Update

Found my blog again after I lost my password. So yeah, should be posting more now. With the financial world in crisis, I guess man's progress to space will slowdown somewhat...

Real life powered suit...

Back in 1959, Robert A Heinlein published a book called Starship Troopers. Altough the book covers ideology and politics in the futuristic world where humans are at war with alien races, it also introduced the idea of powered armour. This was one of the first science fiction novels to reference something known as powered armour or powered suit which is a mechanized suit of armour that augments the wearers movement and amplifies it; giving the wearer super human strength. Starship Troopers, the novel, was an inspiration to countless science fiction writers, comics, anime, game designers, and movie makers. Of course, the movie adaptation of the book totally destroyed the essence of the story and never did potray powered armour at all.

Now, 40 years later, Professor Sankai of the University of Tsukuba, Japan, has built a wearable powered suit called HAL (Hybrid Assistive Limb). In its fifth prototype, HAL-5, Professor Sankai has added upper body limbs.

HAL-5 is ready to be used and the inventor can be contacted for discussions.

Real life can be stranger then fiction, Professor Sankai has setup a company called Cyberdyne Inc. to continue his work in cybernetics.

Professor Sankai created the HAL powered suit as a walking aid to help those with walking or muscle disorder and does not plan to create a military version. In fact, he has turned down several offers for funding to research the HAL for miltary use.

There are many applications that a powered suit can prove useful - search and rescue in hazardous environment, construction, exploration, law enforcement, and of course military. With the introduction of HAL-5, I believe it won't be long before we see powered suits being used in various aspects of our daily lives.

World's First Spaceport

Back in 1968, Stanley Kubrick produced Space 2001: A Space Odyssey. While the story was quite philosophical, it brought a vision to the world of how we would be in the year 2001. Huge space stations orbiting Earth, commercial flights, moon base, etc.

So here we are in the year 2006 and space is no longer in vogue. The International Space Station is slowly being built but with no completion date in sight. The moon has not been visited since 1972.

Nevertheless, in Singapore, the world's first spaceport is being built. Announced in February 2006, it will offer suborbital spaceflight, astronaut training and a education centre. It will be a combination of commercial, research, entertainment and tourist that drives this spaceport.

Who knows, 10 years from now you might be able to hitch a ride to a space station en route to the moon. Remember to visit the toilet while you are still on Earth or you'll have to use a zero gravity toilet as seen in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Dr Floyd : Baffled by the instructions of using a Zero Gravity Toilet: http://www.underview.com/2001/funbits/zerog.html

Official Spaceport Singapore website:
http://spaceportsingapore.com/

Civilians For Gundam (Use Preiser)

I've always wanted to add some human figures to my Gundam models. The mobile suits are, after all, machines driven by humans. HG/UC models are in the 1/144 scale and models of humans are hard to come by in that scale. After searching for a while, I found out that Preiser makes a wide range of model figures for train models as well as for architectural models. As such they provide a wide range of figures in various scale.

The closest is the N scale which is 1/160. So a 1.8 m tall guy would be 11.25mm tall in 1/160. The same guy would be 12.5mm tall in 1/144. From a distance, 1mm isn't really that noticeable. So I decided to buy myself a pack of Preiser N Scale Passengers and Passsers-By.


Here is the front of the box showing what it contains. On the box it states a total of 125 unpainted miniature figures in 1/160 scale. The box gives a general view of the different poses you get. Including some sunbathing women and men in business suits.


The back of the box shows a sene in the country with some people doing their own civilian thing. I can just imagine a Zaku II landing in their mist.


Inside the box there were 6 sprues containing the figures and 2 containing 4 park benches.


A closeup of some of the figures. You can see some flash that needs to be cleaned up. Also notice the detail at that scale. I measured a few figures and they hover around 11mm tall.


Size comparison between a 1/144 scale RX-78-2 Gundam and the N (1/160) scale figures. They are just about right.

I'll be incorporating of of these figures in the future. They look great and add a sense of scale to the Gundam models.

Bandai HG 1/144 RX-78-2 Gundam

Kit box

This is the old HG kit from Bandai of the Prototype RX-78-2 Gundam in the 1/144 scale. This one is done by Kunio Ohgawara. Its one of Bandai's old HG kits and uses an internal "skeleton" of ball and socket joints. It does not have the familiar PCB joints in the later HGUC series. Very limited poseability. The head only turns left to right and there is no movement up or down. But the completed kit does have the look of Gundam. As you can see from the box art, it still refers to U.N.T. Spacy instead of EFSF, which is the standard for later Gundam references.


Kit Instruction Manual

The manual is quite detailed. But the color pictures of the Gundam does not match with the actual model kit. I suspect it belongs to a 1/100 scale model instead.

Custom Decals
The kit comes with a rudimentary set of stickers. I decided to try making some decals for this kit using Avery Inkjet Printable Tattoo. These are actually tattoos to be applied to skin or plastic. I figured it should work for model kits too. The result? Not too promising. On dark surface there seems to be some sort of whitish color. This turns out to be the ahesive used by the tattoo. On white or lightsurface it works fine. Mixed feelings on this. Will try more to see if it works.

I did this as a quick build. Just cut and glue. No paint except black Pilot Twin Markers and Gundam markers for the panel lines.


RX-78 Gundam on my washing machine..... Markings are a mix of kit stickers and my self designed "tattoo" decals. As you can see the underside of the shield is horrible. No details at all.

Scene from Side 7 colony.

Amuro piloted the RX-78-2 Gundam prototype inside the colony when the EFSF White Base mobile suit carrier was attempting to pick up the prototype mobile suites. The prototypes came under attack from a pair of Zeon MS-06 Zaku IIs on recon.


RX-78-2 Gundam

The decals seen in this shot are all done by the "tattoo" decals. As you can see in this shot, they reflect light at certain angles. On the white shoulders, they appear fine.


RX-78-2 Gundam spots a Zaku II...

... and fires its Beam Rifle.

Conclusion
A fine kit nonetheless but quite far from the latest HGUC series. The look of the Anime series is there but its age shows in the techniques used to produce this kit. Very limited poseability. If possible, buy the newer HGUC kits.

Zeon (Jion) forces attacking an unknown EFSF base

Zeon (Jion) forces attacking an unknown EFSF base.

Bandai's MSIA MS-05 Zaku I and MSM-03 Gogg terrorising a Earth Federation Space Force (EFSF) military airbase.

I like the Gogg model. The long flexible articulated arms offer lots of poseability. Each claw "finger" is moveable except the thumb. Surprisingly, the head itself is molded seperately and allows limited movement side by side.

The overturned aircraft is a F-18 Hornet in the old Hesagawas "Coin" series. The vehicle held in the Gogg's hands is an armoured APC from the Aliens movie that came with some candy. The blurred vehicle on the left is an APC from 08th MS Team that came with my MSIA RX-79(G) Ez-8 Gundam. Aircraft hanger in the background is made from paper and its about the right scale. You can download it over here: http://www.tomtom-net.de/resources/cardmodel/hangar/hangar_f.htm

Random battle

Gundam Astray random battle...

Bandai's 1/100 MG 1/100 Gundam Astray Red Frame VS 1/100 Launcher Strike Gundam.

The Astray Red Frame is very poseable and offers great play value. The Katana is molded with chrome plating and is a very nice addition to the kit. It actually fits into the scabbard. A very good kit. The kit is molded in color and can be left unpainted as in this case.

Gundam MSZ-006 C1 Z plus

Gundam MSZ-006 C1 Z Plus Variable Mobile Suit and Wave Rider System (VMsΔWrs)

Bandai's 1/100 MG MSZ-006C1 Zeta Plus C1 Type. No paint applied. Just stock decals and stickers.