nose that could have easily been built from a multitude of other sloped elements. It's really the same issue with Slave I.. the designers seem obsessed with using giant sloped panels to do the job quickly, instead of properly shaping and contouring a model using smaller elements that will look better. I've got a business trip coming up, maybe I'll see about reworking the nose as something to pass the time at the hotel.
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CD Japan started offering proxy service for certain items now, which I didn't know about until this whole issue started up.
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Frankly, the only reason I've used them in the past couple of years was to acquire exclusives. Now that other shops are carrying those, I've got less of a reason to bother with them. On the plus side, I won't have to be concerned about their freaking half-screen porn figure ads popping up on my account page.