In the last post I talked about how I recently had a board fabricated that I’d designed… The purpose of this board is to make it very easy for me to install a microcontroller inside a model, even in very tight spaces… The general parameters of the design (specifically, the size) were dictated by my […]

When I got started on my recent Armored Core project I decided I not only wanted it lit, I wanted to light the head and all the thrusters… Not only did I want ’em lit, I wanted to be able to control the brightness, too. And not only control the brightness, but control them via […]

I’ve been pushing to have the Hakuheisen ready in time for Granitecon – due to various circumstances that didn’t quite work out. First I had to give up on the idea of having a display base ready to go with the kit, then I had to put off completion of the leg wiring, then I […]

I have a day left before Granitecon and still lots to do to get this project ready… The good news is that the basic painting is done. There’s touch-ups and paint chipping and washes and weathering to be done, but all the basic colors are on, and where they should be.

There have been a few delays, but I’m finally making real progress on the Hakuheisen again. Recently I painted a metallic basecoat on the parts as well as a couple layers of Future gloss. Now I’m getting started on painting the final colors on the parts. This project will feature a lot of “paint chipping” […]

I had been trying to finish this up for Otakon in mid-July but that didn’t work out… When I first resumed work on the project there was more that needed to be done than I had thought: the planned wiring was unfinished, some parts hadn’t been sanded or even glued, and so on. In the […]

I’ve finally gotten back to work on my Armored Core “Hakuheisen”, hoping to finish it for Otakon. I think this is basically a reasonable goal at this point: most of the parts are paint-ready, the only hold-up is wiring for the LEDs that are being installed. I’m not going to have the microcontroller board or […]

So this is the project I wanted to have done for the MMC Blue contest last month and the Armored Core group build this month. Unfortunately there’s no way I can meet the build deadline at this point: I spent too much time working on Granitecon projects this month and last. Anyway, the project is […]

I’ve been doing more work on this project, hollowing out shallow-molded details like the open end of the grenade launcher barrel and starting the long road of assembly and cleanup work needed to get this thing ready to paint. Right now I’ve started with the weapons: the GAST rifle, the grenade launcher, the missile interceptors, […]

I decided early on that I wanted this kit to have LED lights, and so I’ve added some to the head already and am planning to add some to the thrusters. (The tough part of adding LEDs to the thrusters is that the thrusters are too shallow… So I had to hollow them out a […]