Mostly about my amusement
Today I started on the MG Gundam F91. This one is different; it’s 1/100 scale but the size of the model is tiny. Also the model has no polycaps do deal with.
According to the story line, the F91 was the result of a plan “to develop a smaller, lightweight, high-performance mobile suit.” The parts are small and hard to work with but the assembled head and torso have a lot a good detail.
Here’s a side shot. Once the model is complete I’ll put it next to a MG RX-78–2 for size comparison.
Today I went back to work after a week of vacation. It was a bit surreal; during my time off I was not tempted to check e-mail once. A whole week with the family, chasing the kids, assembling models and playing games. Ah, life was good!
Speaking of models here are the last two I finished.
The first one was a HGUC Xekueins. As HG goes it was okay. It assembled really well and looks like with a little glue on a couple of seams and it should be good to paint. The only parts that really need glue were the shoulder covers and tanks. It’s an awkward model and does not pose very well.
The other model I completed was a MG Wing Gundam ver Ka. This was a fairly recent model and was fun to assemble. It’s a bright model that shouts “No really, shoot ME down”. The decals look like death to apply and many parts on the wings need to be painted separately then glued into place.
I’ll probably paint my HGUC Bawoo first (I primed it months ago). The newer master grades usually disassemble into parts that are the same color. This appeals to me since I am not really good at painting them.
The hi-res pictures really shows off all the plastic dust and flash that I missed.
I am on vacation this week and besides
I also play PC based video games. I just picked up Just Cause and started playing. You play Rico Rodriguez and run around shooting people, stealing cars, and helping la revolucion.
Rico Rodriguez is a cousin of Max Payne; the action is right over his shoulder. So far Max Payne 2 plays better (probably just the atmosphere, Max Payne 2’s cut scenes and music really make the game), but the same point of view is maintained in the game. Rico even gets stunt moves which I have not yet figured out why. Although parachuting into a gun fight right at the beginning was very 007. It’s a fun game and so far not as hard as Max Payne.
If you have a wide screen monitor see this solution to getting the resolution to 16:10 versus 4:3. I installed the fix before I played the game so I have no before and after to compare. But the screen layout works so I am happy.
So I am talking to my soon to be 5 year old son about my latest model. It’s the MG Aile Strike Gundam.
“Be very careful that you don’t press too hard or a piece will break.” I should know; right after I had that little speech with him I adjusted the right ankle cover and neatly broke it in the middle. It actually broke with a crisp *snap* sound.
…RRR…
The web site Rainbow 10 is where I get loose pieces. Or it was. Now the page clearly says “Notice: Bandai parts order is suspended at this moment.” The break was clean and little thin Tamiya glue and the piece is fixed. On pieces that don’t have any stress that works.
Good thing I did not tell him “be careful not to drop it”.
I build plastic models, particularly I build from the Gundam animation series. The way I usually work I start and put down the model I was working on for a couple of months. Out of the bunch that I have done, I usually only paint a few.
Last week I completed the OYW 0079 version RX-78–2 model. This was followed up quickly with the HGUC Rick Dom and then the MG Aile Strike Gundam. I must be on a roll, normally I don’t complete any of them that quickly.
The RX-78–2 was the best. If Bandai would make a MG model that combines the arms of thr RX-78–2 OYW 0079 version with the legs from the version 2 of the Mark II RX-178 then that would be very cool.
The Rick Dom was fun while the MG Strike was okay but tedious. The Aile Strike Gundam has a back pack that makes it very difficult to stand the model up on the shelf. To compensate for that the model comes with a stand to pose the model. Compared to many earlier MG models the Strike was very good. Compared to the recent batch of MG models from Bandai, it was a little bit of a let down.
Next up is a HGUC Xekueins. I let the kids pick the next one I do from the pile; I got to make that one as long as I promised to do the Wing Gundam ver. Ka next.
Senator George Allen conceded to Jim Webb. The Democrats do get the Senate. The self-destruct that I was sure was going to happen did not happen at all.
I was watching Lou Dobbs and they had mentioned that the incumbent Democrats all got re-elected in the senate and the house. They did not lose ground at all, they just gained seats. Either the electorate are really unhappy or the Democrats 50-state strategy really worked. Probably a little of both (and some luck tossed in).
What will happen next? The Cheney Bush administration would go before congress and be disingenuous (I love seeing Attorney General Gonzales testify) and get a pass for everything. Even Senator Arlen Specter would not do anything but give a token protest and make empty threats.
Now that the Democrats are going to be in charge of the house and senate, are they really going to provide oversight? Forget impeachment or trying to jail the likes of Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, and gang (which would be bad unless it can be proven they actually broke a law and not just did something their opponents don’t like).
Can the Democrats actually show up and do their job?
Voting is important and if you don’t vote but can, don’t complain.
Today is election day and Lily and I voted before going to work this morning. Except for state comptroller it was a straight vote down the democratic ticket for me.
Alan Hevesi really ticked me off with his attitude, enough that I voted for the other candidate who seems qualified to do the job.
Tonight the common opinion is that the democrats will take at least the house and possibly the senate. My opinion is that the dems will with great effort and press coverage grab defeat from the jaws of victory. I think that the close races are going to get ambushed by lawyers on either side.
I’m hoping that I’m wrong but we will all see tonight.
A few weeks ago I went to a friends wedding with my little girl. Lily was sick and I had wanted to go, so taking one of the kids was the right thing to do.
The little girl had a blast. I could not keep her off the dance floor and thanks to my friends I did not even have to feed her! A good time was had by all.
Yesterday the whole family went to a cousins wedding. The church ceremony was at 11:00 and afterwards we went to a reception. Once again both kids had a blast and me and Lily had trouble keeping up with both of them. Later on we went over to their grandmother’s house and dinner at 7pm at a Chinese restaurant.
Ever see people play mahjong? I mean the people who really play on a regular basis. The girl saw her aunt and uncles playing and watched very closely. My son wanted to play and started reaching for the tiles while they were playing the game.
That could have been very bad! Lily’s aunts and uncles are great and love the kids and I am sure if the boy ruined that turn it would have been fine. But some MJ players take that game very seriously and can’t stand slow players let alone outside interference.
Later on the kids were playing with the tiles. They would set up a line of tiles and pick up a tile from the pile. They’d look at it, either keep it or make a big show of putting the tile back into the pile.
Is there such a thing as a Tiger Woods for the MJ crowd…?
We left at 10:30PM and once again a good time was had by all.
Over the weekend I purchased F.E.A.R. Extraction Point and Battlefield 2142. First person shooters, good fun for the whole family. Provided that the family is over 18; I don’t play these games with the kids around.
I’ve been playing F.E.A.R. Extraction Point since Saturday and just finished it. It’s an expansion pack and is a bit short. It does not really answer any questions about the story.
It does maintain the same atmosphere as the original game, just not the feeling of being in a horror/mystery movie. There are some points in the game that my reaction was “that’s not bad, pretty scary” but it lacks the story that drove the first game. The first F.E.A.R. game played well but had a story that made you want to get to the next part just to see what happens next. The original ending was very cool and creepy.
This follow up is okay but I can’t wait to see what Monolith does for a real sequel.
Oh, the graphic? You can’t read it but the launcher seems to be wanting to go to the URL http://whatisfear.com/us/launcher/us/html but for some reason that web page does not exist. The funny thing is that if you change the us/html to us.html the URL works.
Nice to see that Sierra really QA’ed the software.
