Chronocidal

How fast are we talking for these really big prints? I'm working on some printed cockpit components for an F-14 simulator pit for flying in DCS, and there are lots of models around to print the major instrument clusters. I've got a nice big enclosed Qidi X-Max with about a cubic foot of volume, so I'm not hurting for space, but the speed things tend to print at can get pretty long. I imagine it's related to the layer heights, but this piece I just printed (half of a flap lever box) took about 10 hours. The long side is about 9 inches, and I used a 0.1mm layer height on it. The main thing I learned to avoid is the type of printer with a translating bed. I know many of them rely on that, and my first printer had one, but it also destroyed a ton of my prints by shaking them back and forth until they broke loose. The one I have now has a head that moves in X and Y, with a bed that only moves up and down, and it's helped keep my taller prints nice and solid.

HLJ finally did wind up charging me early in the morning after I posted. Glad I waited, and didn't put in another order elsewhere, since the exchange rate worked in my favor. Wound up getting it for about $91

They are TWE items, so they do tend to take orders for longer. Even then though, I don't expect these are going to receive any incredible demand. Max at least has a few good scenes in his 1A (and one would HOPE this will spurn demand for a TV Q-Rau), but Kakizaki is something only completionists are going to care about, even with the included Hikaru stand.

I don't know if I ever would have personally made the investment to attend anything like that, but the thought of being able to have a meal/performance in any of the iconic locations in the movies sounds fantastic. Just to name a couple.. the celebration banquet on Yavin after the movie, the "dinner" Vader hosted for Han and Leia on Bespin, an Ewok barbeque, heck, even that goofy opera Anakin and Palpatine attended. There's just such an overflowing amount of potential bursting out of every seam for things like this, it makes it all the more baffling that they couldn't come up with something successful.

There we go, grabbed one of each, and I think I'm good. Thanks for the link!

Eh. I only put an order in at HLJ when I saw they were around, but I'm just going to sit and wait on it. I won't be too broken up if I don't get one more Hikaru 1J.

I don't think molds deteriorating can fully account for the nonsense I've seen in the past couple of releases I got. We're talking mis-drilled pinholes, and cockeyed assemblies that leave valks barely able to transform correctly. The molds aren't getting any younger, but I think there's a pretty severe shortage of skilled labor, across many industries.

This might be the most reasonable thing Bandai has ever done. Good way to sell Kakizaki too. Will definitely grab at least one of each from the usual vendors, once they pop. Maybe two. We'll have to see.

I'd love a bundle of Max and Kakizaki, but I'm up to my eyebrows in Hikaru 1Js, so I'd rather they just sell those two and include his stand. Makes too much sense for Bandai to do it, but I can dream.

Oh, so now they're finally getting around to Max and Kakizaki? I might try and grab one or two of these, depending on how insane they are to get, but I'm already overloaded for Hikaru 1Js. I'd really rather just have more DX versions.

Yeah, that would have been a nice thing to get. Unfortunately they have a nasty habit of completely flubbing those GWP exclusives. I'm not terribly upset about it personally, but they either need to get someone more competent at estimating demand and production quantities, or stop making those GWP sets exclusive in the first place.

To be fair, I don't think most of the Robotech writers or fanbase do either.

Ok, the fact that they were able to actually make something at that level before any toy exists is impressive. Maybe the transformation sequence was detailed more in some publication?

Frankly, if they're serious about down-scaling the Yamato and Arcadia designs to HMR, I would much rather have those than these parts-swappers. They aren't bad little projects, but if Bandai is capable of shrinking the 1/60 Fire Valk to HMR scale, that makes the compromises in the YF-19 kit just that much more disappointing. I'll still be curious how this turns out, and happily build a couple, but my expectations aren't too high.

Will happily buy a couple of these. Maybe I'll have the YF-19 I ordered by the time it comes out.

So I popped open the new X-Wing today after it got delivered yesterday.. and eh, it has some very good things going for it, but I will never understand their stupid obsession with using elastic-powered mechanisms for the wings, when they have perfectly good ratcheting mechanisms that would work much better in pretty much every way. Will be redesigning the wings from scratch probably, and hopefully getting them to sit against each other instead of the brick-thick gap between them. I'm actually thinking this might look better with a full 3-plate thickness for the wings, which would allow for a much fancier panel arrangement to get the details on the inner surface. Apart from the derpy wing mechanism and chonky nosecone though, the design has a lot going for it. Proportions look better overall than my first impression, and the angled plate construction on the fuselage is a huge step up from previous brick-built designs. I think what would actually really help it is to beef up the fuselage. The engines actually look close to the right size for the length of the ship, but the fuselage looks too short (as in top-to-bottom height), probably from the lack of tapering toward the nosecone. Making the whole thing taller might really help. Now.. one other thing I am looking at is the overall proportions, in terms of ratios between components, and there are a few obvious things that need fixing. I don't have much trouble using the Bandai 1/48 X-Wing kit as a baseline, since I don't think anyone else has managed such an accurate model, short of sourcing the actual model parts that were kitbashed into the original filming models. The Bandai kit's engines and guns are nice round measurements, which makes it easy. The intakes are 3/4", the rear nozzles are 1/2", and the fronts of the gun barrels are 3/8", so with a 6-stud intake, the rear engine sections should be 4 studs, and the fronts of the guns should be 3 (though the main gun body is slightly smaller). I think as long as the very fronts of the guns are 3-studs wide, the rest of the gun can be 2 with some greeblies on the side to bulk them up. By that same measure though.. yeah, R2 should be 3 studs wide.

I really want to see that one released, I'll probably grab two. I don't think I've ever seen a transforming kit of that, and it looks just about as good as the Bandai toy.

New UCS X-Wing arrived today, but I got home too late to open it up. Will probably give it a once-over later this week, and start brainstorming how to improve it.

Any idea of whether the kit comes with the original wings and tails as well? Don't think I would use the fish for anything, and they just ruin the clean lines of the Kairos.

Eh.. not bad, but glad I'm not worried about this one. Too many other things coming. Really do wish they had painted the missiles though.

I remember your breakage too, but I think that was a very different case. If I'm remembering correctly, yours sheared off at the actual hip splay pivot, which is absolutely a joint that takes direct stress when posing the legs. The entire leg is supported by that one shaft. This one isn't even a part that moves, it's just the screw holding the thigh together, and you can see where other supporting pegs were sheared off.

Back in ye good old days before digital distribution, it was very possible to miss boxed releases if you weren't quick, or knew where to get them. Most of the time it wasn't an issue, but there was always the potential for under-the-radar releases to get shuffled to the back of the bin and forgotten, until production ended early due to lack of interest, only for the prices to skyrocket on ebay when people discovered how good they were. The Win95 upgraded box set of the original Wing Commander games is my primary reference for that, and until people started circulating ISOs on abandonware sites, that game was commonly one of the most expensive in existence. On the other end of that spectrum though, you can also have a game become unobtainable just from sucking, and then become a hot item when it gets fixed up. I experienced this firsthand with Final Fantasy XIV. Someone in my gaming group saw that the game was free to play due its flop status, and we decided to give it a shot.. only to find out that it was so hated, it had been pulled from the shelves of every US store. The only way to get a license was through a UK shop selling digital copies.. and in hindsight, it was a really good way to get a Legacy account for about $10, but it has caused numerous account management issues for my friends (who still all play it), because SE straight up lied to the game's community, and reneged on their promise to allow region transfers (probably due to ESRB/PEGI shenanigans there). We still to this day have to use the UK account site, pay our subscriptions in GBP, and cannot participate in promotional deals from other regions.

Put in an order for two, but sheesh, release in October feels really far off.

Honestly, I have the earlier release of the Falcon, and I can't even say it's that bad. Not as accurate as a kit, but it's roughly the same size as the Bandai 1/144, and a really good swooshable toy. I wouldn't pay full price, but Amazon has it for $25, and I bit at that price. I will absolutely grab at least two or three copies of that shuttle though. Cannot wait for that one. Any release dates mentioned?

Appreciate the photos, thanks! Yeah, that's a strange place for it to just shear off.