Post by banzai on Oct 26, 2014 3:38:29 GMT 8
Okay. I know I thought I'd be taking a break from resin after the last FSS build but... Events have conspired to change that situation! I ordered this kit with no intention of doing it yet because, well... Just LOOK at the design! This is one of my "holy grail" kits. Something so difficult, so ridiculous that it scares the hell out of me just thinking about even planning how to work on it. Ever since I first laid eyes on it, its been one of my unattainable, unreachable goals. It blurs the line between model kit and piece of ART! Its one of those kits you look at and think, "Will my skills ever be good enough to even START building that?!"
With some coaxing from Becky, who I think is even more insane than I am, we are going to attempt this. (She's even crazier than I am, she's doing it in 1/144.) This was all born from a long conversation in chat, when my kit finally arrived in the mail. We found ourselves getting more and more enthusiastic about it until she said "Lets build it together!" So... Here we are. I should note this is a recast, because really - Who can find an original of one of these babies? I'd love to be able to work on an original but its just such a pain to find. I'm sure by now you who are not familiar with the name are wondering... Well, how hard could this be? Why all the fear? Here's a few pictures I found of the thing on the web.
Yes. Its THAT kit. Its the one that people look at and say WOW! Look at the intricate detail! Look at all those cables in the back! HOW DID THEY MAKE THAT?! I'm looking at it and I still think the sculptor (One Akira Tani) was insane. I know the designer is insane, but the guy who actually sculpted it... He had to have been a little crazy too.
First, a little background about the mech from Gearsonline, my source for all things English in FSS. The Yen Xing in FSS circles is what is know as a "Machine Messiah," a precursor to the modern Mortar Headds like the LED Mirage, Knight of Gold, Neptune ect. This bit taken directly from the GEARSONLINE description: There are several differences between mortar headd and machine messiah; machine messiah are several orders of magnitude more powerful than the typical Joker mortar headd. Also, machine messiah existed in an era before fatima were used as mortar headd co-pilots, thus they use direct neurological interface to the pilot in order to control its complicated systems. The Yen Xing is a Machine Messiah used by A.D. era Chevaliers from the Super Empire. Some of the most powerful of the A.D. era Electric Knights, Yen Xing were piloted by the Empress of Flame’s top knights. In FSS issue 22 (English), the Yen Xing are seen slicing through a fleet of warships, utterly devastating them, using only their swords. The legacy of the Yen Xing continues to the J.C. era in Joker, as the Hathuha flag mortar headd, The Empress, uses two Yen Xing engines to power it.
Yen Xing translated apparently means "Flame Star." Beautiful name for a beautiful model... I think Nagano tried to catch a little piece of fire and make it in to a mech. The sharp angles, the curved flowing lines... Like a dancing flame.
In doing so though he created one of the banes of FSS modellers. The only other FSS kit I can think of that is worse is that monstrosity the Jagd Mirage Twin Tower. Its almost as if Nagano was thinking... "Oh you think you can make model kits out of my designs eh? Think its so easy eh? Okayyy... I'll show YOU! Lets see you model THISSS!!!"
Alright, enough rambling. A quick preview of the parts before I dive in to this monster of monster kits.
Casting looks good at a glance, minimal flash to be removed, details looks erm... Sharp, if you'll pardon the pun.
Found some bad warping one some of the parts. Could probably fix that with some hot water, but handling the part, the resin is paper thin. Another design choice to frustrate modellers! Gargggh!
One of the nice things is that this kit comes with a totally sweet looking resin base for mounting (since the damn thing is in a flying pose anyway.) Lot of people tend to paint this bit black, I'm not sure what I want to do with it yet...
This. THISSSS! This is why I fear this kit! When I was taking a closer look at the kit and unpacked the cables... I had a panic attack. All the fear hit me at once when I started handling the fine cables... I started asking myself, "WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING?! YOU CAN'T DO THIS! ITS GOING TO BREAK YOU WILL BREAK IT YOU'RE CRAZY THIS IS MADNESS!"
No. This is FSS.
Confidence has been restored somewhat by time, and all the brilliant work I see posted here. I'm damn well going to try, for I absolutely fell in love with this design from the moment I laid eyes on it all those years ago! Plus I won't be alone... Someone else is indulging in the madness with me... I think I will get some second opinions on the cables. If its possible to replace some parts with actual metal cables I think I will. The resin is just too fragile, too crazy to work with. A mistake while sanding, slightly too much force and they'll definitely snap, and I'll definitely bash my head against the wall until multiple head wounds are inflicted. Must... Plan... To... Stop... PAIN!
Look at the size of that baby. Its almost as big as my damned keyboard, and I have a full sized keyboard! FSS weapons and shields always give me so much pleasure to look at. They're so ridiculously impractical. Form over function.
The sword while nicely cast, was also a little warped when it arrived as you can see on the previous picture. I've already corrected it a little with some hot water, and done a little re-scribing of the details. I could probably straighten it some more, but I want a second opinon before I do. What kind of worries me is that the weight of the resin is a little uneven, so held to on its side, it kind of bends a little. Held in the opposite direction (flipped over) it doesn't though. Strange. Just leaving a note here to remind myself of that. Planning to Alclad this baby, hope it holds up to the preparation and the polishing needed. If not, perhaps I could drill a hole through the whole length of the blade and give it a metal wire core to hold it straight... Its really thin though. Still in the early stages now so not going to worry about it.
Started rescribing some of the small flame pattern details on the shield. Lookatthat! The little chinese words are engraved in to the shield. Insane details! Insaannnnne! I think my head is exploding. I'm not sure if I'm going to attempt to re-scribe those words. Going to test by trying to flow some black enamel in them to see if they are deep enough to hold their form without re-scribing at a later date. Borrowed a secret weapon to work on this - A sanding pencil!
Re-scribing almost done, cleanup almost done for the shield, the safest part in my opinion. Trying to give myself some elbow room with the masking of the red/white separated parts so I don't get that much bleeding when I paint.
More to follow, if I can keep my nerve up building this. Truly, I don't think I've really been afraid of a kit until this point. That's the whole point though, we have to keep challenging ourselves, keep reaching for that unattainable goal! I still think of myself like this though:
With some coaxing from Becky, who I think is even more insane than I am, we are going to attempt this. (She's even crazier than I am, she's doing it in 1/144.) This was all born from a long conversation in chat, when my kit finally arrived in the mail. We found ourselves getting more and more enthusiastic about it until she said "Lets build it together!" So... Here we are. I should note this is a recast, because really - Who can find an original of one of these babies? I'd love to be able to work on an original but its just such a pain to find. I'm sure by now you who are not familiar with the name are wondering... Well, how hard could this be? Why all the fear? Here's a few pictures I found of the thing on the web.
Yes. Its THAT kit. Its the one that people look at and say WOW! Look at the intricate detail! Look at all those cables in the back! HOW DID THEY MAKE THAT?! I'm looking at it and I still think the sculptor (One Akira Tani) was insane. I know the designer is insane, but the guy who actually sculpted it... He had to have been a little crazy too.
First, a little background about the mech from Gearsonline, my source for all things English in FSS. The Yen Xing in FSS circles is what is know as a "Machine Messiah," a precursor to the modern Mortar Headds like the LED Mirage, Knight of Gold, Neptune ect. This bit taken directly from the GEARSONLINE description: There are several differences between mortar headd and machine messiah; machine messiah are several orders of magnitude more powerful than the typical Joker mortar headd. Also, machine messiah existed in an era before fatima were used as mortar headd co-pilots, thus they use direct neurological interface to the pilot in order to control its complicated systems. The Yen Xing is a Machine Messiah used by A.D. era Chevaliers from the Super Empire. Some of the most powerful of the A.D. era Electric Knights, Yen Xing were piloted by the Empress of Flame’s top knights. In FSS issue 22 (English), the Yen Xing are seen slicing through a fleet of warships, utterly devastating them, using only their swords. The legacy of the Yen Xing continues to the J.C. era in Joker, as the Hathuha flag mortar headd, The Empress, uses two Yen Xing engines to power it.
Yen Xing translated apparently means "Flame Star." Beautiful name for a beautiful model... I think Nagano tried to catch a little piece of fire and make it in to a mech. The sharp angles, the curved flowing lines... Like a dancing flame.
In doing so though he created one of the banes of FSS modellers. The only other FSS kit I can think of that is worse is that monstrosity the Jagd Mirage Twin Tower. Its almost as if Nagano was thinking... "Oh you think you can make model kits out of my designs eh? Think its so easy eh? Okayyy... I'll show YOU! Lets see you model THISSS!!!"
Alright, enough rambling. A quick preview of the parts before I dive in to this monster of monster kits.
Casting looks good at a glance, minimal flash to be removed, details looks erm... Sharp, if you'll pardon the pun.
Found some bad warping one some of the parts. Could probably fix that with some hot water, but handling the part, the resin is paper thin. Another design choice to frustrate modellers! Gargggh!
One of the nice things is that this kit comes with a totally sweet looking resin base for mounting (since the damn thing is in a flying pose anyway.) Lot of people tend to paint this bit black, I'm not sure what I want to do with it yet...
This. THISSSS! This is why I fear this kit! When I was taking a closer look at the kit and unpacked the cables... I had a panic attack. All the fear hit me at once when I started handling the fine cables... I started asking myself, "WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING?! YOU CAN'T DO THIS! ITS GOING TO BREAK YOU WILL BREAK IT YOU'RE CRAZY THIS IS MADNESS!"
No. This is FSS.
Confidence has been restored somewhat by time, and all the brilliant work I see posted here. I'm damn well going to try, for I absolutely fell in love with this design from the moment I laid eyes on it all those years ago! Plus I won't be alone... Someone else is indulging in the madness with me... I think I will get some second opinions on the cables. If its possible to replace some parts with actual metal cables I think I will. The resin is just too fragile, too crazy to work with. A mistake while sanding, slightly too much force and they'll definitely snap, and I'll definitely bash my head against the wall until multiple head wounds are inflicted. Must... Plan... To... Stop... PAIN!
Look at the size of that baby. Its almost as big as my damned keyboard, and I have a full sized keyboard! FSS weapons and shields always give me so much pleasure to look at. They're so ridiculously impractical. Form over function.
The sword while nicely cast, was also a little warped when it arrived as you can see on the previous picture. I've already corrected it a little with some hot water, and done a little re-scribing of the details. I could probably straighten it some more, but I want a second opinon before I do. What kind of worries me is that the weight of the resin is a little uneven, so held to on its side, it kind of bends a little. Held in the opposite direction (flipped over) it doesn't though. Strange. Just leaving a note here to remind myself of that. Planning to Alclad this baby, hope it holds up to the preparation and the polishing needed. If not, perhaps I could drill a hole through the whole length of the blade and give it a metal wire core to hold it straight... Its really thin though. Still in the early stages now so not going to worry about it.
Started rescribing some of the small flame pattern details on the shield. Lookatthat! The little chinese words are engraved in to the shield. Insane details! Insaannnnne! I think my head is exploding. I'm not sure if I'm going to attempt to re-scribe those words. Going to test by trying to flow some black enamel in them to see if they are deep enough to hold their form without re-scribing at a later date. Borrowed a secret weapon to work on this - A sanding pencil!
Re-scribing almost done, cleanup almost done for the shield, the safest part in my opinion. Trying to give myself some elbow room with the masking of the red/white separated parts so I don't get that much bleeding when I paint.
More to follow, if I can keep my nerve up building this. Truly, I don't think I've really been afraid of a kit until this point. That's the whole point though, we have to keep challenging ourselves, keep reaching for that unattainable goal! I still think of myself like this though: