Icarus's blog: "Hurts to watch."

*whistles*

I think I'm still a grand ahead of schedule... I've calculated my bills, my emergency spending (tire), my hobby spending, and my food spending this month.

I need to stop dropping so much on specialty foodses... but its their own damn fault for being so yummy.

Basically, my tax return paid my taxes. For some weird reason my Feb gas bill was twice my january bill

... yeah.

I even compared and contrasted how much I had consumed on the bill.
It certainly wasn't twice as much :/

Whatever, these people fuck me all the time, its actually factored into my budget.

The exciting news here is

I fucking found a scrap build supplier, a hand-drill set that will work for my riveting (among other things), sandsticks (these were a bit pricy)
and did I mention

FUCKING SCRAP BUILDING MATERIALS!?!?!

... :D

No resin yet. I keep asking my sister in law where she gets hers and she says she buys it from
of course
a hobby store that is not in topeka.

Also I found a cheap cheap cheap metal parts supplier, but I might go through mechaskunk anyway because what I save on base cost is tripled in shipping.

I even got a look at some of the conversion kits (custom sculpted parts by third parties)

uuuh

they range from $40 (more than most kits)
to $480.

That's not a typo. And most of the time it just takes an existing model and converts it into
an existing model :|
About ... a handful of custom parts, like some beveled legs, or some extra armor plates and panel lining

maybe a chest piece, maybe a visor that goes on the head

almost $500?

... no thanks.

I saw a sweet gatling gun for about $40.
That's about 8-12 small tubes which I could cut 4 in half ($2.98)
glue ($2.98 for an ounce and a half)
some sculpted putty ($2.98 per tube and I'd only need about half of one)
paint (less than a dollar an ounce)
styrene sheets (4 packs are $2.98 for 6x11's)
and... some disks to fit the tubes into

which... I haven't quite figured that one out, but if I get a fucking compass, and an exacto knife *Gasp* I have like 5-
I could probably cut a disk out of putty, feed the tubes through and let it dry...
I suddenly have a completed gatling gun for
at most
$12.
And I guarandamntee its more like $4.
It might not actually turn, I might have to recast a gunbelt from another model, it might take me a couple hours to make.

but I'm %90 sure that conversion kit doesn't come assembled, glued, or painted and most of the time you'd glue the moving parts just for stability.

they never come out fully functioning assembled and painted. I've seen the kits.
Crazy thing is I've seen an assault rifle/SMG the same scale and about 1/4th the size sell for about the same price with only... 5? parts.

Anyway, I'm planning a new direction for my Zaku I RR custom.

I know... heresy *hiss hiss*
yellow treefrog theme, stencil, and custom weapons.

I was thinking howitzer.

Thusly. But obviously not to that scale.Shield included. I'll be buying a "variety pack" of scrap tubes, and documenting what sizes work well for what type of gun.

Then buying the ever living bejesus out of pipes I'd actually use.

Large gage for missile launchers, bazookas, cannons, smalls for shotguns and SMGs, in betweeners for heavy rifles and SMG's.
I may even be able to do the anti-material 50 cal exhaust with styrene if it putties and glues properly

that's awfully small sheets of plastic configured to a specific 3D shape though...
Thing is they sell cubes of this stuff too, so maybe the answer is drill and shave.

... wonder if I should get plane files instead of sanding and using my exacto...

all told I'm probably looking at over $100 in tools and scrap in just my first order.
I'd have most of what I'd need though. Drills, cutting pad, glues, sanding, and I should probably order a few handfuls of metal tubes/springs and rivets from MS.

I'll look at it after some checks have cleared.
Really need to get off my ass with NZ and get her done. Thinking I won't this weekend. I really really don't wanna load my airbrush for such a small job, but I could just as easilly start priming another kit while I was in there.

I think its a lineart day. If I can find it.