Framed Micronaut Aliens

I have been meaning to do this for the last few weeks.  Yesterday, I finally did.  I stopper by Wal Mart and picked up a frameless 20 X 30 Poster Frame.  Its a sheet of acrylic that uses snaps to lock it in place.  Smaller versions use a glass sheet.  I use them for everything. They are very cheap.

So I flipped the cover sheet over and made a template.  Then I cut out shapes that were roughly the same shape as the bubbles on the Micronaut Alien cards.  I put the Carded Aliens over the template, put the freshly cut acrylic sheet over and now they are ready to hang.  The cut outs also help to keep the cards from moving. 

Palisades Red Falcon Prototype

I havent displayed this figure on the blog yet, so we'll start with it.  The Palisades Red Falcon Prototype.  This is not the complete Red Falcon Prototype.  I dont know if there are other parts for this or not.  After Palisades toys released their run, they sold everything online.  All their prototypes, banners, left over parts, everything.  I noticed a loose bag with red writing on it describing the parts.  So I am not sure if other prototype parts not with this set were made and sold separately to other collectors or not.  I bought this one privately from a former collector.

The Chest is reversed in the packaging to show it off..  Palisades was very collector oriented.  They went to the collectors for their opinions and also for their figures.  They used the finest examples and rewarded those who 'GAVE' them their figures with thank you figures.  Mostly Gold Baron Karza's, altho it is my understanding that at least a couple of collectors may have been given Gold Force Commanders.

Authentic Unofficially Official Magno Custom Capes

I dont mean to cut into this post.  Its unintentional.  But this next set of customs required I build something for it.

I have mentioned these in the past, but like stated in the previous post, I dont get make much time for 'playing'.  If I did, you would probably have seen more pictures of these next customs than you have...er...havent.

 I am not sure how many of you know this, but Lady Command of the Micropolis Embassy Group made the capes for the Palisades Toys Emperors.  Shortly after the Magnos were released,  I commissioned her to make some additional capes for me in various colors.  They havent seen much play time, so I took down the red one for a few pictures.  I have been looking for proper hooks/hangars for them and havent found anything yet.  However now that I am doing casting, hooks/hangars for these Capes is now on the list. 

I wished I had gotten a few more made.  This is actually the first time this Red Cape has ever been put on a figure.

 I didnt know what to do with these capes now that I had them. Keep them wrapped in a  bag? So I took some welding wire.  Wire, not rod.   It comes in various widths about 2 maybe 3 feet long.  And I bent some and soldered them together to make a Cape Rack

 I have more detailed pics of it being made, but you get the idea.  All the joints were filed/sanded and the entire rack primed and painted.

I think Im going to spend a bit more time playing.  Some of these other capes have never been on a figure yet either.

Ken Kelly

Ken Kelly did the original artwork for the Micronaut Aliens.  Shortly after Palisades released their wave in 2002, The Micropolis Embassy was able to elicit Ken Kelly to do a 50 print run from the original paintings.  The idea was to do the entire set of paintings.  Well all except Antron.  Marty is being tight lipped about Antron.  Another collector has the other paintings and these were used for the prints. 

The first print was the Terraphant and the second print was the Hornetroid. The prints were chosen by vote on which one everyone wanted first.  Then second.  Unfortunately we never got past the Hornetroid print..  I havent framed mine yet.  I had plans for them at one time, but that seems to have changed, so I am getting them framed hopefully before Christmas.

 Ken Kelly also did a couple of books.  The one I have is called Escape.  The artwork is phenomenal.  Al tho there are no Micronauts or Masters of the Universe in them.  It seems the powers that be exercised their legal rights and Mr. Ken Kelly wasn't allowed to include anything of that nature in the books.  However with the Gold Book, he does include a pencil drawing of your choice, that he draws for you.  And he informed me, that could be WHATEVER you wanted.

 This is the book ESCAPE, not the Gold Book.

Ken Kelly is also  a huge KISS fan and did the artwork for at least 2 of their albums.

This is just one of the over 100+ pieces of artwork in his book ESCAPE.

I have a link to his website in "The Hotlist"

Shelves Are DONE!!!

Yes!!! My Shelves are done.  To some this might not seem like such a big deal, but I needed these made to figure out how much wall space I have left.  I am most likely going to hang my Ken Kelly prints there.

I made this table and shelves for $10 bucks.  $1.35 for the brackets and $8.00 or something like that for the trim. As a machinist I have discovered that I may need something.  It may not be for 10 or 15 years, but I will need "it".  So I keep "it" for when I might someday need "it".  So I had most of the material already.  The shelves and table top are from a corner unit that was in the garage when I bought the house.  I tore it apart, but kept the sides and put them in the trusses of my garage so I could use it for storage space.  I took one down and cut it up to make this corner table unit.

This post is how I made the corner table unit.  I'll have pics of the new arrangement in another post.  So if you dont care how I made the corner unit, then you wont miss anything by skipping the rest of this post.

But if you want to see how easy it was to make,  Then lets go.  :~)

I planned these new shelves with a specific set of guidelines.  I wanted the Dave Dorman Emperor Pencil Sketch on the one side and his Galactic Defender Painting  on the other corner of the table I made.  I wanted 2 shelves and I had 17" of wall space from the ledge down to the table top.  The shelves I was making were 5/8" thick.  So thats 1 1/4" used up for the shelves themselves leaving 15 3/4"  I wanted 2 - 6" spaces which would leave me with 3 3/4" of wall space to the ledge.  Perfect.

I layed out and cut the 2 shelves I  needed from the same material I had used to make my corner table.  Make sure if its got a pattern or grain, you pay attention to that.  You can tell right away something is "off" if you have the grains of one shelf going one way, the next shelf the grain goes a different direction and then the table grain looks weird going in a different direction as well.  Truth be told, I got lucky cutting them.

I still had the edge trim I bought for the table, so I used it on the shelves and then trimmed them up.







It took me both my coffee breaks and my 1/2 hour lunch break, but I machined  4 - 6" shafts and then drilled them out so I could slide a 1/4" NC All Thread bar through it.  I put the shelves together and laid them on the table top as if I was assembling it.  I then drilled 2 holes at the corners of the shelves and right through the table. I put a washer and a nut on the underside of the table and screwed the all thread into it through the table..

I then dropped one of the 6" spacers I made over the allthread.  I did the same at the other corner.  I then put a shelf over the allthread.  I put the second set of 6" spacers on and then the next shelf.  I drilled the hole through the shelves/table pretty close so I had to use a nut on each allthread bar to suck everything down nice and tight. 

This was to my advantage because this kept everything relatively steady so I could cut off the excess All Thread.

Using the same material I made the 6 "spacers from,  I made 2 simple caps.  45 degree  bevel on the one end.  Drilled and tapped on the other end.  Both 1" long.  Sometimes less is more. Simple effective and it looks ok.  I could have made some fancy caps...but why?  This is just as effective.

   

The shelves were nice and firm, but they needed back support. I went to Home hardware and picked up the support brackets for $1.35




And hour to machine to length 4 shafts for 6" spacers, drill them right through, machine, drill and tap 2 caps.  Layout, cut, file the edges of the shelves...1 hour.  Put trim on shelves 1/2 hour.  Assemble and install support brackets another 1/2 hour.  So 3 hours and $10.00 for the trim and brackets.  I imagine if you bought all the materials and looked for deals, you could probably get everything for $40-$50.

I may put in some shelves under the table to store empty boxes and whatnot.  Then all I need is a chair.  My mother is sewing my Transformer Curtains to length for me.  And then my room is complete.  I just need to hang a few pictures, maybe adjust the arrangement every now and then, but my room is complete.  It has taken me 4 years.  And yes those are 1980's handheld video games on my table.  I have a Rubiks cube too.  My fastest time is 57 seconds.  :~)

 I spent the next few hours dusting and rearranging.  I'll have those pics in another post.