tetsujin

It's back on "Early Bird" and they've got a Product Page now.

Really? Are you saying the metric folks are the heathens? In case it wasn't clear, I was talking about "Non-metric" heathens, not non-"metric heathens"... I love me some metric system, though trying to use it in the US gets awkward. This thing's 25% longer than a foot. I felt like an extra 25% was worth being specific about.

The Hobby Search listing says "full length 390mm" That's 15.3 inches for all us non-metric heathens.

So over at Hobbyfanatics, KOG posted this... This is the first I've heard of this - and at present I can't really verify the news either... I would have thought this is where any such news would appear first... Anyway, it's exciting news, if it's true...

Yeah, the "Old Kits" contest is one I really would've liked to see do well. Unfortunately we only got two entries. (Would have had three if I'd gotten mine finished...) We can't repeat contest themes too frequently anyway - but when a contest is called off for lack of entries it's even harder to justify scheduling that contest again...

That is a thing of beauty...

Ugh, I'm so dumb! I forgot the very first relevant piece of information that you have to include when promoting a website. Well, at least I got a good laugh out of my mistake. Mecha Model Comp

Anyone who has recently tried to: - register a new user account on MMC or - retrieve a lost password for an existing user account on MMC has most likely failed. I hadn't been aware of this until today, but apparently our outgoing e-mail configuration was broken, and the site has been unable to send e-mail to any outside domain. I believe this has been fixed now - so if you had difficulty logging into the site, it might be worth your time to try again. Also, if you have any problems, please don't hesitate to contact me, either here or via the "HELP" page on the site.

I dunno - if you mean as a way to enter a VF-1 or something I think that's kind of pushing it. I guess I'd put it this way: consider Votoms. The Scopedog is what, eight million years old at this point? But if someone wanted to enter one in the contest that would be OK, if it were somehow specifically a Scopedog from Pailsen Files. (That could be as simple as just saying "it's a Scopedog from Pailsen files" but ideally I'd hope there'd at least be some effort to make it look like a scopedog from Pailsen Files...) So using the same logic you could enter a VF-1 (or whatever) if it's somehow identified as being from All That Valkyrie or Frontier or whatever... Like do the 25th anniversary scheme or mount it on top of a school building... Things like that aren't exactly in the spirit of the contest (which is to focus on relatively new stuff) but it's allowed within the rules.

Nice work. I did one of these myself, last year. It was a pretty fun build. Yours turned out pretty nicely.

Hi, we're hosting another MMC contest which I think Macross modelers might be interested in: This month (March, 2009) we're having the "Recent Anime" contest. Entries can be models of any subject from an anime that was in production within the last 5 years. For Macross modelers this means, for instance, Macross Frontier and Macross Zero. (Mac Zero episodes were still coming out in 2004...) The deadline for entry is the end of the month. Entries must be models you built and painted yourself, completed any time within the last 12 months.

It looks like the Five Star Stories Contest didn't pan out - we did have one entry but that was all. It's unfortunate, but it's a busy time of the year. Thanks to everybody who made an effort to participate. This month's event is the annual MMC Open - entries may be models of any anime or mecha subject... For those not familiar with our rules, here are a few things to bear in mind: The model must be a fully-painted work, completed by the entrant within the last 12 months It cannot be something that was entered into MMC previously, unless the event it was entered into was canceled, as with the Votoms and FSS events which were canceled due to lack of entries. Entries must include at least three good-quality photos, including front, side, and rear views of the subject. Photo-editing is mostly limited to level correction and similar effects applied uniformly to the whole image. If you want to watermark your images, we ask that the mark does not occlude any part of the model itself. The deadline for entry is the end of December, 2008. Your entry (including uploaded photos) must be on the site by then. We're not picky about time zones or anything, so you do have a bit of leeway there. So, basically, anybody can enter just about anything they've made in the last year. It's an all-genre free-for-all. Let's see who comes out on top... If you have any questions about the rules or how to submit an entry, please let me know. Other upcoming events: Gundam 00 The Old Kits Contest The Recent Anime Contest

<shrug> I figured the missiles fired from the bottom and fed down from the top...

1:144 Queadluun Rau I initially tried to finish this for the MMC Female Contest back in February, but by late night on the last day of the month the farthest I'd gotten was the basic paint job, so I decided I didn't want to enter the model in the contest given that it was basically unfinished. More recently, I finished it up - adding decals and a simple wooden base for a flight pose. I'm really happy with how it turned out: it really shows that Imai had their heads screwed on properly when they were designing their original Macross kit line...

Frankly, this is no different than when Star Trek modelers wind up with crooked nacelles on their Federation starship models - all it really means is that the kit is a kit, and you need to align things sometimes. I wouldn't worry about it. You know, I've been thinking about this "New UN Spacy" thing - didn't the opening of Macross 7 (like episode 1-10) actually specifically say that at the end of the war the "new" UN was formed in the alliance with the Zentradi? As in "shin" tougou seifu... Could it be that it's the same UN Spacy that existed for the previous 48 years, and they just changed the name?

Can do! For a while I made a habit of scanning decal sheets of various kits - just so happens I made a 1200 DPI scan of the decals from my 15th anniversary re-issue of the Nousjadeul Ger kit. Hopefully this is what you're after... (Looks like there was some debris on the scanner - sorry! )

Hi everybody: this month at the MMC we're hosting an event open to any mecha you can think of: the only thing is whatever you build, it has to be blue. We're willing to be flexible in terms of what we'll allow as "blue" - if you have any questions about whether something is OK you can feel free to ask us... Deadline for entry is the end of this month: September 30, 2008. So show us what you got! Other upcoming events: October: VOTOMS November: Five Star Stories December: MMC Open Macross modelers may be interested in the September and December events particularly... These two events are open to all mecha - so show those Gundam modelers that the world doesn't revolve around Gundam!

I think the inclusion of the indefinite article in that sentence makes it pretty clear that "perfect transformation" does not also apply to "VF-0"...

Black, I'm sure. At this stage it's to be expected that some of the preview shots will be molded in the wrong color. Bandai being Bandai I'm sure the final kit will be in proper colors - and this kit is going to include decals and stickers that will probably handle most of the detail coloring as well...

Paint? On a model? De Culchaaaa!

Huh? I never thought of them as being particularly cheap... 4000 yen for a Scopedog with nothing but a rifle? 5000 yen for MG Zeta v2? 7000 yen for the MG Hi-Nu? I would like to see the final product, though - I have my doubts about Bandai but now that they're making Macross kits I'd like to see how they turn out.

There's no need to compromise: when I build I can do a half-ass job and still miss my deadline!

Queadluun Rau Post I was working on this project for the MMC Female Mecha Contest - I got quite far on it but unfortunately it just wasn't enough to meet the deadline. At this point I have all the basic colors done (except the red dome on top of the head - I forgot about that) - but I didn't even get as far as putting the first gloss coat on it, let alone applying decals, washes, etc. Closest I've yet come to meeting an MMC deadline with a new project, so I guess that counts for something.

Here's hoping I don't botch it. The Rau project is the latest in a series of failed attempts by me to meet my own model contest deadlines... It's going pretty well so far but it seems something always goes majorly wrong at the painting and finishing stage...

I've got a Queadluun Rau on the bench right now, taking its first coats of paint... I got the kit a few years ago (as part of one of my early Yahoo! Japan binges) and did some test-fitting back then - fast forward to this February, when I put it together in earnest... Anyway, I was thinking about what to do with the "missiles open" parts - whether to paint 'em up and use 'em or not, and I discovered I only had one... I thought I must have lost the other one, looked around a bit, and then finally checked the instructions - the damn kit only comes with one "missile open" part! As if any machine in Macross would ever fire only half its missiles at any one time! Personally, I felt that both the figure and the suit interior were total junk. I'm sure somebody could do something nice with all that space in terms of detailing it - if you're not going to go all out, though, it's better to just seal it up... Makes the kit easier to deal with during the painting stages, too, 'cause you have fewer assemblies to deal with and you don't have to hinge everything together right away...