tetsujin

I know where you're coming from, but this is different. It's not like them leaving out god-awful drivel like "Tobe! Gundam" from First Gundam, and it wouldn't be analogous to them leaving out some forgettable piece like the Gundam Wing or Gundam Seed openings. "Toki wo Koete" is damn good, and it has a strong following in the Zeta crowd. "Believing a sign of Zeta" (a line from the theme song) is a rallying cry for fans of the show, as evident in the "Operation Zeta" campaign. For them not to include it at all downright sucks. But if that's the way it's gotta be, that's the way it's gotta be. It still sucks, though. It's still worth being upset about, I'd say. Maybe the novelty of watching that opening at the start of each of the first 20-odd episodes would get old, but not anytime soon. Especially after the long-ass wait to get (legitimate) discs of the show in the first place. If you were a fan of Zeta you'd probably understand better. It's different for different shows. I'd probably skip through the openings of Gundam 0080, 0083, or Azumanga Daioh, or even the original Macross (as much as I love its opening, I've seen it so much...) pretty consistently. But Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, not so much. Zeta, not so much. They're worth listening to. The novelty does wear off, but now and again it's still worth sitting through. With my current bootleg Zeta discs, the opening is only present at the start of the disc (not on each individual episode) - as a result I find myself wishing I could easily watch the opening more frequently. I'll probably see if I can combine the opening of my bootleg Zeta discs with the episodes of my legit. Zeta discs onto DVD-R. It's good that we're not powerless in this. (Hopefully the requisite data will actually fit on a DVD-R...)

I listened to those sounds once on my CCA DVD... It was pretty nauseating to listen to the Geara Doga make that hyrdraulic/ratcheting sound... But it's only in the dub track, right? No damage. I'm pretty pissed about them dropping "Toki wo Koete" though. That song is awesome.

The one on the right is the Garland from Megazone 23. (Great series, I highly recommend it.)

The right arm is the one that gets exploded in the manga. It's also the Gold Frame's right arm that's found in Heliopolis, and the right arm of the Gold Frame that's replaced with Blitz's right arm. I like the idea of putting a Gold Frame arm on there. I think it's a neat idea. As for Impulse - no, the Force Silhouette is not very similar to the Astray flight pack at all. Really, the Astray flight pack is very similar to the M1 flight pack because it is an M1 flight pack (though modified, of course.) I'm planning to do one by taking the parts I need from the M1 kit. That'll involve hacking up the M1's torso parts (because the M1 pack is actually fused to the M1's torso) but it shouldn't be too bad. For the (horizontal) wings... personally, I'd leave 'em out. I hate them. In the OVA the Astray ejects those wings after a certain period anyway. They're reasonably similar to VF-1 wings but I can't think of a VF-1 kit that would be the right size for that. The old 1:144 Valks maybe? Or maybe the 1:170 trading kits? If you can find them...

Yeah, I think either that, or the Gundam novels. If you ignore the ending of the Gundam novels, the events of Zeta make a lot more sense. In that context the Titans don't seem at all out of place in the Federal Forces. Neither the original TV series or the Gundam movies really portrayed the Federation's Earth Elite satisfactorily. The novels also give a better presentation of the different "Newtype" ideas (Zeon's, Zabi's, Revil's) and their relation to the psychic phenomena which became associated with the term. Basically, I feel like if you see the Gundam Movies, and then Zeta, it's as though the existence of the Titans, and their overzealousness and autonomy is the only explanation for why the "good guys" of the movies (the Federation) are now the bad guys - and that leads to a different conclusion when the Titans are finally defeated, as though that fixes all the problems with the Federation. But in the context of the novels, nothing the Titans ever do seems out of character for the Federation, and their defeat at the end is more like the corrupt organization (the Federation) losing some power and beginning their decline. Rather than the "Evil Part" of the Federation being exorcised, I think it's good to recognize that the "Evil Part" still exists after Zeta, it's just weaker. This makes Char's decisions in CCA much more understandable, and Amuro's position in CCA somewhat harder to justify. But when seeing Zeta it's definitely good to at least be able to recognize the original series characters who pop up, and the events they draw upon. A lot of the series draws on the original Gundam - you can probably follow along without being familiar with the original Gundam, but really Zeta was written for people who were already fans of the first Gundam after it became a hit.

Do you have a higher resolution version of that scan? It's hard to make out the text. I love the DYRL-style controls and am interested in knowing more about what each part of the control is supposed to do. And what exactly is a "tapet"?

I think it's fair to be skeptical at this point. Every Pixar production I've ever seen has been a damn fine piece of work. Disney can't match that track record.

Well, you could always photo-etch it yourself...

"senpai" is a hard thing to translate... It's an idea that just doesn't exist in U.S. culture. I think attempts to translate the word are generally a bad idea... better to either familiarize the audience with the term and retain it, or remove the concept from the translation. It's good in a sense that they tried to stick to the original in that regard, but... One of these days I should see Robotech again. In order to properly bash it, I should be more familiar with it.

And there are even at least three versions of that (Star Trek 1, Star Trek 2, and Star Trek 3 versions...) But the 'Trek 2 version was awesome, I'm glad they stuck with it.

So which is worse: the fact that people wrote all this bickering that doesn't appeal to you, or the fact that you just read it all? I haven't seen Ep. 5 yet, so I'm a little bummed that I read this and got the minor spoilage (my fault) - but damn... I'm glad there's a Monster in Zero! I like how close it is to the original design. I love how they took the original legs and feet and made them a bit more detailed... The feet look more articulated now - the articulation in the toes was always there but now it's better represented. The claws don't bother me so much... I'm used to the "prototype is better" nonsense that's pervasive in Gundam so I don't mind that they're removed later on, either.

There are several reasons I recommend against using tube glues. Tube glues contain more fillers, and an adhesive which you don't actually need or want for bonding styrene parts. The best bond you can get is the solvent bond you get with liquid solvent glues. These fuse the parts together by chemically melting them. The fillers and adhesive in tube glue make it harder to get that good solvent bond, and they'll also break down over time. Thicker glues are also messier than liquid glues. New modelers will probably also be more tempted to apply greater quantities of tube glue than they would liquid glues - that could potentially lead to damaged parts as a result of all that solvent. I use the Testor's Model Master liquid glue applicator bottles (those black plastic containers). But avoid the Testor's version, usually in a black bottle with a red label. The glue is pretty much the same, but the applicator bottle has a nasty tendency to clog up. I bought like 10 of those for a model-making class, and most of them have clogged up to the point where I can't clear them out. Some of them clogged up quite quickly, others too a little while. Spend the extra dollar and get the Model Master applicator bottle with the metal tip.

Good stuff. I feel like the washes on certain areas (airbrake area, landing gear, etc.) are a little sloppy but overall the models look nice.

Better yet, remove the metallic plating altogether. This is actually really easy, give the parts a little bath in oven cleaner or Formula 409, and the plating will come right off. Unless, of course, you actually want a chrome plated SDF-1...

I didn't think the fighter pod had a clear canopy - I figured it was a hatch with monitors inside, like the Glaug. But if you want to build a cockpit and have the hatch be open, basing it on the Glaug design is probably the way to go.

OK, I have to nitpick... Why are the flaps hinged upwards? And would they be moved at all in space? Also, I feel like the weathering effects are overdone - and one place that should be dirty, the area of the wing which slides into the fuselage, is conspicuously clean. Panel lines seem a bit erratic, too. For instance, the line between the brown and white areas of the wing seems like it's all over the place. I'm not sure if that's a result of brown paint going where you didn't want it, or if it's just a panel line wash that covered too much area. Then there's the seam on the front edge of the wing... The fluorescent effect on the headlights is good, it makes them look bright - but the fact that they're the wrong color is a little distracting. Another choice you might want to consider for that kind of effect is reflective safety tape. Because it reflects most of the light back in the direction of the light source, it's especially good for model photography situations where you can control the placement of the lights. Anyway, it's a good effort, I hope to see more work from you in the future.

Oh, my mistake. I thought this list of models was for modelers, not collectors. Once the model is assembled there's no way of telling if it came in an Imai box or a Bandai box. I just think that Imai tooled the kit and made the decals, so even if Bandai molds and ships it, it's an Imai kit. Bandai deserves credit for making it available every five years or so, but it's not a kit they created. (And "you're" is "you are". "your" is the posessive second-person pronoun.)

About the Bandai releases: Their 1:72 lineup of Macross (re)releases is a repackaging of the old models by Imai. I think they should be treated as duplicates of the Imai versions, rather than as separate models.

Hmph, says you oh master sculptor, the whole point of using the scale up technique with Hydrospan is cuz the rest of us suck at sculpting. He's got a point, though. You could expand a mold made from a crappy 1:100 model to make a degraded and more crappy 1:72 model - or you could take measurements of the 1:100 model and make a better 1:72 model. It takes some effort to get good enough to pull it off, but the whole process of growing and re-growing a mold, losing detail and skewing surfaces on each pass seems like bad news to me.

Yeah, polycaps are another option, though I find they can be a bit difficult at this scale. I installed 3mm polycaps in the hips of one of my Destroid Tomahawks (unfinished). It was tough, there wasn't much space. You might want to check these out: 2mm rod 3mm rod 2mm polycaps 3mm polycaps 2mm and 3mm polycaps Basic metric drill bit set The matching drill, rod, and polycap sets can make polycap installation a lot easier. Particularly the rods, it saves a lot of time to have rods that are already the exact size for the polycaps. 3mm is one of the most common polycap sizes in Gundam kits. I don't think they use 2mm in Gundams so much, but they can be very handy for smaller work. Most often I anchor the polycaps and rods with either Bondo or SGT. Bondo's a lot faster, but sometimes SGT is stronger. I'm not sure if the gloss finish on the arm will be enough to protect it from the torso paint. I really don't know, though. I guess it depends on the circumstances. If you're going to paint the torso while the painted arm is permanently installed, you may just have to be really careful, or else mask the arm part. You may want to check this place out, too: when I was first collecting my Nichimos, I was able to find some here that I wasn't able to other places. (These days they mostly just have the common stuff, but it might be worth checking out if you want a Regult or something... http://shop.store.yahoo.com/akihabaratoys/nic12scalsna.html

I got my Monsters through Yahoo! Japan. I think I paid about $150 total for both of them (including shipping and proxy bidding fees). One is complete in box, the other had a few parts missing or assembled. If you want to get one, I would recommend checking E-Bay regularly - they do pop up from time to time, and sometimes they don't go for a very high price. The key is to watch for an auction that's not getting a lot of attention. Maybe somebody spelled the item name wrong, or didn't add enough extra searchable keywords to make the item really easy to find. Or maybe they just chose the wrong week to try to sell it. But choose a price (maybe $50), bid on each Monster that comes along, and don't go over your price... some Monsters will slip through your fingers, but eventually you'll snag one. If you want to try Yahoo! Japan - it's a great resource for this sort of thing, but you'll have to proxy-bid through Celga or something (most Japanese sellers won't ship outside of Japan), and you may need to be able to find the item on Yahoo! Japan - so reading kana is helpful. Babelfish may work as well. There's all kinds of model kits on there, chances are there's a Monster listed right now. Future for the washes themselves? Interesting... So does that mean there's a lot of Future in your wash mix, or a little? As for the arms on the Battroid and Gerwalk... it can be tough. On my Nichimos (Super Battroid and Regult) I made most of those parts removable by snipping off some of the plastic from the arm/head/Regult booster, which would otherwise have forced me to go with a sequential build-up like that. So I assembled the arms, assembled the chest, and then plugged the arms into the chest. It still holds a pose just fine, and the arms don't tend to fall out at all. Try to snip off just enough that you're able to plug the arm into the chest. I'll try to get some photos up tonight to show you what I mean. Alternately, the way to go might be something like this: assemble the arm, clean up the seams, then assemble the chest, clean up its seams, and then paint both. It's a little more complicated, because you have to deal with having those parts together when you paint them. You'd need to be more careful when painting, or possibly try masking off the arm parts with tape. I think it's much better, when possible, to modularize the assembly and then deal with the separate parts separately.

Here are some pros and cons to Tamiya Acrylics and Testor's Model Master Enamels, based on my experience: Tamiya acrylic: + Dries quickly + Thins and cleans up with common products (windex, alcohol) - Because it dries quickly, it may not dry to as smooth a finish - Vulnerable to chipping and scratching Testor's MM enamel: - Dries slowly - Odd behavior if you paint successive layers at the wrong time (or so I've heard) - Extremely noxious fumes + Because it dries slowly, it often dries to a smoother coat + A bit tougher than acrylics

Yay! A Monster! I don't know if it's too late for this, but you might want to scribe lines in the foot to mark the separation between the front toe and the side parts (are they toes? I'm not sure...) Macross Perfect Memory has a picture of the underside of the Monster foot which may make this a little clearer.

Well, technically it's 1:15000. A 1:200 SDF-1 would be like 20 feet tall. The Nichimo Macross is a pretty decent little kit, though. Actually I'm just nuts about the whole Nichimo line. I initially picked them up to go with my 1:200 scale Destroid Monster, but they're great little kits. Thanks for the kind words about the Strike. A lot of work went into it. Also, about gloss: you may already know this, but a great source of clear acrylic is a product called "Future" (in the US) or "Kleer" (in Europe) - it's a floor polish, but it makes a great gloss-coat for models.

True, most of my paintjobs are pretty simple. The Strike Gundam, in particular, I was a bit lazy. I'd planned to do drybrushing on it but I was going for a contest deadline, and I ran out of time. That project was mostly about the rejointed arms, anyway. The Battroid has more weathering on it, but I tried to do it in scale so it doesn't really jump out at you from a low-res photo. I want to start being a little more ambitious in my future projects: but I try not to go overboard. I think it's very important to keep weathering effects in the proper scale. The Guncannon does have shading, I think it's a nice subtle effect. I do think the visor might have been better if I'd left it gloss-coated. One of these days I may re-gloss it... but right now I'm more interested in the next big project. My Regult is, as you guessed, the Nichimo Regult. It's a pretty sweet little kit. I didn't think the seams were too bad, the main problem was that the panel lines (such as they are) didn't always line up. A lot of that I just left alone, because I didn't want to spend a lot of time on the Nichimos or use any advanced tools or techniques. (I was building them as demonstration pieces for the Mecha Modeling Workshop I organized for Anime Boston, so I didn't want to use any techniques that people would be unable to use in the workshop. I cheated just a little here and there - like using SGT to fill the screw holes (since you're familiar with the kit I'm sure you've noticed that the screw holes are conspicuously missing), and custom-printed water-slide decals on both kits. But most of the work was kept quite basic.) As for the seams themselves - after the parts were glued together with solvent glue it was just a matter of puttying and sanding. If the seam is recessed, fill it with putty. If it's raised, sand it down. If you're not sure if you're finished with the seam, wipe it clean and mark it with a Sharpie. If you can see the line, you have more work to do. It's also important to line up the parts as well as you possibly can before gluing them, even if you have to cut off the alignment pegs to do it. I spent a total of about 20 hours on the Regult - I was trying to work fast because I wanted to see if it would be feasible for people to finish their models in the time available in the class. (Clearly not!) But I used Tamiya putty - it's great stuff, check it out. As for the panel lines: I gave the model a gloss finish, then filled the lines with an acrylic wash (about 10 parts water, 1 part paint, something like that. And a tiny bit of dishsoap.) With the gloss finish, the wash can flow into the panel lines, and wipe cleanly off the surfaces where I don't want it. Gloss is important - if the model has a flat finish, the wash will get stuck wherever you put it. Then once the wash was done I re-dullcoated the model again. Even if you're going for a dirty look, the work should be precise. De-emphasize the things that indicate the object's true nature. (Seams, mainly) Get some Tamiya Putty, that stuff is excellent. Anyway, I look forward to seeing your future work. I really think that if you took care of those seams and refined the paint work a bit, there would be a significant improvement in your work. HWR's got good advice, too - if you don't get the seams perfect, at least keep the drybrushing and washes from getting in them. I believe he knows his stuff, too. Also, the wood glue casting sounds interesting... I may have to try that sometime. Another thing you may want to try for that sort of thing is Bondo polyester putty. It's pretty noxious stuff, but you can use it to make simple casts and molds (you can prevent the casting from bonding to the mold by using a layer of petroleum jelly) and it's very cheap - $10 for a big gallon can. I love those little Nichimo kits. They're so much fun. Check this thread out: http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=8583 It's mostly "clean-looking" models, so not necessarily where you would want to look for your styling cues, since you favor the weathered look, but there's some nice work with the little kits in that thread. Add some drybrushing for faded edges to some of those and I think it'd make for a pretty sweet weathered look. Check out Mervin's full-open Armored batt. I love that thing. Grayson: this isn't about gaminig mini style vs. model style, it's about precision and refinement in model work. There really is no way to ensure my critiques will be nice to hear without compromising their honesty. It's not as though I get off on cutting people down. And I certainly don't agree with "If you don't have something nice to say..." - at least not on a technical (as opposed to personal) level. If I don't say that I think sloppy work is sloppy to spare someone's feelings, the message doesn't get across. If people whose opinions I trusted hadn't told me my work was sloppy, I would have continued thinking it was very well done, and I wouldn't have improved to the extent I did. (Yes, my model work used to be worse than it is now. ) I will say this, though: I think I did sell his work short on the first pass. I'm still not liking the armored batt too much, but in addition to the fast packs I'm finding I like the browns on that super batt, too.