Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Minor Aesthetic Touch Up - LRS Kamen Rider Shin Ichigo Henshin Belt

Wanted to touch up my LRS Ichigo Belt long time ago, but was put off every time due to unexpected happenings... Today finally decided to touch up, although still tired and sick... Sigh... nevermind, shall not complain here...

Initially tried with silver pint pen.. Was ugly as paint did not really came out properly out of the pen... finally completed, then suddenly lightly scratch the surface, and the paint appears to peeled off from a silky surface... yes, that easy... Only then I remember, yes, there is this type of plastic that does not allow paint to stick to it well, like the KO Kabaya kits... sigh... In my flu drowsiness, I have forgotten... anyway, finally used some silver sticker sheet and plastered all over the 2 side "boxes". Luckily the silver paint on the jewels holders are not so often in contact by hand... The black paint on the knob and slide switch are badly done though... tried to put white detailings to the knob but did not work out well, so cover everything in black... anyway, still quite like it... not too bad if look from far... hahaha...

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Side-Tracked: Recent Haul of Such (140) - General Grevious Spinning Electronics Lightsaber

Gotten this at OG, hidden at the side of a rack of clearance of Star Wars toys... Cost $29.90 only...

Also bought a Kamen Rider DX Dengasher, at $10 only, but couldn't find where the picture is...

Edit: Retook the Dengasher, in its axe form... Gave to my little nephew today before he visit doctor today.. Then afternoon he vomited on it, so my mum spray water over the toy to clean it... Electronics was disrupted and sound became weird... and I spend some time trying to fix it.. Finally ok now... phew...

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Side-Tracked: Recent Haul of Such (139) - Kamen Rider DX Decade Henshin Belt

My parcel from eBay arrived!!! Yes! The Kamen Rider DX Decade Henshin Belt that I gotten at USD45.50, free shipping... so much affordable compared to the lowest I seen at about SGD80! Hahaha... Anyway, quite ok, noting that it is the Korean version... I tried to make some Final Attack Ride cards (Decade and Kiva), as my nephew loves to hear the "De-de-de-de-cade", "Ki-ki-ki-ki-va" etc... so downloaded some picture templates for he cards and printed out... Works! But the card is a bit flimsy, despite using double-sided tape to paste 2 pieces of 80gsm paper... Need to find good paper/cards to print...

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Minor Mod - LRS Kamen Rider Shin Ichigo Henshin Belt

The Legend Rider Series Kamen Rider Shin Ichigo Henshin Belt which I received yesterday night was good, but it lacks the "blades" which is supposed to spin when Kamen Rider Ichigo transforms. Hence I decide to add something that will make it look more accurate. The end result is not what I wanted, due to some ridges at the center-plate cover that makes my "blades" piece smaller than desired. Anyway, it still looks much better than it was...

Kamen Rider : "Hey Akuna Prime, my Henshin belt doesn't look quite right... something seems to be missing... Care to help me fix?"
Akuna Prime : "..o..k... I'll try... but might not be too good..."


Paste a big piece of masking-tape on a piece of transparent material (rigid enough). Mark out as seen on picture. Use a pen-knife to cut gently the lines that form the slender triangles and remove the slender-triangles masking-tape. Remember to use fingernails to scratch down the masking-tape edges to securely tape to the material so that when painting with black paint pen later, the paint will not seep in under the masking-tape. Paint direction should be masking-tape to material.


Peel off the remaining masking tape when paint is dried. Apply a tiny drop of superglue on the tip of the metal axle that does the spinning. Turn over the "blades" piece so that the painted side is underneath and carefully place the "blades" piece on the tip of the metal axle to join. [ Edit: Position the "blades" piece so that the painted black areas will not block the 3 LEDs. The new "blades" piece should be able to spin together when the lever is pressed.


And here is the finished product. The colour patterns are not affected when spinned. Actually it looks quite good from far...

Side-Tracked: Recent Haul of KOs and Such (138) - KOs: Safeguard (TFA), Rotorstorm, Optimal Optimus, Roadfire, Battle Tanker; FA Anakin Lightsaber, LRS Ichigo Henshin Belt

Haul from Taobao arrived!!!! Super efficient! Just paid the 2nd payment in the afternoon, and late evening called to say they are delivering! My haul also includes some Ultraman transforming devices, but will not take photos of them, as they are supposed to be for my nephew rather than me (only 1 super simplified Tiga's Spark Lens is mine, bought for fun...) Anyway, KO TFs first:

KO TFA Safeguard
They are almost the bootleg version... have not open the box, but they seem to have loose joints in the legs... anyway, cost about $11.30...


KO Rotorstorm
Yeah! A good helicopter transformer!... Sigh... missing a missile launcher... shall have to make 1 for him then... sigh... haha... Cost about $15.30...


KO Optimal Optimus
Wow, am amazed by the size of this TF... though I have anticipated this leader size KO but still quite surprised... Not sure if this will have brittle plastics, hopefully not... Cost about $35.30...


KO Roadfire
Yeah, gotten this uncommon TF/KO, happy... But the transformation is too simplistic... Anyway, rare is good already... Seller is the same as KO Rotorstorm's... Cost about $15.30...


KO Battle Tanker
Yes yes yes!!! Fianlly able to own a Battle Tanker set, regardless this is a KO! I DON'T CARE!!! HAHAHA.... Though I pray the quality will not be too bad... If something like the City Commander, then I am already happy... Cost about $35.50...

Edit: The quality... is not as good as hoped for, maybe it is just my set... but the are many parts with stress marks, some looking dangerously as if snapping off soon... and these are the small little post found around the center-rotating piece (if you know what I mean)... In fact I forget to put back 1 of the spring-ratcheting part that click-rotates the circular piece for the huge arm-cannons, but turns out to be a blessing, as now the circular piece can be done with ease... The blue tabs at the feet cannot snap properly into the OP's feet bottom, but still quite ok... Joints at the feet and back stabilizing posts are also loose... Anyway, need to tighten up some more joints in both the Battle Tanker and OP figure... Overall, not bad, not bad... Oh, I took off the face plate of the new head to paint the eyes properly, as well as scrape off some paint inside the ball socket, and fit it onto the neck ball-joint before putting the the face plate back...


Now comes the non TFs:

Force Action Anakin Lightsaber
The Clone Wars version... bought this to have a proper duel battle with my nephew using the Darth Vadar's version! Hahaha... Tried out the electronics, but... sad to say, the lights are even worse than Darth Vadar's... Anyway, cost about $43.50...



Legend Rider Series - Kamen Rider New Ichigo Henshin Belt
Just 1 word "AWESOME"!!!! This is not the DX version, but the newer (and "lousier") Legend Rider Series (LRS) version of the Kamen Rider New Ichigo's Henshin Belt... It does not have a motor to spin the center piece, using simple mechanism to turn instead. The electronic sounds of transformation is good, though you might need to spin the center piece a few times to see the light patterns clearly. The centre piece is actually missing the "fan blades", which I am going to add in myself. The side "plates" are unpainted (red plastic used), not silver. Not sure if I should paint them silver, for I fear the rubbery plastic might not be compatible with the paint... The side "plates" also seemed too big, compared to the belt strap... anyway, I need to get a red belt to slide in the main belt piece and wear it on my 35/36-inch tummy... Wow, seems that I talk too many negatives... So why did I say this belt is awesome? Simply because IT IS THE ANTIQUE DESIGN OF THE FIRST KAMEN RIDER BELT!!! Hahahaha.... That alone is good enough for me... "Henshin!" "Rider-Kick!"... Hahaha...Cost about $50.20...


Now waiting for my Kamen Rider Decade DX Henshin belt to come... 1st time using eBay to ship item directly to S'pore... Hope everything turns out fine...

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Minor Mod - Deluxe Sword of Omens (Thundercats)

Did a small mod on the Sword of Omens.... and realised that quite some people also did a similar mod! So, great minds do think alike! Hahaha....


Initially tried to just cut a big hole on the Eye side to get the residue light from the LED's "buttock" to shine on the Eye side, but there are too many ridges and parts used for stabilizing other parts, so in the end decide to solder an LED (connect in parallel to the existing one)... Satisfied... =)

Side-Tracked: Recent Haul of TF and Such (137) - TF Prime RID Vehicon (Deluxe), DX Thundercats Sword of Omens

Went to catch The Avengers movie just now... well worth the ticket price... and do stay back a while after the show, as when the main credits end, there is a short clip that shows (a villain character) which might mean The Avengers 2 ???
Anyway, went over to TRU and OG to grab some toys... using my total $20 vouchers, managed to get some nice stuff in TRU but nothing in OG...

TF Prime RID Vehicon (Deluxe)
Did not have the intention to buy a TF, but there were 2 stacks of opened boxes containing TF Prime DX figures, and this one and only Vehicon was lying on the top-most box. I checked the remaining boxes and if I remember correctly, all boxes have a space inside, which might suggest that 1 TF has been taken out from every box... as to which TF it could be, I leave it to your own deduction... Anyway, after using voucher, I paid $17.90 for it...


DX Thundercats Sword of Omens
Was hooked on this piece the other day when shopping in OG... and looked up from the internet to realize that the new Thundercats had started last year! And S'pore brings in the toys only now... Nostalgic... Brings back childhood memories... After using voucher, I paid $29.90 for it...