NEXUSTUDIO & COURIER SEVICESAfter a tiring morning lecture session, I decided to catch lunch with a fellow toy collecting friend, Cow.
We headed down to Mad Jack(nearby Serene Centre).I order a beef burger and some cheese fries.The burger was kinda dry and the patty was flaky."The fries weren't quite tasty", Cow complained to me.Also, the air-conditioning wasn't really cooling enough & we had to help ourselves to the plain water from a counter.
I don't think we'd be returning to that restaurant anytime soon.
However, lunch wasn't the main itinerary for the day.
It was supposed to be some minor electronic components and toy shopping in the vicinity of Sim Lim.
Then we'd return back to school for work(Cow) and lessons(me).
But it only turned out to be a shopping spree for my friend at Spawn Asia.
I'm luckily I ain't in the workforce yet, cos I'd be having some spare cash to spare and I'd surely be tempted by the cheap toy figurines there.
Cow bought a 12" Spawn figurine and a pair of Corpse Bride figurines($25 and $40/pair respectively).Due to his excitement in toy shopping, he failed to recall that he had an RT session to attend to later in the evening.
And his huge bag of toys would be an extra burden.
So, as a considerate pal, I decided to offer him my courier service of bringing his toys back to my home for temporary storage(at the expense of skipping my lessons).As an added incentive, I've decided to do some basic photography of Cow's toys(due to the uncertainty of when he'd be getting his toys back) so that he can view them asap.All photography are done using a non-intrusive method so as to maintain the toys in their mint condition.(click on images to enlarge)Spawn - Issue 119 Interior Art
Tim Burton's Corpse Bride figurines
Victor & Corpse Bride
So near yet so far......
Victor
Corpse Bride
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Hangar 24
Sick of mounting your tiny model kit pieces on satay sticks with blue-tac?
Afraid of not being able to reuse those expensive blue-tacs after your spray painting jobs?
Tired of finding foam blocks to mount your satay sticks?
Well look no further......Hangar 24 is your best solution.
Features
- crocodile clips that securely holds your model pieces
- bendable sticks to give you freedom in positioning your mounted pieces
- rotatable base so that you can spray paint your pieces in all directions at one go
- easily expandable to as many sticks&clips as you like
Materials used:
- Rotating TV base
- Bendy wires(4mm)
- Crocodile clips
(click on images to enlarge)
The crocodile clips are mounted on bendy wires of different heights.
Namely 8cm for the those on the inner circle and 6cm for those on the outer circle.
Isn't it a work of art?
I love my studio lights!!!
This is the setup.
From another angle.
Pictures turn out great without much editing.
A stikfas.
A Zoid.
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Mai Sng XiaoThis may look like another one of those cheap $2 gimmicky items fr Daiso.
It's a rotatable base for TVs.
So I decided to investigate how it can claim to hold a 20kg TV.
I shall start by unfastening the screw at the bottom.
Wow! The inside is quite intricate, on both bases there are circular tracks.
In between the two bases, there is a web-like piece that contains ball-bearings.
This is the web-like piece.
Here's how a ball-bearing is mounted on the piece.
This product is very thoughtfully engineered.
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Might need to buy a new tubeWhen my new lamp is being compared to the fish tank light, the latter seems rather purplish.I'm begining to think that it is UV flourescent light since the plants in the aquarium needs sunlight to grow, not just any light.
Light from new lamp(from left) and fish tank lamp(from right).
A manual white balance was done prior to the taking of the picture.
Another angle
As you can see, even when white balance was done, the camera was still confused as to what is white and what isn't.Light from new lamp alone.
Hence, it seems like the purchase of a daylight flourescent tube is inevitable.
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A Two Hour Shopping TripWanted to buy some crocodile clips for a new project of mine.So I went to Sim Lim Tower in search of some OEM crocodile clips.There's one shop where they sell a bunch of wires with these clips on both ends.They're $3 for 10 wires, that's 20 crocodile clips.But I don't need these wires and removing them from the clip would be a hassle.I asked the auntie if she's selling any of these crocodile clips alone.She said: No, they only come with the wires.So I walked around and found a shop which sells just the clips alone and also with some kinda rubber sheath around the clip. They're $1 for 8 clips. They come in black, red, blue, green, yellow and white. So I picked out 24 of these. 12 reds and 12 blacks.
I didn't believe that the previous shop doesn't have these kinda clips, so I went back in and not surprisingly, I saw a bunch of these clips. But they ain't cheap, 20cents each......what a rip off!!Another objective of today's short shopping trip was to get a flourescent light for use when taking indoor pictures at night.As recommended by Cow, there's a shop in his neighbourhood that sells a variety of flourescent lighting. And they're supposedly cheap too.I found it and was greeted by a friendly Indian fella. He asked me what I was looking for...I told him...he recommended me one...I liked it...and we began to test it to see if it's functioning properly.It is a 2 feet long lamp @ $19. There's also a 3 feet one @ $21.When he plugged it in and switched it on, it didn't work.He removed the translucent casing off the lamp, fiddled with the insides and then he tried again.This time it worked.He was quite happy and proud of himself.But that's when his troubles came. He can't seem to fit back the casing back onto the lamp.He was sliding, slotting and snapping the casing back against the unit.Then I heard a crack sound. He still couldn't get it on.Then I asked him to get me another one because this one is damaged.He came back and told me that that was the last piece and he got me a more expensive one(probably because it's packaging).I said I'd prefer the 3 feet one instead because it's cheaper than this 2 feet & more expensive one.He went looking for the 3 feet one and came back shortly.He tested it and this time it worked perfectly without him having to remove the casing.He heaved a sigh of relief. As did I.When I got home, I plugged it in and upon inspection......I found this......
It's not a crack......it looks like it has been scarred by a hot soldering iron.Now I'm begining to think that they're selling these physically defective goods at cheap prices.Because now that I think of it, the 'crack' that I saw on that final piece of 2 feet lamp looked similar to this defect.
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Torso Grip Ver 2.0It was made from a duo rope tightener.
A 3mm hole was drilled thru the plastic on both sides.A 3mm aluminium rod of length 180mm was inserted thru the holes.The rod was then ergonomically shaped to comfortably hold mecha kits of up to 1/100 in scale.Due to the reduced interior space, the internal spring was taken out, modified and replaced.To fit the Torso Grip onto a bendy spine, just squeeze the tightener on both ends and slot it on the spine.Height adjustment is also done in a similar fashion.Let's check it out.(click for larger image)
Front:
Side:
Rear:
Top:
Looking more & more like the Bandai Gunpla Stand ei?......don't ya think?
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Anchor Spray Paint (Sparkling Blue)I was sourcing for metallic paints for MG Kampher when I found that Anchor spray paints has a color called Sparkling Blue.Here's how it looks on a transparency.
Here's how it looks on a white tree.
Here's how it looks on a blue tree.
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Foil + PaintBeing the experimenter that I am, I decided to try painting water based flourscent paints on an aluminium foil.If successful, it may be used to replace the eyes of most mecha to give them a more metallic look.
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Nexus Stand Ver 2.0(all pictures click to enlarge)Shoe box prototype: That's right, it was made fr a shoe box.
PP foam prototype: It's a 1mm thick foam board bought from Daiso.
Close up of the joints.
Completed: With torso grip and bendy spine from ver 1.0If the nexus stand ver 2.0 can withstand the weight of a titanium poze'm, it can hold up any 1/100 Gundam mecha.
Some variations in the design of the base.
Two different sizes:
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