Hi friends,
there have been some emails to us asking whether we'd be producing any more of the WJ kits. At this moment we do not plan to produce any more of these kits, as we're busy with the much delayed Nova Commander, and also are in preparing for other projects which will be revealed later.
However in searching, we found this on ebay. Looks like our genuine item, from a seller. We're in no way affiliated with this particular seller but since there were friends emailing us, we thought of the heads up.
WJ-KIT EBAY
In the meantime be well
J.C
Monday, July 5, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Nova updates - HIP WIPs
HI all,
just one picture of the completed Hip / thigh section. Things are going slowly and surely.
If you have any queries please email us. We should reply in one to two days.
Sincerely
J.C
just one picture of the completed Hip / thigh section. Things are going slowly and surely.
If you have any queries please email us. We should reply in one to two days.
Sincerely
J.C
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Nova Progress!!!!
Hi everyone,
just a few more pictures of Nova in progress. Nothing much to comment on right now. Lots of effort is being put in for the final limited release.
Head shot (of Nova and the Super Nova Commander mode)
Hip portion..yummy white parts.
Neck joints.
Pictures of fingers..
just a few more pictures of Nova in progress. Nothing much to comment on right now. Lots of effort is being put in for the final limited release.
Head shot (of Nova and the Super Nova Commander mode)
Hip portion..yummy white parts.
Neck joints.
Pictures of fingers..
Thursday, May 20, 2010
New updates on Nova Commander
Hi everyone.
We have some updates on the Nova for the first batch. What we have here are the "pieces" for the Nova Commander. (8 sets here),as it' still in the casting stage. When we've gotten the 10 sets casted out, our designers would be assembling them and applying paint works together so that there is a sense of linearity in the applications.
The place is quite a mess right now with the large silicon casts for the various large parts and other equipment we're using to cast the Nova parts.
The parts on the far right (top pictures) are the rubber wheels.
At the same time, we're preparing the packaging for the Nova Commander, the manual etc etc.
We hope provide more updates in the following week.
Sincerely
J.C
Sunday, April 4, 2010
April updates
Hi all,
Just a couple of updates. Firstly Nova commander, a bit delayed. Our designer took a bit of time to put into place the engineering change for the prototype piece to cast out the mold. As we speak the molds are in place, and we're "casting" the pieces out.
So to keep all in the loop, the Nova would be slightly delayed. Expected completion of casting, hand assembly, painting will be mid April. So we estimate it reaching the fellow collectors End April, beginning March. As per our normal practice they will be shipped registered with tracking.
At the same time, probably end next week, we post a small project we've been doing. Hopefully you'd all like it.
In the meantime, take care and stay well
Sincerely
JC
Just a couple of updates. Firstly Nova commander, a bit delayed. Our designer took a bit of time to put into place the engineering change for the prototype piece to cast out the mold. As we speak the molds are in place, and we're "casting" the pieces out.
So to keep all in the loop, the Nova would be slightly delayed. Expected completion of casting, hand assembly, painting will be mid April. So we estimate it reaching the fellow collectors End April, beginning March. As per our normal practice they will be shipped registered with tracking.
At the same time, probably end next week, we post a small project we've been doing. Hopefully you'd all like it.
In the meantime, take care and stay well
Sincerely
JC
Friday, February 12, 2010
Nova is sold out
Hi everyone,
We would like to thank all that have purchased the 10 pieces of NOVA from all over the world we might say. It was sold out pretty fast in less than a week - a record by our experience. Sometime end Feb 2010, we should have something new for our fans out there.
Thanks again for all the support.
Sincerely
J.C
We would like to thank all that have purchased the 10 pieces of NOVA from all over the world we might say. It was sold out pretty fast in less than a week - a record by our experience. Sometime end Feb 2010, we should have something new for our fans out there.
Thanks again for all the support.
Sincerely
J.C
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Update on Nova Commander
Hi everyone,
after much discussion internally, we've decided to move the Nova Commander resin mecha to a limited production. As mentioned earlier, Nova Commander has alot of parts and as usual the difficulty with such an immense project is the cost of Design, R&D and materials (both pre-production, production and post production).
As such, the Nova Commander would come in the following format. This order would be limited to 10 pieces.
Each set would be
a. Completed resin figure.
b. Prepainted with airbrush (Anime correct colors)
c. Instructions
d. Box packaging.
e. Would come with both the cab + Trailer
f. It would come with a certificate.
Now the all important price. Each completed figure, all handcrafted would be priced at an offer price of 500USD. Shipping would be 40USD for N.America, Europe, Japan, Australia etc. Other countries like Italy,( we'd need to check) and S.America might cost more.
The ETA for it would be end March/ April timeframe (2010).
We have received the feedback from various fans. We know this amount is not a small sum, and we've looked at our numbers, and this is the offer price for Nova to make it a reality. In truth any profits from these minibatches are still used to recoup the design and R&D costs incurred from Nova.
The link of the payment is on the right. Thanks again for all your support
Sincerely
J.C
Mastercollectables.
after much discussion internally, we've decided to move the Nova Commander resin mecha to a limited production. As mentioned earlier, Nova Commander has alot of parts and as usual the difficulty with such an immense project is the cost of Design, R&D and materials (both pre-production, production and post production).
As such, the Nova Commander would come in the following format. This order would be limited to 10 pieces.
Each set would be
a. Completed resin figure.
b. Prepainted with airbrush (Anime correct colors)
c. Instructions
d. Box packaging.
e. Would come with both the cab + Trailer
f. It would come with a certificate.
Now the all important price. Each completed figure, all handcrafted would be priced at an offer price of 500USD. Shipping would be 40USD for N.America, Europe, Japan, Australia etc. Other countries like Italy,( we'd need to check) and S.America might cost more.
The ETA for it would be end March/ April timeframe (2010).
We have received the feedback from various fans. We know this amount is not a small sum, and we've looked at our numbers, and this is the offer price for Nova to make it a reality. In truth any profits from these minibatches are still used to recoup the design and R&D costs incurred from Nova.
The link of the payment is on the right. Thanks again for all your support
Sincerely
J.C
Mastercollectables.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Soliciting feedback for Nova Commander interest
Hi everyone,
apologies for the slowness of news, but there were some discussions with some other parties on commercial aspects so we were derailed in some of our projects.
For the clear crystal Nova Prototype, we would be passing to our partner to ship out. Our fault, as we were overseas for commercial reasons (to be disclosed) if it become fruition.
All our prototypes, we'd be sending along a certificate. I feel that these are the few fans who are supporting us directly by collecting our designs, so we felt it was important to ensure their item remains exclusively unique.
Talking about Nova, for those out there. We're trying to solicit interest in this item. We're coming close to the end of our testing of materials and such, and would like to know the following.
a. Who is interested in collecting Nova Commander?
b. What kind of price range are you expecting.?
We've internally mulling the following.
a. Nova as a KIT (so u need to fix, glue, sand and paint)- From my experience fixing kits - say model kits, this is like a MG/PG kinda skill because you still need to sand down parts etc, so we might be inclined for option b.
b. Nova as a complete toy (fixed up painted etc etc in a nice box, with instruction etc)
We feel internally it's important to get a sense of the affordability of this item but yet balance it with the actual cost of producing a resin based item. It's all hand made after all (manpower is always a high cost for all of us who are paid by the hour), so the downside is if this goes into limited production it would be in batches.
Let us know your thoughts and importantly how much you can afford.
email us at administrator@mastercollectables.com
P.S - Do note that this blog is not a solicitation of orders, but of interest.
Regards
J.C
Mastercollectables.
apologies for the slowness of news, but there were some discussions with some other parties on commercial aspects so we were derailed in some of our projects.
For the clear crystal Nova Prototype, we would be passing to our partner to ship out. Our fault, as we were overseas for commercial reasons (to be disclosed) if it become fruition.
All our prototypes, we'd be sending along a certificate. I feel that these are the few fans who are supporting us directly by collecting our designs, so we felt it was important to ensure their item remains exclusively unique.
Talking about Nova, for those out there. We're trying to solicit interest in this item. We're coming close to the end of our testing of materials and such, and would like to know the following.
a. Who is interested in collecting Nova Commander?
b. What kind of price range are you expecting.?
We've internally mulling the following.
a. Nova as a KIT (so u need to fix, glue, sand and paint)- From my experience fixing kits - say model kits, this is like a MG/PG kinda skill because you still need to sand down parts etc, so we might be inclined for option b.
b. Nova as a complete toy (fixed up painted etc etc in a nice box, with instruction etc)
We feel internally it's important to get a sense of the affordability of this item but yet balance it with the actual cost of producing a resin based item. It's all hand made after all (manpower is always a high cost for all of us who are paid by the hour), so the downside is if this goes into limited production it would be in batches.
Let us know your thoughts and importantly how much you can afford.
email us at administrator@mastercollectables.com
P.S - Do note that this blog is not a solicitation of orders, but of interest.
Regards
J.C
Mastercollectables.
Monday, January 18, 2010
WJ Kit independant reviews
Hi all,
we passed a couple of kits out to various sites for some peer review. One of them was done by www.sector70.com folks (Tom Servo (Dave) ). Another one is done by a fellow customizer (Demonss/Justin) who had purchased it separately.
Both reviews can be viewed at this link. As with all reviews, we look at both the pros and cons and hear the feedback, so that we can improve on future products.
From various sites, we think that the WJ conversion kit was a good starting point. We want to thank various folks from blacklion79 (for allowing us to use his WJ labels as a base to start with & also the one starting point of inspiration),sector70.com folks (great Admins and customizers),Sabrina, for KA for helping us design the WJ artprint in such a short time frame (Your work is now immortalized in all the reviews and pictures), and many other people that were either directly or in directly involved. If we missed anyone, our apologies but we just have too many people to show appreciation.
Sincerely,
J.C
we passed a couple of kits out to various sites for some peer review. One of them was done by www.sector70.com folks (Tom Servo (Dave) ). Another one is done by a fellow customizer (Demonss/Justin) who had purchased it separately.
Both reviews can be viewed at this link. As with all reviews, we look at both the pros and cons and hear the feedback, so that we can improve on future products.
From various sites, we think that the WJ conversion kit was a good starting point. We want to thank various folks from blacklion79 (for allowing us to use his WJ labels as a base to start with & also the one starting point of inspiration),sector70.com folks (great Admins and customizers),Sabrina, for KA for helping us design the WJ artprint in such a short time frame (Your work is now immortalized in all the reviews and pictures), and many other people that were either directly or in directly involved. If we missed anyone, our apologies but we just have too many people to show appreciation.
Sincerely,
J.C
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Crystal Nova Commander Prototype
Hi everyone,
good day. We have here pictures of the prototype Crystal Nova Commander that we were alluding earlier. This was used to test material - strength, ridigity, stress test etc and it came out pretty well. As with all types of resin, we had to balance between strength, flexibility and thus had to tinker with the mix ratio of the resin / pigments and the harderer. We also used a different rubber chemical mix for the wheels, to see which was a better fit for future rubberized products.
There are some design changes compared to the two earlier prototypes - primarily more screws, some joint changes. It was a challenge to get Crystal Nova bubble free,but using our internal test processes, this prototype came out quite well.
Here are some pictures. As usual this piece has gone through our testing processes and we're making this available via ebay.
As mentioned earlier, this prototype is sold so that we can use the proceeds to finance our current and future projects. We hope the winner enjoys this piece and fellow collectors will enjoy the pictures.
Pictures here.
good day. We have here pictures of the prototype Crystal Nova Commander that we were alluding earlier. This was used to test material - strength, ridigity, stress test etc and it came out pretty well. As with all types of resin, we had to balance between strength, flexibility and thus had to tinker with the mix ratio of the resin / pigments and the harderer. We also used a different rubber chemical mix for the wheels, to see which was a better fit for future rubberized products.
There are some design changes compared to the two earlier prototypes - primarily more screws, some joint changes. It was a challenge to get Crystal Nova bubble free,but using our internal test processes, this prototype came out quite well.
Here are some pictures. As usual this piece has gone through our testing processes and we're making this available via ebay.
As mentioned earlier, this prototype is sold so that we can use the proceeds to finance our current and future projects. We hope the winner enjoys this piece and fellow collectors will enjoy the pictures.
Pictures here.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
New year 2010 updates
Hi everyone,
Some new updates. What do we have lined up.
1. Our designer has tested some new materials, in conjunction with engineering changes to Nova Commander. As part of the ongoing changes - we will be listing a "clear" version of Nova Commander. Lets just say this Nova really is testing the limits of our designer/and chemist's capabilities. Pictures to be added later. It's being listed by our partner Retrozone. Link is here.. We've instructed them to list it first, with the product pictures to be posted later.
2. We should have a new product available this month, hopefully ;) Watch out for updates on this.
Other then that, internally we'd be spending a bit of time brainstorming on ideas and concepts over cuppas coffee, but if you do have ideas that you'd like us to look at closely do send us an email to administrator@mastercollectables.com.
In the meantime, have a nice and blessed 2010.
Sincerely
J.C
Some new updates. What do we have lined up.
1. Our designer has tested some new materials, in conjunction with engineering changes to Nova Commander. As part of the ongoing changes - we will be listing a "clear" version of Nova Commander. Lets just say this Nova really is testing the limits of our designer/and chemist's capabilities. Pictures to be added later. It's being listed by our partner Retrozone. Link is here.. We've instructed them to list it first, with the product pictures to be posted later.
2. We should have a new product available this month, hopefully ;) Watch out for updates on this.
Other then that, internally we'd be spending a bit of time brainstorming on ideas and concepts over cuppas coffee, but if you do have ideas that you'd like us to look at closely do send us an email to administrator@mastercollectables.com.
In the meantime, have a nice and blessed 2010.
Sincerely
J.C
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Around the world with the WJ conversion kit
Hi everyone,
we've just received an email from a customizer who picked up our kit and he's doing his WIP in these links.
Sector70.com - WJ Conversion kit
TFW2005 - Radicons - WJ Conversion kit
It's great to know the WJ conversion kits are going around the world and the response is positive. Thanks for the support. For those who've picked up the kits, do check these threads for inspiration. Not every single WJ Conversion kit is every done the same way, and we hope to inspire more people to enjoy their custom as a piece of personal art.
If you have more links to your work, feel free to email us at administrator at mastercollectables.com
Have a good day
J.C
we've just received an email from a customizer who picked up our kit and he's doing his WIP in these links.
Sector70.com - WJ Conversion kit
TFW2005 - Radicons - WJ Conversion kit
It's great to know the WJ conversion kits are going around the world and the response is positive. Thanks for the support. For those who've picked up the kits, do check these threads for inspiration. Not every single WJ Conversion kit is every done the same way, and we hope to inspire more people to enjoy their custom as a piece of personal art.
If you have more links to your work, feel free to email us at administrator at mastercollectables.com
Have a good day
J.C
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Updates on the WJ Conversion kit
Hi everyone,
we've completed shipping all the media kit and also the kits that were ordered in November 2009. We will be shipping those ordered in December 2009, sometime this week.
All the kits from MC is sold out!!.
We would want to thank all our supporters in various forums - Seibertron, TFW2005, Radicons, Sabrina etc. We hope to release more news within the next couple weeks again.
In the meantime we wish everyone a Great Year 2010. May your passion for customizations, collecting never fade!!!
Cheers
D.K
we've completed shipping all the media kit and also the kits that were ordered in November 2009. We will be shipping those ordered in December 2009, sometime this week.
All the kits from MC is sold out!!.
We would want to thank all our supporters in various forums - Seibertron, TFW2005, Radicons, Sabrina etc. We hope to release more news within the next couple weeks again.
In the meantime we wish everyone a Great Year 2010. May your passion for customizations, collecting never fade!!!
Cheers
D.K
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
WJ Conversion kit by Sabrina
Hi all
We've just got word that the preproduction kit that we had passed to Sabrina has finally been completed. Her work really puts our earlier pictures to shame :)
For those interested in the pictures by Sabrina, check out this link at radicons
As mentioned, we're shipping the kits in batches so as not to overwhelm the postal which has long queues during the festive season, based on the purchase date. Those who had purchased in November have already been shipped. We will be shipping those who have purchased their kit during the Dec 2009 period probably in 1st week January 2010.
In the meantime, have a wonderful and blessed festive season. Enjoy your friendships, renew old ones and stay cool.
Sincerely
J.C and the Mastercollectables team
We've just got word that the preproduction kit that we had passed to Sabrina has finally been completed. Her work really puts our earlier pictures to shame :)
For those interested in the pictures by Sabrina, check out this link at radicons
As mentioned, we're shipping the kits in batches so as not to overwhelm the postal which has long queues during the festive season, based on the purchase date. Those who had purchased in November have already been shipped. We will be shipping those who have purchased their kit during the Dec 2009 period probably in 1st week January 2010.
In the meantime, have a wonderful and blessed festive season. Enjoy your friendships, renew old ones and stay cool.
Sincerely
J.C and the Mastercollectables team
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
WJ Conversion kits are being shipped
Hi all
the WJ Conversion kits are being shipped right now. Some might get them earlier, some later as we're shipping them in batches (during this festive season) and also are passing the last batch to our ebay parners Retrozone. Just a few left so get them while they're available. Do note that those of later batches might not get the same "container" as the earlier batches should reviews come up. We're good in engineering but just need some work with packaging partners. If you know of one who can supply packaging stuff like full clamshells, half clamshells or friends who sell these do give us a quick email.
On another note, we've listed via our partner a second Nova Commander engineering prototype. Some minor changes in the joint mechanism, and cosmetic changes. Do check out the auction here As mentioned in another blog, the reason of listing a few prototypes is to cover some of our investment costs of the Nova Commander. We do not expect the engineering models to totally cover our investment costs but we hope those who did win the first one which is in transit, and also this piece would appreciate the engineering and design behind the model.
Cheers
D.K
the WJ Conversion kits are being shipped right now. Some might get them earlier, some later as we're shipping them in batches (during this festive season) and also are passing the last batch to our ebay parners Retrozone. Just a few left so get them while they're available. Do note that those of later batches might not get the same "container" as the earlier batches should reviews come up. We're good in engineering but just need some work with packaging partners. If you know of one who can supply packaging stuff like full clamshells, half clamshells or friends who sell these do give us a quick email.
On another note, we've listed via our partner a second Nova Commander engineering prototype. Some minor changes in the joint mechanism, and cosmetic changes. Do check out the auction here As mentioned in another blog, the reason of listing a few prototypes is to cover some of our investment costs of the Nova Commander. We do not expect the engineering models to totally cover our investment costs but we hope those who did win the first one which is in transit, and also this piece would appreciate the engineering and design behind the model.
Cheers
D.K
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Started a poll
Hi fellow friends,
we have just opened up a poll to find out which is your favourite female-bot. It's on the right panel. Do vote accordingly.
We're in a brainstorming mode right now for female-bots. So do vote what you feel should become an actual figure!!
Note : Slight delay in artwork. Printing for WJ Conversion kit to be ready this week for shipping.
Moving forward, to our fellow visitors. Our skills in design and engineering are available as services to those who require us to design, engineer up till the prototype stage. Just drop us a mail at administrator at mastercollectables.com
Cheers
J.C
we have just opened up a poll to find out which is your favourite female-bot. It's on the right panel. Do vote accordingly.
We're in a brainstorming mode right now for female-bots. So do vote what you feel should become an actual figure!!
Note : Slight delay in artwork. Printing for WJ Conversion kit to be ready this week for shipping.
Moving forward, to our fellow visitors. Our skills in design and engineering are available as services to those who require us to design, engineer up till the prototype stage. Just drop us a mail at administrator at mastercollectables.com
Cheers
J.C
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
WJ Conversion kit updates
Hi everyone,
The conversion kits should be ready by next week. Right now we're finalizing the manual and also the artwork. Packaging at this moment is simplistic reason being if a customizer converts the Transformers Sunstreaker, sideswipe or red alert, probably they'd dispose of the packaging.
In anycase, the first 50 who had purchased, we'd include something different in the packaging. From last count, we expect this kit to be sold out before year end, so get yours while you can.
Our ebay partner retrozone will also get their kits slightly later for shipment, so safetly I think those who had ordered should receive their kits around first to second week January 2010.
On a similar note, as per an earlier blog, we had promised to pass a couple of kits to some Toy sites, well one of them Sabrina's site has receive their One kit, so watch out for a superbly done version.
Also what we'd do along the way when the kits are sent out is maybe come up with One blog showing how some of the parts can be removed. We did receive a few emails on this so we felt it better to provide some advice and pictures for those whom this might be their first kit.
In the meantime, season's greeting, Wishing all a wonderful Winter!, Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year. Also wishing all our friends out there a better year 2010 - better health, prosperity and great relationships.
Sincerely
D.K
Mastercollectables.com
Monday, December 14, 2009
Background History on the work on Nova Commander
Hi everyone,
We would like to thank all of the fellow community who supported us in spreading the news on Nova Commander. It was great to see interest in the Mecha all over the Internet community.
We've been reading posts in various forums and there are some members who felt that we've stolen ideas literally and made Nova Commander. Thus we felt that as a group of designers, it's not within our ethos to "steal" ideas and reverse engineer them. As we had mentioned earlier, our focus is to look at design engineering concepts to test how they can be used in our products.
For Nova as per our earlier blog, as comic readers we were very intrigued by Nova the character, and also his mecha design. This was one of our brainstorming ideas, so we set out to scour the internet on available information on Nova besides the pictures from the IDW comic. We found pictures of Dak's custom, which was impressive. This would have been a start of a labourous process in seeing Nova come to life.
Our main obstacles were definately threefold. Engineering/ Mechanics as in visualizing how parts would fit or fold like a origami using a 3D application like Autocad. Design as in making sure esthetically Nova looked good. Production as in how to break up the parts such that the parts can be casted in resin. There was one more aspect which was cost. The issue with resin is that the mold can only take so many casts and if the mold is done badly due to poorly designed parts, then it's back to the drawing board.
One aspect which is also a difficulty is the engineering of joints. Resin is a type of plastic, however it is not applied with pressure unlike ABS. It can cure quickly or slowly but for the purpose of production casting, to have resin to take 2 hours to cure would be ineffective. Thus we had to apply trade-offs for strength, flexibility in our resin mix which we also had to test on the Nova joints especially those which would carry the bulk of the weight such as hip joints.
For nova we also incorporated some rubber supported joints which provided alot of friction and also to allow for some clicking within the joints.
So back to the initial steps, we came up with 3D schematics of the parts required for Nova to work, so the parts were rendered in 3D and combined to test fit in the computer. We've added two pictures here.
Then it was engineering prototyping with an actual model to test to see if in "real life" whether our 3D designs work. Our first ebay auction was an completed engineering model. There are still a few improvements to be made especially in the area of joints based on the first model. Then in all designs we'd see possible ways to make it more cost effectively by reducing parts, reducing production wastage and the number of mold required to produce a single Nova piece.
In this whole project, not everyone was in agreement on every aspect but trade-offs were part and parcel of our teamwork because ultimately we wanted to come up with a mecha that the mecha community would appreciate.
In short, designing a "toy" is not just mix and matching parts together. There is much much more work in conceptualizing, engineering, design and production before an actual product happens. We took at least 4 months of effort from the whole team juggling with our real-life work, and we hope that you'd enjoy the fruits of our labour.
Hope you enjoyed reading this.
J.C and the Mastercollectables team.
We would like to thank all of the fellow community who supported us in spreading the news on Nova Commander. It was great to see interest in the Mecha all over the Internet community.
We've been reading posts in various forums and there are some members who felt that we've stolen ideas literally and made Nova Commander. Thus we felt that as a group of designers, it's not within our ethos to "steal" ideas and reverse engineer them. As we had mentioned earlier, our focus is to look at design engineering concepts to test how they can be used in our products.
For Nova as per our earlier blog, as comic readers we were very intrigued by Nova the character, and also his mecha design. This was one of our brainstorming ideas, so we set out to scour the internet on available information on Nova besides the pictures from the IDW comic. We found pictures of Dak's custom, which was impressive. This would have been a start of a labourous process in seeing Nova come to life.
Our main obstacles were definately threefold. Engineering/ Mechanics as in visualizing how parts would fit or fold like a origami using a 3D application like Autocad. Design as in making sure esthetically Nova looked good. Production as in how to break up the parts such that the parts can be casted in resin. There was one more aspect which was cost. The issue with resin is that the mold can only take so many casts and if the mold is done badly due to poorly designed parts, then it's back to the drawing board.
One aspect which is also a difficulty is the engineering of joints. Resin is a type of plastic, however it is not applied with pressure unlike ABS. It can cure quickly or slowly but for the purpose of production casting, to have resin to take 2 hours to cure would be ineffective. Thus we had to apply trade-offs for strength, flexibility in our resin mix which we also had to test on the Nova joints especially those which would carry the bulk of the weight such as hip joints.
For nova we also incorporated some rubber supported joints which provided alot of friction and also to allow for some clicking within the joints.
So back to the initial steps, we came up with 3D schematics of the parts required for Nova to work, so the parts were rendered in 3D and combined to test fit in the computer. We've added two pictures here.
Then it was engineering prototyping with an actual model to test to see if in "real life" whether our 3D designs work. Our first ebay auction was an completed engineering model. There are still a few improvements to be made especially in the area of joints based on the first model. Then in all designs we'd see possible ways to make it more cost effectively by reducing parts, reducing production wastage and the number of mold required to produce a single Nova piece.
In this whole project, not everyone was in agreement on every aspect but trade-offs were part and parcel of our teamwork because ultimately we wanted to come up with a mecha that the mecha community would appreciate.
In short, designing a "toy" is not just mix and matching parts together. There is much much more work in conceptualizing, engineering, design and production before an actual product happens. We took at least 4 months of effort from the whole team juggling with our real-life work, and we hope that you'd enjoy the fruits of our labour.
Hope you enjoyed reading this.
J.C and the Mastercollectables team.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Some thoughts
Hi everyone,
thank you for your support on Nova Commander. There has been alot of discussions in various forums about Nova Commander. We would like to clarify from the perspective of the our designers.
From an inspiration point of view it was from the pictures done by Don Figueroa. His pictures especially in the book by IDW- Best of Don Figueroa gave us the vehicle, robot pictures to work on. (Don if you're reading this email please email us)
With the base pictures, it is more complex then just taking the pictures and converting into a workable mecha with the transformation. One of the more difficult things to do is to get things to slide, and fit properly from robot to vehicle mode while still maintaining a semblance of articulation and proportion. It's like a huge jigsaw puzzle, one which has to be translated from the mind into the computer then into a physical model.
We had a look at Dak's pictures, which was the winner for one TFCON08 competition, but still we had to spend most time (90%) in 3D design of the interlocking parts and figuring out very important detailed parameters and ultimately prototyping.
On a personal note: if a designer takes inspiration from various sources to come out with an improved version, we think that the whole community does benefit, which has been the case for all the kitbashes and customs that we see being done by various members in the community. So let us not argue on this aspect as it leads us no where as a community.
So the issue of Intellectual property is this. Pictures are one thing, translating it into a working, engineering design is another thing, and based on our study and discussion about IP, Nova Commander is a unique engineering model that is part of our works - as per what had happened to Hal's ARC - Arcee model - which i believe Hasbro did see his works and certified it as unique design owned by Hal.
Lastly on mass production. We would gladly like to get this figure mass produced by big companies like Takara or IDW or Hasbro. Our first option is to get their endorsement even if it's like what happens in Japan's Wonderfest (limited endorsement for resin kits etc). However if it ends up as a long drawn PR by the big boys as to them feasibility and commercialism comes first, and we use our limited time to discuss with a zero end game, then we'd just continue as-is or have to see alternatives.
Thats all for now, as we reply to various mails we've been receiving.
We're contactable via email administrator at mastercollectables.com
Cheers
D.K
thank you for your support on Nova Commander. There has been alot of discussions in various forums about Nova Commander. We would like to clarify from the perspective of the our designers.
From an inspiration point of view it was from the pictures done by Don Figueroa. His pictures especially in the book by IDW- Best of Don Figueroa gave us the vehicle, robot pictures to work on. (Don if you're reading this email please email us)
With the base pictures, it is more complex then just taking the pictures and converting into a workable mecha with the transformation. One of the more difficult things to do is to get things to slide, and fit properly from robot to vehicle mode while still maintaining a semblance of articulation and proportion. It's like a huge jigsaw puzzle, one which has to be translated from the mind into the computer then into a physical model.
We had a look at Dak's pictures, which was the winner for one TFCON08 competition, but still we had to spend most time (90%) in 3D design of the interlocking parts and figuring out very important detailed parameters and ultimately prototyping.
On a personal note: if a designer takes inspiration from various sources to come out with an improved version, we think that the whole community does benefit, which has been the case for all the kitbashes and customs that we see being done by various members in the community. So let us not argue on this aspect as it leads us no where as a community.
So the issue of Intellectual property is this. Pictures are one thing, translating it into a working, engineering design is another thing, and based on our study and discussion about IP, Nova Commander is a unique engineering model that is part of our works - as per what had happened to Hal's ARC - Arcee model - which i believe Hasbro did see his works and certified it as unique design owned by Hal.
Lastly on mass production. We would gladly like to get this figure mass produced by big companies like Takara or IDW or Hasbro. Our first option is to get their endorsement even if it's like what happens in Japan's Wonderfest (limited endorsement for resin kits etc). However if it ends up as a long drawn PR by the big boys as to them feasibility and commercialism comes first, and we use our limited time to discuss with a zero end game, then we'd just continue as-is or have to see alternatives.
Thats all for now, as we reply to various mails we've been receiving.
We're contactable via email administrator at mastercollectables.com
Cheers
D.K
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Answers to Nova Commander queries
Hi everyone,
this single day we received 3,000 plus unique hits from the internet, and at the same time the response was overwhelming via email. Lots of questions were tabled to our Administrator, so we felt it important to just clear the air in this blog update. Easier for us to answer the questions here then to reply each and every email, as much as we would love to.
1. Is Nova Commander going to be mass produced?
The short answer is No. The reasons are the following.
a. Mastercollectables was started by a few Mecha collectors. We just have the same passion and we met up over coffee and just brainstormed. As usual we had ideas and concepts on paper so each of us decided to put our abilities into the partnership. We consider ourself a designer startup. Minimal external funding for our projects. We enjoy what we're doing for the fans. Thus to mass produce Nova Commander frankly is beyond our current financial capabilities. We have our day jobs and just pour in our extra time and some pooled funds to get some of our small projects going.
b. The Nova Commander pictures that you see was designed for the purpose of testing certain engineering designs for joints especially for larger mecha. We do envy the designing skills of Studio Half Eye. Their engineering is fantastic and even themselves after producing so many fantastic resin engineering designer toys have decided to focus on - designing and kits. To just do complete resin toys was time consuming and costly. For e.g a Perfect Transformation Getter-1 is like 500USD when it first came out..and we consider SHE to be close to the best and this was from an established company.
c. Mastercollectables is a very small team with limited resources. We do not have the resources to mass produce this. To mass produce this would mean metal tooling which would cost in the area of 150-200K or more depending on complexity.
d. Why is Nova Commander so difficult and costly to produce?
1. It's large.
2. Lots of parts - Close to 200 parts. The more parts for a resin toy..the more expensive to cast,mold, reproduce and build.
e. So any ETA if it's even produced?
At this moment we're still in the contemplation mode, doing testing and using Nova as a engineering test sample so we can safely say No ETA.
f. Then why sell the prototype testshot on ebay?
It's our way to "fund" this difficult project as we go along in "refining it" for future projects. We hope our fans would like our products and support it their way.
Thanks again for all the support
J.C and the team@ mastercollectables.com
this single day we received 3,000 plus unique hits from the internet, and at the same time the response was overwhelming via email. Lots of questions were tabled to our Administrator, so we felt it important to just clear the air in this blog update. Easier for us to answer the questions here then to reply each and every email, as much as we would love to.
1. Is Nova Commander going to be mass produced?
The short answer is No. The reasons are the following.
a. Mastercollectables was started by a few Mecha collectors. We just have the same passion and we met up over coffee and just brainstormed. As usual we had ideas and concepts on paper so each of us decided to put our abilities into the partnership. We consider ourself a designer startup. Minimal external funding for our projects. We enjoy what we're doing for the fans. Thus to mass produce Nova Commander frankly is beyond our current financial capabilities. We have our day jobs and just pour in our extra time and some pooled funds to get some of our small projects going.
b. The Nova Commander pictures that you see was designed for the purpose of testing certain engineering designs for joints especially for larger mecha. We do envy the designing skills of Studio Half Eye. Their engineering is fantastic and even themselves after producing so many fantastic resin engineering designer toys have decided to focus on - designing and kits. To just do complete resin toys was time consuming and costly. For e.g a Perfect Transformation Getter-1 is like 500USD when it first came out..and we consider SHE to be close to the best and this was from an established company.
c. Mastercollectables is a very small team with limited resources. We do not have the resources to mass produce this. To mass produce this would mean metal tooling which would cost in the area of 150-200K or more depending on complexity.
d. Why is Nova Commander so difficult and costly to produce?
1. It's large.
2. Lots of parts - Close to 200 parts. The more parts for a resin toy..the more expensive to cast,mold, reproduce and build.
e. So any ETA if it's even produced?
At this moment we're still in the contemplation mode, doing testing and using Nova as a engineering test sample so we can safely say No ETA.
f. Then why sell the prototype testshot on ebay?
It's our way to "fund" this difficult project as we go along in "refining it" for future projects. We hope our fans would like our products and support it their way.
Thanks again for all the support
J.C and the team@ mastercollectables.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
