From My Childhood With Love

Do your remember the kickstarter I backed in May 2013? A year past the anticipated arrival, John got his box!

It happily coincided with a day I was in the neighborhood. I dropped by to "help" him open it.

Last Saturday, John came by and we started to work on some of his new models. John was kind enough to leave me some sprues since my box had not arrived.

I sent him this picture on Tuesday.

If the man was going to give me the sprues I figured I should do something with them! In my youth when income was disposable and time was abundant, pewter models used to have an agent coating them you had to 'wash' off before priming. I don't know if that's true for the ABS plastic the Robotech models are made of, but a quick rinse didn't hurt anything.

The new models aren't the most beginner friendly. John and I both weren't overly fond of the flight stands. We prefer the acrylic see through kind like x-wing has. John asked me to take a picture to see how thick they were so he could maybe find a replacement.

The flight stand is probably the biggest piece in the kit. Some of these things are tiny. There were some weird decisions where I don't know why they would split a piece if there's no way to change poses, but nothing gets everything right the first go around.

Still, fairly complicated builds.

Not that I had the instructions. John left those behind! I'm not huge into modeling, but I do like puzzles.

Tuesday I had a work from home day. I figured I'd spend some time in between grading and planning assembling.

I was pretty productive - modelwise.

I did get work work done, but I spent longer on the models than I expected. There was something cathartic about a quiet house and the ability to zone in on something creative.

The planes were by far the easiest to assemble. None of the models were designed to be easy to mod, but I played a little with the tail fins to see what I liked.

The battleloids were by far the most annoying. On the left, you have Lt. Quarterback and on the right Corporal Hands-Were-Hacked-Because-Nothing-Fit-Right. They'll be fine for tabletop quality and a joke or two.

Guardian mode was medium difficulty. If I could redo the one on the left I'd move the gun stock inside the arm. As is, that one can be the designated first casualty.

I enjoy the building more than the painting. If snow days are abundant, I may have it all done by spring, but I wouldn't count on it.

I'm almost out of all the models John gave me. I hope my shipment arrives soon. I want to sell one of the boxes to try and turn a small profit (and pay off some of the money I spent). Then I want to open the other one and build some more! 

If I have the time. 

Wrestling season starts next week, I bet I'm going to be pretty busy, and 'toys' come pretty late in my list of priorities. They do look pretty neat, though...