Amped

If you don't like harsh 'black' panel lines, you could apply Tamiya Smoke transluescent paint with a fine brush. It makes for a nice dark grey wash. Plus, you can simply clean up any excess with a Q-tip & rubbing alcohol (although I'd test a small spot of the alpha to make sure the alcohol doesn't attack any of the stock paint job). I'm gonna try that with my Alpha since I gotta fix those few factory flaws anyhow...

Now that I cooled down somewhat, I've decided I'm just gonna buff out the defects & color match 'em to the base paint job. It's a flat finish tho, so it might take some experimenting to get it just right. It's one thing for me - an experienced modeler - to try this, but for consumers that don't have that skill... they're left holdin' an egg. I appreciate Kevin's offer to exchange it, but I don't wanna put him through the hassle... I'm still gonna let Toynami have an earful tho. Kev is awesome. I feel sorry for him and other retailers that are havin' to deal w/ less-than-pleased customers over this product Again, she looks purdy, but its obvious they coulda saved themselves a lot of hassles by making it a slightly larger scale. Everythings a bit too small and delicate. All the gimmicks, while neat, are kinda scary and overly delicate at this small oa scale. I would've definitly prefered it to be bigger and all plastic, as the diecast is basically useless. If anything it makes it kinda scary to handle and prone to paint flaking (already an issue). I can't bring myself to try to transform it at the moment. The paint issue still has me a little P-O'd. Oh well, the sticker assortment is impressive. BTW, mine is #03274

Thanks Kevin! I PM'd ya! You definitly deserve the awesome sales rep you've earned here on MacrossWorld! But to Toynami: SHAME ON YOU TOYNAMI FOR HAVING QUALITY INDEPENDENT RETAILERS PICK UP YOUR MESS!!!

Dude... read the post on the previous page...

MOTHERF*CK!!! What SH*T. Graham, you can mark me down as the first person to notice obvious quality defects before I even opend the F'n box!!! First off, thanks to Kevin for the fast & well-packed shipping. Now, if Toynami spent less $$$ on uselessly overdone packaging and more on hiring decent quality control folks, they might've had something here, as the sculpt looks nice. However, I can't comment on playability or poseability, cause I never even broke the seal! I felt like Ralphie in A Christmas Story... as soon as I opened the flap, I was like 'OH FUUUUUUUUUUUDGe...' Only I most assuredly did not say FUDGE. It was obvious that the paint was NOT EVEN F'N DRY before they packaged the piece of MasterCRAP because the paint on the flaps at either side of the cockpit was STUCK to the inside of the clear cover!!! I've circled the defects in the attached pic. It wasn't easy to get a halfway readable photo beacuse of the reflections, but you get the idea. How do you like that crap? I take it Kevin doesn't do returns? I guess I'll haveta email Toynami customer service. 1st Toynami toy = LAST Toynami toy I don't want a replacement from those turkeys... I want a refund.

OMG!!! For once I AGREE with Keith!!!

Wow, nice Minmay. I'm generally not into anime figure models, but he did a nice job... tarted her up just so. Lookin' at his other stuff, I'm amazed at the likenesses he achieved at such a small scale... I mean the Carrie Ann Moss & Natilie Portman likenesses are neat-o... but kinda freaky-deaky in their accuracy. It's like: 'I shall call you 'mini-Natalie'...

Well, that sounds nice & all, but face it: there's money to be had. It's more like 'devotion to his pocketbook'. Are Harlequin romance novels good? Probably not very. Do they sell? Yes they do, and how!!! The same reasoning applies to the Star Wars franchise.

Man, what a fun business this must be! Some of the designs are actually pretty nice... http://www.adangio.com/

What, was he like the Racer X of the team? Dude, there's obscure and then there's obscure, but that is just plain esoteric. I tip my hat to you, sir. Holy f*ck. I think I remember that comic back when I was camping as a kid! Esoteric doesn't begin to describe how obscure that reference was...

Gads... all this crap is really making me anticipate the arrival of my Alpha with more than a little dread!!! I think the main problem with Toyanmi is that they either rush things (because they set themselves up with unrealistic timelines, thereby risking fanboy wrath if delayed) or they can't spec materials to save their lives & have sh*t for quality control (therby risking fanboy wrath for producing a product of inferior quality). As a professional designer, I know how important spec'ing the right materials are toward making a well engineered & easily manufactured product that 'WOW's the customer. In my current capacity as a quality control auditor at my facility, I know how sh*t quality can instantly destroy any custmor goodwill you may have spent years trying to build up. Sounds like Toynami needs somebody that takes quality control seriously.

Niiiiiice. For when a .50 cal just won't hack it... The XM-109 25mm (!!!) Sniper Rifle http://www.strategypage.com/gallery/articl...s_200481522.asp I especially like the fact that they note recoil is a problem. No sh*t.

Da-ymn she looks good with markings!!!

Sorry man, I too forget that text can't deliver the nuances of delivery very well! I guess I'm just shocked that folks have had such polarized (& rather harsh) views of this film & that we've all yapped so much about it. It must truly be a slow time in geekdom... Honestly, I felt it could've been far worse. Maybe I had set my expectations too low. Whatever. I just didn't think it was good enough... or bad enough.. to merit this much discussion. Go figure. So anyhow sorry if it seemed if my hackles were raised, I must just have nothing better to do at the moment.

Damn you Jenius!!!!

OK... custom stickers'd be alright... but what I wanna know is this: Is someone gonna make custom waterslide decals?!?

Truly... rabid fan-boys have the ability to say the dumbest sh*t. Only in the realm of Geekdom would someone find it acceptable to equate a completely forgettable summer movie shclock with a devastating disease like AIDS. 'WAAAAAA... Paul WS Anderson raped my geek-behind. WAAAAAA... Now I feel like a warm dork-eclair!!! WAAAAA!!!' I can't believe this film has generated this much discussion!!! I can hardly remember it & I only saw it last Saturday!!!

Well, I'm awaiting my Alpha... it should arrive from Kevin next Wednsday. I have to say I'm a tad nervous as to the quality, but I'm willing to suspend judgement until I inspect mine. Mind you... I will be the biggest b*stard screamin' for Toynami's downfall if it's suck-o. Toynami hasn't impressed me with there mostly cheap-o goods so far, so they have some impressin' to do! Well, I thought the Macross MPCs were fugly & overpiced, so I avoided those like the plague... even heavily discounted. The Alpha is definitly overpriced, IMO (by at least 20 - 30 bucks), but I have to admit I was beguiled by it's appearance and the positive appraisals from MW Con. I never did convince my mom to get me a Gakken back in the day... and haven't been willing to pay top dollar for one now.. so I figure this is my best chance to snag a decent rendition of the Alpha (without having to build any of my kits, that is). So I'll be waiting with my fingers crossed! The only thing I have to add to the quality discussions is that Yamato never impressed me with their quality control either. My Mac Plus valks were pretty toit, but my Hikaru 1/60 was absolute sh*t when it came to paint quality; there was fuzz and bleed everywhere. That cheap-a** white plastic didn't do much to impress me either... and my Low Viz, while the best rendition of the VF-1 I've ever seen, had some crap paint quality too: the weathering was goofy & spotty... and I was not impressed by the big ol' fingerprint on the tail I discovered... dunno if the person that assembled it figured that he/she'd impress their 'mark' on it or what but I thought that was pretty crap-ola quality control for such a pricey figure. Basically, I think high-quality anything is hard to come by outta Chinese factories. Made in Japan they aint!!!

WOOOAH!!! FLASHBACK!!! I totally forgot about the old War of the Worlds TV series!!! It was actually pretty cool, IIRC... Crazy lil' three-fingered muthas that'd melt into goo...

A relatively simple way to re-make rivits is to use just a tiny dollop of of viscous (or 'thick', as opposed to runny) glue or epoxy where you need a rivit... try squirting some out... then using a tooth pick... get some on the tip... then make your dot/ rivit. Let it dry and... TA-DA: insta-rivit! It requires a steady hand, but it's simple & effective. Actually Elmer's White Glue is pretty damn effective & has just the right consistancy. Likewise, you could take a piece of glass (not plastic or acrylic/ plexi-glass, real glass... like a broken mirror or the like) and make a series of glue/ epoxy dots. This allows you some leway to practice making a series of 'rivits' to get just the right size you need. When they cure, you should be able to pop 'em off the glass pretty easily & cleanly with a razor blade. Then you have a series of rivits to glue on individually (use only a very, very small amount of adhesive, as you don't want leakage of glue to get outta hand). Tweezers help in handling. Pretty simple & effective... especially for larger scale models. As always, practice makes perfect! Now, if ya wanna make 'inny' style rivit markings as opposed to 'bumps'... a simple pointed scribing tool/ awl or small drill bit (again, practice on another piece & make sure you are working in the correct scale) is pretty effective. IMO, professional dental tools and scrapers are the absolute best for re-scribing fine details such as panel lines. Check out medical supply catalogs or ask your dentist where he gets his supply... you may even luck out & get a free sample tool!

Good Lord Cap'n!!! That is some bad-a** detailin' you've got goin' on with that booster!!! Great work!!! Hmmm, wild... That screen cap really surprised me... I had no recollection that the boosters where white. I always envisioned them in that Soviet-era green, for some reason...

That article pretty much summed up my earlier point: AvP was made for (casual) fans of the game. Let's hope the (probable) sequal is a whole lot better & more intense. BTW, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the DVD comes out in an optional R or Unrated version with extras. While I wouldn't purchase a DVD of the theatrical version (one viewing was enuff... like any high-calorie morsel, too much'd make ya sick!) I might even consider a version w/ extra footage & goodies if it's well done enuff. Take that Max!!!

What's the world comin' to when mods lose it?!? I thought you were made of better moderator-stuff, but... maaaaaaaan, you talkin' crazy!

I cannot believe you spent that much time venting about how crappy AvP was yet you shrug off the criticisms of fanboys in the Star Wars threads!!! Have you even seen Alien 3 or 4??? Total & unadultrated SH*T!!! Unbelievable!!! And they let you mod these boards?!?